Visions, (day)dreams, myths and psychedelic experiences have one thing in common: They seem to simply appear, emerging into awareness without our conscious involvement.

The Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung was among the first to truly elevate the status of the unconscious. For Jung, the unconscious was far more than a psychic waste bin for repressed material. In particular, the so-called collective unconscious is more like a rich and valuable treasure trove. Exploring and integrating unconscious material was, for Jung, a central part of the process of becoming a fuller and more authentic Self.

By its very nature, the unconscious is notoriously difficult to demonstrate – it is, after all, unconscious – but it is obvious that something is there. This autumn, the writer Nikolaj Frobenius published an essay in Morgenbladet in which he asks whether psychedelic experiences might help shed light on the collective unconscious. Since such experiences are easier to remember than dreams, and are often accompanied by a clearer state of awareness, they may offer a more reliable method of exploration.

We ask: What is the unconscious? How does it manifest itself? How can we explore and integrate unconscious material in a safe way? Or should we leave the unconscious alone? Is there a reason it is unconscious in the first place?

And what about so-called synchronicities – meaningful coincidences in which the outer world seems to mirror inner psychological processes? Could the unconscious, in some strange way, be connected to the external, physical world?

In the panel:

Sonu Shamdasani is a professor at University College London. His research focuses on Jung and on the history of psychiatry and psychology from the mid‑19th century to the present. He is the editor of The Red Book, the most enigmatic and visionary work of Carl Jung, which documents Jung's confrontation with the unconscious over several years.

Nikolaj Frobenius is a novelist, essayist and screenwriter. He has undergone psychedelic therapy himself and has explored the subject of psychedelics in several books and articles.

Additional participants TBA