{"id":151502,"date":"2011-03-15T16:24:43","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T14:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/espirited.com\/david-gordon-the-ten-lessons-of-awareness\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T11:32:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T09:32:28","slug":"david-gordon-the-ten-lessons-of-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/espirited.com\/en\/david-gordon-the-ten-lessons-of-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"David Gordon: The Ten Lessons of Awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to David Gordon, a Jungian analyst and author of the book Mindful Dreaming<\/a>, in order to interpret dreams we need to know the map of our inner journey. These are the different challenges of awareness that arise at different stages of our inner journey<\/a>\u2014the so-called Calling, Journey, Enlightenment, and Return. What we become aware of are the different values or strategies for gratification of the Self: the first five pertain to the values of the Ego, while the second five pertain to the values of the Soul. When we are clear about the difference in the strategies for attaining satisfaction from the perspective of these two aspects of our Self\u2014the earthly part and the immortal part\u2014we gain invaluable bearings for moving through the processes of transformation involved in shifting from ego-dominated thinking\/values to soul-dominated consciousness\/values.<\/p>\n

The first five steps, or strategies for attaining gratification on the level of the ego, are in essence different kinds of defense mechanisms that protect us from change and from becoming aware of the painful aspects of life. They are:<\/p>\n