Like a pebble across a pond, we may skip the surface of our real emotions, seeking distraction after distraction before the momentum runs out and we are forced to experience the depths of our reality.

If we remain unaware of what lies underneath - our values, needs, and the empty places within - we may set ourselves for a fall in a shame-based consumer culture that would exploit our pain and sense of lack for profit. When our sense of self-worth (or very identity) is based on externals, it can feel like living in a game of Snakes & Ladders, up one minute, and down the next, trying to feed an inner need through superficial means.

But over the long term, we may find that the aspect of us that needed our deeper attention, ignored for too long, has become an insatiable demon or hungry ghost. It is these inner demons and ghosts that we really fear (essentially, ourselves) - the parts of us that are hidden, lost, or locked up in our own psyches.

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For better or worse, our subconscious can be a powerful force that affects our lives. It can be a wellspring of creative energy and collective wisdom, but more often than not, many of us treat this part of our minds like the realm of Hades or Hell, as something to avoid (even as we build our homes over it and live off the fumes, mostly unaware of how our bodies, perspectives, and behaviours are affected by it.)

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