We embed external objects with information beyond that which we consciously process, but that we process nontheless.
This idea can easily be accessed even by the pure materialist: The brain processes more information than one is consciously aware of. Bodily functions and all that body language encompasses can be comprehended therein.
Admitting that the mind has the potential to decode, calculate and predict phenomena from unconscious inputs, it is very easy to understand what many loosely call "energy". The term I came to utilize is charge.
Psychological charge describes data-dense, information-rich places, and objects:
Objects
Craft is one great example of imbuing psychological charge in an object. That is, embedding additional high-complexity information onto it.1
The concentration of multiple charged objects in a given space can create a charged space, well known to human experience, for these are environments that, upon entering, one immediately feels a certain energy(more below).
Understanding this 'energy' as psychological charge can bridge the gap between the material and the spiritual. It could also be translated as ‘spiritual’ charge.
Example:
OOPs or Objects of Power in Remedy Entertainment's CONTROL are a perfect example, for these objects are by definition carriers of power in the literal sense, say a telephone or a revolver yet in addition possess qualities the user attributes to the objects that are purely psychological and which result in a 'response' from the objects themselves.
Control takes that a step further, imagining these manifestations as immediately real, so for example a movie projector (used for creating a window on the wall to a movie) becomes a literal portal to other realities.
Here's one definition according to in-game texts:
Objects of Power are archetypal objects that have been acted upon by the collective unconscious.
The stigmas and cultural associations that humanity attaches to objects can result in those items manifesting special powers.
The game takes the idea to the max:
What if a place or an item was in fact so heavily charged, it manifested physical effects on the world?
On a certain level of analysis, this already happens. A telephone does connect you with another person miles away, a picture can produce immense fear. The player of a Stradivarius might be possessed by the spirit of the instrument, and perform with unexplainable ability. But in Control these effects are so powerful they manifest literal, 'magical' powers, directly affecting the physical world around us.
We are at the border of what is physical and what is psychological.
Isn't the very act of lifting an arm at will an example of Telekinesis?
What defines the border between normal causality and magical influence?
Places
The haunted house archetype. The Shinning’s Overlook Hotel was supposedly built over a native american cemetery, where many people were massacred on site. The hotel is a liminal zone between the material and psychological realities.
The idea is that when entering a room where a certain human activity has taken place, the subtle marks, even if hidden or washed away, might still be recognized and calculated unconsciously. Small marks on the walls, the scent, the arranging of the objects, etc.
This is of course an argument for integrity: if we are naturally unable to control body language and small decision-making that we judge irrelevant, but that can nevertheless be recognized by others, even if at a sub-conscious level, then there's no incentive to lie. Even the most convincing deceit will in the end be recognized at a deep psychological level, and in the long run, it just won't pay off.
Charged spaces can also be cities. Any given city produces an influence on its inhabitants. Architecture, urban planning, hygiene, air composition, and temperature are obvious agents of control.
It can be argued that accessing these data-processing capabilities concedes immense power.
Indeed, in Twin Peaks, Special Agent Dale Cooper performs such an act, where lets his 'right hemisphere' guide a rock throw after hearing the names from the list of suspects (hitting the target after hearing the name of Leo Johnson).
In Twin Peaks there are many examples of similar imagery, where characters search for knowledge in dreams and intuition.
In Watchmen, Adrian Veidt watches (watchmen?) many news TV channels simultaneously, supposedly increasing his unconscious, therefore intuitive decision-making and granting him prophetic powers on events in the near future.
Clearly, Remedy Entertainment, Alan Moore, David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick were heavily inspired by Jung.
The Collective Unconscious can thus be understood through the lens of information processing and transmission at a sub-conscious level, on a societal scale, through long periods of time.
If the small trends can be grasped here by Adrian Veidt, then the global long-term developments are embedded in large-scale society, from individual dreams (Jung dreamed of the Great War before it happened) to the symbolism of historical events, technological innovation, and the aesthetics of the arts.
Man-made, as opposed to naturally-occurring phenomena. Hand-made is even more complex than digital.