The Importance Of Dreams
by Stephen Flynn
With reference to the wider context of Jungian Psychology.
Introduction
We all have an attitude to dreaming. Most of us think its working out yesterdays
rubbish and except for the odd one; they have no relevance to everyday life. A few people
look to the dream for guidance and some people think they are sacred and should not be
meddled with.
So what would be a useful attitude to the dream, and how can we understand them, let alone
find them useful?
Carl G. Jung studied the psyche all his life and wrote over 20 volumes. He was both a
psychiatrist and a philosopher. There are numerous ways the unconscious emerges from the
depth not just through dreams.
Sometimes eruptions can show themselves as panic attacks or even worse being
traumatised and none of us are exempt. Other times we can experience the unknown almost
like a vision where All Saints reside. Where do those qualities such as beauty, song, play and
love come from? Let’s agree there is a whole world within us which we can call the
Unknown. But the unknown is a mixed bag of tricks too:
The Unknown.
You’re always there
to enjoy or fear
you’re still there
if I don’t care.
you always remain
beyond my grasp
where I end you begin
ever evasive to the last.
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So dreams have warnings, angels, miraculous feelings, wonderment, resurrection of
the dead etc, all during the unconscious state of sleep, intervals occur, called ‘dreams,’ which
contain scenes (of) the motifs of mythology.
Simply speaking nightmares warn and visions encourage.
Other ways of interpreting the dream
The Old Faith
The old faith in the western world now referred to as pagan or witchcraft offers the use of
symbol as direct interpretation. For some, the dream is sacred and must not be touched, quite
a contrast from the attitude above. So the sea becomes feelings, forests represent thinking
and a fish represents good fortune. There are whole ‘Dream Books’ devoted to this approach,
and indeed there is truth to be found for the dreamer. But alas the language of the dream does
not end there.
What other ways are there to help understand the dream?
P.W. Martin (2*) categories the dream more succinctly than I could:
There are three principal methods of interpreting the dream images.
1 There is the old wives method ‘If you dream of a cat, it means that someone is coming to
tea who will tell you interesting news’ ........
2. There is the a priori method, which starts with an established theory as to the nature of
dreams, and deduces from that what the images represent.......
3. There remains the empirical method, which starts with the data, argues from the facts. It
says, in effect if there is any reason in dreams at all, there is presumably some reason
why....In brief, what is the mental context of the dreamer?
You could say that dream interpretation taking the ‘Old Faith’ approach has now become
superstition.
So why might dreams important?
We all have no problem accepting that good health of the body is dependent on the
immune systems ability to fight off infection.
So, What if the mind, the psyche, has its own immune system? A kind of re-balancing
should the Ego, or day time behaviour start toward dangerous or unacceptable behaviour or
dangerous situations are developing. This mental immune system starts to worn you. In other
words the dream could also be an attempt to warn you, give you cop-on as it were.
‘What is important,’ Jung says, ‘is what is made of these instinctual impulses.’ Later he
states that ‘...the unconscious processes are compensatory to a definite conscious situation.’
*1a (ibid)
I suggest the dream is used almost like a see-saw, to prevent unbalance.
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I will move on to a more detailed explanation of Jung’s approach and attitude to the dream.
The Notion of Compensation.
The notion of ‘compensation’ in dreams (the immune system of the mind) is a
recurring theme in Jungian psychology and is central to its interpretation. By compensation
Jung means ‘balancing, adjusting, supplementing.’ It is worth labouring this somewhat
more as it is so crucial to Jung’s understanding of dream interpretation. He states if,
however, the Ego becomes 'one sided' in its selection of external stimuli then the
unconscious contents builds up an equally antagonistic stance.
Jung comments that usually ‘the compensation does not run counter to consciousness’
although a counter function in extreme cases, can develop.’ *2.a
Basically, compensation is about adaptation, although there are exceptions, Most of
us take our physically health seriously but little attention is given to the most sophisticated
organ in the body by far- the mind or psyche.
So lets be more constructive in our attitude and embrace a more useful attitude to the mind.
What if we start to write down dreams in a diary and write down, record (dreams)
systematically in a special book kept for that purpose ....To do one’s best to analyse (dreams)
and get at their meaning ...To realise ...the vital forces at work in the other side of
consciousness.....
The dream is about process, about transformation, about overcoming and about
moving on towards integration of the numerous psychic forces. (Just as Religion is
incidentally.)
Jungian Dream Analysis
See the dream as a welcome assistant in bringing memories, insights and experience to the
fore. IT IS TRYING TO HELP YOU COP-ON! The dream should be seen as offering new
points of view and ways of ‘getting over the dreaded situations of one sidedness, by offering
deeper insight and experience. So serious work on dream includes a serious approach.
Understanding your own dreams need not be the stuff of psychology or therapy.
There are four methods available in a ‘Constructive way forward’
1. The dreamers own amplifications (going into the history etc, not associations.)
2. The gathering of many dreams so the meaning behind one image might carry over and
appear within a different image in other dreams.
3. The mythical background of an image is very important.
4. The naive interpretation. Like in the fairy tale: ‘The Emporia’s New Cloths’
The whole of the dream belongs within the mind of the dreamer (so it is the Dreamer’s
image of the person in their dream and not that person him/herself..)
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Other tips I extracted from Jung’s Collective Works on dreams include:
1.
There are ‘little’ dreams and ‘big’ dreams.
1.1.
The distinction between them is that big dreams are significant dreams and therefore remembered
easily, sometimes for life. These dreams usually involve primal ancient images: They remain ‘hot’ as
it were.
2.
There are both common and personal events/images within the dream.
2.1.
The common bits (collective) lie deeper in the unconscious (beyond the immediate person or
problems) and contains the ‘big dream’ stuff, i.e., the myth and image common to everyone, which
will always have a profound affect on the dreamer.
3.
Deeper dreams are also about a typical situation, the collective feelings or universal problems
which may have been overlooked by the dreamer.
3.1.
The meaning for you ‘the dreamer’ needs time to emerge before realising its importance and even
mythical significance, but to do so without personal reference will be somewhat ‘out of context’ as it
were and you may miss the message.
It is you the Dreamers understanding of the dream that matters most, not anyone else’s. So do
amplify or expand and not just associate or you will only reach a near the surface approach and miss
the main message.
3.2.
4.
The age of the Patient is important. There are critical times in life, e.g., puberty, middle age
and within the sight of death for instance.
5.
Within the average dream itself there is generally a structure:
As follows:
5.1.
5.2
The first stage concerns the STATEMENT OF PLACE (a street or a hotel etc.)
The statements of TIME are rare apart from ‘day’ or ‘night’ although time may well include a
specific period in history, war time, long ago, futuristic etc.
5.3.
The statement is usually of the DREAMER themselves: (dream Ego) ‘I was walking etc”
5.4
Significant others; ‘goodies and baddies’ as it were.
5.5.
The second phase is the development of the PLOT. What’s the story line?
5.6.
The third phase is the CULMINATION where something decisive happens or something changes
completely.
5.7.
The last is the SOLUTION OR RESULT. The whole dream may leave the person in the Dream in a
dilemma.
This structure can be applied to most dreams and generally indicates that dreams have a dramatic
structure.
Things to look for include:
A.
Notice when in the dream you felt they were playing a part in the dream or you become the part in the dream
itself.
B.
C.
D.
Note if there are any friends or friendly animals in the dream.
What mood did the Dream leave you with upon awakening from the dream?
Initially ensure the dream itself is related in a pure form (write it down as it happened) before embanking on
any work.
(The above is based on interpretation via The Collective Works of C.G. Jung’s)
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An example of a dream:
I will offer an example of a ‘big’ dream I had myself some twenty years ago. I will refer to the above
method of analysis as follows;
Phase 1: STATEMENT OF PLACE:
I was in the basement of a bus depot or station where the road spiralled down into what looked like a dark
underground car park..
The only sense of TIME was that it was modern times and daylight above.
THE PROTAGONIST: was surrounded by young black Afro warriors all dressed in war paint with
spears, clubs etc,. I was taller than any one else there , white and older, and dressed in a whit e robe. I
could see my three sons, The two younger were in among the black tribe. They had oiled their skin and
looked every bit as black as the others who were Negroes. My oldest son stood half way up the winding
road. He half wanted to join me.
Phase 2:The development of the PLOT:
I tried to make contact with my younger sons but some irritating youth kept jumping up and down in front of
me, distracting my attention.
I took his club off him and ‘bopped’ him on the head. Not too hard, but just to express my frustration and
annoyance at his rather childish antiques.
Phase 3: CULMINATION:
While I was doing this the whole lot of them suddenly surged forward and ran passed me up the spiralling
road and out into the world, leaving me alone in the dark, now silent space.
The fourth phase of SOLUTION OR RESULT
I knew I could not follow. These were young men doing their thing, something like some hunting party. I
was too old and past it. Wrong kind of energy, kind of thing.
The Atmosphere upon awakening:
I woke up to the empty house, alone, and wept bitterly at my loss. My wife was away in England at the time
too.
The dream had brought home to me what I hadn’t noticed before. my pain, my loss. The boys were doing
their own thing over in England and I was happy for them. It was a time when my youngest had reached
manhood. My role as a father had ‘officially’ come to an end. and I hadn’t acknowledged it before. I had
been too delighted for them as they were all at college in England or doing
their own thing. I remember thinking at the time.
Some observations about my dream:
‘No one had warned me it would be painful to let them go!’
Some ‘Jungian’ observations
The feelings in the dream began to emerge as I thought about what had occurred.
This was a ‘big’ dream as I still remember it as if it were last night. The self is often represented as the city,
to explore the symbol of the City in more detail.) The pre Christian Celtic sign of the cross is also a symbol
of the city and also of the ‘self.’ (*see also ‘Essays on a Science of Mythology’ by CG Jung.)This involves
the terrain and layout as in every modern City there is the ‘bus depot.’ The underground of the bus depot, in
my city I concluded involved the unconscious part, the lower part, like the underworld of early Christianity
below in Rome. It was the birth of a new way of life in that city, perhaps this might be so for me in the Bus
‘Terminus’. It was the part of the city involving ‘transport.’ The end of one rout and the beginning of
another, ie., the part I chose to ignore with the conscious ego. So this ‘place’ is very important. The going
away from me, I had failed to notice.
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Another deep aspect of the dream is that these youths were black, in a gang and in a war party consistent
with African jungle surroundings but we are smack in the middle of a modern city! So there is a source of
serious conflict here. The unconscious is still undeveloped as one would expect, not caught up with modern
times. I hadn’t thought about it, therefore these youths remained undeveloped. Their primitive nature was
being observed by the dream ego which needed to act in a collective mindless group who ran to the light to
act out their primitive instincts. This emerging in the light will update their activities and change their
behaviour even as modern young people do now-a-days, acting out their basic desires in pop music , parties,
gigs and the buzz of campus life.
Consequently some of my base nature will be released, and thereby be able to transform.
The Use of Exaggeration in interpretation:
But in the mean time, in the dream I myself was ‘above’ such things. Taller and not dressed in the collective
image of the teen and twenties ‘gear.’ nor was I dressed in modern cloths suitable for an adult male in a
modern city, but rather dressed as a Greek in Athens might in robes, Thus the notion of ‘The wise old man.’
emerged for me, as I associate such dress with Aristotle or Plato. Here is a glimpse of an Archetype. This
might imply I was splitting from my feelings flying off into ‘high’ or pious thoughts and in life down in the
basement, experiencing basic primitive behaviour. No doubt, compensatory thinking for the Ego to indulge
in and thus separate me from the primitive black man. or behaviour which leads to deep feelings of loss that
I would rather not face in real life. It was naive on the natives part to think they could hunt through the city
streets above as well as incongruous for natives to go hunting from a bus depot, in a large city.
I had also been distracted in the dream by the stupid behaviour of one of their number which had prevented
me from communicating with my boys. It was almost a foil on their part to prevent real communication.
Perhaps young people don’t want ‘philosophical’ communication as it is inappropriate for the collective
pursuit of making it in the world and I had forgotten where young people are in life. Also perhaps I myself
was naive in my relationship with the annoying youthful vigour as to ‘forget’ to communicate.
The implications for me, the awake ego, reverberated somewhat: I couldn’t see my sons because of my own
prejudice.
However, I could see my sons were oiled to look like they were Negro
I could see they were only playing the part; but also they were indistinguishable from the native unless you
knew otherwise. At least I could see that they were only joining in.
I also saw how different I myself had become. ‘The wise old man’ discerning but unable to become
‘overwhelmed’ and immersed by such feelings as the young were.. Besides, I thought such behaviour would
have been inappropriate for me at my age etc,. and I remained ‘white’ clad in a white robe, taller and older.
They moved off quickly and I was powerless against their collective action.
I looked about; No one was left, except me.
For a moment I realised this was inevitable. They were doing their thing. I had been there, done that etc,. So
I retained my own dignity. But then the loss hit me.
The loss that contained the added guilt that my eldest son was not quite among the young tribe. He had
distanced himself initially and looked to me, but had gone off with them. He had offered his loyalty and I
had shunned it in my vain efforts to reach out to the younger ones. If only ...came in here.
I remained still and isolated. I woke in this contemplative state, still a bit shocked at the speed of events.
In the awake state, the pain I was left with was spontaneous and extreme leaving me ‘howling’ in an
empty house.
References:
*1a.
*1b.
*1c.
*2
*2a
*4
*1d
The Collected Works.C.G. Jung.,Vol' ‘9 pt 11. ‘Aion’ ‘81. paragraph 67.
ibid, paragraphs 315. to 320.
ibid paragraph 350/1.
P.W. Martin ‘Experiment in Depth ‘1956 pp38/42.
Vol ‘6 pt X1. ‘Psychological Types’C.G. Jung. ‘71 paragraphs 693 to 694
The Collected Works Vol 16. C.G. Jung. see The Psychology of the Transference
ibid paragraph 547 to 565.
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