obyvatel
The Living Force
I have been recently reading Robert Johnson's "Inner Work" which basically deals with the interpretation of dreams from a Jungian standpoint. I would like to share a few key points that he brings out in the book which could help in the general process of dream interpretations. The material here does not have much to do with the so-called "lucid dreaming" but pertains to dreams which come from the unconscious when a person is asleep.
Johnson outlines four essential steps for studying dreams.
1) Making associations from dream images : Every dream is a series of images and our goal is to discover the meaning these images carry for us. This is essentially about the personal significance of the dream image. The same image can evoke different associations or reactions from different people - hence it becomes difficult to interpret dreams of others or picking up a book of symbols to directly read off what an image is supposed to mean. He says that no dream symbol can be separated from the individual who dreams it.
Jonson suggests writing down what comes to mind relating to a dream image - however inconsequential or unrelated it may seem. Dream images are mostly generated from the unconscious where the narrow limits of causality of the ego consciousness does not hold true.
One thing to avoid is to have chain associations - like if image A leads to B and then B leads to C and C leads to D - then the original significance of the starting image A can get diluted. The image Johnson uses to convey what is the preferred method is that of a wheel with the dream image A is at the center and the associations proceeding from it are radiating outward from that center. In other words, always come back to the original dream image being studied and proceed with associations from there.
Once one has a list of associations, one proceeds to see which associations fit in the overall picture of the dream. Johnson recommends using a method to see which association generates the maximum energy inside - that is the one which "clicks" and is taken as the one that fits. His point is that since dreams are composed of energy, to find the essence of a dream image one needs to follow the energy - or "go where is the energy is" - the association that brings up a surge of energy.
Another aspect of dream associations is archetypes. Dreams involving archetypal figures are usually different. Instead of scenes from regular life, one is transported to a magical or ancient place where there could talking animals, larger than life objects and actors etc. If a particular dream figure is recognized to have archetypal qualities, the next step is to go to myths or sources where the same archetype appears.
2) Connecting dream images to inner dynamics : In this step, one looks for parts of the inner selves that the dream images represent. Jungian dream analysis proceeds from the view that characters in a dream, even if they are known to the dreamer in the real world, most often represent certain parts of the dreamer's inner self. The unconscious often borrows images from an external situation and use these to symbolize something going on inside the dreamer. Husband/wife/partner in a dream could thus represent the anima/animus for example rather than the physical person. There are exceptions to this general rule where some dreams, occurring infrequently, could be directed towards things outside of the dreamer. Premonitory dreams of battles, disasters etc fall in this category. Most likely, these are instances when the collective unconscious - rather than the personal unconscious - speaks through the dream images, though Johnson does not delve further into this area.
It would also seem logical that as a person matures on his/her life path on their journey towards individuation, the individual unconscious gradually undergoes more and more illumination as previously isolated areas of the psyche are integrated into the expanding consciousness. Then, perhaps dreams of a more universal character coming from the collective unconscious can more readily find their way into the forefront.
Coming back to the subject of connecting dream images to inner dynamics, each dream image can be taken and through inquiry and analysis, one can find out which part of the psyche the image represents and how it functions and expresses in conscious life. Many time strong images appearing in dreams could be parts of the psyche which are denied conscious expression in life. The degree to which the conscious ego has taken up an extreme position not in keeping with a person's true self matches the exaggerated compensatory image that arise from the unconscious in the dream. A put-up face of glorious idealism and asceticism could be compensated by a ravenously materialistic image in the unconscious. So the question to be asked is "What goes on inside me that this dream speaks of?" And one must try to find the specific inner event that corresponds to the dream image.
3. Interpreting the dream : This is the end result of the work put into the previous two steps. The interpretation ties together all the meanings discerned into a unified coherent picture. At this stage, questions to be asked are "What is the central message that the dream is trying to communicate? What is the dream's overall meaning in the personal life?"
Writing down various interpretations in paper and following the previously mentioned method of evaluating the energy associated to decide "what clicks" helps in consolidating the interpretation. Johnson provides some more guidance towards making the choice between different possible interpretations.
a) Choose the interpretation that shows you something that you did not know rather than confirming ingrained opinions and prejudices. This makes sense if the main purpose of the dream is to communicate something that the dreamer is not consciously aware of. If however, the message of a dream is not understood, the same dream or motif can come up repeatedly until the issue is resolved.
b) Avoid interpretations which are self-congratulatory or lead to ego inflation. Dreams are about showing what an individual needs to learn or resolve - so inflatory interpretations are not very likely to be correct.
c) Avoid interpretations that shift responsibility away from the self. Blaming other people is not the likely purpose of a dream - rather it is the need to become conscious of things going on in external life in the context of other people having an effect on the self.
4) A conscious symbolic action or ritual : This step requires a physical act that affirms the message of the dream - it is the physical representation of the change in inner attitude that the dream had been calling for. Small, subtle actions often have much more power than extravagant and elaborate ones in this regard.
Johnson says that ritual and ceremony in general are ways of using small symbolic acts to set up a connection between the conscious mind and the unconscious. Rituals provide us a way of taking principles from the unconscious and impressing them vividly on the conscious mind. But rituals also have an effect on the unconscious. A highly conscious ritual sends a powerful message back to the unconscious, causing changes to take place at a deeper level where our attitudes and values originate.
The key point in the use of "ritual" here is that this is a conscious symbolic action which an individual comes up with rather than mechanically following a set of steps which somebody else has prescribed.
The importance of this step is immense. Johnson talks about Toni Wolffe, a colleague of Carl Jung who was a "holy terror" as far as doing something concrete with a dream is concerned. She would meet her patients at the door, and even before they got to the chair, she would demand what they had done about the dream from last week. If the patient had done something specific, concrete and physical, he was safe from her wrath. But if they could not answer the question to Wolffe's satisfaction, she would turn them around and steer them out of the door saying "come back when you mean business.". Wolffe's idea was that dreams existed as an abstraction in people's heads while the rest of the body was not even aware of what was going on and one needed to notify the rest of the body of what came out of the dream. She said "People can analyze for 20 years, and nothing below the neck is aware that anything is going on. You have to do something about it. Do something with your muscles."
Johnson writes that to really register the meaning of a dream, the body, the feelings and the intellect have to be simultaneously involved so that the ideas and images from the dreams enter into the emotions, muscles and cells of the body . It is interesting that Jungian analysts - most likely unaware of Gurdjieff's 4th Way material - came up with the exact same conclusion as far as effecting real change in the psyche is concerned.
To reiterate, this fourth step in dream work does not consist of dramatically confronting people one is angry with, breaking up relationships or doing destructive things. It does not consist of trying to straighten things out with a lot of talk. It should be a personal physical ritual that affirms one's own responsibility for the dream and the issue that the dream portrays.
Johnson outlines four essential steps for studying dreams.
1) Making associations from dream images : Every dream is a series of images and our goal is to discover the meaning these images carry for us. This is essentially about the personal significance of the dream image. The same image can evoke different associations or reactions from different people - hence it becomes difficult to interpret dreams of others or picking up a book of symbols to directly read off what an image is supposed to mean. He says that no dream symbol can be separated from the individual who dreams it.
Jonson suggests writing down what comes to mind relating to a dream image - however inconsequential or unrelated it may seem. Dream images are mostly generated from the unconscious where the narrow limits of causality of the ego consciousness does not hold true.
One thing to avoid is to have chain associations - like if image A leads to B and then B leads to C and C leads to D - then the original significance of the starting image A can get diluted. The image Johnson uses to convey what is the preferred method is that of a wheel with the dream image A is at the center and the associations proceeding from it are radiating outward from that center. In other words, always come back to the original dream image being studied and proceed with associations from there.
Once one has a list of associations, one proceeds to see which associations fit in the overall picture of the dream. Johnson recommends using a method to see which association generates the maximum energy inside - that is the one which "clicks" and is taken as the one that fits. His point is that since dreams are composed of energy, to find the essence of a dream image one needs to follow the energy - or "go where is the energy is" - the association that brings up a surge of energy.
Another aspect of dream associations is archetypes. Dreams involving archetypal figures are usually different. Instead of scenes from regular life, one is transported to a magical or ancient place where there could talking animals, larger than life objects and actors etc. If a particular dream figure is recognized to have archetypal qualities, the next step is to go to myths or sources where the same archetype appears.
2) Connecting dream images to inner dynamics : In this step, one looks for parts of the inner selves that the dream images represent. Jungian dream analysis proceeds from the view that characters in a dream, even if they are known to the dreamer in the real world, most often represent certain parts of the dreamer's inner self. The unconscious often borrows images from an external situation and use these to symbolize something going on inside the dreamer. Husband/wife/partner in a dream could thus represent the anima/animus for example rather than the physical person. There are exceptions to this general rule where some dreams, occurring infrequently, could be directed towards things outside of the dreamer. Premonitory dreams of battles, disasters etc fall in this category. Most likely, these are instances when the collective unconscious - rather than the personal unconscious - speaks through the dream images, though Johnson does not delve further into this area.
It would also seem logical that as a person matures on his/her life path on their journey towards individuation, the individual unconscious gradually undergoes more and more illumination as previously isolated areas of the psyche are integrated into the expanding consciousness. Then, perhaps dreams of a more universal character coming from the collective unconscious can more readily find their way into the forefront.
Coming back to the subject of connecting dream images to inner dynamics, each dream image can be taken and through inquiry and analysis, one can find out which part of the psyche the image represents and how it functions and expresses in conscious life. Many time strong images appearing in dreams could be parts of the psyche which are denied conscious expression in life. The degree to which the conscious ego has taken up an extreme position not in keeping with a person's true self matches the exaggerated compensatory image that arise from the unconscious in the dream. A put-up face of glorious idealism and asceticism could be compensated by a ravenously materialistic image in the unconscious. So the question to be asked is "What goes on inside me that this dream speaks of?" And one must try to find the specific inner event that corresponds to the dream image.
3. Interpreting the dream : This is the end result of the work put into the previous two steps. The interpretation ties together all the meanings discerned into a unified coherent picture. At this stage, questions to be asked are "What is the central message that the dream is trying to communicate? What is the dream's overall meaning in the personal life?"
Writing down various interpretations in paper and following the previously mentioned method of evaluating the energy associated to decide "what clicks" helps in consolidating the interpretation. Johnson provides some more guidance towards making the choice between different possible interpretations.
a) Choose the interpretation that shows you something that you did not know rather than confirming ingrained opinions and prejudices. This makes sense if the main purpose of the dream is to communicate something that the dreamer is not consciously aware of. If however, the message of a dream is not understood, the same dream or motif can come up repeatedly until the issue is resolved.
b) Avoid interpretations which are self-congratulatory or lead to ego inflation. Dreams are about showing what an individual needs to learn or resolve - so inflatory interpretations are not very likely to be correct.
c) Avoid interpretations that shift responsibility away from the self. Blaming other people is not the likely purpose of a dream - rather it is the need to become conscious of things going on in external life in the context of other people having an effect on the self.
4) A conscious symbolic action or ritual : This step requires a physical act that affirms the message of the dream - it is the physical representation of the change in inner attitude that the dream had been calling for. Small, subtle actions often have much more power than extravagant and elaborate ones in this regard.
Johnson says that ritual and ceremony in general are ways of using small symbolic acts to set up a connection between the conscious mind and the unconscious. Rituals provide us a way of taking principles from the unconscious and impressing them vividly on the conscious mind. But rituals also have an effect on the unconscious. A highly conscious ritual sends a powerful message back to the unconscious, causing changes to take place at a deeper level where our attitudes and values originate.
The key point in the use of "ritual" here is that this is a conscious symbolic action which an individual comes up with rather than mechanically following a set of steps which somebody else has prescribed.
The importance of this step is immense. Johnson talks about Toni Wolffe, a colleague of Carl Jung who was a "holy terror" as far as doing something concrete with a dream is concerned. She would meet her patients at the door, and even before they got to the chair, she would demand what they had done about the dream from last week. If the patient had done something specific, concrete and physical, he was safe from her wrath. But if they could not answer the question to Wolffe's satisfaction, she would turn them around and steer them out of the door saying "come back when you mean business.". Wolffe's idea was that dreams existed as an abstraction in people's heads while the rest of the body was not even aware of what was going on and one needed to notify the rest of the body of what came out of the dream. She said "People can analyze for 20 years, and nothing below the neck is aware that anything is going on. You have to do something about it. Do something with your muscles."
Johnson writes that to really register the meaning of a dream, the body, the feelings and the intellect have to be simultaneously involved so that the ideas and images from the dreams enter into the emotions, muscles and cells of the body . It is interesting that Jungian analysts - most likely unaware of Gurdjieff's 4th Way material - came up with the exact same conclusion as far as effecting real change in the psyche is concerned.
To reiterate, this fourth step in dream work does not consist of dramatically confronting people one is angry with, breaking up relationships or doing destructive things. It does not consist of trying to straighten things out with a lot of talk. It should be a personal physical ritual that affirms one's own responsibility for the dream and the issue that the dream portrays.
