Jung, 2/27, Period 4

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

Students looking for Miss Calendar may be disappointed, as a tall, pale man seems to have taken her place for the day. He springs into action as the students gather. The professor might appear slightly amused by his subject matter, but it's only visible in the tilt of his eyebrows.

"Hello. I am Dream. Miss Calendar has invited me to direct your lesson today on Carl Jung's theories about dream interpretation.

Jung believed dreams are communications from the unconscious; in particular, he said, they serve to express aspects of the individual that are suppressed or neglected. This idea of compensation, of the natural tendency for the conflicting conscious and unconscious to approach a balance, is the basis of Jung's overall theory of psychological self-regulation. In short, dreams, to Jung, are no more or less than the unconscious’ spontaneous portrayal of the situation therein – a sort of signal fire to alert the dreamer’s conscious minds.

Because of this, Jung believed interpreting dreams in isolation was futile. He wrote, "If we want to interpret a dream correctly, we need a thorough knowledge of the conscious situation at that moment, because the dream contains its unconscious complement ... Without this knowledge it is impossible to interpret a dream correctly, except by a lucky fluke."

He also wrote, "Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analyzing a dream ... I leave theory aside as much as possible when analyzing dreams-not entirely, of course, for we always need some theory to make things intelligible. It is on the basis of theory, for instance, that I expect dreams to have a meaning. I cannot prove in every case that this is so, for there are dreams which the doctor and the patient simply do not understand. But I have to make such an hypothesis in order to find courage to deal with dreams at all."

In the end, this means that, simply, Jung believed the proper interpretation of dreams relied more upon the lives and thoughts of the dreamer, than upon any regular and universal "symbolism." As such, your best tools to use when interpreting a Dream are a keen imagination, and a thorough knowledge of the dreamer.

"In class today, I would like for each of you to offer one example of a recurring symbol you noticed while keeping your dream journals. We will then discuss what this symbol might mean in a Jungian context."

Dream has two handouts offering more information on Jung’s views.

Comments

Re: Discussion - Today's Topic: Dreams & Dream Interpretation

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

Dream considered this. He was vaguely aware that Professor Gilmore-Danes was with child; it made sense the child would already be in the Dreaming, if only as a figment. "Thank you, Miss Gilmore. That helps to show how even a simple image, like light, may have different meanings."