Hi everyone,

I'm invisible in this dream, and working at a law firm or a university. My invisibility is some kind of affliction or deficiency, and I'm wearing flesh-colored makeup and lots of clothing to conceal the affliction. There are many floors and escalators that allow passage in the law firm/university; it's a very large place, and may include other businesses.

There's some kind of event that's about to take place; my director and I are chatting casually about it, and he instructs me to report back to him about it.

Someone tells me that I have a flaw on my forehead that I need to take care of, and I set about doing that before planning to attend the event I'm supposed to report on.

The scene changes, and now I'm repairing the uncovered area on my forehead, in a semi-private area, and I tell someone nameless who is dear to me that if she cared for me truly, then I wouldn't worry about the invisibility, but she offers no reply. And I feel some urgency about concealing my invisbility from others.

As I'm walking, perhaps to the event I mentioned, a woman runs into me from behind and her right cheek touches my left cheek and neck. It's a gentle collision; in some sense it's an embrace between us, as her arms go around me to minimize any impact, though we don't speak and I sense that she feels awkward for bumping into me. And I have a sense that she was in a hurry and collided with me because I wasn't walking fast enough. Now I have to reverse direction to go to the men's room to repair the new smudge, but I had just arrived at the director's office when this happens, and he looks up and sees me as I turn around. I realize I'm not going to able to attend the event he and I spoke about, but I don't have a strong sense that he notices anything unusual about my appearance; just that he looks up and recognizes me.

As I approach the men's room, which is on the right, I see a number of people sitting on the floor, also on the right, before the men's room entrance. The area looks more like a restroom area at an airport than a law firm or university.

A black woman who is seated with the others looks up at me, directly into my eyes, and I realize she's the person who ran into me from behind, although that was a white woman. I can't read her expression but there is depth in her eyes. Then I awaken.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 44, Tennessee

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? No

Kim,
An interesting dream. One that requires a clearer mind to give a good interpretation. Let me look at it in the morning and perhaps I will be able to give a coherent response.

I sense you have a strong extroverted personality. is that true?

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 58 Murfreesboro, Tn. {Nashville}

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Hi Gerard,

Please take your time! Actually I'm INFP, but I taught IT classes to adults for ten years, and I'm right at the midpoint in. re. introversion/extraversion.

I don't want to bias your interpretation, but I perhaps I should tell you that one of the phrases I've heard Joseph Campbell use, "transparent to transcendence" has had a strong influence on my theology (well, Campbell himself has been a big influence). Maybe "transparent" is just as good a description of my dream as "invisible."

I'll run on too much if I keep on but I appreciate your help!

Thanks,
Kim

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 44

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Tennessee

Kim,
In other words you have that extrovert personality that becomes introverted under certain situations? I once had a conversation where I was asked what type I was {extrovert/introvert} and my response was 'I am now both'. My extroverted personality has integrated with an introverted self, being a true extrovert yet desiring to participate more in an introverted existence. She {the person whom I had the conversation} thought I was crazy. But she had no knowledge of Joseph Campbell {transparent to transcendence} and little notice of Carl Jung {Individuation Process} even though she supposedly was studying psychology {business psyche, of lesser knowledge}

From my own experiences I believe the integration of the personality through Jung's Individuation Process can lead a person to a balance of yin and yang {depending on the person and their disciplines of course}. But my life started out living an introverted existence {as a child into late teens} due to circumstances beyond my control. When I discovered my true self {personality wise} I thrived. Now at the end of the mid-life cycle I am once again living more of an introverted lifestyle {even though my personality remains extroveted, of course}. I have control over my existence, having to still serve the social role that once controlled me but now thriving more in the creative Self {my creative Self and true Self through Myths-Dreams-Symbols and dream interpretation}. The lines between the two have become almost 'invisible'. Is that similar to your life?

As to your dream. The first parts seem to be addressing your integration. True integration will make you invisible to 'self'. The ego submits to the higher Self and the lines become blurred as to personality and ego centered existence {death and resurrection of ego to the Self}. The deficiency is achieving the balance desired in life. The affliction may be not achieving just the right balance. Often that is because of the social requirements {slaying the dragons}. You have to live in a world that masks your true identity. Perhaps the flaw is 'thinking' too much {forehead}. The 'she' could represent the creative/spiritual aspect, that which the ego must submit before true balance can be attained. In other words your life is still 'a work in progress' {welcome to the team}.

The next parts of the dream {beginning with 'As I am walking'} seems to be addressing that conflict of integration. Perhaps by looking at the 'he' as the outer 'self' and the 'she' as your inner Self, there will be more clarity to the associations to your waking life and the dream.

Then there is the black woman. This is the 'depths' of the psyche. The transformation is almost complete. By staying the course {the hero cycle} you will realize those depths and become wholly integrated. You will become invisible as far as to ego and transparent as to the Self. At least that was my route {with the final conversion beginning with a dream of a black woman}. Both Campbell and Jung addressed the 'black' woman in dreams and it actually came true in my dreams, and my integration and individuation.

I await your response.

By the way. What part of Tennessee are you located?

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 58 Murfreesboro, Tn. {Nashville}

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Hi Gerard,

Thanks for your thoughts. I was definitely an introverted nomad ( = air force brat) during my childhood, and began to reach a balance only (much!) later in life, after I encountered Campbell and Jung.

I hope I'm moving toward an integrated personality, but if so it's certainly been difficult in terms of relating with others who aren't interested in walking that path, and whose assumptions about life and reality are fundamentally different from mine.

And if I'm not moving toward an integrated personality, but just think I am, then (whoa, bunch of disturbing thoughts) ... well, sometimes I console myself with the thought that the hero is often suffering from boredom and neurosis, which certainly applies in my case! ;-)

But in praise of emptiness: How do you get to know a person? In part by "being empty" yourself, so they'll have a space to share themselves with you. But if they don't reciprocate, then it's hard not to feel invisible, known by none, etc.

So I suspect that part of my dream has to with the pain of "being-with-others" while walking the path of individuation. I try hard to blend well with other people, but that often involves not sharing thoughts with them that I think they won't accept (based on my early and awkward attempts to do exactly that!). ;-)

I surely don't want to throw my journey up in anyone else's face; we all have our own journeys, even if we don't think about them in the same way. And I work in IT, where everything's either a zero or a one, and in the "Bible Belt," where even very bright people often think about the deep issues of life in a formulaic way that seems misinformed to me. I live in Nashville by the way, and Knoxville before that.

Hey, I really like your suggestion of considering the feminine aspect as inner self, and I think the idea of the black woman as part of the individuation process is fascinating. I've never heard about that before, but I haven't read all of Jung's or Campbell's writing either. Do you happen to recall where they mention it? I also thought it was signficant that the same woman who was white "became" the black woman during the course of the dream; it felt like something was unfolding for me there. I didn't mention this in my earlier post, but as we looked at each other her body seemed to recede so that only her face remained at the end, at the moment when I woke up.

And it may not be a universal rule, but one thing I like to consider when interpreting a dream is what's happening during the moment when I awaken from it.

Sometimes it seems that unconscious psyche is telling me, "This is the symbol that can awaken you to what I'm trying to convey." Does that make sense? Either way, her face was definitely the last thing I saw before waking.

I've had a couple of very busy days since posting my dream, and I'm sure this is a sketchy post but I'm going to have to send it as-is b/c I'm about to become immersed in another wave of urgent assignments. Thanks again for your insights; it's easy to see that you'e a very gifted man!

Kim

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 44, Tennessee

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? No

Kim,
I wish I could remember the exact source that led to the black woman in my dream. I know it was an important dream and came in a transformation phase in my life. It may have come from one of Joseph Campbell's interviews with Michael Toms and the series of interviews The Wisdom of Joseph Campbell. Or it could have come from is book The Masks of God: Creative Mythology.
I spent thousands of hours studying all that I could get my hands on involving Campbell {and eventually Jung}. It has been some 10 years since I had my dream but it was a 'big' dream. It wasn't long afterwards that I started to learn web design {self taught} and the birth of Myths-Dreams-Symbols in 1998.


I do remember it was in association with the mythical Hindu goddess Kali described by Campbell as black death. Kali is a goddess of death but she represents the death of the ego as the illusory self-centered view of reality. I was at the mid-point of my journey and at a time when I was beginning to cast off the chains of ego, social duty and materialism. It was a defining moment that led to the discovery of my creative Self {which is Myths-Dreams-Symbols}.

What struck me as important about the inclusion of the black woman in your dream {other than she was in it} was the part there is depth in her eyes. Invisibility can only be attained by the death of the ego and your dream addresses the different levels of your psyche {There are many floors and escalators that allow passage in the law firm/university}. It is in the discovery and recognition of the feminine {It's a gentle collision; in some sense it's an embrace between us} that the true Self is born and the ego is annihilated {death and resurrection}. The inclusion of a black woman, going to the depths of the psyche, suggests you are at a threshold of realization which would make the ego invisible. Perhaps that is why you stated in your response her face was definitely the last thing I saw before waking. The last impression of a dream is often most important {as is the waking emotions}.

"This is the symbol that can awaken you to what I'm trying to convey."

That sounds as if there is a transformation taking place.

---

While on the subject of Eastern philosophies. Campbell referenced the Sanskrit concept of "Sat Chit Ananda". Sat (Being) Chit (Full Consciousness) Ananda (Rapture).
"I don't know whether my consciousness is full consciousness or not, and I don't know if my being is full being or not, so let me hang onto my rapture and that will bring me to both."
Campbell suggests that rapture is attained by 'following your bliss.' My bliss is MDS and dreams. Perhaps if you look to your creative Self you will find your 'rapture' and bliss.

Creativity is a feminine aspect of the psyche. as is spirituality {religion is masculine}.

And finally. Being a native Nashvillian and seeking a new spiritual avenue after discovering Joseph Campbell I began attending 2 different churches. One was the Unitarian/Universalist church on Woodmont Blvd. The other was First Unity on Franklin Rd. Are you familiar with either? Both are great places to realize true spirituality. Although I have moved on {when I need spiritual nourishment I find a water falls or I go to the woods} I can recommend either or both. Many talented people at both with songwriters being a large section of those who attend. They do not exclude anyone and do not force any doctrine.

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 58 Murfreesboro, Tn. {Nashville}

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Let me correct a statement in my last post. Instead of thousands of hours I should have said hundreds. Included in those times was many, many hours of listening to audio books by Campbell, Jung, and others. Noteworthy of those others was Marion Woodman and her audio book Dreams: Language of the Soul.

I find as much wisdom if not more 'knowledge' in the works of women authors as I do men. Other influencial women whom I found to be most enlightening were Jean Houston and Elaine Pagels.

The feminine is most powerful. Kali is a prime example.

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 58 Murfreesboro, Tn. {Nashville}

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Gerard,

Thanks again for your insightful comments. I've bought Masks of God after reading your last post, and I'm going to look into the women you mentioned too. I've read excerpts by Pagels and Woodman in other books and been very impressed by their insights.

I've just been looking around your web site too. It is amazing! I don't think there is anything like it on the web. Thanks for all you do.

Best Regards,
Kim

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 44, Tennessee

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? No