www.powerofdreams.net
Dream Forum
[Since 2005]
Kristi,
I will respond to your last post Sunday. Came down with bad head cold and that is not good for thought processing. Too much effort in building cat enclosures, not as young as I used to be, pushed myself to the limits.
Jerry 
Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 69 Altoona, Fl
Kristi,
You have learned well the symbolic representations of the dream images. Anytime there is an unnamed or unknown person the application is most always of the dreamer's true emotional self. Named people can be both, symbolic and reflective of qualities the dreamer recognizes or sees within the person but can also as a literal application of a true experience. All images and actions are reflective of the emotional energies of the dreamer. I often get a dream where the dreamer sees a known person who is doing/has done something and immediately thinks it is about that person. To the contrary, it is about the relationship of that person to the dreamer. My dreams are about my emotional energies, your dreams about your emotional energies. Apply that to all that happens in a dream and the meaning quickly begins to show itself. Going inward is a purely psychological endeavor to discover the true self and all that underlies and supports the life that is now being lived.
Jung and Dreams
Dreams are the 'royal road' to the unconscious and whereas it takes a typical non-Jungian analyst months if not years to get to that deepest self, A Jungian dream analyst can get there within one dream {not the full scope but a good outline}. I have come to believe that it is nature's intent for dreams to be as they are. Symbolic images using metaphor because that is how early man communicated {Egyptian hieroglyphs being the best example}. And therapeutic to help resolve the emotional energies that are out of balance {nature's tool}. The body has the immune system, the psyche the dream.Jung tapped into this other world by realizing the images in dreams are often the same or similar to those in mythology {this is where Joseph Campbell played an important role in understanding that relationship}. As Campbell stated, 'Myths are the universal dream, the collect psyche of a people culture, society. The dream is the personal myth, the images exaggerated but reflected the personal energies' {not an exact quote}. A 'mythic' image in a dream is usually during an important time in the dreamer's life. A time of change, transformation or important realization. These are reflective of Jung's archetypes, the underlying emotional energies that we all possess that show themselves as the individual experiences the collective experience {as an individual personal experience}. Once a person understands the existence of the archetypal energies and how a deviation from there true intent rules the life from childhood forward, the sooner a resolution to what causes emotional conflict can be resolved.
Nature and Nurture Nature intended for the newborn infant to be help by the mother and given immediate emotional and physical nourishment. A developing child is intended to have proper love and nurturing throughout childhood. When there is an absence of these the psyche becomes unbalanced and corrective measures are needed. But because these are more an unconscious experience nature provides us with the dream to provide 'clues' to what causes the imbalance. Early nurturing is so important to the developing mind and few of us receive it, especially in today's society where everything we do is focused outward on the material world. Science has shown this to be true, the first years of life being the most important in the psyche{ology} development of the individual. This is why I use the image I use on my websites, pages and even signatures. The Inner child, the undeveloped psyche that is inwardly known but outwardly lacking. The dream is a whisper of the true inner self. |  |
Inner work, or self psychology, takes a long time and self discovery is never ending. I began my journey when I was 42 at the end of my third marriage. It took almost 20 years to fully realize my inability to stayed married to three wonderful women was because I was 'driven' my emotional energies. Paired with a strong libido {physical and psychological co-ordination} and my addition was pretty much the same as my father's {who abandoned my mother and 4 children when I was 5}. I never followed in his footsteps of abandonment but along with the libido aspect the 'running' became a part of who I became as well. Once I understood what the underlying forces were I was able to put them in their place and they no longer had control over me. My dreams helped me with this discovery {not in a direct way but by directing me inward}. We all have these same tendencies, we are what we lived as children first and foremost. I known women who went from one failed relationship to another {I've 'known' a lot of women} and when you looked at their childhood relationship with men/father you see the underlying reasons. Knowing and working on the underlying causes {psychological} is how you end the cycle, put yourself on the path to the discovery of true self. Dreams are tools to this discovery.
Note: Many will say what I have stated above is but a way out. I say they have yet to find their own way.
I think we have discovered what your dreams are trying to communicate. Going inward and finding what motivates you and why those motivations exist. You are at the advanced stage of self discovery {most never begin}. The one thing I can suggest to help in resolving the inner issues is finding your bliss factor. That is most often centered in the muse, the creative self. Or/and a cause your soul identifies with. This is another aspect where Campbell plays a major role in the individuation of the self. My tool has been with web design and dreams. In web design I use the basic language of HTML and never ever software. This allows me to be creative. HTML, as a co-incidence, is a 'coded' language {right click your mouse and click where it says 'View Page Source'}. What you see on a web page is from codes just as the metaphorical language of dreams and myth.
What is your bliss? What one thing in life puts you in a place where nothing else matters as long as you are doing what you love to do most? It is not only therapeutic it is an expression of your true self. And spiritual. An artist paints a picture of what the soul feels. A song writer writes of self experiences. You mention the desire to write of your experiences so others can open up to their own inner issues. Sharing of oneself is spiritual, giving of oneself to the other. When you follow your bliss you are in the realm of natural law and the only law that rules is nature's. A simple equation that so few people are able to solve.
“Follow your bliss.
If you do follow your bliss,
you put yourself on a kind of track
that has been there all the while waiting for you,
and the life you ought to be living
is the one you are living.
When you can see that,
you begin to meet people
who are in the field of your bliss,
and they open the doors to you.
I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid,
and doors will open
where you didn't know they were going to be.
If you follow your bliss,
doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else.”
Joseph Campbell
Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 69 Altoona, Fl