Dream analysis as practiced by an accredited psychotherapist takes training and specific work. But this does not prevent any person who is interested in their dreams from working with their dreams. In fact, Carl Jung encouraged us to take a dream and “Look at it from all sides, take it in your hand, carry it about with you, let your imagination play around with it” (CW, 10, Para. 320).
Freud and Jung viewed dreams as psychical phenomena, which have meaning and which can play an important role in healing and transformation. Dreams rise up into our consciousness while we are asleep in the form of stories and symbolic material. Laboratory dream research has established that all people dream and that we have about 5 dreams every night. We can’t possibly remember all of these and we usually don’t wake up after each dream but we do remember some of them. Some dreams are fantastic and very strange and some may seem very ordinary. They might be very long and complicated or comprise just a single image. Our dreams are not what they seem and all have important stories to tell us about our inner and outer worlds and what steps, behaviours, approaches and new attitudes can help us in our current life. Unlike the waking, mind, which communicates in the language of words and logic, dreams use the language of symbols to communicate with us.
Symbols are like the facets of a diamond or a crystal. This means that they can be understood in many ways and in fact, as the years pass, according to the natural inner and outer developments you experience in your life, so you will continue to understand and see additional interpretations to your dreams.
The etymology of the word symbol comes from the Greek symballein meaning “to throw together.” Psychologically, the structure of a symbol contains the polar opposites and is a union of these opposites. Thus, in its original sense one finds the concept of two opposite halves belonging to each other. The understanding of the symbol as a source of recognition derives from the ancient Greek custom where it was customary for two friends to either break a coin or a ring in half. If some other person presented the other half, it was assumed that this person was either family or friend of the person holding the other half.
What could this tell us about recognizing the opposites in our dreams? It could look like this: Are you a perfectionist in everyday life? Then expect your dream to deal with being perfect plus its opposite quality. Do you find it difficult to finish off things you started, or difficult to get things going? Then you can expect your dream to include the opposite quality, which is the ability push forwards to completion. How could this look? An example would be that a person who finds it difficult to make an effort & to complete projects dreams about his one-time work colleague John, who was forever busy with one or other project. John completed one task after the next. John is thus a symbol for “the capacity to push on and complete.” “John” the completer is the one half of an opposite and needs to connect with “you,” the procrastinator or sloth, who makes up the other half of the opposite. The dream thus brings the two opposites together. Of course, the actual work to be done then requires you to befriend and slowly develop the “completer” quality by bringing it into your conscious personality. Then you will be able to complete projects if you want to, but you will also be able to stop working on them at any point if there is really no point in completing them.
Dreams can be objective (tell us something about our everyday external lives). They can be subjective (tell us something about our inner lives) and they can be collective (tell us something about the collective – about a country and its people or the world or humanity in general). But even if one looks at a dream on an objective level, there is always a subjective level as well.
Leslie Zimmermann is a Jungian Analyst trained in the philosophy and psychology of C.G. Jung in Zurich and is based in Johannesburg. She offers a range of services, which she integrates, to meet the needs and aspirations of people. In a word, her work is in the service of wholeness. Wholeness includes both our vulnerabilities and our strengths, becoming conscious of our own unique mix of these, honoring our own unique way of functioning and with this knowledge and confidence, contributing as only we each can in our own way, to this evolving world we find ourselves to be a part of.
Besides having a Diplomate qualification in Analytical psychology, which qualifies me to write about the theory and practice of dream interpretation, I also have an Honours degree in Applied Psychology and a Masters degree in Research psychology, which qualify me to write about theories of human development, personality, abnormal psychology, social psychology, sociology and ethics. Also, theories and knowledge pertaining to sleep and dreams from a perspective of neuropsychological and biological systems.
Leslie specializes in Analytical Psychology, Voice Dialogue, Life Coaching solutions for business executives. Consulting and coaching for family owned and home-based business
For an appointment Leslie Zimmermann can be contacted on:
Email: leslie.zimmermann@gmail.com
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