I want to try to explain to you that dreams are meaningful.
So I feel the need to explain how some smart people, who devoted their lives to
studying the psychology of humans, came to the conclusion that dreams are
meaningful. But it has dawned on me that you don’t need to be convinced. You
aren’t a professor I’m trying to impress or a colleague I’m trying to persuade,
you’re my sister and you trust me.
I’m going to introduce Carl Jung and a few of his ideas with
the hope that it will give you a framework that’ll help you understand.
Communicate with me anything that doesn’t make sense.
Carl Jung
“Dreams are
compensations for the conscious attitude.” – Jung
Carl Jung lives on in my mind. When you read someone’s books,
you start to recreate them in your brain. Reading revives dead writers. This
entire book is going to be alive with the energy Carl Jung has put out into the
world, as remixed through my ego.
Jung was a psychiatrist. He interpreted over 40,000 dreams
(fact check.) He was an acclaimed and highly respected scientist. He is a good
source of knowledge and he believed dreams were meaningful. I think they are
too. I hope to convince you of this too. At the very least, consider this
practice using the scientific method.
Jung offered a handful of essential ideas. The one most
important concerning dreams is his assertion that dreams are an expression of
nature that has been built into our psyche to help balance our conscious
living. Dreams are a natural guiding program built into our brain.
Instincts and Archetypes
Humans are animals. We share over 98% of our genetic code
with chimps and bonobos. For millions of years our ancestors survived without
egoic consciousness. They survived on instincts. Humans are bundles of instincts.
Instincts are to our body what electricity is to a computer.
I don’t know of a definitive list of instincts. We may not
know exactly how many there are or what exactly they are, but just like your
body can use the food you eat without you needing to know the complex
biochemistry, you can benefit from listening to your instincts without having
to understand them. Your instincts will speak to you through your dreams.
This is a complicated subject that you don’t need to
understand completely yet, I don’t. What is helpful here is to understand that
dreams are the language our instincts use to communicate with our egoic
consciousness. While we are awake, our egos do a very good job suppressing our
instincts so we can live by the rules our culture and parents and teachers
press on us.
Rules, culture, and our parents aren’t evil. They don’t do
this suppressing on purpose. All of them were born into this just as we are.
They were molded by the environment too. It is beneficial to the stability of
our culture that we suppress a great deal of our animal instincts. Regardless
of why, the suppression of our instincts leaves us wandering through a forest
at night, without a guiding light.
Our dreams are essentially an attempt at homeostasis. They
are a kind of flashlight we can use in the dark forest. When our instincts and
conditioned behavior conflict too severely, our dreams will step in and send a flash
of light. This book is a beginner’s guide to start practicing how to listen to
your dreams, and to start understanding the language dreams speak.
The goal is that if you learn to listen to your dreams, you
will receive flashes of light every night which will help you move through the
dark forest with a grace most people will see as superhuman.
Psyche
Psyche is the word Jung used to explain the entirety of the human
psychological structure. The part of you that is reading this, the part of you
that thinks it is named Kelly Godsey, is what Jung called the Ego. The Ego is
like the human skin. The psyche is like the entire body. Thinking the Ego is
the entire psyche is like thinking the skin is the entire body.
There is a famous saying that you’ll see often, and it is
“Know Thyself.” Where many people stumble is thinking that learning about their
ego is the same as knowing “thyself.” Thyself is the psyche, the ego is only a
small part of this vast psychic building.
Dreams arise from a place in the psyche that the Ego cannot
access. Dreams are a kind of message in a bottle. The thinking mind is stranded
on the island of the Ego. Every morning, if we look, we can find a few bizarre
messages from an unknown place beyond the oceanic horizon. If we learn to read
these, we’ll start to find instructions on how to build a fire, purify water,
fish, and one day, we’ll get the instructions on how to build a boat. The
entire time, through all your stress and trials, there is a wise guardian
watching you, helping you, and it is you.
Dreams can be thought of like your psychic immune system. As
your physical immune system will create a rash or a blemish on your skin, it is
not to punish you, it is to send you a message. Something is out of balance. It
is a language most of us don’t understand how to speak. Its goal in attempting
to communicate is to restore balance. We’re going to learn how to listen.
Conscious and Unconscious
Jung divides the psyche into two fundamental parts; the
conscious mind and the unconscious mind. The conscious mind mainly consists of your
ego. It is also the part of your mind that has all your personal memories.
Anything that ever was conscious to you, is swimming somewhere in your
conscious mind. You can think of the conscious mind as a beautiful ship
floating at sea.
Your unconscious is the part of your psyche that you can
never know. It is the ocean that supports your ship. Your ego is cute and
useful, but your unconscious is of a size and power that your ego can not
comprehend.
Jung believed the
unconscious was where all the Instincts dwell. Your instinct to protect
yourself from danger lives there. Your instinct to pass on your genetic code is
in there. Your instinct to be curious lives there. The instincts are the
massive, interested wales that swim beneath your ship. They will stir the
waters or bump the ship. This may scare the crew, but the purpose is to help
and guide.
Learn to listen.
Another angle is to think of the conscious mind as a growing
oak tree. The unconscious is the guiding and protecting energy pulsating within
the little seed that will do its best to guide the seed through time and into
its fully developed form, the grand oak tree.
If there is a fungus that starts to attack the tree, the
unconscious starts producing chemicals to fight the fungus. It knows how to
convert light to food, it knows how to defend against bacteria and bugs.
Similarly, your unconscious knows how to metabolize your food, keep your lungs
and heart working, and what hormones to produce to help you grow.
Dreams as Regulating Function
Humans are different from all other life on earth. We have the
Ego. The Ego gives us a sliver of freedom. This freedom is a great gift but
comes at a cost. We are free to ignore our unconscious and make choices that impede
our growth.
I don't know why we have an Ego but we do. Dreams are a way
we can reconnect with the guiding growth energy in our unconscious. Your dreams
will offer you advice and commentary on your daily choices and challenges.
Life is challenging Kelly. Don’t wish it to be easier. Adapt
and meet life’s challenges with courage, humor, and love. I truly believe that
learning how to listen to your dreams is a key habit in helping you do this.