While you were sleeping, Part I
While you were sleeping, Part I
Carl Jung believed that dreams are “self-representations of the psychic life process” (Jung, et al., 1973, p. 76). Dream analysis offers invaluable insight into debilitating patterns and dysfunctions that inhibit the dreamer in waking life. An abundant landscape of self-discovery awaits the willing dreamer. Through the interpretation of a personal dream, one can briefly discuss how dream symbolism and complex identification can be used to improve behavior, identify defenses, and attune to inner guidance. Speaking through chimerical images and esoteric symbols, the language of the soul is cryptic, but the psyche presents the blueprint in our dreams. With a little practice, it can be deciphered.
“Cecelia” is driving the van. The dreamer is sitting in the middle seat behind “Cecelia.” They are traveling on a flat road surrounded by fields and grass. It is daytime. The dreamer is annoyed because Cecelia is driving too slowly. Far down the road, a black silhouette resembling a panther and her two cubs emerges from the right side of the road and crosses at a distance in front of the van. The cubs fade from view. In a split second, the large cat bounds toward the left side of the van. Cecilia is panicking, and the dreamer screams, “Make sure the window is up!” As tall as the window, the huge cat stands on its hind legs, bares its sharp fangs, and growls ferociously. It is a jaguar. The dreamer knew it would not penetrate the window. The jaguar runs away, and they drive on. They make a left turn. Suddenly, the dreamer sees a naked, dead woman on the left side of the road. She is Caucasian with dirty-blonde hair and is lying face-down in the mud. “Stop,” the dreamer screams. “I can’t believe it, but there is a dead woman on the side of the road. We have to call the police!” There is disagreement about whether to back up the van or stay put…
For the dreamer, the appearance of Cecelia signifies a representation of an inferiority complex,the feeling of “I’m not enough.” “A complex is representative of repressed, emotionally intense, conflicting experiences. When activated by events, memories, emotions (constellations), or other cues, the complex generates a response. The individual then perceives the situation through the lens of the complex, leading to a distorted perception, and reacts with an exaggerated emotional response. This, in turn, triggers defenses” (Kast, 2005).
“Complexes reveal conflicts within the psyche and are also defined by Jung as crucial hot points of psychic life. They act from the unconscious and can at any moment, either inhibit or activate conscious behavior” (Kast, 2005). That the dreamer is annoyed by Cecelia driving the van translates to being annoyed that their complexes are still running the show. Recognition of this inferiority complex carries this subtle feeling of annoyance to wakefulness, “Oh no! Not you again.” Like many women, the dreamer possessed the cognitive distortions, “I’m not good enough,” “I’m not enough,” and “I’m not worthy.” These distortions sabotage individuals when they least expect it. Possession by a complex in waking life exerts unconscious influence on behavior and leads to compensatory actions. For example, the unconscious influence of “I’m not enough” may compel one to overspend or overeat, or “I’m not worthy” may compel one to overwork to the detriment of their health.
As demonstrated by swift over-reactions, individuals generally become activated by the presentations of their complex content. Overcompensating behaviors are disempowering, exhausting, contribute to unrealistic expectations, mood lability, and deplete precious time and energy. With consistent personal work, over time, the dreamer began to recognize their own overcompensating behaviors. Like a flickering warning light at the back of the head, an unconscious impulse was trying to make its way through layers of accumulated trauma into consciousness. Becoming aware of unconsciously motivated behaviors is key to individuation. However, because the psyche is “a mass of contradictory complexes” (Jung, 1959), becoming aware of unconscious motivations can be difficult. Fortunately, the psyche contains a blueprint provided through dreams.
The dreamer is sitting in the middle seat behind “Cecilia.” They are traveling on a flat road surrounded by fields and grass. It is daytime. The dreamer is annoyed because Cecilia is driving too slowly.
‘There are multivarious interpretations of dreams. It is daytime in this dream, the time when shadows are especially visible. This signifies the potentiality of shadow content and represents the interplay between consciousness and unconsciousness. Being a passenger denotes a marked power differential. What unconscious material is the dreamer resisting? What do they want to rush past? What are they reluctant to examine?
Learning how to regulate defenses, observe patterns in real-time, and listen to inner guidance is revelatory in shadow work. Therapy techniques can assist dream practitioners in traversing the threshold of the unconscious to make its contents conscious. With continued practice, clients can eventually develop an ‘awareness of awareness’ as described in the Gestalt method of therapy (Yontef, 1993). By quieting the rational mind with the breath and querying the unconscious about the etiology of the shadow material, one can discern its repercussions on life patterns.
The gift of awareness is revealed through the dysregulated presentation of a complex. Jung wrote, “in the intensity of the emotional disturbance itself lies the value, the energy which one should have at their disposal in order to remedy the state of reduced adaptation” (1976, pp. 288-289). In other words, recognizing activations, tracing them back to their etiology, and understanding their origin brings them from the darkness of the unconscious into the light of conscious scrutiny. Once the effects are recognized and the awareness integrated, one can adjust their adaptation with positive results.
The gift of recognition can unveil any number of desirable traits, insights, increased awareness, self-love, but mostly it represents liberation from dysfunctional patterns. “There arises a consciousness that is no longer imprisoned in the petty oversensitive, personal world of the ego, but participates freely in the wider world of objective interests” (Jung, et al., 1973, p. 288). Due to the polarity of complexes, one can adopt the underlying strength and expand consciousness. Liberation from dysfunctional patterns increases personal peace and reveals the opportunity to become a co-creator in life as opposed to a perennial spectator or victim.
References
Andrews, T. (1993). Animal speak: The spiritual & magical powers of creatures great and small. Llewellyn Worldwide.
Jung, C. G., Aniela Jaffé, Winston, C., & Winston, R. (1989). Memories, dreams, reflections. Vintage Books, A Division Of Random House, Inc.
Jung, C. G., Campbell, J., & Hull, R. F. (1973). The portable Jung. Edited, with an introduction, by Joseph Campbell. Translated by R. F. C. Hull. (Fifth printing.).
Jung, C. G. (1969). The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (H. S. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire, Eds.; Second edition, Vols. 9, Part I). Bollingen Foundation.
Jung, C. G. (1964). Man and his symbols: Carl Gustav Jung: Free download, borrow, and streaming: Internet archive. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/B-001-004-443-ALL/mode/1up?view=theater
Kast, Verena. “Complex (Analytical Psychology)”; International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis, edited by
Alain de Mijolla, vol. 1, Macmillan Reference USA, 2005, pp. 320-321. Gale eBooks, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3435300284/GVRL?u=carp39441&sid=bookmark GVRL&xid=3cc2a692. Accessed 15 Dec. 2023.
Sharp, D. (1991). Jung lexicon: A primer of terms & concepts. Inner City Books, 1991. Yontef, G. M. (1993). Awareness, dialogue & process: Essays on gestalt therapy. The Gestalt Journal Press.