I recently had a dream in which the teacher leant forward and whispered to me “Review your Life Purpose”. This instruction was part of a larger dream story that is beyond the scope of this post.
 
The dream was an affirmation as I am consciously working with the idea of life purpose, seeking alignment between my highest aspirations and my truest nature in service of the Creative/Creator Spirit.  Last weekend, I attended the Jung Platform’s “Call & Purpose” on-line summit and I came away with the following important pointers.
 
‘The Call’ is not a flash of insight, but more a stumbling along into adventure.  Dennis P. Slattery refers to a venturing into the world, forging one’s own path in relationship with the natural order of life. However, there is not necessarily clarity about where you are going. It is indeed a stepping into the void, into the unknown.  Following a unique life purpose is not a safe, familiar journey. As Campbell says “If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.”
 
James Hollis spoke about the importance of discernment, which is also one of the important principles of Shamanism. (Another principle is to guard against inflation) What he referred to was differentiating between the many voices of the psyche and recognizing what seeks expression through you – your inner truth – as opposed to the alluring voice of ego or even complexes’ trickery. He affirmed that keeping your appointment with Purpose is not a single event, but a lifelong journey of answering many callings.
 
Robert Bosnak inspired me with his humorous comment that he has being studying alchemy for over 30 years and knows a little about alchemy, but what he knows is probably not what the alchemist knew, but it has immense value to him and he truely enjoys it. That which matters most to you is a guiding beacon on your path in answering the call to purpose. What is the Prima Materia, or starting material for your Magnum Opus in your unfolding personal mythology?
 
According to Michael Meade, ‘genius’ is that which makes you YOU – your natural gifts.  ‘Genius’ refers to the things in you that the ‘Calling’ is calling to.  He writes in the Genius Myth “We may be closest to hearing the call when we feel most alone or in trouble, for genius hides behind the wound and one of the greatest wounds in life is to not know who we are intended to be or what we are supposed to serve in life.”
 
Image credit: Cornelia Kopp (Alice Popkorn on Flickr)
 
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What about the people who turn up in our dreams? Do you know them, are they familiar friends or family, or are they unfamiliar and complete strangers to you?
 
Dreams use both real people as well as inventing imaginary characters for their stories. The real people may be persons who are known to the dreamer, from the present or the past, close intimate partners and friends or distant acquaintances, celebrities, historical or mythological figures.
 
There are two primary ways that the appearance of people in dreams is viewed.
 
The objective viewpoint holds that real people in the dream represent the actual people from a person’s life and from their larger environment. According to this perspective dreams can give us valuable information about other people and about the situations we are in. “The mind is constantly sorting out input and coming to conclusions about people and events during our waking period; there is no reason to suppose that the process stops once we are asleep.” (Broadribb, 1990 p. 28)
 
According to the subjective viewpoint, people in a dream represent aspects of the dreamer's own personality, representing the dreamer’s attitudes, inner feelings, fears, dreams, longings, experiences, interests and concerns.  It is easier to see invented persons in our dreams as representations of what is inside us, but even “When real people turn up in a dream, the subjective viewpoint holds that they personify personality features of the dreamer.” (p. 26) Real people in our dreams may also “represent attitudes and viewpoints absorbed by the dreamer from the real persons or the real situation with them in the past or present” (p. 78)
 
The objective and subjective viewpoints clash, but both may have value in investigating our dreams. “Sometimes the one and sometimes the other viewpoint works best with a particular dream, while occasionally, we can get still more understanding of a dream by using both viewpoints. The objective viewpoint claims that dreams can give us objective information about other people. From the subjective viewpoint, dreams can only tell us something about the dreamer, though that something may be extremely valuable information”. (p.27)
 
Written for @jungsouthernafrica
 
Reference:
Broadribb, Donald.  (1990).  The dream story.  Toronto, Canada :  Inner City Books
 
Image Credit:  Diane Leonard
 
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The essence of dream analysis is playing with ideas. It is about finding resonance with the images and stories presented in dreams rather than ascribing fixed meanings to specific symbols. Carl Jung advises "Treat every dream as though it were a totally unknown object. Look at it from all sides, take it in your hand, carry it about with you, let your imagination play round it, and talk about it with other people." (1)
 
Dreams may be seen as a conversation between consciousness and the unconscious, between an ego perspective and multiple other viewpoints alive in us. Donald Broadribb states that …”the inner dialogue of a man with his heart is not a mere metaphor but a living reality, … we will find this a consistent pattern, that the dream examines and, so to speak, contains a dialogue between the emotions and the waking day mind”. (2). The ‘felt’ sense of a dream and engaging with the images is central, rather than reaching for a symbol or dream dictionary.
 
Each dream is a portal or a doorway to our inner world. A world that is mythological and has been part of human experience since the dawn of time. According to Stephen Aizenstat (3) dreams are living presences originating from the deeper intelligence of the psyche, not from our waking consciousness. We need to befriend all aspects of the dream and develop a relationship with the living image - the dream as a whole, rather than reductively interpret aspects of the dream as if they stand separately from the dreamer and dream story.
 
According to Jung, dreams may be the Unconscious compensating for our conscious attitude to life, speaking up for that which is not allowed expression in our daytime reality, and may reflect the unlived life of an individual. James Hillman cautions that dreams are not oracles telling us what to do. They provide another perspective or a personal parable.
 
Engaging with dreams opens our imagination. The golden rule in dream interpretation is that only the dreamer knows what the dream means… even if s/he doesn’t! Therefore the dreamer’s own associations are pivotal before amplification is found in myths, fairytales and symbols of humanity.  
 
Written for @jungsouthernafrica

References:

1. Jung, CW Volume 10,  para 320
2. Donald Broadribb (1990). The Dream Story, Toronto, Canada : Inner City Books p.17
3. Stephen Aizenstat (2021). Jung Platform, Dream Summit

 
Image credit: Vladimir Kush - Doors of the Night
 
#jungsouthernafrica#analyticalpsychology #consciousness #unconscious #archetypes #symbolism #dream #dreams #dreamimages #dreamwork #jungiandreamwork #dreamappreciation #dreammeaning #dreaminterpretation #dreamanalysis  #understandingdreams #denisedreamshaman
#imagination #mythological #livingimage #amplification #metaphors
#capetown #capetownliving #capetownlife #southernafrica