Dreams: Readers' Comments

Readers' Comments

Anon-1

Nice job overall. A couple of comments:

Dream dictionaries. Good advice about avoiding them, but they have one utility - for those who have not read a great deal about dream interpretation I think they provide useful "seeds" for brainstorming what the symbols might mean. Someone like yourself who has read MVF and other such psychological studies has no need for such material, but many people find it difficult to read psychology books, but might well pick up a dream symbolism dictionary. My 12-year-old daughter is a good example - she would never read MVF, but she does get a kick out of reading dream dictionary books.

Well, I suppose so. In a way, that's why I recommended the "Dictionary for Dreamers" by Tom Chetwynd - at least the symbolism is compatible with the theory being discussed! In reality, I'm sure that to some extent the unconscious will absorb and use any symbolism if it is at least partly relevant to the dreamer's way of looking at things.

Compensatory nature. One of the main purposes Jung found in dreams was to compensate for unbalanced conscious attitudes. The dream tells us when we are "off the path". You do mention this in the Self section, but you might want to elaborate on this a bit. It is key.

It reminds me of Freud's wish fulfilment ideas, too. Anyway, it is clear that when something is high profile in the conscious life of the dreamer, often, its opposite is lurking, suppressed and unintegrated, in the unconscious; it will in those cases pop up in dreams.

BTW, nice summary of the archetypes (shadow, animus, anima, Self)

Tar.

You state:

Institutions such as Universities and large companies can take on the Mother role too

Very true! Don't forget the State! Your problem in Europe is accentuated in this category as regards to Social Security. The recent elections in France illustrate this. In America we see it in our fantical attitude towards safety, particularly in the medical field in which I am employed.

Some men try to escape from their real mothers by becoming intellectuals and taking up careers that are well beyond their mother's ability to follow them

Sounds like a quote right out of MVF's Puer Aeternus!

I haven't read it . . .yet.

I can say that because that is the challenge of my life - a "flying boy". From the amount of space you dedicated to the mother problem in your essay it seems as if it is something you might be dealing with in some fashion as well.

Oo-er.

I would be interested to read your comments, and maybe add them to this site. You can either e-mail me directly, or join the discussion forum and discuss with others as well. You can see what other readers have said here:

E-mail me!