"Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable." Carl Jung
The concept of "imagination" was central to Carl Jung's exploration of the human unconscious. Although he didn't dedicate a tremendous amount of his work to theories of imagination, he recognized that through the tool of imagination, one could access the unconscious through dreams. Jung developed a technique called "Active Imagination". This was a focused practice, using meditation techniques allowing the unconscious to come into consciousness. Active imagination is a method for visualizing unconscious issues by letting them act themselves out. Active imagination can be done by visualization , which can be considered similar to shamanic journeying. Active imagination can also be done by automatic writing, or by artistic activities such as dance, music, painting, sculpting, ceramics, jewellery, etc. Doing Active imagination permits the thought forms of the subconscious to act out whatever messages they are trying to communicate to the conscious mind.
So it is through one's own imagination that the dream is possible. Through the dream and its symbols, images, impressions, feelings, and missing pieces the individual discovers who
he/she is and understands the deeper meanings of personal experience.
Jung and Dreams
Jung believed that the human psyche was divided in two parts—the conscious and the unconscious mind. According to Jung, the center of the human psyche should not be considered the person’s ego. Instead, the center is the Self, which contains more than the conscious content. The Self is the completion of the human psyche, after someone has developed all of his or her psychological functions.
The unconscious mind is divided in personal and collective distinctions. The personal part contains someone’s individual experiences, while the collective part has general content existent in all human beings. The collective part is represented in dreams by the archetypes, which are symbols that appear in everyone’s dreams, in all historical times and civilizations.
The main dream symbols that appear in everyone’s dreams according to Jung’s statements are:
1. The Persona—This is the image that the individual presents to the world, like a social mask. The persona would reflect the person’s social position, profession, and status quo.
2. The Shadow—This is the part of the human psyche that is not developed yet. The shadow contains positive and negative characteristics, depending on someone’s personal evolution.
3. The Animus or Anima—This is the image of the ideal type of man for a woman, or the ideal type of woman for a man. The animus, or anima, is an idol, but could represent a real person of the person’s environment.
Carl Jung concluded that each dreamer who decides to discover the content existent in his or her own psyche through the interpretation of dreams would make a trip to the Self. For Jung, The Self was all the individuals potential that was possible, complete.
Jung was convinced that the scope of dream interpretation was larger than Freud's objective understanding of biological processes and unresolved conflicts , instead reflecting the richness and complexity of the "entire", the personal and collective. Jung believed the psyche to be a self-regulating organism in which conscious attitudes were likely to be compensated for unconsciously (within the dream) by their opposites.
Jung believed that archetypes such as the animus, the anima the shadow and others manifested themselves in dreams, as dream symbols or figures. Such figures could take the form of an old man, a young maiden or a giant spider as the case may be. Each represents an unconscious attitude that is largely hidden to the conscious mind. Although an integral part of the dreamer's psyche, these manifestations were largely autonomous and were perceived by the dreamer to be external personages. Acquaintance with the archetypes as manifested by these symbols serve to increase one's awareness of unconscious attitudes, integrating seemingly disparate parts of the psyche and contributing to the process of holistic self understanding he considered paramount.
Jung also believed that material repressed by the conscious mind, postulated by Freud to comprise the unconscious, was similar to his own concept of the shadow, which in itself is only a small part of the unconscious.
He cautioned against blindly ascribing meaning to dream symbols without a clear understanding of the client's personal situation. Although he acknowledged the universality of archetypal symbols, he contrasted this with the concept of a sign — images having a one to one connotation with their meaning. His approach was to recognise the dynamism and fluidity that existed between symbols and their ascribed meaning. Symbols must be explored for their personal significance to the patient, instead of having the dream conform to some predetermined idea. This prevents dream analysis from devolving into a theoretical and dogmatic exercise that is far removed from the patient's own psychological state. In the service of this idea, he stressed the importance of "sticking to the image" — exploring in depth a client's association with a particular image. This may be contrasted with Freud's free associating which he believed was a deviation, from the salience of the image. He describes for example the image "deal table". One would expect the dreamer to have some associations with this image, and the professed lack of any perceived significance or familiarity whatsoever should make one suspicious. Jung would ask a patient to imagine the image as vividly as possible and to explain it to him as if he had no idea as to what a "deal table" was. Jung stressed the importance of context in dream analysis.
Jung stressed that the dream was not merely a devious puzzle invented by the unconscious to be deciphered, so that the 'true' causal factors behind it may be elicited. Dreams were not to serve as lie detectors, with which to reveal the insincerity behind conscious thought processes. Dreams, like the unconscious, had their own language. As representations of the unconscious, dream images have their own primacy and logic.
Jung taught that dreams may contain ineluctable truths, philosophical pronouncements, illusions, wild fantasies, memories, plans, irrational experiences and even telepathic visions. Just as the psyche has a diurnal side which we experience as conscious life, it has an unconscious nocturnal side which we apprehend as dreamlike fantasy. Jung would argue that just as we do not doubt the importance of our conscious experience, then we ought not to second guess the value of our unconscious lives.
Dream:
It was very early here in Vancouver and I woke before 5 am with a powerful dream of the dragonfly..Actually, this very large dragonfly was on my head in my dream woke me up!! In the dream, It was supposed to be both a guide and pet belonging to a young guest staying at my house. I was very happy that this young person was staying with me ( the son of my ex husband. I haven’t seen my ex husband for many years). However, the dragon fly was frightening me because it wanted to be on my head and it was making a buzzing sound. However, it was telepathic and it knew that although I was very frightened I meant it no harm. Before it landed on my head I looked at it and the dragonfly was “otherworldly” and beautiful and I knew it would not hurt me. This was a very spiritual transaction or communication, and I can’t describe the experience fully in words. The dragonfly was a beautiful azure blue. A male colleague I knew from work a few years ago, was also there in my living room as a supportive friend-he is a psychologist from China. The room was filled with large books and different shelving arrangements. The situation, circumstances were all pieces from my past and all from different aspects of my life over the last 25 years. When I woke I was crying and had a flood of emotion and nostalgia for my past.....
I had this dream a couple of months ago but it's imagery is still fresh in my mind. The effect has been for me to reflect on the nature of life, birth, children , learning and growing, fears, the realm of spirit, the realm of nature, the mystery of the dragonfly and simply staying still, mindfully. Trust.
Perhaps today, I will spend time in my garden and prepare it for the coming summer. I will wear a favorite blue top and listen to sounds that speak of the sound of water. Perhaps, I will enjoy the awareness of letting go of fear and being still within myself, free from my anxieties and worries about the future. The Dragonfly is a mysterious insect to me-there it sits so quietly on the water and yet it is a fierce protector of its environment. Feeding from the dangerous mosquitos that breed off the water it visits and protects. Here is a link to an interesting interpretation of the symbolism of the dragonfly.
A link to an inspiring website
Peace,
Colleen
