Dreams: "Car"

(Pascal - man, age 40)

Dream:

"The same man who showed up in my recent dream and punched me, is now planning to take revenge on me because I somehow have disrespected him. I am aware that his plan is to beat me up when I will be using public transport.

"Ain't found a way to kill me yet Eyes burn with stinging sweat Seems every path leads me to nowhere Wife and kids, household pet Army green was no safe bet The bullets scream to me from somewhere" - Alice In Chains

I am in my basement and knowing of his plan, I am looking for a car to buy so I will avoid using public transport. I am not sure if I should spend money on the car, but I am getting quite excited about the idea of getting a new one. Then I realised that I can also use the car I have. However my car is broken, I could just fix it."

Dream interpretation:

Dream starts with a strong reference to the dreamer's previous dream. There (in a brief recap) a big and strong man punched him to knock him out, and wake him up from his own dream. We managed to establish that this man symbolises a profound part of the dreamer's ego, “its expanded masculinity”. And a punch was a punishment for an attempt to relate with the feminine aspects of the dreamer's own psyche. A repetitive appearance signifies an ongoing process where masculine component of the dreamer's psyche materialises itself as a form of a threat. A matter of disrespect resonates with the dreamer's fear of defying his own ego. To face this man in the dream would equal to face the possibility of the annihilation of his own ego on the psychic level. For the dreamer a threat of being hit creates a fear of losing a certain image about himself. The next stage of the dream reveals the unconscious response to that inner conflict where the dreamer decides to avoid this psychic falling out. In order to do so, he intends to buy a car (not to use public transport). Whereas fixing his old car is another option. This part of the dream has its parallel in reality and refers to the realms of the dreamer's life. It could refer to aspects of his life such as relationship or work (this is a subject to dreamers' own association). The dream unfolds three options manifesting on the unconscious field. The first would be to work on the current situation by focusing on improving his position at work or talking to the partner (fixing an old car in the dream) or taking more radical steps such as ending a relationship or changing jobs (buying a new car in the dream). A third option would be to face the conflicted part in the dreamer's Self through psychoanalytic work which as the dream revals seems very uncomfortable on the unconscious level.

Dreams - "Horse"

(Pascal - man, age 40)

Dream:

"I am in a park with two of my friends. A man came to us and asked if we wanted to play a football game with him and two of his friends. There were two teams of three people and I insisted we should mix the teams because our team would be too strong and it wouldn't be fun if we played this way.

"One might compare the relation of the ego to the id with that between a rider and his horse. The horse provides the locomotor energy, and the rider has the prerogative of determining the goal and of guiding the movements of his powerful mount towards it. But all too often in the relations between the ego and the id we find a picture of the less ideal situation in which the rider is obliged to guide his horse in the direction in which it itself wants to go." - Sigmund Freud

While we discussed the teams and struggled to decide who plays in which team, the park got crowded with a lot of people and there was no space to play anymore. So I decided to go down the hill from the park into a forest. There I saw a horse galloping very fast towards me, and I hid behind a tree and the horse galloped past me. I decided to go back and I thought about a story which I was once told. The story was about a man who could understand the language of horses. One time, a horse had told him that while he (the horse) was travelling, he was always looking for somebody to pretend to be his dad, so he could warm up next to him and go back travelling again. I woke up."

Dream interpretation:

Deciding on the teams for the game in the park resonates with archetypal energy of the collective Animus in the dreamer's psyche. Through the football game he discovers a part of himself which he sees as weak and intends to develop through a revaluation of his own inner masculine features on the unconscious level. In the end the game does not take place as it takes too long to decide the teams. This may suggest an inability to take a strong stance or make a decision about something in reality. A trip down the hill and into the forest symbolises going down into the vastness of his Self. In the encounter with the galloping horse he gets in touch with the force so strong that he needs to hide behind the tree when the horse passes him. The galloping horse embodies his own primal and instinctive drive that he cannot control and therefore he rejects; he hides behind the tree as he fears the inability to control its (his own) strength. On his way back he recalls the story about a man who understood the language of horses. The dreamer regularly uses dream interpretations and in that context we may assume that understanding an animal language is a symbolic way to unfold understanding his own dreams. In other words the story about the horse unfolds his own myth. An inner conflict and self rejection, in which the horse represents the inner strength that he denies because of a deep fear of its true nature. In the story about the horse, the dreamer is the father who is not able to embrace his own primal spirit (the horse) which is doomed to be rejected and wander alone. This sets the unconscious foundations for longing to be acknowledged and recognised for (paradoxically) something repressed in the dreamer’s Self. This fragmentation results in feelings of loneliness. And an immense longing for warmth that as a result of fragmentation must be found in the other people that he meets in his life. It is also looking for an inner affirmation of the dreamer's individuation.

Dreams - "Rock"

(Pascal - man, age 40)

Dream:

"I am supervising some works in the middle of the forest. There are only men in our working camp. While we were watching a boxing fight during our break one of the workers found an old dress in the woods. Then my boss arrived for a meeting with me. She asks me and another man (a very big and strong) to come with her somewhere outside of the camp.

"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." - C.G Jung

We are sitting on a tree branch and the man and I are answering her questions which appear to be written on a rock in front of us. The man is getting annoyed with the questioning and says that this is a complete waste of time. He wants to leave and go back to work. When we get to question number three I realise that this question has some disturbing and mystical vibe connected with the dress which was found in the woods. My boss asks the man to answer the question and he gets very angry and agitated. He ignores my boss and asks if he can leave. I tell him him to stay calm and decide to reply to my boss myself. I notice that the question can’t be answered because it’s asked in a form of a tricky riddle. I am not sure how to explain it but it is somehow disturbing and it frightens me. The man gets even more angry when he sees me trying to answer the question. He demands me to tell him whether he gets to keep his job or not. He doesn't seem to be bothered about losing it but he just gets impatient with the whole meeting. I am trying to save the situation again and ask him to calm down but he comes over to me and punches me very hard in my face and I feel totally powerless. I fell off the tree with a feeling of disappointing my boss."

Dream interpretation:

The camp in the forest manifest the masculine principles of the dreamer’s psyche and the dress that has been found in the woods, represents the feminine interference on this field. It summons the appearance of his boss. Her patriarchal position suggests the dominating feminine component of his psyche. A strong man who works for the dreamer, symbolises the most profound part of his Ego; its expanded masculinity. The meeting takes place on the tree branch, which suggests a form of connection to the mind outside of his Ego: the Self. There he finds himself captivated in the spiritual sphere where his controlling structures are narrowed in favour of higher perception of subconsciousness. The strong man demands to be sent back to work, and has no intention to cooperate. The dreamer ignores him in order to build a relationship with his own feminine part. He recalls this as an attempt to “calm the situation”. Though as a result he rejects the his masculinity which increases the inner anger. A big rock rises from the archetypal masculine energy as a substance of its dogmatic beliefs. The dreamer recalls a mystical vibe that materialises itself on the rock when the questions are asked. This vibe in a contrary emanates from the dreamer's feminine side to demand the total subordination from the profound part of the dreamer’s Ego (its expanded masculinity). Such expanded masculinity may be seen in reality as excessive care about being seen as manly. This forced interference results in the dreamer being punished for trying to please both fragmented sides of his Psyche; while his Animus expects him to take control of the situation. He is subordinate to the feminine aspect and follows its all suggestions without any questioning. This reveals an inner conflict between his Anima (Latin: soul) and Animus (Latin: mind). The two archetypal energies where the former relates to feeling, and the latter to thinking. Here the thinking appears in the irrational shape and loses its control when question number three arises. According to Jung symbolically a number three resonates with something that contributes to total fulfilment. This underlines the fragmentation of his Ego. And also reveals the fear of the potentially inner synthesis of these energies. As a result, the dreamer gets knocked off the tree branch. However surreal it appears in the dream, it unfolds the conflict which he at the current moment is not able to overcome in reality. Often the expanded masculinity compensates for some inner vulnerability. However the importance of his masculine aspect shouldn't be neglected so as to build a strong moral fibre which allows to cope with often tough reality. Why does the dreamer get punished for his emotions? And what emotions he is punished for are the questions that need to be answered in order to understand this inner conflict.