(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.
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