At the end of the dream, Izak bids a loving goodbye to his young hitchhikers. The heavily fortified old man receives a playful declaration of the young girl’s love. He whispers to her: “I’ll remember.” As he goes to his bed in his son’s home, he is overcome by a sense of peace, and dreams of a family picnic by a lake.
This fourth dream is brief; however, it breaks through the barriers of detachment present in the previous three. Sara takes his hand in the dream and leads him toward the paradise island where his parents reside. Closure and affirmation of life have finally come, and Borg’s face radiates joy as he settles into a peaceful night of sleep.
Tracing back to the source, at that time Ingmar Bergman was in painful conflict with his parents, unable to communicate with his father, and even though he could temporarily reconcile with his mother, deep-seated resentments remained. As Ingmar Bergman reflects in his autobiography: “One thread runs through the story in multiple variations: shortcomings, poverty, emptiness, and the absence of grace. I didn’t know then, and even today I don’t fully know, how through Wild Strawberries I was pleading with my parents: see me, understand me, and—if possible—forgive me.”
In contrast to what Ingmar Bergman has suggested regarding forgiveness, the noted developmental psychologist, Erik Erikson, provides a profound insight regarding the nature of forgiveness as related to this final dream in Wild Strawberries (Erikson, Erikson and Kivnick, 1986). Erikson indicates that one of the fundamental developmental issues during the last stage of our life is to forgive our parents. We must appreciate the strictures and expectations under which our parents were living and find a way to appreciate that form of love and caring that they were able to offer to us. Then, according to Erikson, we might be able to successfully navigate the final, existential challenge in our life. We can find a way to forgive ourselves . . .
I would suggest that Izak Borg was only able to forgive his parent and joyfully observe them sitting on the island by the lake because he had finally been able to affirm his own worth and “love-ability.” Sarah had shared her open, spontaneous love (or at least affection and admiration) for the old man. While Izak might have seemed indifferent to the honorary doctorate he received, I can’t help but think at this point that Izak’s fortress was breached and the good work he had done in his professional life was genuinely acknowledged, appreciated, and honored. Then, maybe Izak can begin to care about and care for himself, care and forgive his parents, and, finally, forgive himself for the moments of old indifference he displayed during his life.
Izak’s experiences in the external world, enhanced by a journey of discovery and appreciation by others, provided the content and motivation for his experiences in the internal world. This is one form of extraverted dreaming.
