As Lisa Marchiano and her Jungian observe:
“. . . dreams are symbolic. Your dream maker seldom has access to the directed thought and straightforward language of your conscious, waking mind. The dream maker is an ancient part of us that speaks in image, metaphor, and symbol, and relies on intuition and feeling instead of linear thinking and explicit expression. Jung discovered that dreams are not disguises, as Sigmund Freud thought, but the clearest possible representations of psychic realities conveyed in the language of the unconscious. Dreams can be hard to understand because they speak a foreign tongue, but what they have to say is never pointless or obfuscating. Learning the dream maker’s language starts by cultivating a symbolic attitude in tune with the mythic cadence of dreams.” (Marchiano, Stewart and Lee, 2024, p. 20)
The Jungian home of dreams also contains many surprises. Like journeying through a House of Mirrors or a Haunted House located at the site of a carnival, we are unprepared for what awaits us in a dream. We are thrilled, shocked and simply baffled by the sights and sounds we encounter. As Marchiano, Stewart and Lee proclaim, dreams deserve respect because they “present a fresh perspective.” (Marchiano, Stewart and Lee, 2024, p. 20). Our three Jungians offer the following almost poetic proclamation regarding the importance of this fresh perspective (Marchiano, Stewart and Lee, 2024, p. 7):
“Behind the veil of sleep lies a world of mythic images, improbable encounters, and strange beauty. Dreams companion us nightly, reminding us that we participate in another dimension beyond consciousness. Dreams let us know we are not alone. While our waking hours may concern themselves with the mundane, the practical, and the specific, our dreams attest to a way of being that transcends the limits of consciousness and provides us with another perspective. Dreams are nightly proof that there is something big, deep, powerful, and mysterious always at work beneath the ordinary surface of everyday life.”
Given this “fresh perspective” provided by dreams, it is important to protect the unique (and fragile) nature of this companion that accompanies and guides us through this alternative reality. Like Virgil, who guides Dante through the complex and often terrifying world of the Inferno, we must trust our dreams and not our waking ego (“I”).
The Untrustworthy Ego/I: While this ego might be skillful in guiding us through the life we lead when wide awake, it often does a lousy job of leading us through this second life. As Marchiano, Sewart and Lee have strongly suggested, our “I” (ego) can easily be misled. They (Marchiano, Stewart and Lee, 2024, p. 20) declare that:
“. . . the “I’ in the dream is usually the least trustworthy part. Often at night our dream ego—the “I” in the dream—is confronted by figures that frighten, denigrate, or frustrate. Upon awakening, we tend to side with our dream ego and assume that the figures that have crossed us in the dream are mistaken or threatening. Usually, however, the new attitude suggested by the dream only seems wrong according to the conscious viewpoint. If we can set aside the prejudices of consciousness, we might see that a helpful, alternative perspective is being offered.”
