Myths-Dreams-Symbols
exploring the unconscious world of Dreams through Myth, Symbols & Metaphor
the psychology of dreams....a Jungian perspective



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Dream Theatres of the Soul:
Empowering the Feminine Through Jungian Dream Work
Dreams
& Their Interpretation(s)
Dreams About The Ego
Dream 1 - Dream 2 - Dream 3 - Dream 4 - Dream 5 - Dream 6
These are personal dreams and interpretations from Jean's book Dream Theatres of the Soul

Hiding From The Enemy

The Dream
Symbols


House: The psychological conditions in which our egos are living. This house is small, primitive, uncomfortable, and disorderly, suggesting the unsuitablility of my ego's present habitation.

Teaching Writing: My profession in the outer world.

Enemy: An unknown force trying to prevent my ego from attaining its desires.

Classroom: Another reference to my career; the place where I conduct my work in the outer world.

Tribe: The people or inner qualities that support my ego's desire to continue in my chosen line of work.

Personal Meaning


I had this dream in my last year of teaching writing in college (classroom). I had been seeking a tenure-earning position as a professor, and although many signs pointed to the unsuitability of this job (house) for me, I was still reluctant to give up on my goal. I felt I would be letting everyone (my tribe) down, most of all myself, by not continuing to teach. This dream was showing me that my ego regarded anything (enemy) that prevented me from pursuing my chosen career as a threat. In reality, The Self knew that my authenic creative and reflective instincts were not being fulfilled in teaching. The Self was the enemy that wanted to destroy a stubborn ego hiding from the truth in the dark and insisting on pursuing a career that was not right for me. I did not fully undertsand the meaning of the dream right away, but it was influential in making me aware of my deep feelings about my career.

Cultural Meaning

We often pursue careers that are not right for us because we want to impress or please or prove something to our 'tribe' - our families, friends, and mentors. This kind of thinking is the sign of an ego that is still in the early stages of soul making. Our ego is unconscious of its underlying needs and motivations, and unaware of the authority of the inner Self. At this stage we do not trust the Self; in fact we may not even want to trust the Self, either because we do not believe the Self is in charge, or because we are deply afraid that it might want something different for us than what we believe we must have.

We therefore see anything and anyone that obstructs our progress in achieving our career goals as a dangerous threat; it does not occur to us that these obstacles might be messages from the Self. We may manipulate people, situations, and events to get what we want because we are totally convinced that we, meaning our egos, are the only ones who knows what we need and who are capable of attaining it. Because we have not learned to trust the Self, we judge ourselves by the standards of others. We may believe that our own feelings are unimportant, and we can go to great lengths to ignore them. Our measure of success is whether or not others approve of us. If they do, we are aware of our pride in our accomplisments, but we are almost completely unaware of our inner dissatifaction.

To provide balance and make us aware of our feelings, the Self might give us dreams about unsuitable houses and dangerous enemies who threaten our work. The Self wants us to develope our hidden potential in activities that are statisfying to us. If we can give up our ego's desires, the Self can guide us, easily and naturally, toward our spiritual destiny - our heart's desire, which is not necessarily the same thing as our ego's desires.

This dream is from Jean Benedict Raffa's book 'Dream Theatres of the Soul'.
About Jean Benedict Raffa <GO>

Dream 1 - Dream 3 - Dream 4 - Dream 5 - Dream 6


12-31-04

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