“An unexamined dream
is like an unopened letter” - Talmud
This morning’s shower was a particularly long one: while
warm water woke me up, I interpreted last night’s dream. It was a vivid and
long one, and quite intriguing: I was traveling to Belgium, a city whose name I
had forgotten and was trying to remember, the streets lined with restaurants
with tables on the street, serving varieties of dumplings fried in non-stick
pans, no green salads, fruit, or vegetables. The streets had no trees or flower
beds; just beautiful, extremely clean, opulent architecture, with some
buildings modern, huge, and all illuminated with warm amber lights (it was
night-time). I was afraid of walking on one of the large arteries where there
were bright lights but no people, and I stuck with the pockets of population
that revolved around the restaurants. I sat down at a table with several other
people. I was searching my memory to remember my flights, where I had come from
and the abbreviation of the name of the city I had flown to – with no success.
I looked up Google maps on my iPhone, but could not make anything out of the
names and language. I tried to reach out to the people at my table, who were
friendly, smiling, nodding; one of them, a young man put his hand on my back;
but everyone was speaking Flemish, no-one spoke English or French, and I could
not communicate with them. They looked eager to help me, as I reached out, and
could not connect. I hoped this place was close enough to Brussels and call my
old friend, Dana, who lives there, to come and pick me up.
Countless books about dream interpretation cover the
bookstore shelves; and countless well-meaning individuals will offer to
interpret dreams in an “intuitive reading”. But there are some problems with
these interpretations – and let me explain why:
Symbols
Dreams are windows to the soul and the individual’s
unconscious mind; the language they speak is a highly symbolical one, with all
sights, sounds, feelings and characters metaphorically representing aspects of
the dreamer’s psyche. Some symbols are universally shared: for example, a book
represents knowledge in all cultures, at all times of humanity’s history; a
bridge symbolizes communication between two worlds, or two beings, or two
aspects of existence; a key represents “access”, etc. Other symbols are
cultural: dogs, for instance, represent loyal friend in some cultures, and
threatening enemy in others. Furthermore, dreams, just like daydreams, or fantasies,
are laden with personal information that only makes sense to the dreamer. To
interpret a dream in a genuine and useful way, the decoding can only belong to the
dreamer himself or herself.
Kosmic Address
Each individual has reached a certain stage of psychological
development – for example, pre-conventional, conventional and
post-conventional; or ego-centric, ethno- or socio-centric, world centric –
worldviews changing with each level just like the view changes each time one
climbs another rung on the ladder, causing the individual to interpret any
experience according to those views. For example, let’s suppose three different
individuals, one is ego-centric, another is ethno-centric and the third one is
world-centric, dream about a savior on a white horse. The ego-centric dreamer
will interpret that help is coming from a difficult situation (“It’s all about
me”); the ethno-centric interpretation might be “The Messiah has arrived to
save my people from the other people”; and a world-centric interpretation might
be: “Humanity, or all sentient beings, are being saved and liberated by our
awakening and emancipation of consciousness which prompts us to wise and kind
actions in the world”
Besides stages of psychological development, each individual
tends to look at the world either through a subjective lens of feelings, thoughts,
and emotions, or the objective lens of facts and behavior. Each individual has
his or her personality type, cultural biases and preferences, personal biases
and preferences, and temporary states of consciousness which color their
experience each moment.
Thus we see that each individual has their own unique Kosmic
Address which dictates how the individual’s dream is correctly interpreted.
This is the reason I am very careful of having another individual offer me intuitive
“readings” or dream interpretation of any kind – because they can only offer an
interpretation according to their own kosmic address, and not necessarily mine.
Someone from your own cultural background, who shares your psychological
altitude and thus, your worldviews, is likely to offer you more valuable insights
that you can use than someone further away from your kosmic address.
Facilitated Interpretation
The most valuable facilitation in interpreting dreams is in
the form of an interview, where a skilled facilitator asks you relevant,
open-ended questions which elicit insights within your own mind. An interview
may bring questions such as: How did you feel? What does this person / being /
object represent to you? Where in your wake life do you feel…?
A facilitator can be a skilled therapist or a trusted
friend, who refrains from offering their own interpretation unsolicited, but
listens to the dreamer’s narrative; interpretation can be self-facilitated (the
shower works best for me, perhaps the flow of water elicits movement in my
thoughts), but a good listener can catalyze the process of accessing insight.
Shadow Work
Integrating split-off aspects of the psyche that have been
cast away in the dark corners of the unconscious mind is an important daily
practice for healing and growth, and a valuable component of exploring and
working with dreams. In general, all dream characters that are “other” than
you, are really elements of yourself in the Shadow, and you can run the 3-2-1
Shadow Work protocol (see “Integral Life Practice” book ) – Face it, Talk to
it, Become it – with the characters of your dreams.
My Dream Interpretation
I travel, which means I am not home, which is how I still
feel in life, partly because I am an immigrant from a very different culture,
partly because I do not feel I belong, or at home in my personal life. Europe
is part of my past, so I travel to Belgium, where I travelled in my wake life,
which means there is familiarity to it, enjoyment – as I enjoy traveling – and I
don’t belong. Everything in the dream is man-made, the dumplings in the
restaurants are processed, there is culture but not nature, and without trees,
flower beds, and salads in the restaurants, everything seems to be clinical,
sterile, artificial, which adds to my feelings of alienation because I connect
best when in the presence of nature. I reach out to people, in my dream, asking
for help, and there is a communication glitch: I can’t remember where I am
coming from or to, and I can’t understand or be understood by the otherwise
friendly locals because a language barrier, which symbolizes cultural differences,
and my “savior” is an old friend who shares my cultural background (she speaks
Romanian) so she can help. In my “awake” life I do spend quite a bit of time on
skype and phone speaking Romanian with old friends.
Running the 3-2-1 Shadow Integration protocol, I find that
the well-meaning Belgian people want to help me, but lack the skill (language)
to do so; all they can do is feel with me and care for me in a non-verbal way.
An insight shows me that I am in a similar position with my husband, who
reaches for me emotionally, and I want to help, but I lack the skills to do so,
and all I can do is feel with him, care for him with non-verbal communication.
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