Dreams and Dreaming

Apologies to Carl Jung, but I think supra-personal archetypes are inapposite to this world in this time of humanity. (Err... whaaa? Okay, here's a rephase: Jung's theory on dreams doesn't apply to us). I was reading up on some psychology stuff, and I came across a section on dreams. I happen to disagree.

More or less (probably more of the latter than the former), Jung proposed that our minds have an unconscious that regulates and reformulates our feelings and thoughts in the form of archetypes. Those that have a disconnect with their unconscious, that is to say, people who lose their ability to hold onto their archetypes, may succumb to neuroses that lead them to become unbalanced in their lives and relationships. Those that are overcome by their unconscious self might lose perspectives on reality altogether.

Jung devised four basic archetypes, (rather spookily named) the Self, the Shadow, the Anima, and the Animus. Quickly summarizing - the Self is who you are, the totality of you. The Shadow is part of the unconscious that may be repressed and appearing in dreams as you who is impulsive and empathetic. The Anima is the feminine side to a person, part of the inner self and representive of who we really are. Finally, the Animus is the masculine side to ourselves, our outer shell that we show to others and is developed through socialization. (reverse the masc/fem for gender).

In any case, Jung's idea was basically that the unconscious works in concert with the conscious, and our balanced self depends on our ability to utilize our unconscious to keep an even keel. Those obsessed, for example, with their mothers, might have a flooding of their unconscious by their Anima, and a disconnect here would lead to inability to deal with women.

The manifestation of Jung's theory can be found in dreams, where the unconscious comes out to play. Thus, our dreams show us glimpses of our unconscious, and gives us images of how are archetypes are developing (if at all).

I won't argue the psychology here. I'm not in the mood. But I will say this. The rate of images processed by people in the time of Carl Jung is a tiny fraction of what we see today. Americans on average watch about 4.5 hours of television per day. That, plus you have to factor in the commercials we see on billboards, on the internet, in magazines, on subways, innundating us, surrounding us, invading us every where from the bedroom to the office. I would argue that we are no longer forming our own archetypes, as the media interface with our brains is so pervasive that we have lost our ability to control our own unconscious. If Jung's hypotheses were right, perhaps we are all completely neurotic.

Then again, perhaps dreams are just what modern researches propose - our brain trying to relax and put together some coherence between what we see and what we think. To attach more meaning than that, well, it is a wonder we don't go around having consequenceless sex with stick figure models and shooting every guy dressed in black, while chewing Orbit gum and drinking Dr. Pepper. And the vast majority of us do not do such things (or even want to do such things).

I have my own ideas about dreams. I think of dreams to be more like a vast desert that is open to population by our desires, memories and fears. And we have the ability to do what we want with dreams, should we choose to. I'm not sure how this fits in with Jungian psychology, but to me, dreams are really up to us.

We can choose to attach whatever meaning we want to our own dreams. And the act of attaching meaning (not Archetypal meaning) can be based on whatever value system or randomness we want. What I mean is this: we are who we say we are, and we aren't who we say we are not. How does this figure with reality then? I mean, if I say I am Superman, can I then fly? I say, yes. Perhaps not physically by flapping my arms or psychokinesis (is this even a word?) but if the attributes of Superman are honesty, courage, integrity, generosity, kindness, and belief in yourself to do anything, then why not?

Now, Christian history is filled with examples of God using dreams to awaken the individuals to task, to warn, to instruct, to spur forward. I don't see any inconsistency, and I can't find a better method for God to give us help to be more than who we are than through dreams (burning vegetation aside, of course).

I dream what I want to be, and while at times my dreams' conclusions don't turn out how I expect, I am who my dreams are. In the past, I dreamed that I was President of the United States, and trying to broker peace deals in the Middle East. It was a great compromise that I had come up with, basically allowing those countries with a fundamental Islamasist government to develop as they wished, while holding a hard line from a military perspective to protect countries that had secular leadership. The credibility of the US Government was at stake, and the end of the American Hegemony if we didn't work quickly. The vast majority of the dream, however, my draft bills were stuck in Congressional sub-committees and buried under an avalanche of counter-proposals and vote-pedalling. I spent like 3 mins giving a grand speech and months trying to figure out how to get Congress to pass legislation to allow for certain American force activities. (This is what happens if you don't get voted into office with a party majority in both parts of the bi-cameral legislative system. Those Founders sure knew how to screw me over).

I've stopped dreaming of being President recently, and now I am mostly stuck on professional golf and baseball dreams. I'm not a huge fan of baseball, but as a diehard Red Sox fan, I know that one night I will get my beloved Sox beyond the division and ALCS. As a relief pitcher, I don't often play, but maybe I'll get the call tonight and it won't be a game that won't matter. I'll keep you posted.

-David