One of the online writing groups I participate in (Personal Writing) posts a weekly topic and then discusses the topic through the week. I was particularly interested to discover that this week's topic is dreams; I posted some of my thoughts on dreams last week, before this topic came up, inspired by a largely unrelated thread in another writing group. (I'm fascinated by the concept of synchronicity.)
Anyway, back to dreams.
I posted my essay to the Personal Writing group and we've been discussing my dreams and thoughts along with those of several other people in the group. This being a discussion about dreams, we've also been discussing symbolism and interpretation.
Now, it's not that I don't believe in dream symbols or that I think dream interpretation is a bunch of hooey; I do and I don't (if you follow my sentence structure and my meaning ;-) However, I don't particularly believe that it's possible to buy a book at the grocery store checkout stand that will help you interpret your dreams. I don't believe that if you dream about snakes you're dreaming about "Shedding old skins, healing, renewal" (or sex :-). Maybe that's what a dream about snakes means to some people but I can't accept that this is a universal dream meme.
In my case, I am a very literal minded person. It's not that I'm not creative; I am. But I'm literal minded. I am, by inclination, a scientist and technologist. I want to see the data. I want to do my own analysis. I'm not big into symbols in my life.
I would expect my subconscious to be likewise. Although I recognize that my subconscious is less intellectual (if no less intelligent), more creative, more emotional, and less constrained than my conscious mind, I don't see any reason why it (she?) should be any less literal-minded than the conscious me. We are, after all, both me. I get along fairly well with my subconscious, I believe. She has no reason to couch ideas in complex symbolism or difficult-to-interpret formats.
So, when I dream that I'm hunting (unsuccessfully) for a restroom, it (truly) means that I need to wake up because I need to "go". When I dream that one of our cats has gotten outside, I believe this is in simple reaction to one of my deepest worries — that one of our cats will get outside. (I'm quite compulsive about open doors and windows. Don't try to hold the door for me at our house; safety takes precedence over courtesy every time.)
When I dream that I can go down a flight of stairs by "skimming" — where my feet touch the top step and the landings and no stairs in between — that's my subconscious and my conscious minds indulging in some wishful thinking... When I dream that I'm back in my hometown in Pennsylvania, or walking through my High School, well, maybe it's because I miss that sometimes and just want to visit. After all, I spent many years there; it's 2500 miles away now; I don't go back very often in the "real world".
I suppose some things are still open to interpretation. Why, for example, am I so often in a hotel? Or getting on and off of elevators (large, fancy, high-speed elevators with benches around the periphery like tram cars and space for 30 people or more)? Why do I so often find myself in a library or a bookstore or (of all things) a shopping mall?
Maybe it all means something deep-rooted and mysterious and someday I'll figure out what that mysterious meaning conveys. Then again, maybe my subconscious just likes to shop.
Read Jung-- your subconscoius is generally the exact opposite of your conscious.
Posted by: Kurt | April 09, 2004 at 09:16
Re: Jung - Interesting theory... wrongheaded, though.
I don't believe Freud either :)
Posted by: Vicki | April 09, 2004 at 12:28