Dreams Analysis: The General Method

Dreams occupy a third of our lives, but people often do not pay attention to them, if they are not nightmares. Some even claim that they saw no dreams, even though the results of research turns out that they really do not remember them. This occurs mainly due to misunderstanding the language of dreams, inability to navigate the images and most of all – because of the rejection of the truth about oneself. The natural protection of the ego from the obscure is to forget it or carelessly take down. So it avoids the unpleasant news for oneself, following the “ostrich policy” because it is very jealous of its integrity and exclusivity.

But not always it has used to be so and still in many non-Western cultures, dreams have assigned a significant role in the life of the community and the individual. This is mainly due to the weaker, not yet ossified consciousness, like at a modern “Western man.” It’s a long topic – dreaming tradition, and in Europe in antiquity and the medieval alchemists’ dreams were taken seriously. Often a serious attitude towards dreams is credited with “primitive” cultures, or superstition, thus justifying their own ignorance or inability. Rarely can a person with integrity admit – “I do not know what to do.” Because this implies that a third of his life is unknown to him. And for some it can be a serious collapse of the naive belief that his life is only in the mind and is controlled by them only. Many in the maintenance of this negative image put different kinds of dream books and charlatans.

Only in this century in Western thought there has been a breakthrough in this area by Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis. And although Freudian psychoanalysis is no longer used, it is still a major breakthrough in the wall of hostility to ones dreams and the unconscious. It was Sigmund Freud who linked these two concepts together, clearly showing that dreams are closely related to the conscious life of the individual and have some message. (We use here the language of psychology, since it is most understandable to modern man. The same can be said of any other language – the magic, the occult, any religion, esoterica, philosophy, etc.) Now there are few who doubt the existence of the unconscious, though rarely who also thinks about what it means for him as a person. Given this fact, still lay it aside, turning a blind eye to the inevitable consequences and conclusions.

What is the connection between sleep and the unconscious?

Sleep in our understanding is a different mode of perception that is different from an ordinary day. This mode is distinguished primarily by the weakening of the ego-complex, its installations and restrictions, which directly gives the unconscious to show itself to a greater extent than in the daily consciousness. In adult life the unconscious manifests itself usually in the form of reservations, curiosities, and deeds that we do not understand how this could be done by suddenly emerged thoughts, inspirations and intuition, although each idea arisen in the mind has its source in the unconscious.

In the same dreams with a relaxed, “resting” ego-consciousness, the unconscious bursts into form of images, which are already interpreted little by the mind, so it is not clear to us if we use the usual logic of the day. (* In the dream, people are close to the archaic state of mind, being an ancient man. In this connection we can recall the “dream time” of the Australian Aborigines, which according to legend preceded the present time.)

Another question is – do these images have a meaning? (This question is too big, because not everyone can clearly answer whether there is a meaning of his “day” conscious existence? But somehow the unconscious put forward just such a claim and the expectation that it must have a well-defined meaning, or else is not worth paying attention.) We argue that yes, the evidence of this is the practice. However, the answer to this question one has to give himself, it will be most convincing. Our task is to present the theory and practical assistance in dreams analysis. We can help you understand the language of the unconscious, but we do not make a miracle – this can only do the dreamer himself.

Language of the unconscious

Language of the unconscious with which we deal in dreams, it is difficult to understand with the consciousness, and the end can not be understood. When we examine the dreams we do not have to entertain the hope that all aspects will be solved, understood and assimilated in the mind. Claiming something about the unconscious, we can never say “it’s just,” You can only move in and say something indirectly – more or less close to the point, since approval is a product of consciousness, and thus the concepts of consciousness are limited.

So, what is important and what is not, in dreams analysis? The answer is everything, absolutely everything. The unconscious does not know about coincidences, any time of sleep, be it mundane or fantastic, pleasant or repulsive, familiar or unexpected – in any case is not secondary. Everything is a symbol with which conveys the idea of the unconscious and consciousness. Language of Dreams (also known as the language of symbols) is very metaphorical, it can not be taken literally – thus we restrict a symbol to a sign, inevitably losing many aspects of the image in the dream and its meaning for the dreamer.

“We should not necessarily ascribe unconscious to the psychology of the mind. Its mentality is instinctive, it has no advanced functions, it does not think so as we understand “thinking.” It simply creates an image corresponding to the state of consciousness, which contains as many thoughts as feelings, and is anything but not the product of the rationalist rationality. Rather, it was possible to identify this image as an artistic vision. ”

The images used in the unconscious, are taken from our mostly conscious life. Of these, is formed the message to consciousness, in this lies the key to the interpretation of a dream. The construction of these familiar elements we see in dreams in a unique mosaic.
The unconscious selects from the world what most accurately expresses the essence of the transmitted messages, usually things that we are most obsessed about during our day or life. It may be a job or hobbies, or some important events, all that we can “stir.”
Involvement of dreams

“It may seem strange that the subconscious disposes of its contents not in an orderly manner, which, apparently, is familiar to our day thinking. Anyone who tries to remember what he dreamed detects this difference, which is one of the main reasons why it’s usually so difficult to understand our dreams. From the standpoint of ordinary experience, acquired in the waking state, they do not make sense, so we tend to either ignore them or acknowledge that their content puts us in a dead end. ”

Many complain that dreams are confusing us, they do not obey the logic of daily consciousness. But if you look closely at our daily thoughts and concepts with which we operate, they are not so clear and certain, as we would like to think. Every concept, every thought is inevitably “sprout” in the subconscious mind and painted by individual content, which is subjective and varies from person to person.

“Of course, these are different shades of mental perception of different people. Each of us individually perceives the abstract or general concepts, and, accordingly, everyone in his own way interprets and applies them. When I use in a conversation, the terms “state” and “money”, “health” or “society”, I assume that my interlocutors understand them more or less the same way as I do. This “more or less” is the whole point. Every word has a little different meaning for different people, even if they have a cultural level. This occurs because the general concept of passing through the prism of personality, is interpreted and applied every bit differently. Differences in the interpretation, of course, increase when the social, political, religious or psychological experiences of the interlocutors are much different.

As long as the concept exhausted its name, the variations in its understanding were almost tangible, and having no practical value. However, as soon as it requires a precise definition or a thorough explanation, it appears the most improbable interpretation, and not only in a purely intellectual understanding of the term, but especially in its emotional coloring and mode of application. Typically, these differences are unconscious and remain so.

It would seem that such differences might be dismissed as superfluous and fleeting nuances that have little in common with the humdrum needs. However, the fact of their existence shows that even the most mundane content of consciousness is a shade of approximation. Even the most carefully formulated philosophical or mathematical concepts that do not have, in our opinion, other content than the embedded world, in fact, are endowed with a broader meaning than we think. This is a mental phenomenon, and it is not completely knowable. Even the numbers used in counting represent much more than we think. They have also mythological load (as the Pythagoreans worshiped them), which we certainly do not think about by adding or multiplying them.

Briefly, everything available in our conscious thought, has its counterpart in an associative mind. Association, corresponding to the concept, may be more or less bright (in accordance with the importance of this concept for our individuality, or in conjunction with other ideas, and even our unconscious complexes) and can alter the “usual” meaning of the concept. From time to time this meaning is much altered. ”

In dreams we see these terms in full, together with the associations and their subconscious value for us, which we reject in the daily consciousness of rationalization. For the sake of the same consciousness and successful (more or less) communication between people inevitably we have to sacrifice many shades of used concepts. Of course, this is forgotten and ignored, because of this misunderstanding often occurs, in violation of human communication.

“Such cases (and they are not uncommon) does not imply any intentional concealment on the part of a dream – it is not in our ability to understand the emotionally charged, figurative language. Everyday life requires us accuracy and clarity in the formulation of words and thoughts, and we have learned to do without the embellishment of fantasies with reality, thus losing the perception of the quality inherent in our primitive ancestors. Almost without exception, we entrust all subconscious unusual mental associations generated by things or ideas. Primitive man, by contrast, knows his mental counterparts, and therefore gives the animals, plants, rocks the qualities of strength, which for us is incomprehensible and unacceptable. ”

Often in a dream there are woven motifs common to all mankind. All these images have a source – the archetypes in the collective unconscious.

A practical method for dreams analysis

Start the dreams analysis with a detailed description of the dream, not neglecting anything. The situation (right-left), color (or lack thereof), the characters, their clothes, inconsistencies and emotional reactions in a dream – everything has meaning. Parts – the key to understanding the language of dreams, examining only the plot, we shoot a cannon at sparrows. There is a small chance to hit.