Month: March 2025

“Dreams are primarily about the dreamer.”

This quote is from John A. Sanford’s excellent book Dreams-God’s Forgotten Language.  Dr. Sanford was a Jungian analyst, Episcopal priest, writer, and speaker.  He wrote several books about Jungian psychology and related topics, and he had the gift of presenting C.G. Jung’s findings and insights in a clear and understandable way.

A primary concept of Jungian psychology is that dreams make it possible for information from the unconscious to become conscious.  One of the ways to try to discern what our dreams might be telling us is through our associations to the people and places that appear in our dreams.  When Sanford says “dreams are primarily about the dreamer,” he is referring to this.

If a person who appears in our dream is someone we recognize from physical reality, the dream is rarely about that person.  I say “rarely” because, according to dream research, there are exceptions to this.  However, the great majority of the time dream figures represent aspects of the dreamer.  That person symbolizes certain qualities or characteristics that we associate with her or him.  If, for example, a characteristic we associate to that person is selfishness, it is likely our unconscious is telling us through the imagery of the dream to recognize areas where we tend to be selfish.  Perhaps we hadn’t noticed this about ourselves, and our dream brings it to our awareness so that we can make positive changes.

Here are examples of learning from associations to dream figures from my own work with dreams.  I dreamed that I was attending a speech being given by a well known public figure.  In outer reality, his words and actions made it clear that he was lacking in empathy, dishonest, power hungry, self-centered, and in many other ways someone for whom I had no respect.  Those were my associations to him.  Then I needed to ask myself what might have been the purpose of the unconscious having him appear in my dream.  One possible answer was to remind me that all human beings, including me, have a dark side.  It’s important that we recognize this because it helps us to have humility.  The dream also caused me to look within myself to see where my negative associations to him were reflected in my attitudes and/or behavior.

In another dream, I was married to a different well known public figure.  Based on what I had read about him, speeches I’d heard him give, and having read two of his books, my associations to him were positive:  He exemplified integrity, was honest, was open-minded, acknowledged when he made mistakes, and had other qualities that I value.  This dream figure symbolized the positive aspects of my psyche, and it was a reassuring dream.

I encourage you to write down your dreams, to contemplate them, and to endeavor to discern what they might be trying to tell you.  For they help each of us to make positive changes and to grow in consciousness and through that to have more meaningful lives.

“Our dreams serve our psychic totality, and seek to bring the ego into relationship with the psychic center in order that our totality may be consciously known and lived.”

This quote is by John A. Sanford from his book Dreams-God’s Forgotten Language.  Dr. Sanford was a Jungian analyst, Episcopal priest, writer, and speaker.  His books have been of great help to me, and I recommend them to you.  In addition to Dreams-God’s Forgotten Language, some of his other books are Healing and Wholeness, Dreams and Healing, The Kingdom Within, and The Strange Trial of Mr. Hyde.

As I have written in some of my other posts, I’m very thankful I learned about Jungian psychology many years ago.  I met with a Jungian psychotherapist for assistance in dealing with some difficulties I was experiencing, and that led to my becoming familiar with Jungian concepts. C.G. Jung’s findings based on his psychological work with numerous clients over many years, his reading, his travels, and also based on his own individual life experience have helped many people, including me, to have a better understanding of themselves, to be more tolerant of differences between themselves and others, to grow in consciousness, and to have a sense of purpose and meaning.

Among Jung’s findings is that our dreams play a vital role in our lives.  Therefore, when I started my therapeutic work, I also started writing down my dreams in a journal.  According to Jungian theory, the source of our dreams is our unconscious, and one of the purposes of dreams is to make available to us information from the unconscious which then is integrated into our consciousness.  This is what Sanford is referring to when he says “to bring the ego into relationship with the psychic center.”  By becoming more conscious as a result of this help from our dreams, emotional healing takes place and we become more whole.

The messages of dreams vary greatly.  For example, sometimes dreams help us to realize that we’re heading in the wrong direction, and other times they give a sense that we’re on the right path.

And sometimes dreams give us a sense of hope.  I experienced this a couple months ago when I was diagnosed with pneumonia.  Even though I knew intellectually that by taking the antibiotic I was prescribed, getting sufficient sleep, and in other ways taking care of myself, the illness would run its course.  And yet, even knowing that, I had a tendency to wonder if I would ever feel well again and in general be able to return to my “normal” life.

During the time that I was ill, I had dreams showing young children dancing, some women and I volunteering at a food donation program, and a young man and woman from a different era and culture from mine who were in love, had been kept apart, but were finally able to be together and to marry.  These dreams were comforting because it was as if they were given to me to remind me that I would be well again.  They did this by portraying through their stories and symbols youthful energy, being active and helping others, and a loving and committed relationship.  Each one, although very different in their stories and characters, portrayed positive happenings and through that a sense of hope.  It’s as if the dreams were saying in their various ways about my illness and related isolation that this too will pass.  And the illness and aloneness did pass, and I’m thankful to be healthy again and to be able to do the things that I care about and that add meaning to my life.

For those who are reading this post who are not already recording their dreams, I encourage you to begin to do so.  In this way, you will honor the dreams given to you.