“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.