Jung s Evolving Self, Example 1

Transcription

1 Jung s Evolving Self, Example 1 Dream 3, page 97 It is as if I were seeing a sort of steamroller from a point above. The machine is going and is apparently making a road, forming a particular pattern like a labyrinth. And in the dream he thinks, "That is my analysis"; and then he is in the picture which he has looked at from above. He is standing at the bifurcation of the road in a wood, and he does not know which way to go. At first he did not pay much attention to the arabesque the machine was making. 1. The man has a sexual problem. He treats sexuality only biologically. Where is his sexuality symbolized in the dream and why? 2. What does it mean that the man is seeing the steamroller from above? What are the positive and negative aspects of that? 3. Why does the steamroller make a pattern? What pattern does the steamroller make? Notice the difference between the crudeness of a steamroller and the intricacy of the pattern. Explain what that means. 4. The arabesque is a mandala. What do you know about mandala symbolism? Explain the meaning of the mandala symbolism in this dream. 5. At first the dreamer pays little attention to the arabesque. Explain the meaning of this. 6. What does the reference to the wood at the end of the dream mean? Do you know of a similar literary allusion to such a wood? 7. Explain the dreamer s finding himself in the picture. What do the two paths mean? 8. Explain the Gnostic aspect of the dream.

2 Jung s Evolving Self, Example 2 Dreams 4, page 105 I possess a sort of cage on a wagon, a cage which might be for lions or tigers. The cage consists of different compartments. In one of them I have four small chickens. I must watch them carefully because they are always trying to escape, but in spite of my frantic efforts they do escape near the hind wheel. I catch them in my hand and put them in another compartment of the cage, the one I believe to be the safest. It has a window but it is secured by a fly-screen. The lower end of the screen is not properly fastened, so I make up my mind to get some stones and put them on the lower edge of the screen to keep the animals from escaping. Then I put the chickens in a basin with smooth, high sides, assuming that they will find it difficult to get out. They are down at the bottom of the basin, and I see that one does not move and I think it is because I have pressed it too hard. I think that if the chicken is dead it cannot be eaten. While I watch it, it begins to move, and I smell an aroma of roast chicken. 1. The cage or wagon is for lions and tigers, explain what lions and tigers might mean. 2. What do the different compartments of that cage mean? 3. There are chickens in the cage that might be for lions or tigers. Explain. 4. What is the personality of a chicken? What part of the dreamer s personality do the chickens symbolize? 5. The chickens keep escaping, explain. What does it mean that the chickens get away? 6. The hind wheel has to do with the driving force of the vehicle. What does it mean that the chicken escapes there? 7. He puts them in a basin. Explain the Gnostic reference. Explain the alchemical reference. 8. Knowing the background of Gnostic and alchemical symbolism, what can we add to the meaning of the dream? What is the deeper meaning of the dream. 9. Explain the cooking reference at the end of the dream.

3 Jung s Evolving Self, Example 3 Dream 7, page 147 He sees a peculiar machine, which is a new device for rooting up weeds. It was so peculiar-looking that he could not describe it. He only knew, in the dream, that he should apply it. The dreamer had tried to discus his marriage problem with his wife in a cold and half-hearted way. She was not responsive, and he became discouraged. 1. Where is the discouragement symbolized in the dream? 2. To what part of the hero myth would that correspond? 3. The hero myth involves a battle. What is the dream s version of that battle? 4. Critique the dreams version of that battle.

4 Jung s Evolving Self, Example 4 Dream 8, page 147 I am touring in my car near the Riviera. Some one tells me the route d'en haut et route d'en bas can be used from now on only by those who stay for two months in the country, that all cars have to go one way on the lower road, and the other way on the upper. These regulations change every day. Monday it is so, while on Tuesday it goes the other way, so that one could enjoy the beautiful view from every direction. Someone shows me a map with a plan of the two roads; green and white circles indicate the days of the week and the direction to be observed by the visitors, east-west and west-east. The visitors who were there for only a short time need not observe the regulations, and I thought it rather illogical that they could just go as they pleased. I also heard that the other visitors were protesting against these regulations, because one had to pay for permission to travel on these roads for not less than six years. We all thought that terribly exaggerated. The main idea of the dream is that if the dreamer wants to spend time at the Riviera, he must follow certain regulations and travel a certain way one part of the week and travel another way the other part of the week. In other words, he has go travel back and forth according to certain regulations. 1. Can you see the alchemical reference to the back and forth requirement in the dream? What is it? 2. Explain the meaning of the back and forth from the alchemical point of view. 3. Why is this a requirement? In other words, what are the regulations? 4. Why do the people there for only a short time not need to follow the regulations? 5. What, in reality, is the French Riviera like? What does the French Riviera symbolize in his dream? 6. What is the positive and negative aspect of this? 7. Summarize the alchemical aspect of the dream.

5 Jung s Evolving Self, Example 5 Dream 20, page 317, this one is difficult He finds himself in a hut in Africa, somewhere in the upper part of Egypt. In a corner he comes upon a crocodile and tries to chase it out, astonished to find such a beast, and somehow it disappears. Then his youngest son brings him a kettle containing all sorts of peculiar old things. He takes up a whole bundle of small scythes made, not of steel, but of sheet iron--simulacra, not the real thing. Below that in the kettle he finds handles of old swords, made of metal and other material, some made even of glass, but the blades were all broken off. Below that was a statue of Christ, made of sheet iron, with a sword as long as the figure, and he notices that one can easily remove it from the statue. He wants to carry the kettle away with all its contents, but a native suddenly appears and declares that one would use all those scythes, banked up on the wall of the hut between small lamps in a sort of ceremonial. Then it dawns upon him that the hut is by no means ordinary but a kind of mosque, and the scythes are crescent moons, and he also realizes that the handles of the swords are Coptic cross symbols. The dreamer, a Swiss currently living in Zürich, visited prostitutes in northern and eastern Europe. He in fact spent his early years in northern Africa, and he considers Africa the place of his birth. 1. Why is the dream set in Africa? 2. What is the meaning of the hut, then, particularly in light of your answer to the first question? 3. Jung calls the crocodile the cold-blooded aspect of the self. Explain. What does it mean that the animal is chased out of the hut? 4. Jung calls the dreamer s youngest son an image of the dreamer s future self, the boy has his life ahead of him so he would represent the dreamer s future growth. Why is it the boy who bring the kettle? 5. Scythes portray the crescent moon. What would that symbolize in the dreamer s personality? Why do they have to be removed? Why are they simulacra? 6. The swords would represent the masculine aspects of the person. What would that refer to in the dreamer s personality? Why are they broken? 7. Explain the figure of Christ. Why is the Christ image made of iron? Why is the sword detachable? Explain the personal and collective aspects of the Christ image. 8. Explain the kettle and the alchemical aspect of the dream. What is the dream aiming at? 9. Why does a native discourage the dreamer from getting rid of the kettle? 10. Explain the dreamer s re-evaluation of the kettle at the end of the dream. 11. Summarize the alchemical, personal and collective meaning of the kettle, the cross and the crescents.

6 Jung s Evolving Self, Example 6 Dream 28, page 642 He was called by the voice of a child to go to a swimming-pool. The child said that there was a big animal in the water. He goes with the child but instead of a swimming-pool, he comes to a large bed. The child pulls away the bed-cover, and there is an enormous tortoise. He finds in his hand an iron tool, a chisel with a wooden handle, which he takes by the iron part. He beats the head of the tortoise with the wooden handle--not with the iron part, mind you--whereupon the animal opens its mouth and spits out a living child. The dreamer has been establishing a relationship to a child in his dream, and to make a long story short Jung interprets this child as the dreamer s honest attempt to face himself. At the time of the dream the dreamer was again feeling discouraged about the progress of his marriage situation. 1. What does it mean that the dreamer is called by the voice of a child? 2. Water often symbolizes the unconscious. Explain why the child calls the dreamer to a swimming-pool. 3. A swimming-pool is a product of human effort. Explain its meaning here. 4. Explain the presence of the tortoise in the dream. To what in the hero myth would the tortoise correspond? 5. We find out that another child has been swallowed by a tortoise. What would that mean? Again, explain the hero myth link. 6. Explain the dreamer s action in the dream with respect to the hero myth.