How to interpret dreams?

[EternalReturn]

Dream interpretation was interesting to me as long as I remember. Unfortunately only one type of dream interpretation was making sense to me. It is Freud's Dream analysis and he states:

1) Displacement occurs when the desire for one thing or person is symbolized by something or someone else.

2) Projection happens when the dreamer propels their own personal desires and wants onto another person.

3) Symbolization is illustrated through a dreamer’s unconscious allowing repressed urges and desires to be metaphorically acted out.

4) Condensation illustrates the process by which the dreamer hides their feelings and/or urges through either contraction or minimizing its representation into a brief dream image or event

5) Rationalization (also referred to as secondary revision) can be identified as the final stage of dreamwork in which the dreaming mind intently organizes an incoherent dream into something much more comprehensible and logical for the dreamer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_%2 ... nalysis%29

Sometimes, this approach can be vague or you can be led to believe you have some sort of problems with sexuality [grin]

What are other types of dream interpretation?

Point of whis topic would be making a collection of books, articles, personal interpretations and advices on dream analysis so that anyone can find a good source of knowledge how to interpret dreams.

[Nahemah]

...Point of this topic would be making a collection of books, articles, personal interpretations and advices on dream analysis so that anyone can find a good source of knowledge how to interpret dreams.

An excellent idea and one I'm more than happy to contribute to also.

If it flies,I'll sticky it as a resource. [thumbup]

So,lets get our wingtips polished up,lol. [grin]


Jungian Anaysis:

...Jung was influenced by Freud's approach of the delicate problem of dream interpretation. Later on, Jung develops his own theory which includes a few basic elements: subject level, prospective aspect, compensation, amplification method.

It is known that Freud interprets dreams on the object level; that is, according to the relationship between the dreamer and the persons or situations in his real life. Jung introduces the subject level. What is this level? The fact that the dream reveals, in a symbolic way, some features of individual psychological life or of his internal psychological transformations. This way the dream becomes an indicator of those changes that sometimes point to the development of the individuation process.

So, if someone dreams of his mother, the mother in Jung's view is not an evocation of the real mother, but of the dreamer's anima, that is, his emotional, feminine side of the psyche. Mother can also be a suggestion to what is basically biologic in the human nature or can lead to his inherited background, his homeland in a cultural way.

Freud's dream approach is retrospective; that is, it refers mainly to past events, placed back in the dreamer's childhood (psychological trauma, sexual fixations and desires, and so forth). Jung's dream approach is prospective; it treats dream like a map of dreamer's future psychological evolution towards a more balanced relationship between his ego and the Self...

http://www.carl-jung.net/dreams.html

http://www.dreamshelp.com/dream-symbols.html

http://www.jungiananalysts.com/wp/?page_id=37

Personally speaking,of Jungian and Freudian:I think both models are flawed,but each have definite strong elements of workability within them.

More later.

[edaen]

Dreaming is non-essential when it comes to survival as a body but is essential with regard to our development and evolution as metaphysical beings. One of the biggest myths about dream analysis is that there’s a set of rules people need to follow. But every person is unique, no formulas or prescriptions.You can interpret dreams by considering various factors like:
Record Your Dreams write few sentences that encapsulate the dream,
Identify how you were feeling in the dreams like Was I scared, angry, remorseful, etc
Think about elements of your dreams they give you some information example: gemstone Amethyst http://www.ka-gold-jewelry.com/ in dream -It is the precious stone of the healing and the dream influencing.
According to me above are the some points which should keep in mind while interpreting the dream.

[RockDemon]

I interpret dreams the following way.
1st of all I try to find the associations and connections of objects,people,symbols for me, without any system. Find my own symbolism with my thoughts and feelings.
2nd the theories come in. I look through Freudian symbolism, archetypal symbolism, mythological symbolism. So I come up with a few interpretations.
3rd considering such things like compensation and so on..
4th I trying to filter the interpretations out getting to the core symbols...

This mostly work out for me very well, but you need to be very strong and persistent in finding your own associations in the step 1. Because your conscious may put heavy barriers in front of you to hide the contents of the unconsious.
Also interpreting the dreams this way I found out has a special benefit. You find many aspects of the process. Like the trigger of it, how it goes, in what stage is it currently. For instance once I had a dream for which I found 3 core interpretations. First one - My ID and the ego or the unconscious and the conscious were running away from each other, in the second interpretation I understood that I got 2 sexual images of an ideal, and 3rd the dream represented what Jung called the Transcendent function. And all of this were connected. The 2 sexual images ( the second one being newly rising ) were the trigger for my unconsicous and conscious runing away from each other. And those were parts of my Transcendent function, but I can't elaborate further because of this dealing with very personal issues , and also to understand it you need to know the Transcendent function itself and the typology of extraverts and introverts.

[Shamash]

I believe "dreams" to be the soul returning from the concrete world to its own æon temporarily. The narratives that we perceive are just our human brains trying to make sense of what happened using the objects of the physical world. That's why they're always so chaotic and incoherent. I wouldn't try to interpret that, it's ultimately pointless!

[Hadit]

Dreams are watch we think, hear, see, etc throughout the day, both conscious and unconscious, mixing all together in a jumble while probably being stored to memory. It can tell us tons about a person, sure, but not often that deep. Usually you dreamt of something because you did. I can't imagine symbolism is as important as Jung suggested in dreams, as symbols a completely subjective to start, and are written into our subconscious minds. This means that symbols in dreams had to be imprinted in the waking world with waking influence, so obviously they'll have similar meaning.

[Shinichi]

There is more than one type of dream experience, some less important than others. Before you go interpreting dreams, it's important to start there and understand which type of dream you are trying to interpret.




~:Shin:~

[Hadit]

There is more than one type of dream experience, some less important than others. Before you go interpreting dreams, it's important to start there and understand which type of dream you are trying to interpret.




~:Shin:~

Can you give operational definitions of these dream categories?

[Shinichi]

Mundane Dreams, or whatever you want to call them, are ordinary dreams about the processes of daily life. That weird crap about falling into infinity or roller coasters that are giant snakes, or dreaming about something you thought hard about throughout the day. These dreams typically have no special psychic meaning, save for the psychological meaning that you glean from them via interpretation. They are simply the unconscious mind trying to process information and organize things while you sleep.

Precognitive Dreams are also common, though most people know what they are until the event happens. They are for me not as symbolic and interpretive as more basic dreams, though that depends on the person I suppose. In my own experience, when I have a Precog dream, I am directly experiencing an event or encountering a person that I will experience or meet physically at a later date. My consciousness, while I am unconscious, directly reveals a thing, person, or "sequence of events" that will happen almost exactly like that. Just like any other form of future vision, it's a complex subject that can be difficult to deal with, but when you get used to them they can be "read" just like any other form of divination.

Travel Dreams are what most people are referring to when they say that the mind is "projecting" during sleep. This may be so, but it is important to remember that the Human Microcosm is its own Inner Realm. There is an entire Psycho-Astral Realm inside your own being, and almost all of your dream experiences, and similar experiences, are occurring inside this Inner Realm. Genuine "external" Travel Dreams, then, are actually a little rare. They occur when your consciousness actually does leave your body while asleep, to wander around the world unconsciously. You may see friends, a world event, or even enter someone else's Inner Realm and explore their Dreams together with them. In some of the Occult Schools/Order groups I've been around, some folks have also used this method of Dreaming as a teaching platform, where the teachers pull you out while you're asleep, you experience this big multi-person dream where you and other students hang out and learn important things together, and then you wake up with new occult knowledge.

Lucid Dreams are something most here should be at least a little familiar with. They are the conscious experience of a Dream. Or as some define it, being "awake while in a dream." This is a very neat and powerful thing, because if you remember that I said most Dreams are experienced in the Inner Realm, this means that you can consciously explore the depths of your own mind and soul. You can wander around your dream world, do and experience anything you want, and you can also face some of your inner problems in very direct ways. Once you have explored the Inner Realm sufficiently and you have the process of Lucid Dreaming down, then you can also use the Inner Realm as a platform to launch into Mental Journeying. You can consciously initiate a Travel Dream, going anywhere you want. You can consciously initiate a Pre- or even Postcognition Dream, and go anywhen you want. Or, as most people experience while trying to learn Lucid Dreaming, you can also "lose" the Lucidity and fall back into an unconscious, mundane dream that doesn't really mean much.

I think there are a few other things that could be mentioned, but off the top of my head those four are especially important in my own experiences.



~:Shin:~