09-27-2011, 06:51 AM
Years ago I used to participate on another web board with a couple members who were interested in dream interpretation.
I see some older "locked" threads on dreams here at GS so I thought I'd open up another and hopefully there might be enough interest here to keep it alive.
About me and dreams: I've always been a pretty active dreamer, but never really got interested in it until my college years when I took a creative writing class and the instructor introduced the idea of using our dreams for material. It was in that class that I first learned of the concept of the so called "shadow self". In other words a stranger that appears in your dream, someone that you interact with, but when "analyzed" later turns out to be YOURSELF.
I was totally fascinated by this idea.
Over the years, I've done some reading of Carl Jung and his ideas on mythology, metaphors, archetypes and symbolism. This is basically how I approach my own dream interpretation. I don't think dreams are just random meaningless thoughts. Nor do I believe there is anything mystical or magical about dreaming.
I buy into Jung's idea of the "collective unconscious" and the idea that the entire human experience has a common thread that runs through it, no matter what our culture.
I don't want to write a book here, but I wanted to see if anyone would be interested in sharing their dreams and/or collaborating with me here on their interpretation.
As I said, I *do* shy away from mystical interpretations. I prefer to "translate" symbols instead but I'm also VERY sensitive to the fact that I should not "import" my own meanings into the symbols displayed in others dreams.
For example, since I believe dreams shouldn't be taken literally, but metaphorically, I acknowledge one symbol (say, a fish) will have a different significance for me than it does for you. I want to find out what it means for YOU (and thereby enhance my interpretation of my own dreams). My usual technique is to simply ask you questions about the "scene" of your dream. It's amazing how much you remember when prompted--either by another person or by the act of putting pencil to paper and writing out the dream as it happened.
I have a couple books at home that I use to help me find the *historical* significance of certain symbols and since I travel a lot for work I'm often away from my books, but nevertheless I hope we can explore a little here in this thread while I'm home and traveling.
I see some older "locked" threads on dreams here at GS so I thought I'd open up another and hopefully there might be enough interest here to keep it alive.
About me and dreams: I've always been a pretty active dreamer, but never really got interested in it until my college years when I took a creative writing class and the instructor introduced the idea of using our dreams for material. It was in that class that I first learned of the concept of the so called "shadow self". In other words a stranger that appears in your dream, someone that you interact with, but when "analyzed" later turns out to be YOURSELF.
I was totally fascinated by this idea.
Over the years, I've done some reading of Carl Jung and his ideas on mythology, metaphors, archetypes and symbolism. This is basically how I approach my own dream interpretation. I don't think dreams are just random meaningless thoughts. Nor do I believe there is anything mystical or magical about dreaming.
I buy into Jung's idea of the "collective unconscious" and the idea that the entire human experience has a common thread that runs through it, no matter what our culture.
I don't want to write a book here, but I wanted to see if anyone would be interested in sharing their dreams and/or collaborating with me here on their interpretation.
As I said, I *do* shy away from mystical interpretations. I prefer to "translate" symbols instead but I'm also VERY sensitive to the fact that I should not "import" my own meanings into the symbols displayed in others dreams.
For example, since I believe dreams shouldn't be taken literally, but metaphorically, I acknowledge one symbol (say, a fish) will have a different significance for me than it does for you. I want to find out what it means for YOU (and thereby enhance my interpretation of my own dreams). My usual technique is to simply ask you questions about the "scene" of your dream. It's amazing how much you remember when prompted--either by another person or by the act of putting pencil to paper and writing out the dream as it happened.
I have a couple books at home that I use to help me find the *historical* significance of certain symbols and since I travel a lot for work I'm often away from my books, but nevertheless I hope we can explore a little here in this thread while I'm home and traveling.