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THE CARE OF SOULS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS
A dream narrative has the same form as a fable or legend.
The tale is unfolded in a series of symbolic pictures. The
meaning of the symbols is not easy to discern; and in the early
part of the adviser’s experience he may at first seek in vain for
profound hidden significance. It is important to remember
that dream symbolism is essentially naïve. The logical
complexity of waking thought, the capacity for clear reasoning of
normal consciousness, are absent in sleep. The conclusions of
these operations may be represented in dreams by a simple
series of logically unrelated pictures, whose significance can be
interpreted only when the situation of the dreamer is known
and carefully taken into consideration.
Dreams can be interpreted only by a person who clearly
understands that the language of symbolism is being spoken. The
relation between one dream picture and another is itself obscure
unless one is aware of the phenomena of ‘compression’. This
term is used to indicate a very common dream occurrence.
Pictures or symbols of a different order which have a common
emotional significance may be blended together and experienced
by the dreamer as a single whole, like a print made from a
photographic plate on which several different scenes have been
superimposed. The result of this compression or condensation
is a complex dream picture which must be resolved into its
separate components or ‘layers’ before it can be understood.
A phenomenon closely related to condensation is
displacement. Parts of a dream picture fuse together, glide apart and
then combine again in new combinations while the picture as a
whole becomes unclear. This phenomenon is not accidental.
It occurs when there is strong inner conflict or when the dream
is concerned with feelings and tendencies one does not wish to
accept or acknowledge. WH
To understand the message of a dream, the phenomenon
called ‘projection’ must also be taken into account. It occurs
very often. The personality of the dreamer is projected into
the objects and people in the dream so that he performs a role
in the scene of which he is the spectator, while remaining
unaware that the actor he is watching is a disguised
representation of himself.
Dream interpretation is a co-operative activity between
adviser and confidant. The dream is considered episode by
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