Definition.
A dream is an encounter with the contents of our unconscious psyches during sleep-time. Dreams most often appear as live-action dramas in which the dreamer interacts with autonomous figures, but this is not always the case. Dreams may also resemble waking-life ‘thinking’ or may arise as impressions (verbal, visual, or otherwise). Hypnogogic hallucinations, which emerge in the space between waking and sleep, are arguably also forms of dreaming, and may include snatches of overheard conversations, geometric shapes, or faces turning in the direction of the dreamer.
We live in a largely wake-centric world which considers waking-life experiences more valuable and more ‘real’ than those of dreaming. But our dream life is an encounter with the figures of our inner worlds, particularly our complexes. These worlds, these encounters, are no less real for having been non-physical in nature. (Note that, in Jungian thought, what is ‘real’ is what has an effect.footnote 1 A dream is understood to have an effect on the dreamer.)
One of the challenges posed by dreams and dream figures is that they speak a ‘language’ different from our own, using symbols, puns, and affects as means of expression. Understandably, our tendency is to try to translate or interpret this language. But a more productive way to approach dreaming may be to consider a dream as an experience to live into, something like traveling in a foreign country. Rather than interpreting every image or attempting to turn every experience into something ‘familiar,’ we might consider simply being present with what we find, no matter how confusing or unfamiliar. Given time and patient attention, these inner provinces may gradually teach us on their own terms.