“The dream shows the inner truth and reality of the patient as it really is: not as I conjecture it to be, and not as he would like it to be, but as it is.” – Carl Jung
What qualities do you think you have? Are you shy? Confident? Anxious? Ambitious?
Have you had dreams with figures possessing very different qualities than yours? Maybe you lack confidence and you dream of someone who knows how to handle themself in stressful situations. Maybe you’re tough and strong, and you dream of a person who is ultra-sensitive, easily hurt – an artistic person who can’t handle criticism.
The dream shows us parts of ourselves we haven’t realized or accepted. Sometimes those parts have qualities we would be embarrassed to have. But sometimes those unacknowledged parts have life energy, insights and perspectives we really need.
“The ego-conscious personality is only a part of the whole man, and its life does not yet represent his total life. The more he is merely “I,” the more he splits himself off from the collective man, of whom he is also a part, and may even find himself in opposition to him. But since everything living strives for wholeness, the inevitable one-sidedness of our conscious life is continually being corrected and compensated by the universal human being in us, whose goal is the ultimate integration of conscious and unconscious, or better, the assimilation of the ego to a wider personality.” – Carl Jung, “The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche”
We are so much more than we think we are. The ‘me’ that I know is like the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Jungian therapy gives a unique opportunity to connect with wise, eternal aspects of ourselves that dwell in the Unconscious.