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Lifestyle => Train of Thought => Topic started by: TheSheriff on April 10, 2002, 12:17:18 PM

Title: Analysis and Interpretation of my own Dreams
Post by: TheSheriff on April 10, 2002, 12:17:18 PM
Dream 1:

From what I can remember of it, this is it:

Bruce Forsyth and companions I can no longer remember are discussing their recent actions. Forsyth has a photo album, and is talking about, as far as I remember, “taming” or something, a forest. The pictures depict various forest scenes, but the one I remember most clearly is a before and after shot of a clearing with some purple-flowered shrubs. The “before” shot is a wild, overgrown scene; the “after” shot is ordered. However, I still have some kind of feeling of displeasure over this tidy order.

I intend to analyse this in both Jungian and Freudian forms.

In Freudian terms, we dissect the dream piece by piece. Let us first take Bruce Forsyth. He is an entertainer, who dances, sings, and presents television programmes. I do not know if I had been reminded him on the night of the dream, but as far as I can see, he is simply being put there as an example of a thing I have strong feelings about-cheesy television personalities. I assume his companions are of similar ilk.

Now, let us get onto the forest. Unless it is some childhood memory, I suspect it is like as not the woods near my new house that the forest in my dreams represents. The move of house has, evidently, taken up a residence of some importance in my mind. It had purple shrubs; this may be a mal-interpretation of the nickname of a pen friend, “Pink”1.

Now, why the displeasure? I can only assume this is the representation of an unconscious wish that such cheesy celebrities should be lynched and hated. Forsyth is “guilty” of ruining the forest, and, as I am an avid environmentalist, has attacked my principles-So, I have every right to be angered with him, beyond he general cheesiness.

Thus, this seems to suggest the dream is a fulfilment of a wish of revenge against Forsyth and his ilk, which means I would not have felt it necessary to actually carry out the wish. I simply use the nearby woods to represent a very direct vision of my life.

[Footnote 1] That is Pink as in the one here. I'd first talked to her the night of the dream.

Now, onto the Jungian way of analysis. Here, we assume each individual piece that we discovered above is a "symbol", of which there may be individualist motifs.

The forest is, in all likelihood, life. I should think Forsyth represents false celebrity here, as above. The purple shrubs were wild first, but tamed by Forsyth, with me angry because of it. Now, let us see if these connect, or are just individual thought trains.

I think they do; again, "false celebrity" has damaged "life"-It has tamed the wildness, the freedom. Though these terms sound different from the Freudian analysis, they are not so alienated.

They both show I am angered by this, but the Freudian method includes prominently the wish fulfilment side of it.

Thus, here, with a specimen dream, a tame one admittedly, we can see ways of interpreting this dream I had. Freudian method relies more on free association then Jungian, where each motif is a loosely defined symbol.
Title: Re: Analysis and Interpretation of my own Dreams
Post by: infinite59 on April 10, 2002, 12:32:29 PM
I'll offer a different criteria for the analysis of dreams, by James Redfield, writer of the hugely popular book, "The Celestine Prophecy"

A frequent dream I was having over a year ago, and how it says in the book to analyze it.

Dream:  I was holding onto Erin very very tight, physically in my dream, I would not let her out of my sights.  Trying to focus all my attention on holding her tight, I fought desperately to keep her in my grasp.  But then out of the corner of my eye, I see Ashley, and I start searching more, looking for her, and then I can't find her, so I come back to where Erin was at, and she's gone, and then I've lost both of them.

Now.  According to James Redfield.  I compare that dream to my life story.  And then ask myself the question.  IF I HAD THE DREAM TO DO OVER AGAIN WHAT WOULD I HAVE DONE.

The answer:  Erin was trying to shake loose of me, and I was fighting a loosing battle with her, and I couldn't find Ashley, so it was lose, lose, all the way around.  I needed something else in my life to be passionate about.  So the answer was to search for something more, which ended up being Islam.  Peace.

Title: Re: Analysis and Interpretation of my own Dreams
Post by: TheSheriff on April 10, 2002, 01:08:21 PM
Yeah man, Redfield had some nice ideas. He hasn't (I dunno if he's still alive!) developed them fully enough yet, though. Once he has research proof, then proper psychiatrists will always use it.

I'll be postin a more interestin dream later. That one was tame, but I posted it to show the theory.