Home of the Dream

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Does the dream have a home? Does it venture out, to return?

Its’ home is from the deepest layer of our being, the collective unconscious (distinct from the personal unconscious) which, if utilised in an authentic manner, can provide a corrective view to the dreamer – as for example, the blind spot mentioned in an earlier post –  but also more, much more. And, it sometimes seems as if Hermes the necessary trickster, is abroad, above and below.

The unconscious is not inactive. Like our conscious mind, governed largely by our ego, the unconscious, inter alia, ‘…is ceaselessly engaged in grouping and regrouping its contents’.* This indicates that there is purpose and aim in the workings of the unconscious.

These unconscious workings, brought to the fore in significant part by working on our dreams, is given light in the struggle. Being responsible towards our dreamwork – for work it is – adds life and depth, a broader more encompassing perspective, fullness, harmony and meaning to our lives. From its dwelling place, it offers, as a gift, a way of communication between our conscious, visible and physical lives, with that of our psyche – or soul, or spirit, or that invisible aspect of ourselves. From its’ dwelling place of the unconscious and collective unconscious, it needs to be held lovingly, carefully, tending to it, hearing its prompt to us to live in greater awareness, harmony and consciousness in our inner and outer homes. Like ourselves, the dream has many mansions that invite exploration.

And even if the dream is dreadful there is holiness in the hell  – and healing – somewhere – 

We’re sometimes at the helm in the dream, often times not, and sometimes we cannot see the horizon, but when we hold the dream with care, the hidden messages will reveal the heart of it – and guide us home –

*CG Jung Vol 7

The dream is your friend and guide, waiting in the wings,  – always searching for its home –

68 Comments on Home of the Dream

  1. Wonderful to think of my dream home and harbor, too. Dreams bring me back to my self over and over and provide balancing positions to my ego perspective and that pesky negative animus. I love Robert Bosnak’s dream work because that technique brings the dream home to body. Where do I feel that vast ocean peace? Where are those three dancing women in my legs and arms? Does my hair stand on end in response to the sinister man? The more I bring my dream images into an embodied place, the more the dream stays with me and guides me.

  2. Carl Jung’s “The unconscious is ceaselessly engaged in grouping and regrouping its contents” — very interesting. I must think about this.

    And holding the dream tenderly — what a difference that makes: no resistance and giving unconditional love.

    Much to ponder and discover.

    Thank you, Susan.’

  4. I am enjoying the dream series and I love the way you are expressing everything so clearly… but this post I need to read again… thanks for sharing

  5. I believe dreams have a home, for they reappear over and over after having gone out, then back in.
    There is holiness even to the evil dream — I like that. Some dreams felt uniquely scary, but they left, for the time being, anyway. A most enjoyable post, Susan. Thank you.

    • Thank you Silvia … that’s a nice way of putting it, they return after being away. I’m unsure if evil equates with hell ..

  6. I see your use of a letter as a great exercise for students. I have them practice Tweets so they learn to be concise. Using one letter would teach them synonyms. Love it.

  7. Love how you say dreams have many mansions. And as we are multidimensional beings we truly have many homes. Loved this post.

  8. Beautiful insights on dreams, and I love the way you highlight your letter of the day in the words of the text. I will certainly be back to grow from the wisdom you share. Thank you and thank you for stopping by to visit me as well during the A to Z.

  10. Love your H journey through dreamland. I love Hermes and feel a great connection to the energy of psychopomp, which of course feels like a perfect fit for diving deep into the dreaming dimension.

  11. I have seen myself conquer fear in my dreams. Being at the helm is the first sign, but for the longest time I had little control in my dreams. I like the sailing term ‘at the helm’ because in my conscious world I also learned how to sail, which was frightening at first. It does seem that dreams can bring us “greater awareness, harmony and consciousness,” as you say.

    Inventions by Women A-Z

    • Thank you Sharon. Acknowledging the fear and confronting it in dreams is courageous. This to me is an indication that the dream helps in our outer lives where we sail the deep waters, or ride the wave, at the helm.

      Dreams need not always be fearful. As Susan, an earlier commentator said above: ‘You are so right–dreams reveal our psychological home–with all its needs for repair and its beauty in presentation and everything in between…’ If I could highlight this in bold or colour I would.

      I have so enjoyed your posts. I wonder if those women inventors had a dream …

  12. I’m convinced my unconscious writes all of my books. I have no other explanation for how I write.

    And I finally dreamed last night! First dream I can remember having in months. I must have gotten enough sleep for a change.

    • Thanks Sharon. Many say that their inspiration comes in large part from their dreams.

      Sounds like you were in a ‘good’ sleep – one of the REM stages of the sleep cycle! Wonderful that you remembered your dream!

  13. Dreams are at the helm of our unconsciousness. They provide a depth and wealth of information about us if only we choose to look. Thanks, as always, for your wise and interesting post.

    • Thank you Gwynn. They’re worth looking at, for their depth and wealth. The face we turn to the unconscious is the face that’s reflected back at us. These are Jung’s words. I may not have quoted him exactly but that’s basically the message.

  14. Hi Susan .. my one dream I do dream quite often is of home – it’s not one I like much … but it recurs occasionally, not so much in recent years.

    I was wondering about what I’d call day-dreams albeit they occur at night … I’ve fallen asleep after having woken, find I’m dreaming – almost day-dreaming, then I wake again … In other words I wake often during the night .. and rarely sleep through. I feel fine – it’s just me .. but I do sometimes have these almost wakeful day-dream type ‘dreams’ ..

    Cheers Hilary

    • Hi Hilary and thank you for your comment. Sounds like your day dreams at night are hovering in some way. Those are the ones I like to also catch. I too, rarely sleep through and wake feeling refreshed.

      Re your dream of home – you don’t say if an old home or current one? Perhaps if it pops up again i.e. that dream, to give it some attention?

      Thank you,

      Susan

      • Our family home … most of them; the start of a fire; or falling; then on occasions similar type but in home my father owned – that only happened once. I rather hope it doesn’t pop up again .. but I will pay some more attention to it ..

        Another is a tsunami type wave … must have learnt about Krakatoa and it ‘sank in’!! My step grandfather was on it and swimming across the Hayle estuary … that doesn’t happen that often .. it’s the big wave and the fast water, very narrow deep water tidal channel – it wasn’t really possible to swim across in normal circumstances .. think I can work that dream out …

        Cheers and thanks – H

  15. ‘…is ceaselessly engaged in grouping and regrouping its contents’

    I once heard that dreams are just the unconscious mind’s way of processing information and making sense of events. The above quote made me think of it. I think it’s quite amazing to think about the sheer amount of stimuli and information we are bombarded with, much of which probably never catches the attention of our conscious minds. Truly fascinating.

    • Thank you Marsha! Glad to hear of your growing confidence in your dreams! And thank you for your very kind compliment.

  17. I like the idea of the unconscious never being inactive. Even in sleep our gears are still turning.

  18. All those H’s in dreaming! I do think we’re trying to sort things out. Last night, my theatre class fell apart. Kids were climbing in the roof! Goodness. I hope it never gets that out of hand!
    Play off the Page

  19. Susan, thanks for noting Ashen’s comment above.

    All of our discussions confirm that our Creator has made infinitely intelligent provisions for Mankind to function AFTER the first seven days He created us, and after HIS day of rest. Creator has, with heavenly intelligence, placed our race on “auto-pilot.”

    What we need to do is become more conscious of all that has been done for us.

    • That’s interesting Joseph. Is our Creator on autopilot or is it we? Maybe we’re co-pilots?

      Thank you – we need to be not only conscious but eternally grateful for all that has been done for us.

  20. I love the topic pf dreams. I don’t remember any from last night but when I do the first thing I do is try to discern if it means something or not. If so, then I go to work trying to figure out what it means.

    • That’s great Stephen! How lovely to spend time trying to figure it out – giving it attention!

      Thank you for your comment.

  21. Your allusion to the Biblical reference in say the “dream has many mansions” is an interesting one. I find the dream world to be one of continuous exploration and discoveries. There is what seems to be familiar in our dreaming mind that is unfamiliar when we think back. The symbolism created in the subconscious realm apparently represents that which may make us feel like home yet aliens in an almost deceitful world that manipulates memories and plays with our normal perceptions. Perhaps the strangeness of dreaming is partially due to our acceptance of discomfiture while seeking our way back home to the world of wakefulness. Or is perhaps the dream the true home?

    Arlee Bird
    A to Z Challenge Co-host
    A Faraway View

    • Thank you Arlee .. yes, the dream world is a world waiting to be discovered. The symbolism in the unconscious including very much the collective unconscious is a treasure house. I agree that the world we live in today is hardly heartening. Which is why it is even more imperative that we stand apart from that in some sense. And find our true home. Which is within – with its many mansions. Our dreams help us in this ..

      Thank you,

      Susan

  22. Dear Susan;
    You are so right–dreams reveal our psychological home–with all its needs for repair and its beauty in presentation and everything in between…
    Susan

  23. Susan,
    I am really enjoying this series on the dream. Your explanations are filled with clarity on a simplistic level, so that anyone could understand what you’re talking about. Yet, each article is full of tiny diamonds of truth.
    Thank you.
    Shalom,
    Patricia

  24. From all of your alliterative “H” words, I’ll pick harmony as an end result of dream analysis with the goal – an integrated personality/soul.

  25. What powerful thoughts. I have never considered how dreams are looking for a home, but if I think of “dream” as “goal” rather than those crazy thoughts during sleep, I come closer to the idea of dreams looking for a home.
    ~Visiting from AtoZ

    • Thank you Wendy – a dream is one step further. Does one know one’s goal? Maybe it keeps changing as we explore our dream world?

  26. Susan, you have another very great post today! It stimulates a vast amount of thought about the matter from many perspectives!

    You say, “The unconscious is not inactive – – -is ceaselessly engaged in grouping and regrouping its contents.”

    Unknown to most people, in the depths of evolving neuroscience, we are conceiving of a ceaseless grouping of neuron cell-assemblies. Medical practice is commercially advancing with brain imaging techniques to know how consciousness is by analogue visualized on a computer screen.

    Jung’s contribution to dream analysis, and study of consciousness out from unconsciousness, has so-far richly exceeded our expectations, and also exceeded the infancy of neuroscience, getting to know what is going on with our souls!

    • Thank you Joseph very much!

      Please also note Ashen’s comment above quoting Anthony Stevens.

      Neuroscience is very exciting with its imaging techniques and capabilities! Jung’s writings and teachings are very significant earlier contributions. As are post-Jungian writers and thinkers. And many, from very ancient times. And, to paraphrase you, coming to know our own souls.

      Thank you again.

  27. Thank you for this essay,Susan. Your description of the dream struggling (my word) to find its home reminds me of the word Israel in Hebrew which means ‘One who struggles with God.” I am beginning to think that our dreams are part of that sacred struggle.

    • Thank you Stephen for this beautiful and apt comment. I know that Israel (God contended) was he who was formerly named Jacob. I think our dreams portray our inner struggles and are therefore part of that sacred struggle.

  28. When I get into bed at night, very often, my previous night’s dream comes to me. As if it’s been HOVERING there under the covers. Nothing I’ve considered all day, nothing conscious, but it just appears. Sometimes, even if I’ve been struggling unsuccessfully all day to remember my dream.

    • Thank you Beth for this lovely comment! What an apt word, HOVER! Like a butterfly, over the nectar. I had one such hovering this morning and almost didn’t write it down but I did and now, as I look at it it is – interesting. I don’t know what it means.

  29. Dearest Susan,

    You have helped me hold the horrid, hearing the heart, looking toward a horizon, with heart, striving to helm over what is hidden.

    With love,

    R.

  30. … ceaselessly engaged in grouping and regrouping its contents … That’s the beauty, Susan.

    Anthony Stevens, in ‘Private Myths,’ puts it like this … ‘dreams do not confine themselves to putting new documents in old files: they integrate and collate them with what is on file already … such is the dreaming brains’s capacity for lateral or non-discursive thinking, that it can see resemblances to the contents of other records filed under different headings – files that it would never have occurred to the waking ego to think of consulting … memories are re-vised and reorganised.’

    • Ashen, thank you so much for Anthony Stevens’ (psychiatrist and distinguished analyst) quote. It encapsulates exactly! ‘Re-vised’ is beautiful, makes me think of re-visiting and re-visioning. I like Stevens so much and many of the post-Jungians put thought into language clearly and concisely as does this quote – thank you again.

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