About this book
Why do we dream? Do our dreams mean anything? And if they do, how are we to understand what they are telling us?
This book explores some of the fundamental questions surrounding dreaming. It examines why we dream, what dreams might mean, and the principles and processes involved in interpreting them—including the knowledge required for meaningful interpretation and the etiquettes that should guide the interpreter.
But this is not merely a book about the theory of dreams. Through four case studies, the author demonstrates the process of dream interpretation in practice. He presents series of dreams from four individuals of diverse backgrounds, interpreting each dream individually while tracing the patterns that emerge across the sequence.
Ultimately, the book offers a deeper understanding of dreams as more than private psychological experiences. They can reveal the hidden psychological substrate of the dreamer while also expressing the collective ideas and modes of thinking that shape the society in which we live.
Read a little of the book.
Dreams do have a purpose. We see dreams for a reason. Although there are different categories of dreams, according to Jung, the main function of dreams is to balance a one-sided approach in our conscious attitude by presenting a compensatory perspective. The compensatory view shows us what we may be doing incorrectly in our waking life so that we can review our attitude and restore balance to our lives.
The psyche also works much like a weather balloon, collecting information from the environment that is imperceptible to the senses, and based on this information it intuits a possible outcome which is then relayed to consciousness in the form of a dream.
Dreams do not provide us with a step-by-step guide on how to rectify the problem and correct our course. Rather, they allow us to see the problem from the perspective of an objective and critical observer. This objective perspective is often all that is required to make an honest assessment, and also to determine our future course of action, if indeed we are interested in shedding like dead skin the provisional personalities we have adopted in the course of social adaptation, and becoming more authentic, and more complete versions of our selves.
Turn through the pages.
A few pages from the book, so you can see how it reads before you buy.
