I am not sure how it started but I was riding shotgun with Dr. Charles Stanley. Yes, that Charles Stanley, the famous pastor who just recently retired from ministry. We were deep in a conversation where he shared his regrets from the last years. I was honored to be worthy of his trust but deep inside was wondering: why me? When it came to my turn to talk, I awkwardly mumbled trite words of empathy and encouragement. What else was I to do? It probably took a lot for him to share his heart with me, a stranger.
We finally arrived at our destination. At that point, I realized we were in front of a hospital. Dr. Stanley went in and when I opened the door, to my surprise, it fell out. Felling embarrassed, I tried putting the door back on the hinges but it was not staying. At that point, Dr. Stanley came back out and signaled me to come in. He told me to not bother as the door was broken for a long time. “Not bother?” I thought; “I can’t just leave the door here in the street”. Finally, I tried one more time when I saw that the side mirror of the broken door was covered with gray epoxy.
That is when I woke up.
An Unexpected Journey
I wasn’t one to pay attention to dreams. To me, they were mere confusing accidents of nature carrying little relevance to the real world. Occasionally, I would remember one, tell my wife, and move on with life. Nothing to see here, carry on with more pressing matters. Yet, recently my perspective changed. All it took was social isolation and a few sleepless nights that forced me to pay more attention to my dreams.
Apparently, I am not alone. Many have reported a surge of vivid dreams lately. At first, I thought this was simply an anomaly. However, the more I journaled about it, the more I realized how little I have paid attention to my dreams. What if they were trying to tell me something important? What if they revealed truths about myself I refuse to confront?
It was then, through friends and a few google searches, that I discovered Jungian psychology. A contemporary of Freud, Carl Jung was one of the fathers of modern psychology. He started his own school of thought in the field which among other things took dreams seriously. He believed they were not simply side effects of stomach indigestion but important symbolic messages our subconscious was trying to convey.
Faithful Dreams
In my religious upbringing, dreams played a role. Inspired by biblical passages, dreams could be warnings, premonitions, or messages of hope. In short, the tradition is aware of the importance of dreams even if centuries of Enlightenment in the West has made serious theological engagement with it a rarity at best. Yet, my religious upbringing was too concerned with morality to dig deeper into the symbolic world of dreams. It often gave me little options as to what the dream could be.
Hence, unless the dream was revealing a message of eternal value or carrying a warning of things to come, there was simply no interest in probing further. It lacked a more robust understanding of self that went beyond a narrow consideration of right and wrong. Consequently, in an attempt to focus my eyes on heavenly topics, it left me blind to the earthly mundane work of self-awareness. This where the wealth of knowledge accumulated through psychoanalysis in the last century and a half comes in hand.
Ultimately, Jungian analysis focuses on what the dream has to speak of the dreamer him or herself. If we suspend the question of source, namely who or what is creating the dream, the dream is there to deliver a message to the individual (or ego, the conscious individual). It most often is not about an earth-shattering message but a hidden insight that helps the conscious self better understand what is underneath.
In that sense, looking at dreams this way requires faith. That is, it requires trust that whatever source is speaking to us is worth listening to. Furthermore, it calls for a belief that that message is there ultimately for our good. I confess, that I struggled with this one. As a Christian, I was trained to doubt the human voice. Inherent in our theology is the idea that humanity is fallen and in need of divine intervention. This can oftentimes lead us to turning away from our humanity in pursuit godly things. Yet, here we are invited to trust that God can and will speak through our very human subconscious.
Extending an Invitation
The best of Christian tradition embodies the habit of hospitality. It is often preoccupied with inviting others into a new reality. In the same way, my journey through Jungian psychology is shaping into an invitation to go within. It is a call to listen to dreams and imagination without judgement, only seeking to listen to what is saying. Can our dreams speak life into our awaken selves?
Unfortunately, staying in the abstract level will not be sufficient. An invitation must translate into a call to action. Action in this area, for many of us who have grown distant and neglectful of the inner life, requires some training and coaching. Towards that aim, I was delighted to discover from the suggestion of a friend, Robert A Johnson’s Inner work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth. This practical yet dense book is proving to be a great tool in my own personal journey within.
In the next blog, I will summarize the main points Dr. Johnson brings up in this book. Yet, you don’t have to wait for them. If you are serious about this journey, go ahead and purchase the book and read it for yourself. In this extended time of social isolation, it is never too late to embark on a journey inwards.