What I find most fascinating about dreams is that no matter how hard we try we will never be able to control what we dream about. Dreams are sent to us from another realm. They are beyond our manipulation. Our hesitancy to explore their powerful messages is rooted in the fact that we cannot control them. And we are obsessed with control. Instead of inspiring us, dreams frighten us. They are stupefying annoyances in our task-driven, results-oriented society. There’s no time to give to our dreams. We shrug them off, muzzle their cries, and find all of our meaning in the external world, the world we feel like we can control.
To appreciate dreams, to give them their proper seat at the table, to allow them to affect us means giving up control. It means giving in. Jung said, “It is easy to understand why dreamers tend to ignore and even deny the message of their dreams. Consciousness naturally resists anything unconscious and unknown.” Even as we give in and begin to explore our dreams we’ll find the ego wanting to have the final say, an interpretation rooted in ego control, completely at odds with what our unconscious is trying to tell us. The ego must be set aside, even if it’s terribly uncomfortable for us, even if what our dreams are telling us is humbling, maybe even humiliating.
Let dreams have their say, free of manipulation. Let the symbols speak for themselves. You’ll feel your inner world stirring. You’ll feel yourself rounding out as a person. And you’ll have a renewed appreciation for the things you cannot control, for the eternal, for the infinite.
