What’s in it for me? Learn the language of your unconscious mind.
When one of the earliest humans witnessed a bolt of lightning flash across the sky, she saw a missile cast by an angry god. When thunder boomed, she heard his bellowing voice.
For our ancestors, symbols were a part of everyday life. But to day, we largely ignore them – consciously, at least.
The psychiatrist Carl Jung believed that, unconsciously, our minds still speak the language of symbols – primarily in the realm of dreams.
According to Jung, dreams contain messages, advice, and even warnings. Our rational minds can interpret these and apply them to our waking lives. The following blinks explore this process of dream analysis and examine some of the common symbols shared by all of humankind.
In these blinks, you’ll explore
how dreams can be prophetic;
why you might dream of an old man or woman; and
what a circle symbolizes.
Our unconscious minds convey ideas to us symbolically through dreams.
Imagine visiting a grand Christian church or cathedral. Among the opulent stained-glass windows and ornate carvings, you’d be likely to find depictions of animals – eagles, lions, and oxen, in particular. If you knew absolutely nothing about Christian mythology, you might wonder why these particular animals were chosen. You might even conclude that Christians worship animals.
But, in fact, these animals are merely symbols. They have a hidden meaning that needs to be deciphered. First seen in a vision of the prophet Ezekiel, the eagle, lion, and ox represent three of the Four Evangelists – the authors of the four Gospels of the Bible.
Often, we use symbols to evoke ideas or communicate concepts that we can’t fully explain or grasp. This is one way we employ symbols consciously. But we can also make use of them unconsciously – most notably in our dreams.
The key message here is: Our unconscious minds convey ideas to us symbolically through dreams.
The human psyche is incredibly complex. Many people incorrectly equate it with consciousness and its contents. But if we just focus on consciousness, we’re leaving out one very important part of the picture: the unconscious mind – or simply the unconscious, for short. This is the part of the mind that contains everything we’re not consciously aware of at a given moment.
In our conscious, waking lives, our five senses take in information from our surroundings. That information is transported from reality into our minds. We can’t control the way our minds perceive or interpret a given sensation, making this an unconscious process.
On top of that, there are many events, thoughts, sensations, and desires that we have or experience, but don’t consciously notice. And then there are all the memories of things we were consciously aware of at some point, but aren’t currently thinking about. All of these dwell within the unconscious, until something provokes us to remember them – or they appear in our dreams.
Our conscious minds use language to think about and express ideas. Our unconscious minds, on the other hand, employ pictures and symbols. And the symbols chosen by the mind are highly individual.
For example, let’s say a man dreams of inserting a key into a lock. This image could be interpreted as a symbol for sexual intercourse. But why did the man’s unconscious choose this symbol specifically? Why didn’t it choose, say, a battering ram breaking down a door instead?
Well, the key might convey something specific about the man’s attitudes toward sex. Or it might not have anything to do with sexuality at all. Symbols are almost never straightforward – instead, they are mixed up with, and altered by, an individual’s unconscious.
Dreams can provide helpful advice and warnings.
Our unconscious minds contain vast amounts of subliminal material: urges, impulses, feelings, intentions, and thoughts that live below the threshold of our awareness, but can be expressed symbolically in our dreams.
However, the unconscious is much more than a mere repository of material that sometimes leaks into our dreams. It can also create brand-new ideas. Just look at the many stories of artists, poets, mathematicians, and scientists whose life’s work was revealed to them in dreams.
Clearly, the unconscious mind is a powerful thing. So perhaps it should come as no surprise that dreams have long been considered prophetic in many cultures. While dreams may not be able to predict the future in a supernatural sense, they can still provide our minds with information they already have, but aren’t yet consciously aware of.
Here is the key message: Dreams can provide helpful advice and warnings.
Consider the case of a woman Jung knew. She was quite stubborn and had an overly high opinion of herself. One night, she dreamed she was attending a social event. There, she was greeted by a hostess, who said that all of the woman’s friends were waiting inside. The hostess opened the door. But rather than a party, the woman found herself inside a cowshed!
At first, the woman denied the message her dream was sending. But eventually she had to admit that it was correct: her character was flawed, and she needed to change her attitude.
Along with advice, dreams can also provide warnings. One of Jung’s patients was a man with a passion for dangerous sports – mountain climbing, in particular. One day, the man dreamed of stepping off of a summit and into empty space. Jung tried to persuade him to exercise caution and explained that the dream might have been foreshadowing his death. Unfortunately, the patient didn’t heed Jung’s warning. Six months after having the dream, he and a friend were both killed in a mountain climbing accident.
Though dreams sometimes provide benevolent warnings, they can also sometimes trap or trick us. When we were more in tune with our instincts, we, as a species, used to be able to distinguish easily between the two types of dreams. Unfortunately, modern humans are hyper-focused on controlling, ignoring, or overcoming those very instincts.
As a result, we are cut off from our unconscious minds. By refusing to examine or acknowledge our unconscious fantasies, wishes, and desires, we widen the gap between our conscious and unconscious minds. This can cause great anxiety, dramatic mood swings, or even dissociation. Dream analysis can help us reconcile the two warring parts of the psyche: conscious and unconscious.
Some symbols, called archetypes, belong to humankind collectively.
Once upon a time, humans lived in a world shaped by gods and demons. Religious myths – and the symbols within them – gave our lives meaning and helped us endure our suffering. They provided us with ways of understanding the universe and our place within it.
In the modern era, however, reason and rationality dominate. This makes us more efficient, since we can take action without praying to a higher power or engaging in complex rituals. But our newfound efficiency comes at a hefty cost. Our world has become dehumanized and coldly intellectual. We no longer feel a part of nature, but isolated outside of it.
When a modern person comes across a river, for instance, he doesn’t view it as containing a primal spirit. But, consciously or unconsciously, he still yearns for the sense of connection and emotion once bestowed by this and other symbols. He has cut himself off from a part of his unconscious containing ancient symbols that are collective in nature – that is, shared among all of humankind.
These symbols are often religious in nature, and their origins lie so far back in the past that no one can remember when they first arose. These ancient motifs are what Jung called archetypes.
The key message is this: Some symbols, called archetypes, belong to humankind collectively.
Archetypes are symbolic representations of ideas and concepts of great significance to the human experience. Their details often vary greatly across cultures, but their central motifs remain the same.
To see these archetypes in action, we can look at the case of a young girl who had a series of strange dreams that contained a number of religious symbols. One of the dreams, for instance, was about an evil, snakelike monster. It killed and devoured all other animals. But then God, appearing in the guise of four separate entities, brought the animals back to life.
None of the young girl’s dreams appeared to have any connection to her life experiences. Even more puzzling, she hadn’t been brought up in a very religious environment. So how could she have learned of these symbols prior to dreaming about them?
The answer lies with archetypes. The themes of redemption and rebirth are, of course, found in Christian mythology. But these themes predate Christianity by thousands of years. In other words, they’re archetypes.
The young girl passed away a year after sharing her dreams with her father. It turned out that the girl’s dreams were her mind’s way of preparing itself for death. Her unconscious was aware that her days were numbered, and it used the language of archetypes to send meaningful and perhaps soothing messages to her.
The archetypal patterns of myths help us achieve higher levels of consciousness.
The best-known myth in the world is that of the hero. Its basic pattern is always the same. First, an individual is born into humble circumstances. Then he begins to exhibit superhuman abilities, eventually rises to power, and struggles against the forces of evil. Ultimately, he dies through either betrayal or a heroic sacrifice.
Throughout his journey, the hero undergoes considerable personal growth. He encounters challenges and meets mentor figures who help him become aware of his strengths and weaknesses. Through these experiences, he develops a sense of his own individuality.
The archetypal pattern of the hero myth is embedded deep in each of our psyches – and it’s often expressed symbolically in our dreams. Our minds show us the hero myth at different stages of our lives to help us develop maturity and individuality. The mentor figures, for instance, represent parts of the psyche that can help us grow. And when the hero dies, that usually means we’ve succeeded in becoming mature individuals. At that point, we achieve what Jung calls ego-consciousness – an understanding of our own selfhood that indicates we’re ready for the next stage of life.
The key message here is: The archetypal patterns of myths help us achieve higher levels of consciousness.
The hero myth is often centered around a male figure. But girls and women, too, must develop their own ego-consciousness. Often, this means they participate in the traditionally masculine hero myths – but girls also have their own specific archetypes that help them transition into womanhood. One such archetype is that of Beauty and the Beast.
The best-known version of this tale concerns a young, unselfish girl named Beauty. As a gift for his daughter, Beauty’s father steals a white rose from the hideous Beast. Beast is angered, but Beauty asks to be punished in her father’s stead. She is imprisoned in a castle, where Beauty falls in love with Beast despite his ugliness. Once she declares her love for him, Beast transforms into a handsome prince.
Beauty represents any young girl or woman who has a pure, emotional bond with her father. This relationship leads to Beauty’s imprisonment – it’s excessively pure and stifling. When Beauty learns to love Beast, she enters into a relationship that is both loving and erotic. It enables her to enter womanhood in its entirety. She escapes the repressive, fearful power of the masculine force represented by her father and fully awakens her faculty of love.
While the hero’s myth and the story of Beauty and the Beast are just that – myths and stories – they represent aspects of our psyches, struggles that have existed for eons. By understanding and applying the messages these archetypes offer, we can regain a fuller sense of consciousness and overcome life’s greatest challenges.
The process of individuation allows us to reach our full potential.
Interpreting dreams is no easy task. But if you were to observe your dreams carefully, night after night, year after year, you might begin to see a pattern emerge.
Perhaps you have recurring dreams. Or maybe you find yourself repeatedly dreaming about similar symbols, figures, or landscapes. And if you started to interpret your dreams consciously and change your attitude or behaviors accordingly, you’d see the patterns shift in subtle ways.
This process of identifying patterns in your unconscious mind and altering your conscious actions in response to them is what Jung called individuation. Through individuation, we can counter our negative character traits, unlock new creative talents, and come to terms with our personal struggles.
This is the key message: The process of individuation allows us to reach our full potential.
Individuation usually begins with an instance of emotional pain or suffering. The experience calls us to examine our personalities – though, at this stage, we might still blame the problem on somebody else.
After this psychological disturbance, we’re likely to encounter a particular figure in our dreams called our shadow. The shadow contains all the dark, destructive aspects of our nature – the parts we normally repress or prefer to keep hidden.
In dreams, our shadows usually appear as a person of our own sex. His or her goal is often to display one of our shortcomings, which we should work to improve. Alternatively, he or she may try to convince us to accept a part of our character that we've been ignoring.
For our ego – our conscious self – to become integrated with our unconscious, it must overcome the shadow. But it must also recognize and separate itself from another significant figure: the anima for a male dreamer and the animus for a female dreamer.
The anima and animus represent both positive and negative qualities of the opposite sex to the dreamer’s. The anima, the feminine figure, may represent the capacity for personal love, or attunement to nature. Or she could signify moodiness, insecurity, or depression.
Meanwhile, the animus, the male figure, may represent initiative, courage, or spiritual wisdom. But he can also signify coldness, obstinacy, or brutality.
When the animus or anima appears in our dreams, he or she serves to help – or force – us to develop our character. A man, for instance, might shun or repress his emotional, feminine side. In response, his particular anima might implore him to take up some artistic endeavor, like painting or dancing.
Within all of us lie both feminine and masculine aspects, according to Jung. It’s only by accepting and seriously considering these often-contradictory aspects of ourselves that we can advance in our process of individuation.
Representations of the Self send specific messages to a dreamer.
When we, as dreamers, first encounter our animus or anima, we feel identified with and connected to him or her. But it can take us quite a long time to understand fully what this figure represents and how it applies to our lives and personalities.
With enough wrestling, however, we can break away from our identification with the animus or anima. Afterward, the form of our unconscious shifts, taking on a new symbolic representation in our dreams. It appears as the Self – the word Jung uses to refer to our entire psyche in its totality. For male dreamers, the Self can be represented by a priestess, sorceress, Earth Mother, or goddess of love. For female dreamers, it may take the form of a guardian, king, wise old man, or spirit of nature.
Here’s the key message: Representations of the Self send specific messages to a dreamer.
When the Self takes a particular shape within a dream, that shape conveys a message. The wise old man or woman, for instance, can provide guidance, assisting the dreamer’s ego in overcoming its destructive characteristics. A youthful representation of the Self, on the other hand, can help to revitalize the dreamer, helping her see new possibilities and adventures in life.
The Self can also appear in another significant shape: that of a gigantic, omnipresent being that both embraces and contains the entire universe. This figure is called the Cosmic Man.
When the Cosmic Man appears in a person’s dreams, he often presents a creative solution to the dreamer’s struggles. But following his advice is not always easy or agreeable.
For instance, let’s say you want to go on a camping trip with your friends one weekend. But the night before you’re supposed to leave, you dream of the Cosmic Man. He suggests that you shouldn’t go on the trip and recommends you engage in some creative endeavor instead. Even if you obey your unconscious in this situation, you’ll likely find your ego fighting back, telling you to just go on that trip.
There could be any number of hidden reasons why your unconscious Self recommends a particular course of action. It could be suggesting something that will be fruitful and fulfilling for you. Or it could be warning you against trusting or associating with a particular person. Either way, your unconscious Self is aware of much more than your conscious Self – and it's worth your while to take its messages seriously.
Art and its symbols reveal the state of the unconscious.
Stones, plants, animals, numbers, shapes, celestial bodies – anything in the world can become a symbol. For that, we can thank the human psyche. By design, it searches for objects and forms to imbue with psychological significance.
When we are emotionally moved by symbols, we enshrine them in our religions and art. These two have always been deeply intertwined – and that’s true even today, when religion has largely been discarded.
Some symbols have been considered universally sacred and psychologically important throughout history. They can be found across cultures, time, and space. One of these is the circle, a symbol of the Self. In its perfect wholeness, it represents the totality of the human psyche and its relationship to all of nature.
The key message is this: Art and its symbols reveal the state of the unconscious.
Depictions of circles can be found in almost every religion worldwide. For instance, there are the circular mandalas and eight-rayed lotus flowers of Hinduism and Buddhism. Circles are also common in Zen Buddhism, where they represent enlightenment and human perfection. And in Christian churches, mandala-like rose windows represent Selfhood transposed onto a higher plane of existence.
In today’s art, the symbol of the circle still appears frequently and prominently. However, the way it’s depicted has changed. Now, the circle’s form is often asymmetric, taken out of the dominant position in the work, or clustered with other circles. This transformation mirrors the disordered state of the modern unconscious mind.
Take the example of a work by the French painter Henri Matisse, called Still Life with Vase of Nasturtiums. The painting depicts a green sphere sitting in front of a slanted black rectangle. The sphere overlaps with another white rectangle, one of the corners of which is folded over.
As a symbol, the square signifies earthbound matter, the body, or reality. In the art of ages past, it would have always been depicted in unity with the symbol of the circle, representing the oneness of body and mind. But in Matisse’s painting, they are torn asunder, just like our ego and unconscious.
Artists reveal in their work the spirit of an age. The time in which they live influences – consciously or unconsciously – the symbols that appear in their creations. Today, our art gives voice to the disordered state of our unconscious minds and the existential anxiety that grips this era of human history.
Dream symbols must be carefully analyzed.
A man named Henry dreamed he was hiking toward a mountain, accompanied by a group of strangers. After only an hour of walking, he and his companions decided to set up camp. But it was midday, and Henry eventually wanted to get moving again. The others, however, wished to stay behind. So Henry decided to depart on his own and continue toward the mountain pass.
Suddenly, the dream transported Henry to a different side of the mountain. He found himself terribly disoriented and wasn’t sure which way to go. But then, out of nowhere, an old woman appeared to show him the right way. Soon, Henry began to ascend the mountain.
This dream was the first of 50 that Henry recounted in sessions with his psychoanalyst. The symbols and messages within it reveal a lot about his mind and struggles.
The key message here is: Dream symbols must be carefully analyzed.
In his waking life, Henry was shy and introverted. He was engaged to be married, yet he was afraid of truly committing himself to his career and his soon-to-be wife. On an unconscious level, Henry knew that something in himself needed to change.
The story in Henry’s dream – the hike up the mountain – provides a neat parallel to his decision to submit himself to psychoanalysis. We can view it as a journey from the depths of his unconscious toward a more elevated, holistic perspective.
Henry’s ego – his conscious self – desired to complete the climb. But not all of his companions were so enthusiastic. These figures represented the more hesitant parts of Henry’s psyche – the parts that would have prefered to remain stagnant.
At a vulnerable moment in his dream, Henry also encountered a strong archetypal figure: the old woman. Appearing often in fairy tales, she represents feminine wisdom. But Henry was a rationalist, and he hesitated to accept her help. His eventual acquiescence symbolized Henry’s need to sacrifice his dominant rationality in favor of a more instinctual, unconscious part of his psyche.
Henry was initially skeptical of the power of dream analysis. But over the course of 30 or so sessions, he became an attentive listener to the messages sent by his unconscious. Ultimately, he found the inner strength to proceed with his marriage, start a family, and land a well-paying job.
Henry’s case proves the possibility of maturing and achieving true autonomy by listening carefully to our unconscious. All of us can do the same.
Final summary
The key message in these blinks:
The human psyche is divided into two parts: the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. Using the language of symbolism and myth, dreams communicate warnings and lessons to us that we can interpret rationally. By examining the messages that lie within our dreams, we can nurture neglected aspects of our character, overcome our flaws, and turn away from paths of action that may be harming us.
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What to read next: The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmund Freud
Carl Jung was undoubtedly one of history’s most influential psychoanalysts. But it was one of Jung’s friends who really started it all. That man was, of course, Sigmund Freud.
While dreams had been considered prophetic long before Freud’s time, Freud was the first person to argue for dream analysis as a way of understanding the human psyche. He believed, for instance, that dreams could serve as a kind of wish fulfillment, and that our waking thoughts could be expressed symbolically in dreams. Explore these ideas and many others in our blinks to Freud’s classic work, The Interpretation of Dreams.