Monthly Archives: November 2021

.

November 27th, 2021

Thus, we speak on the one hand of a personal and on the other of a collective unconscious, which lies at a deeper level and is further removed from consciousness that the personal unconscious. The “big” or “meaningful” dreams come from this deeper level. They reveal their significance—quite apart from the subjective impression they make—by their plastic form, which often has a poetic force and beauty. (Jung, 1969, p. 291 para 555)

The image has more elements when I pay attention to details. At first, it is a bunch of grapes. They remind me of a time in my life when I had a huge arbor of Concord grapes. In the late summer and early fall I would grab a cluster of them to enjoy their freshness. The burst of flavor awakened a delicious experience. The texture was both firm and soft as I pressed each one into the roof of my mouth. The flavor and color of the juice stayed on my tongue after swallowing the fruit. The memory is personal and makes my mouth water as I remember it.

The grapes show a variety of ripeness from plump to beginning to dry. They are attached to the vine which has nourished their entire life. Some of the leaves have begun to dry too. The fence posts have held them since they first began to vine.

If this image presented itself in a dream, it could be amplified in so many ways, including its upcoming transformation into its next life of wine or jam. How would you interact with the image if it occurred in your dream life?

While as a dream, it would invoke the nostalgic memories of past summers, at a teleologic context, […]

November 13th, 2021

Today I am directly conscious of the anima’s ideas because I have learned to accept the contents of the unconscious and to understand them. I know how I must behave toward the inner images. I can read their meaning directly from my dreams, and therefore no longer need a mediator to communicate them.
(Jung, 1961, p. 188)

She watches the world in a relaxed position. When I look at her, I feel the comfort of a sigh. There is nothing to do, nowhere to go. There is only this moment.

The image engages the observer in me. It helps me step back away from the activity of the outside world and rest in the quiet inside. I place my awareness in the stillness. The only movement I feel is my breath. I notice a sense of peace and rest within. My mind is receptive to the soft qualities of life. I relax and float on stillness.

I am grateful for the spectrum of my life. I have qualities the world sees, and I have much deeper places that only I know, as well as those yet to be revealed. The lioness image invites me to accept what is, be in the moment, be who I am in my wholeness. When I sit still, my wholeness resonates with the personal and collective aspects of the known and unknown. It tells me, “Stillness is natural. The lioness rests in her moment of now.”

It takes thousands of years of human civilization to distill the simple truths of life. Some of this wisdom is embedded in our scriptures, philosophies, literature and art. This works for most people most of the time but not for all individuals all the time. Then […]