Why dream work is beneficial

Author: Christopher Chayban

I believe that dream work in Jungian psychology could be beneficial on a cultural level because it takes the finger pointing that goes on externally in the world, through projection, and flips the script by bringing it inward. People can become occupied with their own “stuff” rather than with everyone else’s. This isn’t navel gazing, but a hard look in the mirror, a confrontation with their own shadow. This mirror where the confrontation happens is the dream. The dream reflects to us our own darkness, that being; the complexes, projections and emotional eruptions that we usually find in other people, can now be found within us. As Jung, said he could see the troubles of his time, especially with Nazi Germany, because he saw the murderer within himself. He wasn’t going to start with pointing the finger at Hitler, but at himself. He said, “If the individual is not truly regenerated in spirit, society cannot be either, for society is the sum total of individuals in need of redemption. (Jung, CW 10, Para 536).” So, if we can change through doing our individual dream work, then the culture can as well. Our time is filled with ignorance of the environment and short-sighted decision making. Working with dreams provides the potential to expand our cultural awareness. It only takes one big dream of an individual to help change and heal the culture. But no big dream can happen at all, if we don’t attend and pay attention to our dreams.

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