Amplification in Dreams

Author: Christopher Chayban

Amplification is taking the contents of the dream and finding parallels to contents that can be found in mythology, religion or fairy tales. The definition of amplification means to make something “louder,” and the idea reminds me of a line in “Little Red Riding Hood” (Perrault) with the “Big Bad Wolf.”

“Grandmother, what big ears you have!”

“All the better to hear with, my child.”

You might say that story is a myth about amplification or, the distortion of it. So, there are times to use and not use the amplificatory methods. You can just as well trash or miss the meaning completely by over amplifying. You don’t use amplification to flex your own intellectual explanations and, it’s of no use when the material unrelated and doesn’t resonate with client. The time when you can use it is within the context of the transference, or when you need to silently and indirectly guide the analytic process, and when it supports the client’s quest for transformation and meaning (Jungian psychoanalysis pg.110).

The reason you make the contents of the dream “louder,” is so that the analysand can better hear the message from the unconscious and resonate with its potential meaning. Amplification might be understood as an attempt to anchor identity within a heritage (Jungian psychoanalysis pg.109) of the dreamer. So, the purpose of amplification is to help client reconnect with images and rediscover psyche’s phylogenic inclinations within the context of their actual life situation…and contain us as we pass through life’s transitions (Jungian psychoanalysis pg.116-117). It is for this reason that ritual in spiritual traditions were practiced and passed on through the ages. The amplified symbolic rite would help a boy or a girl transition and mature into an adult. For the most part, these symbolic rites of passage don’t speak to us anymore. Amplification is important because, when you amplify the images and narratives of the dream, you can make these contents loud enough to speak meaning into our lives again, and hopefully provide help with life’s challenges and transitions.

You can continue to make these contents louder and reconnect to our psychic heredity in four different ways. John Hill says it happens through a.Intimations of the Archetypal, b.Undoing the knots of Fate, c.Psyche’s Perennial Creativity and finding the d.Narrative for All. I would like to draw attention to two of these four, which is the “Undoing the knots of Fate,” and the “Narrative for All.” The “Undoing the knots of Fate” seems to me a bit like the process of dissolving a psychic karma, with the difference being that you are confronting it and becoming aware of it, rather than just accepting it. By amplifying the knots, you are discovering the root cause of your bondage, and it helps you separate the human from the inhuman (Jungian psychoanalysis pg.114). The “Narrative for All.” approach, shows how sharing and amplifying a dream in a group setting can inspire others and provide spiritual meaning not only for your own personal analysis, but also for the community and the larger social context (Jungian psychoanalysis pg.112, 115-116). I find these two approaches especially culturally significant in helping those who suffer from a lack of meaning in the current transitional time, of a society that is post-religious, and post-meaning oriented.

So, to conclude, amplification is about making the contents of the dream loud enough, big enough, and obvious enough to incorporate them into your daily life. These abstract and invisible contents that are ruling your life, causing all kinds of conflicts can be brought into a more manageable and tangible reality that aims at greater purpose, healing and meaning for you, and for all.

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