I'm going to share something very personal here, a recent dream. Ones who know me are aware I have placed emphasis for three decades on the nightly dream being important support for good mental health, more balanced points of view and in navigating the winding path of a human life. This to me is not magic but very natural and practical. Dreams offer something more, I think, to our important judgments than our careful rational reasoning alone is able to. Dreams usually challenge our conscious, often unquestioned, attitudes toward important and emotional aspects of life and other persons. So dreams are not always welcomed and, maybe by most Western people, are ignored partly for that reason.
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| Donald Trump, Melania and their son Barron pose at home in NY City. |
Below is a dream regarding Donald Trump whom one knows from my FB is a person I am quite concerned about being our next president. Let's see how the dream challenges me while not overriding my best efforts at a reasoned rational attitude toward his new presence in our national lives. I think a dream always says exactly what it 'intends' the dreamer to contemplate. Though it can seem silly and preposterous the dream is not playing with us but challenging us like a true honest friend. Perhaps this share can illustrate how a nightly dream can serve a person well in matters s/he considers important, individually or collectively.
Here is the dream , my initial work with it and some feedback from an experienced Jungian consultant. (This analysis has to do only with the Trump image aspect of the dream. There is much more here for me to explore... the apartment, I am 'waking up.', my deceased wife present, the mention of our knives. .... etc )
Nov 29,2016 Dream: I was waking up from sleeping on a pull out couch in a modest but clean apartment. My deceased wife was in the background. Trump was sitting there in a chair. I got up and acknowledged him. He stood up and walked across the room to get coffee. I noticed he was rather flabby and looked as if he had done no hard labor ever. But he was courteous, not at all pushy or egocentric acting. He looked very young with no wrinkles in his face. I commented to him how young he looked and asked his age. He said, ' Thanks. I'm 43.” It crossed my mind here was likely the most spoken of man in the world now but I was not intimidated and he seemed to expect no special treatment. He asked my wife , “ Did you hear Rush yesterday?”. ...... Finally Trump showed me his small stainless steel key ring knife. I started to show him my complicated knife piece which has scissors etc on it. But then I thought , 'I like his simple one better.' That's it.
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| Gold leaf room in Donald Trump's Mansion Apartment |
THOUGHTS: This dream irritates me in that Trump is so different than what I see in him through my conscious ego from his words and actions via the news, and 'tweets.' I'm pushed by the dream to consider that in person I may find him even likable. This challenges me to consider withdrawing the extreme negative perception I have at the conscious level which practically gives him god or devil status. The dream is suggesting I question, for my own sake, my very dark assessment of him personally which , if not intentionally checked, I would retain as my 'Trump image' at the conscious ego level. (Often times we never question our positive or negative image of another person. We assume we see the real person. We assume our projection is in fact what the other person is. Trump's persona is one which people seem to either love or hate which is a red flag there is a lot of unconscious wishful thinking and fear based projecting going on with respect to who he actually is.)
The dream strongly stresses, to my conscious ego, his humanity. Unconscious projections toward others render people, in our minds, as more or less than human. This unconscious psychological process dangerously and erroneously attributes to the human archetypal powers of a savior-god or 'super'natural demon. The first creates inappropriate and blind idolizing and the other unwarranted horror. Humans have had this unconscious process going on from ancient and into our post modern times. But we can now, if we choose to, become somewhat conscious of it in ourselves. Either extreme of projection seriously compromises rational judgment about any situation/person and dangers can then set in. As it's been said, 'What could possibly go wrong?' (I'm using Jungian concepts here which I find applicable and practical for understanding these very real dynamics.)
The dream strongly stresses, to my conscious ego, his humanity. Unconscious projections toward others render people, in our minds, as more or less than human. This unconscious psychological process dangerously and erroneously attributes to the human archetypal powers of a savior-god or 'super'natural demon. The first creates inappropriate and blind idolizing and the other unwarranted horror. Humans have had this unconscious process going on from ancient and into our post modern times. But we can now, if we choose to, become somewhat conscious of it in ourselves. Either extreme of projection seriously compromises rational judgment about any situation/person and dangers can then set in. As it's been said, 'What could possibly go wrong?' (I'm using Jungian concepts here which I find applicable and practical for understanding these very real dynamics.)
These warnings of over estimating the menace of Mr Trump come from the dream yet I don't think I should naively take this dream image to be the 'real' man any more than my devil like negative conscious assessment. But it is how the dream advises me to consider him if I am interested in having a more balanced and psychologically truthful and healthy point of view. This is a constructive way for me to imagine him the dream source is saying. It is not so simple, that I should suddenly not be concerned with his likely being a severely flawed narcissistic human about to be president. Dreams challenge ones conscious assessment of a situation, how to relate to it, an appropriate attitude but they do not suggest one should ignore what she has objectively seen and heard, to leave one's physical sense data at the door in favor of wishful or fearful thinking. The emphasis is: I should remember he is human, not a god or a devil personified. To think such of him is an example of unconscious projection taking place. Not ever a good or healthy thing to be happening but happen it does for us all, especially regarding persons with extreme double messaging persona's like Donald Trump.
We should always try to withdraw our projections onto others as we become conscious of them ,otherwise we get lost in knee jerk emotional assessments and wishful or fearful thinking of the situation/person. Or we take complete confidence that our supposedly best calm reasoned assessment (which is good as far as it goes. But the dream, the Collective Unconscious, takes us to a more whole and complete level of judgment. Bible admirers please recall the importance of dreams there before you judge me as off a deep end.) is an absolutely true assessment.
The psychological fact of my having this dream is noting that Trump's persona's kind of influence and collective effect is very much an ongoing worry of mine, for myself as well as for our country. I am investing, the dream suggests, too much energy into that worry by overestimating how much any human can harm the rest of us as long as we are alert and as conscious as possible. To those who have tried, it is not easy to give up ones deepest worries or to intentionally discharge their fearful emotion but the dream says that is my task regarding my estimate of Donald Trump, for my own good.
We should always try to withdraw our projections onto others as we become conscious of them ,otherwise we get lost in knee jerk emotional assessments and wishful or fearful thinking of the situation/person. Or we take complete confidence that our supposedly best calm reasoned assessment (which is good as far as it goes. But the dream, the Collective Unconscious, takes us to a more whole and complete level of judgment. Bible admirers please recall the importance of dreams there before you judge me as off a deep end.) is an absolutely true assessment.
The psychological fact of my having this dream is noting that Trump's persona's kind of influence and collective effect is very much an ongoing worry of mine, for myself as well as for our country. I am investing, the dream suggests, too much energy into that worry by overestimating how much any human can harm the rest of us as long as we are alert and as conscious as possible. To those who have tried, it is not easy to give up ones deepest worries or to intentionally discharge their fearful emotion but the dream says that is my task regarding my estimate of Donald Trump, for my own good.
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| President Elect Donald Trump |
I have in recent days, even before this dream, reminded myself that I do not know the real man Trump. And I now refer instead to the persona(the public mask) he projects to us , consciously and intentionally or not. Maybe the dream is seeking to uphold that approach? That is, it is this persona I find so potentially dangerous , not necessarily the real man who I do not have direct knowledge of. His reference to another unhealthy figure to me-Rush(who presents a very similar persona on radio), is a clue for me personally to not take the dream image to mean the man's public influence is harmless. This dream may serve the primary purpose of supporting my personal mental health regarding this troubling persona that has walked onto the world stage. In its imagery the dream says to me, and maybe those who have a similar concern, 'Keep aware but also back off a little on the emotional worry. You will be healthier for it.'
Consultant feedback: "The dream is clearly a compensatory one, Jim, in that it offers an image of Trump that is normal and human and not archetypal. It may be that it's better to take Trump as a human being and not as a demonic demiurge, and then to support whatever good he does and critique and oppose whatever bad he does.
I think the election was a protest against what many people apparently saw and felt as a wrong direction taken by Progressives. This is normal balancing in a democracy. Trump has entered politics and will discover that this is different from show biz and his business enterprises.
The dream brings Trump down to normal size. 43 is midlife. Maybe he will enter the second half of life one of these days.
Respectfully, ..."
4 comments:
I have been very depressed since the election because I feel we have chosen an amoral leader. Your analysis of your dream eased my angst a little.
Thanks for your honest comment. It helps no one for us to ignore our own mental health as we experience these very new and strange political waters. I trust there can be positive psychological collective forces at work that we cannot see. Best to you. Jim
Dear Jim,
I enjoyed your dream analysis. I studied Jungian psychology for several years WAY back in my thirties, and what you said does ring true. It has been hard for me to accept Trump at all, and your dream reminded me that there is a shared humanity among all of us. I also agree that he can be only as powerful as we allow him to be. What concerns me about this point is that those who voted for Trump and so much of Congress seem to be all too willing to give him what he wants. In the last few weeks, however, I have been relieved to see that Trump has experienced a few hard "reality checks." Maybe more of these reality checks will turn him into at least someone a little less narcissistic, and thus a "better man." Someone once told me that "the truth" is, perhaps, found most often in the middle. Your dream seems to have to do with seeing Trump from a more moderate view. This is good for me, who is, most often, a bit on the extreme side! Bonnie Roberts (At Coffee, I was Bonnie Gibbs. I'm so glad to see what a beautiful heart and wise life you have made for yourself!)
Thank you Bonnie for your thoughtful comment. Jung came to my attention at about age 38. This is a good example of how a dream seems design to challenge our strong conscious attitudes which unchecked result in the polarization of life and society. I keep this dream in mind each time I see the dangerous flaws in the character of Mr Trump. My hope is our Seeing over time such a dangerous and unconscious person in action will affect us all bringing in a higher collective consciousness that clearly and seriously values all of humanity and the planet.
This would be a path to a brighter future than where his expressed values can ever take us.
I plan to attend the 1962 class reunion of Coffee the last weekend of July.
Very best to you. Jim
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