Tony Crisp Interpretation:
Jung, Hadfield, and several other dream researchers believe the dream process is linked with homeostasis or self-regulation. See Man and His Symbols, Jung; Dreams and Nightmares, Hadfield; Mind and Movement: Liberating the Body, Crisp. This means that the process underlying dream production helps keep psychological balance, just as homeostasis keeps body functions balanced by producing perspiration when hot, shivering when cold, and the almost miraculous minutiae of internal changes. Despite self-regulation or homeostasis being an obvious and fundamental process in the body, in nature and the cosmos as a whole, it still appears difficult for many people investigating the mind to accept a similar function psychologically. Put bluntly, dreams are said to compensate for conscious attitudes and personality traits. So the coldly intellectual man might have dreams expressive of feelings and the irrational as part of a compensatory process. The ascetic might dream of sensuous pleasures, and the lonely unloved child dream of affection and comfort. But this is only the most basic aspect of compensation. Jung’s view of compensation was far more inclusive. He quotes as an example the dream of an elderly general he met while sitting opposite him on a train journey. The general told Jung that he had dreamt he was on parade with younger officers while being inspected by the commander in chief. On reaching the general the commander asked him to define beauty. This surprised the general, as he expected to be asked technical questions regarding his service. He was embarrassed and could not give a clear answer. The commander in chief then asked a young major the same question and received a clearer answer. The general experienced feelings of failure and his grief woke him. Jung’s questioning led the general to realize that the young major who successfully answered the query about beauty actually looked just like himself when he was that age and a major. Further questioning led to the information that at that age the general had been interested in art, but the pressure of work and the rigidity of the military life had eroded the interest. Jung goes on to suggest that the dream in his late life was helping to compensate for the one-sided development necessitated by his army career. The dream, in fact, reminded the general of this neglected side of himself.
mandala This is any circle or square within which shapes, objects, or other symbols appear. The mandala can be a square garden with round pond in it, square with circle in it, etc. It depicts what we have done with our life, what qualities or balance we have achieved through our effort or self-responsibility. It shows whether we have dared meet the darkness and light in our nature and bring balance; whether we have found the courage to have our boundaries of thought and viewpoint split asunder by a greater vision or despair, and what we have done with the pieces of wonder and pain we have found. The mandala often appears as a form of compensation also. In this sense it is a spontaneous attempt to bring order and integration at times when our mental and emotional life may be very shattered and disconnected. See spiral below. oblong An area of our experience—might be sex, mind, etc.; boundaries of our awareness or what we dare let ourselves experience; physical reality; oneself contained within the boundaries of our experience and social and personal constraints. patterns Concepts or realizations, made up of interblending pieces of information and experience; the order or chaos of our inner world of thoughts and feelings; the patterns we live by, such as habits, and beliefs; insight into the cycles or patterns underlying human and animal life; the actual patterns of one’s pulse and breathing—these may be represented by patterns of dots for the pulse, or wavy or short lines may represent breathing. round See circle, round above.