“So difficult is it to understand a dream that for a long time I have made it a rule . . . to say first of all to myself: ‘I have no idea what this dream means.’ After that, I can begin to examine the dream.” – C. G. Jung, “On the Nature of Dreams”

When we look to our dreams for guidance, we follow in the footsteps of such historical figures as Abraham Lincoln, Black Elk, Marie Louise von Franz, Sigmund Freud, and C. G. Jung. How have they and others found meaning in their dreams and the dreams of others? In this seminar, we will cover practical steps that we can take when approaching a dream, and make reference to three essays by Jung in the publication Dreams, Bollingen Series, Princeton University Press (1974, 1990), as well as to other works listed in the bibliography in the course’s basic handout.

The course’s main activity will be working as a group to try to grasp the actual dreams of different dreamers. The instructor will play the part of “the dreamer” in each case, and the participants will practice dream work by helping the “the dreamer” discover possible meanings that lie within the dream. This method gives participants a safe, active, hands-on experience with dream work, allowing them to try (and observe the results of their trying) various approaches to the dreams. Then, the instructor, both as himself and as the dreamer, will give feedback about what seems to have worked, what has not, and as well as to what else might have been tried. If there is time and it is appropriate and safe, we may later in the course consider one or two dreams from participants who want to work with them. Each dream that we work with will have been vetted ahead of the class by the instructor to be sure its dreamer will feel safe and at ease discussing their dream with others in the class.