About Dreams. A Reflection on Carl Jung's “Memories, Dreams and Reflections”

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     I usually remember my dreams. We all have dreams when we get to the deepest sleep, the REM stage. Yet not many people remember their dreams. Now, I don’t keep a dream journal, but even if I did and I’d wrote down everything just after waking up, I wouldn’t be able to recall all the details from even my most memorable dreams. Much less the degree of details that Carl Jung seems to recall in his autobiography “Memories, Dreams and Reflections” from his dreams many years later. I treated the dreams section from each chapter as the fiction part of the book, as I can’t believe in their authenticity.

Carl Jung

     But, as a reader, what I look for in a book is to either to be entertained, to maybe see things from a different perspective or to learn something new. And in this aspect, I feel that his autobiography delivered. In each chapter, he explored a new country, and seeing the different cultures was my favorite part of the book. He connects the memories from each place he visited with one or more dream he (presumingly) had during his stay. The memories represent his outer journey, while the dreams represent the inner journey.

     I do feel, of course, that my dreams are formed from thoughts in my subconscious. They have made a small impact in me as a person. I sometimes dream about things I don’t want to confront when I’m awake, thoughts that maybe I didn’t wish I had or I’m not ready to accept. And they sneak their way into my dreams, forcing me to confront it in that moment. But it’s always been things I’ve already known and just didn’t want to think about. And either I shake it off in the morning, or it bugs me all day until I’m forced to reflect on it.

     I suppose, in that way, my dreams have played a part in the decisions I later make, being whether I decide to do something or not. I’d still like to have a dream that’ll make me arrive at a new realization I wasn’t just purposely ignoring. One that wasn’t already in my conscious, and that enters from my unconscious into my consciousness just in that moment. Maybe it's already happened and I haven't realized.