Dreamwork: Spiritual practice spotlight.
The Bible contains numerous stories about meaning-rich dreams ripe with revelation—some plain and some that required skilled interpretation. Often, we can respond to this idea in our own lives one of two ways: either giving our dreams just a little too much mystical weight, or more commonly, with healthy overdose of skepticism that keeps us from giving them any weight.
Like our with daydreams in imaginative prayer, however, we can use the play of our sleeping imaginations to arrive at something already true, unearthing something God has already spoken into our lives unnoticed or something that, once we pay attention to it, declares itself as significant for us to bring into prayer.
What is dreamwork?
The idea of dreamwork can evoke the image of an armchair-Jungian analyst with a book of dream symbols as much as it can some mystical prophet—but dreamwork doesn’t have to be so esoteric as that. Dreamwork is simply a process of taking just seriously enough whatever our minds were doing in sleep in order to “play with” their images to help us see our waking lives from a different vantage point.
Dreamwork doesn’t require us to take all or any particular dreams as divine revelation—and it doesn’t require us to discount the possibility of God speaking to us in our dreams. Instead, we can use some simple steps to think intentionally about what’s at play in our dreams and how these can speak meaningfully into our lives and our conversations with God.
Is dreamwork Jungian or Christian?
Dreamwork is often done in Jungian psychology as a non-religious practice, like many therapeutic tools that complement spiritual formation, but Christians wishing to “try out” some dreamwork have the benefit of seeing dreams not just as a conversation between the unconscious and conscious (that is, with myself) but as a conversation between my sleeping mind, my waking mind and the God who relates to both.
Even true Jungian dreamwork doesn’t use archetypical “dream symbols.” So we’re not looking to any texts that say that a raven in a dream is a symbol of death or such nonsense. Jung himself hated this idea and railed against it. What we might find, however, is that our sleeping mind uses some stock symbols we pick up around us as much as it creates its own associations that are personal to us (a rose could signify love because our culture has given us this meaning—but maybe not if you fell into a rosebush as a kid).
No analyst or experience necessary.
Having someone like a therapist or a spiritual director unpack dreamwork with you can be really helpful if they understand the basic framework and “rules” of how not to over-interpret it—but in the same way, anyone can begin to do their own basic dreamwork (as long as you understand the basic framework and “rules” of how not to over-interpret them). No expert on dreams can tell you what a dream means for you, because you’re the expert of how your own mind makes meaning.
Still, we hold interpretations loosely because, ultimately, there’s a reason why your dream came out as a dream and not a conscious thought. Typically, it’s because our waking minds weren’t paying it (enough) notice or because our waking minds didn’t want to pay it (enough) notice. With our daytime defenses asleep, our much more receptive unconscious comes out to play—but it often ends up speaking its own language. Thus the need for a playful interpretation.
How to practice dreamwork.
All you need to start dreamwork is any one dream, some paper and the following basic step-by-step framework.
1. Write & invite.
“What happened?”
As we begin to pay regular attention to our dreams, we remember them clearer and more completely, but this starts and will continue with writing them down—as much as you can possibly remember. The general shape and flow of the dream is significant. Details like the numbers of things and what color shirt you were wearing, if you can remember them, are significant. Anything you remember is significant, because your mind is designed to run with extreme efficiency, and if there wasn’t some point to your shirt having a color, your mind wouldn’t have given it one or wouldn’t have left you with the memory of it.
The only thing not potentially significant are things you can’t remember by the time you write your dream down, although you may find more comes back as the pen flows. Don’t worry about whether this is a “false memory” of the dream; the dream itself is a fiction—we’re just trying to jump back into its space of play, and if you are inventing on it after the fact, you’re likely playing in the dream’s own “logic” because you’re reentering the flow of it.
“What would you show me, God?”
Then, just as we would with imaginative prayer, briefly invite the Holy Spirit into this exercise. Dreamwork can take at least a little amount of courageous self-honesty to truly hear what our sleeping minds are trying to tell to our waking minds because there might be some reason why we weren’t paying full attention to it in the first place. We also want to be grounded in truth and receive whatever clarity might be given to us as a grace.
2. Notice & name.
“What do I notice?”
Having written down all that we can, we won’t necessarily and shouldn’t necessarily try to make sense out of every little detail—but the smallest details might ring the loudest. This is what we’re listening for.
Without overthinking, begin to list out some of the images or elements that jump out to you as possible symbols. What are the parts and pieces that came together to make this dream? Who were the characters? What were the main objects or even background objects that strike you as standing out because you noticed them at all? What were any numbers you noticed or key words that stand out?
“What associations can I name?”
Having made a list, take the first image and simply notice what associations occur to you. These can be popular cultural ones or private ones (don’t ignore seemingly random associations that occur in the moment). For most people, a sunflower might represent summer, warmth, happiness—and I’d want to write these down simply because I can name them—but for me personally, sunflowers are scary, ugly and give me feelings of unease—and I’d definitely want to write these down. Again, the only associations to ignore are the ones that don’t occur to you, the symbols you’d have to discover in a book somewhere, because your sleeping mind isn’t going to speak in a language it doesn’t know.
It’s important to note that anything and everything possibly has an associated meaning—that is, even people don’t necessarily represent themselves. In a dream where you argue with your mother, your mother could actually represent some of you—and you could be you or someone else!
Each of these associations refer back to the original dream image like spokes around a hub.
From Inner Work, Robert Johnson (HarperCollins, 1968)
How do we know which one is “right”? In one sense, we should probably dispense with the idea of a “right” interpretation—we can only play with it and test it out to see what’s helpful and illuminative. But the way we figure out which associations are worth playing with in our interpretation is simply whatever “clicks”; pay attention to what just seems like it resonates. We can take this as our subconscious possibly giving us a confirming nod when we feel it.
3. Wonder.
“Where do I see this in my life?”
At this point, we’ve effectively attempted to translate the language of our dream—symbols into possible significance—but we still need to figure out how this might form a meaningful sentence. Now that I’ve put my finger on a very possible meaning of, say, the blue walls of a room—it feels like it’s maybe about “feeling blue” or sadness—I’ll wonder where this idea in my sleeping life shows up in my waking life. Where is sadness at play? Is it my own, or someone’s around me?
This can even help shed light on some of the other dream images. If I realize I’m sad about the loss of a function at work from a promotion, I might now be looking out for where other associations with my work life might show up in the dream elements I identified. This, for example, is where I could wonder if my dad in the dream wasn’t actually just a way of representing my boss as a sort of father figure.
As I do this with each of the significant dream elements, I suddenly begin to see how a full picture can begin to take shape.
4. Narrate.
“How do the pieces come together?”
At this point, it might help to look at an example. Let’s say I have a dream where my father and I are having breakfast in a blue hotel room; I have the sense I’ve invited him; for some reason he brought a cake; we cut it into five pieces—then I wake up. After taking the previous steps, here’s what I unearth just through playing with the possibilities.
Breakfast = morning/new beginnings = ???
Blue = sad = I’m sad about giving up parts of my job I’ve loved
Hotel = temporary = my job isn’t something I’ve felt I’d always do
Cake = parties/celebrations/anniversaries = ???
Five pieces = the number five = I’m coming up on five years at my job (Oh! That’s the cake.)
Dad = male authority/source of approval = my boss
You can probably see how these pieces might lend themselves to an arrangement. Looking at these elements, one story I can tell with them is the following: “I’m sad because I’ve lost parts of my job I’ve loved, and as I approach my five year work anniversary, I realize that this position isn’t necessarily my permanent work home. Perhaps part of me wants to invite my boss into a conversation about starting a new chapter in my life (inviting him to breakfast) instead of celebrating something I’m ready to move on from (bringing five pieces of cake).
Of course, this is just an attempt to make meaning. Is it right? No one can tell us. What we’re looking for, like when we “tried out” associations, is whether this feels like it touches on something significant and possibly illuminating for us.
In this example, is God telling me to quit my job? Not necessarily at all. The interpretation isn’t about whether I should quit my job but that I might have some feelings about it. What this is doing is giving me a meaningful possibility to consider, reckon with and pray about. In this example, I’m finally taking time to listen to a part of me I’ve been ignoring—the part that wants to recognize some sadness that’s there and at least entertain the possibility of a new beginning.
5. Respond.
“How am I invited to respond?”
While being careful not to lend our dreams undue authority, we can listen seriously to them, which leaves us with an important question at the end of our dreamwork—how will I respond? This might entail action. More often, and very prudently, it may certainly entail deeper reflection, conversation and prayer.
Dreamwork essentially takes the sometimes strange and symbol-laden spillage of our sleeping minds and gives particular thoughts, feelings and conflicts the attentive audience our waking minds hadn’t been giving them. Now that we’re paying attention, our response can often begin with simply paying more attention. Let me be aware of that conflict that’s surfacing in my dreams; let me notice that sadness I’ve not provided space for; let me daydream about those buried hopes and look for real opportunities in which I might give them some test flights.
And one of the best ways we can discern our invitation to respond is just by taking those wonderings into prayer, asking God, and listening intently and openly for that invitation for us. In this way at a minimum, our dreams will become a way that God speaks to us.
Try it out.
Dreamwork is a practice to hold carefully by holding loosely. We want to take our dreams seriously without taking our interpretations overly seriously. One good way to begin is by simply paying attention to our dreams and writing them down—then, just by wondering at the possible symbols, not getting attached to any full-scale interpretations. We can also begin to process them with a friend or spiritual director in that same spirit of play and curiosity, practicing just an initial openness to the creativity and wisdom of our imagination—and its ability to prompt us into new and deeper conversations with God over our waking and our sleeping.