"When a dream is viewed as the product of the analytic dream space, analyst and analysand
have the freedom to be receptive to the unconscious drift of the analytic third in their reveries, their experience of "simply listening" (T Ogden)
I have been working a presentation I will be giving along with the other members of of the Analyst In Training committee at the NAAP Annual conference this fall .
The theme of the conference will be; Human Freedom and Psychoanalysis.
I have been giving a lot of thought to the process of dreaming and how dreams serve as an expression of what it means to be free. Dreams unlike other forms of expression such as ;music; art; dance etc are free from the constraints of conscious deliberation. They are made up entirely of thoughts and feelings we "cut loose from the linear,verbally symbolized narratives" that form our daily experience.
The very act of dreaming is rebellious by nature. This was what made Martin Luther Kings "I Had a Dream' speech so powerful. You can stop the heart from beating but the dream lives on in the psyche of every human living.
We desire freedom not just for ourselves but for others as well. Because we understand that to live freely depends upon the freedom we share with others.
In a world seemingly destined for destruction, whether by our own hands or by some act of nature (which we are apart of) it is to the dreamers we turn and to our own dreams we search for answers. But dreams are made of symbols and representations that are never easy to grasp. They are constructed like a language but a strange and mysterious language that is often confusing and unrecognizable . How we listen to our dreams and the dreams of others may be the key that is needed to unlock the resistances and defenses that to keep us hidden from ourselves and from others.. . .
"We all were living in a dream. We often do, Nobody thought something like this would happen to NYC. That day no matter how powerful you were, the sight of people falling from those buildings made everyone numb. I remember that feeling of helplessness, I think we all cried, no matter what country you were from. . ." Yungchen Lhamo
The dreams will return and with them will come the freedom we long for. When they do, let's hope that we will have a greater understanding for the language of our dreams and a greater appreciation for the relevance our dreams have to our relationship to ourselves and the worlds we live in..
" . . .did you go crazy or did you report on that day on that day they wounded NY." (leonard Cohen)
Losing the dream is a terrible thing that can take a person into the horrifying realms of psychosis and mindlessness, Without dreams we haven't a wing to fly on. They inspire us and move us forward. "We need the inspirational drive of the wish to fuse a multitude of thoughts into the living theatre of the dream." (C.Bollas).
Human freedom is a very different thing than losing one's mind. Going crazy is never a substitute for living out one's dreams. Dreams , if we watch them closely and give them sufficient time to develop can tell us a great deal about our inner most fears and anxieties.
"How we dream, the way our dreams present themselves, speak to us about the way we live our lives." (Bollas) .
"Freedom is dangerous if we are unprepared for it, it can freak us out and cause our downfalls." Robert Thurman
I'll end this reverie here, Now that we have opened up this space and have invited the analytic third in, we can take a rest and return to the dreams we were having before we opened up this page.
hanuman
