Taken from Dream Class Online with Sy Ginsburg, Dr. Weyler, and Gwynne Mayer
Dreaming:Abbreviating and reformulating these principles for the Western student, they can be stated as follows:
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Although on occasion dreams can tell us about others, we need to look at them as if they apply only to us. In fact, almost all our dreams do apply only to us. Even if a dream appears to involve another person, we should mainly take the dream as showing us something about ourselves. The other person in the dream is usually a symbol of a characteristic that we need to see in ourselves.
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The Self (which we are but don’t know it) is giving us direction through our dreams and is urging us to grow, maturity, and wholeness.
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We should take dreams as giving us useful criticism about ourselves, about things in us that need looking at and changing. Dreams often use criticism in a creative way. They reveal truths, hidden factors that have been inhibiting the fullness of life, but in a way that encourages and affirms, frequently providing help towards the resolution of whatever difficulties they reveal, often in witty and unexpected ways. Dreams can also appear to be complimentary, but when they are, they are not necessarily of therapeutic value. The good stuff takes care of itself, so we need not bother congratulating ourselves when our dreams compliment us. We need to see the negative qualities in us that our dreams are trying to show us.
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We need to be ready to look at the lowest and most disgusting parts of ourselves as shown to us by our dreams. Since the Self (the unchanging real), with which we seek unification, includes everything in the universe and beyond, nothing can be excluded from it. We must look at everything with which we as personalities (our lesser self) identify, for example, all manner of anger, rage, sexual problems, fear, greed, and the whole long list of other personality identifications. We can take as a guide to these identifications whatever features there are in us that capture our attention. We need to let go of all these features of our personality.
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The purpose of releasing repressed material in us through dream interpretation is not just to help make our lives better here, but it is certainly valuable for that.