The Process of Dream Analysis: Resistance and Free Will

To understand the process of dream analysis, it can be helpful to depart from commonly held notions about the personality and consider one's true self to be the Great Unknown. Much of what we consider our real personalities is really the defense mechanisms and adaptations that we've built up in response to the outer world. For a person involved in dream analysis, dream after dream will serve (at least in the early stages of the work) to illustrate the ways in which these ego structures are at odds with the dreamer's heart - his or her authentic self.

The problem is, most of us identify with our ego and want to cling to the values and goals that we've been holding onto all of these years. Unless we're in great pain, we're typically not willing to examine and, finally, relinquish our habitual ways of thinking and feeling. But the dreams are pointing to the nature of our prison cells. They are portraying the inner drama and exposing the poison within our souls, which is variably referred to as complexes or pathology.

Many people in the early stages of dream analysis will experience a lot of inner resistance to their process, even though it holds out the promise of freedom. To be bereft of the things we thought we always wanted and be offered the unknown - the undiscovered self - in their stead is a challenging proposition. It's especially difficult when the old life is falling away in pieces, like molted scales or bits of torn cocoon, but the new life is not yet visible to the person. Undergoing this transformation process requires a great deal of faith, faith that a dreamer may not possess when he or she can't yet imagine the rewards lying in wait on the other side of the dark tunnel. This is where the dream analyst, or dreamworker, may have to play a crucial role: to embody the spiritual awareness, the new consciousness, that the dreamer is striving towards.

Ultimately, however, those who embark on the journey of self-discovery that is dreamwork will have to make a conscious choice to go deeper with their own process; and this choice will oftentimes involve sacrifice. For example, a young man in analysis may have a history of gravitating towards women and seeking his salvation through them, though he always ends up feeling unfulfilled and has left a string of broken relationships behind him as a result. If the archetypal male spirit were to appear to this man in dreams, he would be presenting a choice. Will the man answer the call of the unknown, or will he return to the familiar situation of feminine dominance even after he's seen that this brings him little besides pain?

This is the reason why suffering is most often the impetus behind a person's commitment to dream analysis. We're usually reluctant to let go of our patterns until we've seen them played out a few times and realized that they continue to bring disappointment and pain. Once we have that awareness, we may be ready to take the plunge into the unknown; and that leap is actually not so reckless, because are dreams are there to guide us, step by step, into the light of our new lives.