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The corrective nature of dreams

July 10, 2014 by Walter King Leave a Comment

I am remembering a friend who was habitually at work, devoting long hours to the demands of his business. One would say that he was a workaholic, prone to neglect the emotional needs of his wife and children. He seemed content to boast of the great success he was having financially, and so the complaints of his family members often fell on deaf ears.
He then told me of a brief dream which confused and puzzled him. His dream is as follows:

I’m standing inside a busy factory. I can hear Native American
Indians weeping. I look around for them but I don’t see them.”

My friend said the factory in the dream reminded him of his father who worked long and hard hours in a foundry. He remembers that his father emphasized hard work as the role of a good provider for his family. Of the Indians in the dream who are weeping, my friend said that this reminded him of the tragedy of Native American Indians whose natural way of life was taken from them by the advancing settlers. I asked my friend when he had his dream. He noted that this dream came two days after he decided to expand his business and his wife complained that she felt that they had grown even further apart as partners. He dismissed her assertion and reassured her that his financial success would provide for them a better life. As we discussed the weeping of the Indians, I asked my friend what he felt had been lost in his own life. Our mutual reflection upon the feeling of grief of the Indians illuminated the loss of his own marriage and family ties. While this man’s devotion to his work indeed provided materially for his family, it came at the neglect of his mental and emotional availability to his family. We see in the dream compensating images which point towards and correct a conscious orientation which is out of balance with total requirements of the self.

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Walter King Psychotherapist Hello, I am Walter King. I am devoted to the work of soulful living and healing. When I form a therapeutic alliance with my client, our work is a trusting in the self regulating capacities of the psyche. Our mutual work together is not concerned with perfection but a striving towards completeness. Through introspection and creative action we bring into awareness one's natural resources as well as the constructive confrontation of one's self defeating patterns. The authentic encounter with oneself in depth means that one not only identifies the historical causes of one's struggles, but also the purpose, meaning and intent of the soul's urge towards fulfillment. The adventure of one's path to completeness respects body, intellect, emotion, intuition, behavior, imagination, fantasy and dream.
It is a bewildering thing in human life that the thing that causes the greatest fear is the source of the greatest wisdom.
C.G. Jung
Mankind owns four things that are no good at sea– Rudder, anchor, oars, And the fear of going down.
Antonio Machado
Therefore the principle aim of psychotherapy is not to transport the patient to an impossible state of happiness , but to help him to acquire steadfastness and philosophic patience in face of suffering. Life demands for its completion and fulfillment a balance between joy and sorrow.
C.G. Jung
Unless I accept my faults I will most certainly doubt my virtues.
Hugh Prather
The spirit of evil is fear….the adversary who opposes life in its struggle….For the hero fear is a challenge and a task for only boldness can deliver from fear. And if the risk is not taken, the meaning of life is somehow violated.
C.G. Jung
I was angry with my friend: I told him my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told him not, my wrath did grow.
William Blake

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Depth Oriented Psychotherapy

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