Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / Symbolic Dreams

Transcript

Symbolic Dreams · Sri Aurobindo Studies

• 0:00
  Symbolic dreams are common and in many cases similar thematic
• 0:05
  elements show up for most people.
• 0:08
  These dreams attempt to raise up from the subconscious level some
• 0:11
  underlying need, concern, fear or persistent issue that remains
• 0:17
  unresolved in the external life. Sigmund Freud, in his work on
• 0:23
  the Interpretation of Dreams, provided his translation of
• 0:27
  certain common symbolic elements into their underlying
• 0:31
  significance for the individual. His work, however, was limited
• 0:36
  by his very narrow focus on the lower subconscious levels.
• 0:40
  He asked his patients to describe the associations and
• 0:43
  feelings that came to them from these symbolic elements to
• 0:47
  provide guidance on the Interpretation.
• 0:51
  Trior, Obindo and the Mother, addressing a much broader range
• 0:54
  of consciousness and dealing with individuals who were
• 0:58
  consciously undertaking spiritual development, provided
• 1:01
  their own differing interpretations.
• 1:04
  They did not set specific universal interpretations, but
• 1:09
  worked with individuals to determine what element of the
• 1:12
  being was causing these representations to appear in
• 1:15
  dreams. For example, while Freud might
• 1:20
  interpret falling out of teeth as some kind of anxiety about
• 1:23
  aging or loss of control, Sri Robindo noted to a disciple that
• 1:29
  in his case, the symbol represented a progress through
• 1:33
  the breaking away from physical habits or samskaras that were
• 1:37
  acting as obstacles to the spiritual growth.
• 1:42
  Similarly, lights generally represented the action of subtle
• 1:46
  forces, with the color and intensity identifying the source
• 1:50
  and active focus of those forces.
• 1:53
  The sky represented the mental plane.
• 1:57
  Dreams involving travel often represented the movement to
• 2:00
  specific realms or planes on the subtle levels.
• 2:05
  While there are some general indications, Sri Aurobindo was
• 2:09
  clear that individuals could have specific interpretations
• 2:13
  tied to their own psychological makeup and history.
• 2:17
  Sri Aurobindo's interpretations therefore have a much greater
• 2:20
  range of consciousness to be understood and a much more
• 2:24
  nuanced approach than the initial temps in this realm made
• 2:28
  by Freud. For those who are actively
• 2:32
  working on the subconscious levels, opening them up and
• 2:36
  bringing light to them, an understanding of the
• 2:39
  significance of their dreams is an important and helpful
• 2:42
  activity. Srioro Bindo's letters on yoga
• 2:46
  include an entire organized section on interpretation of
• 2:50
  symbols that arise in dream and during spiritual experience,
• 2:56
  Srioro Bindo writes. Quote.
• 2:59
  The dreams you describe are very clearly symbolic dreams on the
• 3:02
  vital plane. These dreams may symbolize
• 3:06
  anything, forces at play, the underlying structure and tissue
• 3:10
  of things done or experienced, actual or potential happenings,
• 3:15
  real or suggested movements or changes in the inner or outer
• 3:19
  nature. The timidity of which the
• 3:22
  apprehension in the in the dream was an indication was probably
• 3:27
  not anything in the conscious mind or higher vital, but
• 3:31
  something subconscient in the lower vital nature.
• 3:35
  This part always feels itself small and insignificant and has
• 3:40
  very easily a fear of being submerged by the greater
• 3:43
  consciousness, a fear which in some may amount at the first
• 3:48
  contact to something like a panic, alarm or terror.
• 3:54
  End Quote. Reference Sri Aurobindo, Bases
• 3:58
  of Yoga. Chapter 5.
• 4:00
  Physical consciousness. Subconscious Sleep and Dream
• 4:03
  Illness, pages 99 to 100.