Across all cultures, humans use symbols to express meaning in their lives, their art, and religion. Carl Jung maintained that dreams are a language of symbols, images, and metaphors. Dreams find a way to express a language from the unconscious mind. We may have trouble understanding dreams because this symbolic language is so different from the language of our waking consciousness.
As we process our day, we might dream about work, people we met, or frustrations that are brewing just below our consciousness. We may reflect on them, but don’t see a significant message or symbols we can relate to, they may be there, but they are still hidden from us or don’t appear to have significance at the moment. At other times dreams portray the dreamer’s inner world and psyche. When those compelling dreams reveal themselves, we tend to remember the symbols, the strange settings, and the strangers who also seem so familiar. When we accept what the dream offers and reveals, a greater psychological balance is achieved.
One of the most distinctive features of Jung’s theory of dreams is that dreams express not just personal content, but also collective or universal content such as archetypes, and psychic images. Common Archetypal include Wise Old Man, the Hero, and the Shadow (parts of ourselves we tend to deny or repress). Archetypes reflect natural wisdom deep within the human unconscious; archetypal images in dreams can provide the dreamer with special insights and guidance along the path toward individuation (Jung, 1967, p. 506).
Consider keeping a dream journal as an important tool to connect to your unconscious.
Jung, 1967, Vol . 16, par. 352.