Looking High and Low: Modem Art's Search and Seizure of Push-up Bras,Cadillac Fins and Blow-up Bunnies

Marie-Louise von Franz's classical volume on Number and Time was a pioneering effort to explore the deep archetypal structure of the way we organize our understanding of ourselves and the world. She used dreams, myths, and ancient cultural images to illustrate how numbers provide us with important insights into the co-creative dynamics of the psyche. In this column I seek to extend von Franz's work by illustrating a new mathematical model of how psychological dynamics are manifest in a series of dreams. These are the dreams of a young woman, whom I call “Davina,” going through critical life transitions (presented in greater detail in Rossi, 1999).     

The spirit of the school of principles in Zhu Xi’s discussion of “Dreams”—And on “Confucius did not Dream of Duke Zhou”

Dreams were a topic of study even in ancient times, and they are a special spiritual phenomenon. Generations of literati have defined the meaning of dreams in their own way, while Zhu Xi was perhaps the most outstanding one among them. He made profound explanations of dreams from aspects such as the relationship between dreams and the principles li and qi, the relationship between dreams and the state of the heart, and the relationship between dreams and an individual’s moral improvement. He summarized previous generations’ understanding of dreams and infused a new dimension from the School of Principles, pointing out a direction for individuals’ moral cultivation and spiritual pursuit. Zhu Xi also examined the opinions of Zhang Zai, Cheng Yi, Hu Hong and other thinkers on Confucius not dreaming of Duke Zhou in his later years, revealing differences between thinkers in the School of Principles. An analysis of Zhu Xi’s thoughts on dreams will provide deeper insight into the research on the School of Principles.     

Dreams,psychoanalysis and virtuality: the ancient mind in the modern world

The modern psyche is being shaped by the technological revolution involving the development of a virtual electronic environment in replacement of the natural world. Through the lens of the dream, as it has been valued and devalued in various cultures (including psychoanalysis), we can explore changes in the status of inner life. Psychoanalysis at first celebrated, now ignores dreams. This development runs parallel to the high value of dreams in pre‐industrial cultures and their demotion in contemporary post‐industrial Western culture. Despite official disregard for dreams, dreams as the original virtual experience, serve as the basic model from nature for the electronic virtual world displayed on the external screen. Also, dreams reappear in a technological transformation as film, video, TV and computer imagery. The ancient importance of dreams has been transferred to the powerful influence of life on the external screen. But dreams as dreams are like “the canary in the mind,” warning of a continuing demotion of inner life in modern “post‐human” culture. A rebellious re‐engagement with dreams, in clinical and theoretical psychoanalysis, is advocated.     

Descartes' dreams

Abstract: René Descartes is often regarded as the ‘father of modern philosophy’. He was a key figure in instigating the scientific revolution that has been so influential in shaping our modern world. He has been revered and reviled in almost equal measure for this role; on the one hand seen as liberating science from religion, on the other as splitting soul from body and man from nature. He dates the founding of his philosophical methods to the night of 10^th November 1619 and in particular to three powerful dreams he had that night. This article utilizes Descartes' own interpretations of the dreams, supported by biographical material, as well as contemporary neuroscientific and psychoanalytic theory, to reach a new understanding of them. It is argued that the dreams can be understood as depicting Descartes' personal journey from a state of mind‐body dissociation to one of mind‐body deintegration. This personal journey may have implications for a parallel journey from Renaissance to modern culture and from modernity to post‐modern culture.     

AN ESSAY ON DREAMING,PSYCHICAL WORKING OUT AND WORKING THROUGH2

In this paper the author attempts to expand the idea put forward by Freud who considered dreams as a special form of unconscious thinking. It is the author's contention that the psychical working‐out function performed by dreams is a form of unconscious thinking, which transforms affects into memories and mental structures. He also attempts to clarify the way in which meaning is built and transformed in mental life. In that respect the unconscious internal world is seen as a form of unconscious thinking, a private theatre where meaning is generated and transformed. He focuses on what happens to feelings in dreams in connection with the meanings as a result of and an expression of the several stages of working through. The dream world is described as the setting where the mind gives expressive pictorial representation to the emotions involved in a conflict: a first step towards thinkability. The dreamwork also constitutes a process through which meaning is apprehended, built on and transformed at an expressive non‐discursive level, based on representation through figurative/pictorial images. The author draws on Meltzer's formulation to conjecture that the working‐through function of dreams, mainly in response to interpretations, is performed by a process of progression in formal qualities of the representations made available by dreaming in the form he has called affective pictograms. It is through progression in formal qualities of the representation that the thinking capabilities of the affective life develop and become part of the process of what is called metaphorically the metabolisation of emotional life. This process takes place through migration of meaning across various levels of mental process. In this perspective the analyst'sinterpretations of dreams effect what linguists call transmutation of the symbolic basis, a process that is necessary to help the mind to improve its capacity to think. Something expressed on the evocative plane and condensed into a pictographic image is then transformed into verbal language that expresses meaning. These conceptions are illustrated by a detailed clinical case.     

The canary in the mind: on the fate of dreams in psychoanalysis and in contemporary culture

Dreams have been central in the birth and evolution of psychoanalysis. This paper explores the remarkable story of the relationship between dreams and psychoanalysis as a modern version of the long history of dreams in most healing traditions. But psychoanalysis seems to have turned away from dreams as central inspiration in a way parallel to the general culture’s turn away from dreams and the reality of inner life. Yet modern postindustrial culture is transfixed by a version of “dream life” in ways just beginning to be understood (e.g., in the transformation of ancient interest in the inner screen to the external screen). Working with dreams in psychoanalytic psychotherapy was a creative and revolutionary act for our forebears. It is even more so today, in ways that are discussed in this paper.Dr. Paul Lippmann is training and supervising analyst and faculty member at the William Alanson White Institute and faculty member of the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. He is also Director of the Stockbridge Dream Society.     

The Union of Religion and Health in Ancient Asklepieia

This study of the cult of Asklepios reveals that happiness, well-being, and health were inseparable from and unified with devotion and religion in the healing arts practiced in the Asklepieia of antiquity. Religion, the tie that binds together a community, was the ultimate means to attain health for the suppliants of the Asklepieia scattered across the ancient Mediterranean world. A brief review of the cult of Asklepios and its health centers and practices, with some insights from the work of Kerényi, Meier, the Edelsteins, and others, will illuminate the mental-health aspects of the cult and foreshadow some additional insights into this intriguing union of religion and health.     

Dreams,spirituality, and root metaphors

The subject of dreams and spirituality has received a great deal of attention in recent years. It has not, however, been seriously examined by religious studies scholars; thus, our ability to explore the spiritual potentials of dreams has been left sadly undeveloped. This essay attempts to improve that understanding. The concept ofroot metaphors will be presented as a means of developing a sophisticated, critical understanding of dreams and spirituality. Three dreams in which root metaphors emerge to provide important spiritual meanings for the dreamer will be discussed. Some practical guidelines, oriented around the model ofplaying with dreams, will also be presented to help make the spiritual dimension of dreams more accessible to psychotherapists, pastoral counselors, and lay people.A member of the Board of Directors of the Association for the Study of Dreams, and Chairman of the ASD Education Committee.     

Pine ridge places—Feral,liminal, sacred

Animal dreams can bring us into deeper relationship with our own instinctual nature. They seem to communicate something from the ancient vestiges of our functioning on earth—all the head knowledge in the world cannot match the sheer vibrancy and power of our own animal. In an age characterized by alienation from the rhythms of natural life, animal dreams can remind us that we still retain access to the deepest layers of instinctual wisdom. This is particularly relevant for women, as they tend to suffer the consequences of an overly technological society most keenly. Women's lives are anchored in natural rhythms, and the impact of living in a culture that ignores and denigrates nature is therefore especially wounding. This essay explores the ways in which dreams of animals can help guide women back toward a relationship with their embodied nature. The author researches and explores several examples of animals in women's dreams and the ways in which these dreams can support a return to what is most vital and “natural” in their lives.     

The Mutually Facilitating Maturational Matrix

The author discusses several significant points made by Dr. Lewis Aron in his rich discussion of birth fantasies and themes in relation to perinatal familial circumstances. Contributing a wide variety of clinical vignettes, Dr. Willock portrays the possibility (perhaps the necessity) of revisiting and revising these foundational fantasies as the patient’s internal object world is reconfigured. New birth fantasies often first see the light of day in dreams. As the transformative thrust gains momentum, constricted repetition yields to promising renaissance. New hope and enthusiasm begins replacing archaic, limiting, organizing principles. Embracing a comparative-integrative approach, the author considers a year of the analysis described by Dr. Aron from multiple perspectives. Each viewpoint contributes something unique to our understanding. Combined, these diverse frameworks shed valuable light on the nature of the presenting difficulties and the impressive analytic progress achieved by Dr. Aron and his analysand.     

The Hippocratic Oath,Medical Power,and Physician Virtue

Philosophia - In this paper, I supplement T. A. Cavanaugh’s arguments against physician-assisted suicide in his book, Hippocrates’ Oath and Asclepius’ Snake, by focusing more...     

DREAM DIAGNOSTICS: FRITZ MORGENTHALER'S WORK ON DREAMS

The unique approach to dreams of Swiss psychoanalyst Fritz Morgenthaler (1919–1984) is presented and discussed. Although rarely discussed in the English‐speaking psychoanalytic world, this approach is very alive in German‐speaking countries. Focusing on the distinction between the remembered hallucinatory experience of dreamers and the event of telling dreams within psychoanalytic sessions, Morgenthaler made two major innovations: first, he proposed a new understanding and handling of associations to dreams, and second, he offered what he called dream diagnostics as an instrument with which to integrate both resistance and transference into clinical work with dreams.     

Working With Dreams in Group Counseling: Advantages and Challenges

Various challenges exist in the use of dreams in group counseling. Obscure and complex dream symbols and images, intricacies of the dream interpretation process, and a lack of counselor training in dreams are among the restrictions that limit the application of dreams in groups. At the same time, dreams constitute a universal human experience that is intriguing and compelling. Dreams offer a potential in group counseling for advancing the understanding of group members, promoting cohesiveness among group participants, and stimulating therapeutic group-member interactions.     

Freud and film: encounters in the Weltgeist

Freud's antipathy toward film is striking, since film and dreams are formed by similar mechanisms. Nevertheless, Freud occasionally and unavoidably encountered film. This paper details some of these encounters. Ten years after viewing time-lapse photography, a fore-runner of moving pictures, at the Salpêtrière, he was conceptualizing a model of the mind and of the formation of dreams that in some ways parallels the film apparatus invented by the Lumière brothers in December 1895. On his visit to America in 1905, Freud saw movies in New York City. In 1925, he refused a lucrative offer to consult on a film, and he discouraged Karl Abraham and Hanns Sachs from consulting on the first psychoanalytic film, Pabst's Secrets of a Soul (1926). He was, however, once sighted viewing an American double feature in Vienna. The paper closes with a critique of his acting in home movies.     

Dances of Desire: Commentary on Papers by Dianne Elise and Jonathan H. Slavin

The richness and creativity of early classical work with dreams became narrowed through doctrinaire obedience to Freud's brilliant hypotheses. Interpersonal psychoanalysis, though originally little interested in problems of mind and private mentation, may be well suited, in part due to its lack of a comprehensive dream theory, to a clinical approach to dreams that is relatively open‐minded, pluralistic, complexly layered, collaborative, and playful. Multiple possibilities for the meanings of dreams and multiple ways of approaching dreams in analytic therapy are suggested. Although many therapists for complex reasons shy away from working on dreams, an interpersonal approach recognizes that several wishes of both patient and analyst may be significantly fulfilled in the pleasures of working together on dreams. If it is mindful of what is unfortunately a growing tendency to project into all dreams a single‐minded preoccupation with transference and countertransference, and if it respects the world of dream imagery in its own right, interpersonal psychoanalysis can make a genuine contribution to our understanding of dreams and dreams can lend an important dimension to interpersonal concepts. Several clinical examples are presented in an effort to highlight an approach that “stays with the image”; and allows the dream images to make their way into the psychoanalytic dialogue.     

Psychoanalytic dream theory and recent neurobiological findings about REM sleep

I have reviewed Hobson and McCarley's activation-synthesis hypothesis of dreaming which attempts to show that the instigation and certain formal aspects of dreaming are physiologically determined by a brainstem neuronal mechanism, their reasons for suggesting major revisions in psychoanalytic dream theory, and neurophysiological data that are inconsistent with their hypothesis. I then discussed the concept of mind-body isomorphism pointing out that they use this concept inconsistently, that despite their denials they regularly view physiology as primary and psychological processes as secondary, and that they frequently make the error of mixing the languages of physiology and psychology in their explanatory statements. Finally, in order to evaluate Hobson and McCarley's claim that their findings require revision of psychoanalytic dream theory, I examined their discussions of chase dreams, flying dreams, sexual dreams, the formal characteristics of dreams, the forgetting of dreams, and the instigation of dreams. I concluded that although their fascinating physiological findings may be central to understanding the neurobiology of REM sleep, they do not alter the meaning and interpretation of dreams gleaned through psychoanalytic study.     

Personal Images of the Sacred

Jung’s works on religion focus on images of the divine, which people experience in various ways. Here, we consider a variety of such numinous experiences, ranging from childhood dreams to experiences of Christian saints and of 20th-century cult leaders, all of which can be described as images of God in the human psyche.     

How dreams are told: secondary revision--the critic, the editor, and the plagiarist

Secondary revision is a highly provocative concept arising out of Freud's attempts to explain the construction of dreams, but it remains relatively ill-defined. It includes three related, yet by no means identical aspects of the process by which the dream acquires its more or less final form during the experiencing, the remembering, and the telling. It represents one of the most interesting hypotheses dealing with the fluid world between sleeping and waking, a field which still presents us with a host of unanswered questions. Secondary revision not only reflects the higher levels of the dreamer's mental functioning superimposed on his biological substructure, but it also operates as a sensitive indicator of the cultural factors which have helped mold his personality. These factors include both the subculture of the analytic situation and the impact of society in the larger sense. I make reference to individual dreamers in analysis and to the world of dreams recorded in the past from our own and other cultures.     

Religious images in dreams

In the tradition of Jung's analytical psychology, specimen dreams are given to illustrate: 1) traditional religious images modified by the personal context; 2) dreams in which material appears that has traditional religious meaning, but not in the conscious religious tradition of the dreamer (archetypal images in dreams); and 3) dreams that seem to carry a numinous religious meaning, but have not been shown to use traditional religious images. An understanding of the possible religious meaning of dreams should be a specialized but necessary aspect of counseling in depth, whether done by secular professionals or by pastoral counselors identified with traditional collective religious organizations.     

G. C. Lichtenberg: dreams, jokes, and the unconscious in eighteenth-century Germany.

The German physicist and writer Lichtenberg (1742-1799) was well known during the nineteenth century as a humorist, thinker, and psychologist. He was also a favorite author of Freud, who read him beginning in his teens, quoted him frequently, and called him a "remarkable psychologist." Despite this, he has been ignored by psychoanalysts and historians of psychiatry alike, and most of his writing is still unavailable in English. An introduction to Lichtenberg as a psychologist is provided, stressing material dealing with dream analysis, association theory, and drives. Relevant excerpts are translated into English. Lichtenberg is shown to have insisted upon the need for a systematic and rationalistic study of dreams, to have analyzed individual dreams (describing them as dramatized representations of thoughts, associations, and even conflicts from his own waking life), and to have emphasized the functional link between dreams and daydreams. His remarks on drives and commentary on eighteenth-century association theory represent a significant practical application, and thus refinement, of Enlightenment rationalistic psychology. These achievements are assessed in light of Freud's early fascination with him; it is argued that Lichtenberg is an example of the relevance of the historical and cultural background of psychoanalysis to clinical practice.