Symbols in dreams

 

Talk of psychology and you recall 3 names for sure - Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Alfred Adler.

 

While Freud is known for association of dreams and Adler for fictional finalism, Jung is known for concept of collective unconscious.

 

I had meant to read Jung’s work ‘Man and His symbols’ for quite some time, and I finally managed to read it.

What are some of the things that stayed with me? Are there a few things that have relevance to field of HR?

Here are ideas/concepts that stayed with me:

1. Dreams are representations of unconscious and they have their own significance. Hence we must pay heed to them.
2. Symbols in dreams are sometimes collected from collective unconscious - that has been shaped across generations of human beings. Hence certain symbols have usually standard meanings/representations. Additionally certain kind of symbols tend to pop up across dreams.
3. Archetypes -are symbols/representations from collective unconscious, e.g-archetype of beauty and beast.
4. Unlike the conscious mind, unconscious mind is not logical but it does have significance. Hence a dream may seem illogical but it still might have meaning.
5. Every individual has a shadow. We must acknowledge shadow before ego starts developing and being in control. ‘Mandala’ usually represents centered self with a completely developed ‘ego’.
6. Concept of Synchronicity- meaningful co-incidences that are not linked by cause and effect but nonetheless these incidences seem to co-happen.
7. Animus-male archetype; and Anima- female archetype. These exist in every human being.
8. Concept of Projection- when we see a part of our shadow (which we are not comfortable acknowledging in ourselves) in someone else, we tend to get very agitated.

 

Some of these concepts seem to have applicability at workplace:

1. When you come across an employee who can't stand a colleague for no apparent reason- projection maybe at work. Hence projection may be a cause of inter-personal conflicts.
2. If you were to lead a group of employees through an associated/dissociated visualization process about company/team-- what kind of images/symbols might pop up? This might give some hints about collective unconscious/cultural essence of a company/team and that in turn might hint to what need to be worked consciously within the team.
3. Synchronicity. If it is March, employees may be less receptive to development feedback. Frankly, this sounds more like cause and effect. But I do have a feeling that synchronicity has a place in workplace too.

 

These are some initial applications I can think of. Can you think of some other applications?

 

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Sourav