More on the Jungian Psychology of Dreams

Carl Jung believed there to be two types of dreams: little dreams and big dreams.

Little dreams
Little dreams are dreams about daily problems or things. Such as, if you are in a fight with your boyfriend/girlfriend, you might have a dream about them moving away or you two in a big fight. Chances are if you can figure out your dream right away, it's a little a dream.


Big dreams
Big dreams are the unconscious mind trying to send a message or messages to the conscious mind. These dreams consist of archetypes or motifs. They remind us of our psychological needs, and remind us to pay attention to them. Jung also believed that modern Western culture suffers from unhappiness much more because we don't pay enough attention to our dreams. Thus, we don't meet our psychological needs.




A very small list of archetypes:

• Reptiles symbolize aide, medicine, or helping others/self (see American Medical Association logo).

• Ladders represent ascending to something greater (see Jacob's Ladder).

• Male faceless person means your masculine side is trying to talk to you.

•  Female faceless person means that you need to be more in touch with your femininity.

•  Caves elucidate living blindly (read The Allegory of the Cave by Plato).

•  Someone you love dying isn't them actually them dying. It's an old part of you shedding.
  
  
• Unbalanced star symbolizes unbalanced life, or unbalanced gender roles.
  

Cognitive Psychology: Dreams

A few weeks ago I posted about the Jungian perspective of dreams. Today I will talk about the cognitive psychology of dreams and what happens while you are sleeping. We all know that we dream every night, no matter if you remember your dreams or not.

Here is the sleep cycle:

REM is Rapid Eye Movement and most of our vivid dreams happen during this stage of sleep.

In the image above, Stage 3 and 4 briefly mention delta waves. In these stages, your brain is getting rest, whereas in the alpha stages it's your body being rested.

Beta is when we're awake.



The three cognitive theories of why we dream:

1. Filtering
   This explains why other animals have a better memory compared to ours. Our brain trashes everything we don't need, which is why we can't remember what underwear we wore last Monday. Basically, it prunes the unessential.
2. Problem Solving
   Has anyone ever told you to just sleep on a problem? They were not too far off from the truth. While you are sleeping your brain is doing its job of problem solving. That explains the epiphanies in your morning shower. The unconscious mind picks up things beyond our perception, so while you are sleeping, it's putting things together. Instead of racking your brain on a problem, just think about it for a while before sleeping and then have a good night's rest.
3. Processing
   The third theory is that your brain is processing information from the day. It's organizing and filing all the information that was not filtered out.
   

Jungian Psychology: A Closer Look at Dreams

After reading this article, I have completely indulged myself in Carl Jung. The images below are thumbnailed, so go ahead and click on it for full sized view. I promise it's an exceptional article, or else I would have not felt compelled to share it with you.

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Books, books, books.

A Course in Miracles
by Helen Schucman

Unfortunately I started this book with a distaste for Christianity and was put off by the mentioning of God. It has some interesting lessons and I do plan on rereading this book in the future with a more open mind.

I can harbor respect for this book, but it just was not what I had in mind. It's recommendable but only to those who will not stick to their presupposition of what Christianity is.

The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I read The Scarlet Letter in my junior American Literature class in high school. While many of the other students disliked the book for its complex sentences and advanced syntax and Puritan diction, I found myself very fond of this Nathaniel Hawthorne novel.

Hester Prynne is the super woman of Puritan Boston. She is the epitome of what most Calvinist women lacked: courage, freethought, independence, and deep reevaluation of morals and values.

A lot of the other students also found themselves overwhelmed by the amount of symbolism, themes, and motifs in the novel. Personally, I think that is what really shapes the story and makes this Hawthorne's "magnum opus." The copious amount of symbolism is what makes this book unique.

Overall, it is a great book and I am glad I was introduced to it. I highly recommend it. Themes it explores are society vs nature, human condition, and self vs society.

The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger

A very well written book that is either underestimated or over appreciated for the wrong reasons. We follow the "plot" by the first person narration of Holden Caulfield, who goes through extreme existentialism with a hint of misanthropy, often mistaken for teenage angst (or are they mutual?), and ends up in an asylum.

It is not one of my top books, but it is definitely a book I really like. I find myself being able to relate in some aspects to Holden from past ideologies and experiences. The main problem that Holden comes across is his fixation on preserving innocence. That is where we no longer relate. He tries to be that "catcher in rye" and we don't exactly find out if his perception on that changes by the end of book. (Correct me if I am wrong.)

I find it almost ironic that schools ban this book because of the explicit language. They are trying to bubble-wrap their students and preserve their innocence, just like Holden tries to do so with his sister. If only Holden knew the amount of kids he is corrupting...

A day of giving grace.

As my fellow Americans know, yesterday was Thanksgiving - a day to give thanks for everything that we have. For this post I was going to go into the hypocrisy found in this holiday, but I will keep my reserve.

Instead, I am going to thank all of you for reading my thoughts and staying interested. I want to give thanks to everyone who is doing their part in making this world a better place, a thanks to those battling against negative stereotypes, those who are tearing down the walls of prejudice, and so on so forth. I am thankful for the people in my life constantly. I try to keep them aware of my love for them. I am thankful for the person who I am in love with, I am thankful for the people who challenge me, I am thankful.

I'm not sure what I want the direction of this post to be, but before it gets any cheesier, I think I'll stop. I hope everyone has not only a fantastic holiday, but a wonderful life.


-Gabriela

Remember, remember the Fifth of November

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Let us not only dedicate this day but each day as a remembrance of those who exercise their voice - from 1605 to 2009, from London to Gaza, and all around the time spectrum and globe. And let us not only leave it as a remembrance but a reminder that we, too, have a voice.

I AM NOT A SEX OBJECT

I'm tired of seeing advertisements everywhere objectifying women as sex objects. No, if you buy Axe cologne women won't swarm all over you lavishing your scent. And you eating that double cheeseburger from Carl's Jr. will definitely not get you a one night stand with a super model. Why am I seeing almost naked women in the cover of Sports Illustrated? What does her exposing everything but her nipples have to do with sports?

There is an unnecessary pressure being built on females from a young age to fit 'the image'. Girls are beginning to feel inadequate and "unsexy" at a younger age now than before
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Yep, you guessed it. Wearing D&G won't get you hot, steamy sex. That leads me to my next question: What are they trying to sell? Are they trying to sell sex? the image of women? or... their clothing?
Because now you totally want to buy one their subs.

I'm not saying males don't get pressure from our current culture either. With such things as Viagra, men are expected to last longer in bed. Don't you think your grandparents should stop having sex already?

The book I recommend for better understanding of the female development and how they are being "girl poisoned" read Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher. For better understanding of boys and the emotional straitjackets they are being forced into read Real Boys by William Pollack.