The importance of context

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Oftentimes folks want another to interpret a dream for them, yet they will only provide a mere sketch of the dream experience.  Of coarse, any image can be interpreted.  The question to ask, does the interpretation ring true? Or as some would say, does it click?…click like a puzzle piece that snaps into place.

Many will go to a dream or symbol dictionary and equate the definitions found there as an explanation of the dream.  Chances are this does not do the dream message justice.

As Yoram Kaufman points out:

“…let us take as an example the not uncommon example of being naked.  The objective dominant behind nakedness is vulnerability, but there are of course, all kind of vulnerabilities.  Being naked in a locker room, where being naked is appropriate implies a very different kind of vulnerability from being naked in the street, which might realistically lead to one’s arrest.” Y. Kaufman, The Way of the Image, pg 8.

The context of the dream often holds the key of the dream’s meaning.  Context, con = with, with the text.  And context can happen on more than one level.  It can be the setting of the dream imagery as well as the associations the dream stirs up.  What do the images bring up for the dreamer?  Are there memories that are tied to the imagery?  Perhaps the dream reminds the dreamer of a book they read.  All these pieces of dreamer’s relationship to the dream image begin to build out a unique interpretation that has little to do with the explanation found in any dictionary.

I often refer to Cirlot’s Dictionary of Symbols, but not for answers.  Instead I turn books like this to broaden, or as Jung would say, to build out amplifications of the dream imagery.  Indeed, every time I reach for such a book it is an exercise in building an even richer context.