Dreams: Revelations or Fantasies?

Goddess Juno in the House of Dreams by Luis Lopez y Piquier

Do dreams reveal information or do they conceal desires?

Sigmund Freud thought dreams were an imaginary fulfilment of a wish. He also thought that dreams were unconscious wishes or thoughts disguised through symbolism. Carl Jung defended that dreams were a form of communicating with the unconscious and knowing ourselves. Unlike Freud, he didn't see dreams as attempts to conceal wishes or feelings but a guide to offer a solution to a problem we are facing in our waking life.

Some people lack the necessary discipline, focus and calm to receive revelation, or even exercise their clairvoyance, through dreams; therefore, sometimes they can indeed be simply an “imaginary fulfilment of a wish”. But what is interesting is that even among those who are disciplined, focused and calm enough to foresee in dreams; there are those who dream extremely complex dreams (that require deciphering) and there are those who dream extremely straight forward dreams (that demand not much decoding) – I am still trying to analyse whether this phenomenon is related to spiritual evolution or to something else.

Regarding symbolism: it may not be a disguise for thoughts and wishes, but rather a mask hiding truths that our conscience refuses to acknowledge; or even hints to better interpret the reality the dream is trying to convey.

This week I invite you to play a game: I’ll introduce a dream (don’t ask how I got it), you read it and in the end share with us whom, in your opinion, is right: Freud or Jung?

The Dream

“It’s day time. His father is in the kitchen and gets shot by someone placed in the opposite building. His cousin (A.) goes to his father, helps him with the wound; and orders him to run into the study room, because the culprits are coming. He goes to the study room and, sitting in front of the room’s door, he waits for the criminals. The sun is shining outside, all so bright. He sees 4 young men walking toward the living room. He gets up and goes to the living room as well; once he gets there he sees the 4 young men terrorising people. He, then, tells his cousin (A.) to fetch his mother. Meanwhile he approaches the leader of the “gang” […description…] and beats him up with the buckle of the criminal’s belt. His mother arrives; looks at the scene and calls him to see who is outside the window […description…]. He then sees that everything will be all right and when he is about to…”

The subject woke up.

Was this dream a solution to a real problem (Jung) or was it a simple fantasy (Freud)?

N.B: the correct answer can be obtained through the comment section.