Weird Studies Episode 68: On James Hillman's 'The Dream and the Underworld'
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Mar 18, 2020 Exploring the nature of dreams, rejecting traditional interpretations. Dream as a reflection of the pandemic and a deeper archetype. The metaphorical shadow and finding positivity. The significance of dream interpretation and the underworld. Making a soul as a creative act. The relationship between dream self and daylight ego. The connection between drugs and dreams. Surrealism's exploration of the supernatural and occult.
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Dreams Are A Parallel Life
- James Hillman argues dreams are not subordinate messages to waking life but an equally real nightworld we inhabit nightly.
- Reducing dreams to translations or single meanings kills their liveliness and therapeutic power.
Prophetic Virus Nightmare
- Phil recounts a nightmare of a virus that transforms reality into a mind-like contagion before the pandemic occurred.
- The dream's ending image of grotesque animals conveyed a sense of nihilism and loss of meaning.
Dreams Have Their Own Ontology
- Dreams function as self-existent events with their own ontological status, not mere references to daytime concerns.
- Treating dreams as independent images lets them reveal connections unavailable in waking thought.