Dreams - Blending Psychology and Spirituality

[KyleB]

In our weekly Church bulletins the Director of Spiritual Formation has been encouraging parishioners to join a new group that will explore night dreams as a means to be more open to God and to yourself. When I inquired about this seemingly unorthodox program, the director told me that they are based on Carl Jung’s teachings and are a “blending of psychology and spirituality.” The director also provided me with suggested reading material by the following authors: John Sanford, Wallace Clift, Louis Savary, Jeremy Taylor, and Patricia Garfield. Does this “Dream Group” sound like a valuable and authentically Catholic approach to strengthening one’s relationship with God? Should I respectfully and politely bring my concerns to my priest?
Your advice would be greatly appreciated. May God bless you.
-Kyle B.
St. Jude the Apostle Church, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

[Dr.Colossus]

Vatican II stated that advancements in psychology and other modern sciences have their place within the Church. However, the last 40 years have shown us that this is one of the most often misunderstood and abused ideas to come from the Council. The fact that they are using Jung’s philosophy worries me, because I don’t think his ideas of “collective unconscious” quite fit the Christian model. However, dreams do often convey our emotions and experiences in unique ways. Interpreting them can help us to discern spiritual problems we may be facing, and give us insight on how to solve them. I think the idea has merit, but I don’t think this is the sort of program that just anyone could run well. It would take a skilled leader and organizer, one with extensive knowledge of both morality and psychology. Sadly, most laypersons do not fit this description.

 

[Minerva]

frankly it sounds like new age mumbo jumbo to me. I once worked with several pentecostals who were obsessed with interpreting their dreams. it struck me as very unhealthy and strange.

 

[LilyOfTheFather]

I will on occasion interpret a dream using symbolism, just to see what I was thinking behind the oddness. However I do not apply Freud, Jung, etc…

 

[JCPhoenix]

I think if this is based on solid Catholicism it might be OK…but it’s a really tricky area.

When I was in high school, the psych teacher had us keep a dream journal for awhile. Then she had us pick one or two dreams and interpret them; one according to what we think it meant, one according to Freud.

Freud’s interpretation of my dream would have had one believe I was looking for rescue and I had a need to be coddled.

My own interpretation? It was images spewed from life that day…a friend’s trip to Burger King, a McDonald’s bag found in someone’s car (they’d forgotten about it) and several people in uniform…because I was doing a research paper on Emergency Medicine.

On the other hand, I’ve also had dreams which turned out to be very meaningful and did carry a spiritual meaning…but I didn’t understand for a LONG time what the meaning really was.

Good Luck!