This blog post explores whether dreams are not merely products of the unconscious, but can serve as a window for confronting inner truths and exploring the self.
Every night, we shed the clothes that wrapped our skin and hang them on the wall. This act holds meaning beyond simply relieving the fatigue of the day. Undressing is also an act of temporarily setting aside the roles and responsibilities we must bear in daily life. Moreover, we shed various tools used to assist bodily functions—such as glasses, wigs, or dentures—before falling asleep. Casting off these physical aids can be seen as a process of dismantling the elements that compose us. Removing attachments from the body also signifies time to shed social masks and return wholly to oneself.
Taking this a step further, we can say that when we sleep, we shed our consciousness much like we shed our clothes, setting it aside in a corner. In both cases, we return to a state remarkably similar to when life first began. From a physical perspective, sleeping is no different from returning to the peaceful, comfortable days within the womb. Indeed, many people assume a fetal-like posture when sleeping. This fetal position can be interpreted as an expression of the innate, instinctive pursuit of safety present since birth, and as an unconscious attempt for the self to return to its most primordial form.
Similarly, observing the mental state of a sleeping person reveals they have almost completely withdrawn from the world of consciousness, with all external interest seemingly suspended. While active consciousness demands engagement with the external world during wakefulness, all such activity ceases during sleep. The noise of consciousness subsides, creating a moment to listen to the subtle signals emanating only from the depths within. At this time, humans explore their inner selves, much like groping for a path in the dark.
By closely observing dreams, we can learn about this mental state during sleep. For instance, research has revealed that dreams are thoroughly self-centered, and the figure playing the leading role in the dream world is always the dreamer themselves. While the dream self may appear different from the waking self, its essence remains deeply rooted in the ego. This can be simply termed sleep narcissism, a phenomenon arising when the mind’s focus shifts from the external world to the self.
Furthermore, the diagnostic capacity of dreams, long regarded as a mysterious phenomenon, can also be explained within this context. This is because we have learned that within dreams, all senses are greatly heightened, allowing mental or physical abnormalities to be detected more quickly and clearly than when awake. Dreams function like warning signals, bringing to the surface problems that were previously ignored or unrecognized. This exaggeration in dreams also stems from the mental energy, which was directed outward, being redirected back toward the self. Subtle mental and physical changes that were difficult to detect in the conscious, waking state become detectable in dreams.
Through this process, we also learned that dreams serve to externalize the human inner world. This is called projection. In dreams, we sensitively feel internal desires or complexes we normally suppress and, through projection, concretize them into external forms. For example, a person who survived a battlefield continues to dream about a dead comrade for months. This can be seen as hinting at the guilt latent within the survivor, a guilt they would never acknowledge while awake. This projection is a crucial process for liberating emotions or desires trapped in the unconscious, allowing psychological balance to be restored.
Dreams are important to us because they transform the unconscious world, which we ourselves are unaware of, into a form we can concretely understand and reveal it to us. Through dreams, we can not only discern that something significant is unfolding—something disruptive enough to disturb a person’s sleep—but also learn how to respond to it. Such insights are difficult to grasp while awake. This is because, much like warm, colorful clothes conceal bodily wounds or flaws, the conscious mind obstructs observation of the inner world. Only when the mind sheds its clothes can we finally enter a person’s inner world. In this way, dreams liberate the emotions and thoughts we suppressed while awake and provide clues to solving latent problems. Through this, we can confront inner truths and explore a more authentic self.
