In my last post, I mentioned that one way to determine your dominant function was through looking at the appearance of your inferior function in dreams. Fortunately for me, I've kept detailed records of my dreams for years. Through my handwritten diaries, a dream app on iphone and posts when I used to regularly maintain a livejournal account, my records of my dreams go back several years. This morning, I was going through some to see what I came up with. I thought, to illustrate my point in the last post, it might be helpful to describe and interpret a few of them here.
First, there are a few things to look for when examining if a dream refers to an inferior function. Obviously not everything in a dream will indicate the inferior function, but generally, really base, primitive expressions of that function will indicate the inferior function. So, inferior sensing usually is symbolized by some sort of really materialistic or hedonistic person, really cold or authoritarian figures indicate inferior thinking, inferior intuition is indicated by really flighty but "strange" characters (such as gypsies, fortune tellers, artists, but usually in a way that connotes being unreliable, unrealistic and a bit dangerous) while inferior feeling may be indicated by a character that exhibits unpleasant feeling values, such as fanaticism, excessive conformity or excessive sentimentality.
However, these figures will be most significant when associated with other dream imagery that indicates the inferior function. Generally, the inferior function is represented by anyone on the fringes of society, such as homeless people or (especially from someone whose economic situation and/or background is middle class or above) working class. It can also be indicated by people on the fringes of society, such as drug dealers, prostitutes, runaways, etc. This is because the inferior function is what is most deeply buried in the unconscious, and so there is an archetypal connection with social hierarchies. At the same time, since the inferior function is also experienced as strange and fascinating (both fascinating and impenetrable) exotic cultures indicate it as well, as I've mentioned. Another indicator of inferior function is anything that deals with fours: so, if you dream about yourself, along with three other people, especially if these people are of a different gender, then the person who is least familiar will represent the inferior function. This is because the inferior function is represented by the anima in a man and animus in a woman. (Sometimes the inferior function can be the same gender, but since it's hard to distinguish between when someone of one's own gender is a personification of one's self and when they're the inferior function, I would only interpret it that way if there is some other inferior function symbol, such as a prostitute in the dream of a woman, or a male wino in a man's dream, etc.)
OK. So, onto my dream.
Now, I had both the luck and misfortune of having an entanglement with someone of my inferior function a couple of years ago. Jung states that a person ought to develop close bonds with those with their inferior function, as each will help the other work through the issues. In my experience, though, this can only happen if both people are very aware of Jung's system, are very emotionally aware and, quite frankly, I would advise against it unless both are going through some form of psychoanalysis. The reason for this is that the inferior function is where people tend to be the touchiest. Now, relationships with someone of your opposing attitude and same function are, as I mentioned, difficult as well, and in some ways, the hardest to understand. The reason for this is that they have the same inferior function in the opposite attitude, so they also trigger it, and worse, the same stimuli will generally trigger it. For example, my husband is an extraverted intuitive and I'm an introverted intuitive (in case you were wondering after my last post ;)). Our worst fights have generally been when we're travelling, especially travelling abroad. It took me a long time to figure out why this was, and it was only until I really delved into Jung that it became clear. The reason is that we're both having to deal with sensing stuff, but we're coming at it from completely different angles, so we're both touchy, we're both a little bit dysfunctional with it, and so unless we're really cautious, it can become explosive. However, and this is where I depart from Jung a bit--in most circumstances, we're both comfortably intuiting, and so on a day to day basis, that doesn't come up. However, when you get an extraverted sensing type and make them deal in a serious way with an introverted intuitive, then it's constant. Their default way of doing things, the most frequently used and developed part of themselves, is where you're touchiest, where you feel kind of inferior, it's exciting, but just coming near it fills you with a sense of incompetence. So, at least from my observation, these types of interactions--whether from a friend, family member or co-worker--just trigger all kinds of gunk.
However, after it all reached critical mass, I had a number of dreams that really exemplified my inferior sensing, and for that reason I think it was useful. For example:
I dreamed I was in Battlestar Galactica (a sequel to the series, actually) and all of these cities had sprung up. My husband's job was in very high demand (he does IT security stuff)and so we were very well off. We lived in a very upscale loft, which had a Starbucks in it. Since I hate Starbucks on account of it being just bad, corporate coffee, it wasn't much use to me, though. I had all of these fancy dresses, some of which were nice, but some of which were just tacky. However, then a large number of peasants started banging on the door. I opened it, and they all tried to charge in, begging me for food and coffee. There were so many of them, that I knew I couldn't possibly help them all. I tried to shut the door, but I really had to push to get it shut, then bolted it with one of those wheel-locks you see on vaults. They still pleaded for help, but I knew if I tried to help all of them, I'd wind up as a peasant, too.
"Peasants" are classic inferior function symbolism. This is especially interesting, since this was several months before I read Von Franz's work, so I didn't know this at the time. The concept of the "peasant" is a fairly archaic term, most people don't usually think of the poor as peasants anymore, but I really did describe them this way when I wrote down the dream. There was a lot of really crass materialism in the dream, which is indicative of the inferior function. Also, the peasants asking for food and coffee shows an association between the inferior function (peasants) and basic sensory stuff (food and coffee).
Sometimes, though, the same gender can indicate the inferior function. For example, I once dreamed that my apartment was turned into a bar, and the main bar area was in my bedroom. There was a woman at the bar, who was a complete wino...I mean, straight out of the movie Barfly sort of wino. She was sloppy and obnoxious. However, no matter what I did, I couldn't get her to leave. As one's home often represents the functions, with the main part of the house representing the dominant function, and the basement as the inferior function, having a character representative of the inferior function indicates the sudden awareness that the inferior function is in some way "taking over" the main part of the personality.
The most interesting are the ones where there is a four-fold theme, such as this one:
I was going to a nightclub. It was one of those elite, you-have-to-be-on-the-list nightclubs. My husband was with me. We were told we weren't on the list. We wanted to dispute this, so we convinced the doorman to let us in and talk to the manager. When we did, an authority figure that I know IRL was standing next to him. As I tried to talk, everything went black and I couldn't see. I was nervous, couldn't negotiate or read anyone's reactions.
What's significant isn't just that these are three figures, but that we make four, with the other three being the opposite gender. Jungian analysts such as Spoto talk about the remaining three functions all being in the opposing attitude from the dominant, and Jung specifically mentions this when talking about introverted thinking. So, what you have is a dominant function as me, with the other three in varying degrees of unconscious: my husband as someone I'm quite familiar with would be my immediate auxiliary, the authority figure being someone I know, but only in a professional capacity would represent the third function, while the nightclub owner is a complete stranger to me, and is the only one that doesn't actually exist in reality. That everything goes black when I try to talk to them is significant, too: darkness indicates the impenetrability and inscrutability of the more unconscious functions. The club itself is very extraverted sensing. Extraverted sensing types can be quite cultured and refined, but they can also be man/woman about town sorts, enjoying all sorts of material and hedonistic pleasures, and in many cases are the sorts of people more inclined to keep the vast majority of their relationships on a superficial level. This fits the nightclub environment: it was very posh, very elite, one could easily get the most top shelf liquors, but it's not exactly the sort of place one goes for deep conversation. The nightclub owner was reflective of this as well, as someone very well dressed, very "money." Most importantly though, is the fact I couldn't get in. This is how one often experiences their inferior function.
There's a lot more, but you get the idea. Anyhow, I wanted to post these because I thought that showing by example might help people who are otherwise not acquainted with interpreting their dreams get a headstart on the process. As for me, I think I'm going to make dinner, then maybe mess around with clay to sort of work out some of this inferior function stuff.
