Greetings readers and welcome back to Pillow Talk, Stanford’s primary outlet for all things dream-related. To those who clicked on “Pillow Talk” expecting smut rather than dream analysis – my sincerest apologies. Unfortunately, the only stimulation you’ll be getting here is purely intellectual. With that being said, let’s look at some dreams!
This week I want to talk about something every Stanford student encounters when declaring a major other than CS: internal strife. Humans are complex creatures, capable of simultaneously holding contradictory attitudes and beliefs. I’m sure many undergrads can relate to the feeling of wanting to be part of a larger group, yet still aching to retain some sense of authenticity or individuality. At the same time, we somehow desire both sameness and uniqueness. This tug of war between opposing wants can create subconscious friction. Thankfully, we have an instinctual mechanism – dreaming! – which helps illuminate these internal conflicts so that we may act upon them in our waking lives.
For example, here’s a dream reported from a couple years back by Justin ‘27:
“I was in a baseball stadium on a team with Jackie Robinson and our team was all minorities [Justin is Asian]. We were playing an all white team and the white crowd was being racist, but through the power of friendship we won. But then, outside the stadium (which also happened to look like my elementary school), we saw the white team take a charter bus while we had to take a public bus and sit in the back. Then we went to Jackie Robinson’s house in the suburbs of LA, but I got lost driving there.”
What does this dream tell us about Justin’s psyche? To begin, the most blatant symbol is a conflict: two opposing sides competing in a game of baseball. Symbolically, we can interpret these two teams as potentially representing two of Justin’s different sides or attitudes, which metaphorically come into conflict with one another. But what is this internal conflict between?
I’d like to suggest that the white team represents the part of Justin that seeks to conform to the status quo – the social norm. This may explain why the white team is supported by the crowd, a symbol of the masses. Accordingly, the team of minorities may represent that part of Justin which is different and cast aside, while still being talented and capable of victory (as embodied by the heroic figure of Jackie Robinson).
It is also important to note where the conflict takes place: the stadium, which bears resemblance to Justin’s old elementary school – a place he claims to have felt ordinary and not enough of his own person. I would then suggest that this dream’s conflict lies between Justin embracing his own individuality (the minority, the different) and conforming to the social norm (the majority, the accepted).
From this vantage point, it is fascinating that Justin is on the minority team and that his team wins. Perhaps the dream is suggesting that Justin ought to champion this underappreciated, unpopular side of himself. Though, certain symbols – most notably the post-victory discrimination still faced by his team and Justin’s inability to navigate to Jackie Robinson’s house – suggest that Justin hasn’t quite fully embraced this part of himself.
It’s fascinating to contrast this dream with one Justin dreamt only a few weeks ago:
“I was walking up a grand spiral staircase in a presidential palace and once I reached the top, I stepped outside onto a balcony where speaking equipment was set up. I started talking, and Nelson Mandela’s voice came out. I suddenly realized that I was him, and this was my inauguration as president. I started to give a speech advocating for unity and speaking about fighting poverty and building affordable housing. The environment looked a little war-torn, even though the real South African revolution was non-violent.”
Years later, it seems Justin’s psychic state has undergone a dramatic shift. By embodying Nelson Mandela, Justin has seemingly embraced the uniqueness his minority team represented. His inauguration as president symbolizes the assertion of a new dominant attitude, one composed of those qualities which have been formerly othered or cast aside as ‘inferior.’ Clearly, Justin’s mentality has undergone a revolution, as symbolized by the literal South African revolution and his ascension up the circular spiral staircase. (The word “revolution” literally means to move in a circle, and the circle/cycle often represents rebirth, as mentioned in my last article.)
This dream, like the first, touches on tensions between opposing attitudes. Justin’s inauguration occurs after a war between two sides. Additionally, the fact that Justin’s brain chose a figure whose great achievement was overcoming apartheid – the separation of black from white – and that his speech was about unity between two groups suggests that an inner conflict (perhaps the same one from the baseball dream) was, or still is, seeking to be resolved.
For those really interested in psychoanalysis, the dream’s theme of reconciliation between opposites may be a manifestation of Carl Jung’s mysterium coniunctionis, the “mystery of the joining.” In both his patients’ dream drawings and religious artwork, Jung repeatedly observed symbols of two opposites coming together in union (Yin and Yang is the most popular example). Jung took these symbols to represent reconciliation of psychological contradictions, which he saw as necessary for the growth of consciousness. Justin’s dream images, especially where he preaches unity between previously warring sides, definitely exemplify this symbolic motif.
Furthermore, Jung extensively wrote about the Buddhist symbol of the “Mandala,” a circular design which he interpreted as a symbol for the integration and unity of the psyche. Is there a connection between the “Mandala” of religious origin and the “Mandela” of Justin’s dream? We may never know!
I think these dreams are meant to remind Justin that he shouldn’t be afraid to be unique. Justin is anything but ordinary, and he pursues endeavors that require the type of guy who thinks outside the box – whether that’s working with drones to remove land mines or more recently foregoing an internship to work on a project of his own. It seems that Justin is most successful when he leans into the side of himself that, though deviating from social norms, is truly irreplaceable and unabashedly authentic. Clearly, his dreams reflect this sentiment… but after all, that’s for Justin to decide!
Anyways, that’s all for today’s issue. As always, feel free to send any dreams to [email protected]. And make sure to swing by On Call Cafe on April 16th for the first ever PILLOW TALK LIVE. Rumor has it, there may be free drinks for those who participate! Until next time… sweet dreams!