Psychology and Dreamcatchers
This term I had a humanities class called Who Am I? This class is known for its philosophy teachings. The most recent unit is called Doubt and Dream. In this unit we dive deeper into psychology. We talk about a couple of different psychologists but the two main ones were Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Both Freud and Jung split the psyche into three different parts. Freud says that there is the id, the ego, and the superego. The id holds our “unconscious drives (mainly sex)”(Jacobson), its only intention is to satisfy that drive. Our ego forms our “conscious perceptions”(Jacobson) or what keeps our reality a reality, it is also like a balance for the id and the superego. The superego is the portion of the psyche that will “mediate the drives of the id through socially acceptable behaviors”(Jacobson).
The categories which Jung splits the psyche are ego, personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious. The ego is the consciousness. The personal unconscious holding the memories, and the collective unconscious holding or “our experiences as a species”(Jacobson). We also talked about dreams and the different ways a dream can be interpreted, more specifically how Freud interpreted them. The definitions that we focused on were condensation, displacement, and secondary elaboration. Condensation is the joining of two or more images/ideas together. Displacement is the transformation of a person or object someone is really concerned about. Secondary elaboration is when the unconscious mind strings together wish-fulfilling images in a logical order of events.
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher and a British Empiricist who believed that events that happen to us in the past affect how we view the future.
This action project we made a dreamcatcher. We talked about the culture it comes from and what it symbolizes. I was able to learn more about dreamcatchers and where they originated from. Dreamcatchers come from an American Indian tribe known as the Ojibwe. They come from a creation story. This story talks of a “Great Spider”. This spider brings sun and fire into the world. This spider creates the first dream catcher using natural resources, As the spider creates the dreamcatcher she talks about forces of nature. Saying: "If you work with good forces, you will be guided in the right direction and will be in harmony with nature. Otherwise, you will go towards pain and misfortune."
A dreamcatcher is like a filter for dreams. They are generally made by older people and are given to children and grandchildren. The hole in the center of the Dreamcatcher is where the dreams pass through, when the bad dreams try to pass through the center they will be unable to pass while the good ones will go through and into the mind while being unconscious. A dreamcatcher is to be placed above the bed, it must be exposed to sunlight so that in the morning the dreams caught in the center can be released.
Every part of a dreamcatcher is important. Whether it is a feather hanging on the bottom of it or the number of ties on the ring it all has meaning. I had the center of my dreamcatcher empty symbolizing that I am still on my life's journey. I am figuring out who I am and what I believe. The colors also have meaning and in my dreamcatcher I specifically chose the color based on the meaning they have to me. On the outer ring I chose the color purple because to me purple represents imagination and creativity. Blue represents trust, peace and loyalty. I have this color on the portion which I weaved on the inner part of the ring. Yellow represents happiness and optimism. I have yellow beads in the center of the ring. All of the representations that go with these colors are feelings that I want to be surrounded with. I want to be surrounded by good thoughts that build me up to be my best self. What that means to me is being my kindest, wisest, humblest and most loyal self. Caring for other people is a big thing for me, I want to be as selfless as I can be. I also want creative thoughts around me. One of my biggest fears is losing anyone close to me and I like the idea of having that negativity unable to reach me. Some other negative feelings that I would want for the dreamcatcher to catch are anger, loneliness, being overwhelmed, or anxiety.
I really enjoyed this unit of Who Am I because I was able to learn a lot more about psychology, and how the brain can show us things without us realizing it. I think that more people should have a better understanding of where common artifacts come from and the history behind them.
Works cited:
Jacobson, Sheri. “Freud vs Jung – Similarities and Differences.” Harley Therapy Counseling Blog, Harley Therapy™ Blog, 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2020.
Descartes, René. “Discourse on the Method for Reasoning Well and for Seeking Truth in the Sciences.” René Descartes, May 2014.
The categories which Jung splits the psyche are ego, personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious. The ego is the consciousness. The personal unconscious holding the memories, and the collective unconscious holding or “our experiences as a species”(Jacobson). We also talked about dreams and the different ways a dream can be interpreted, more specifically how Freud interpreted them. The definitions that we focused on were condensation, displacement, and secondary elaboration. Condensation is the joining of two or more images/ideas together. Displacement is the transformation of a person or object someone is really concerned about. Secondary elaboration is when the unconscious mind strings together wish-fulfilling images in a logical order of events.
I had my brother tell me one of his dreams. When asking he told me about a recurring nightmare that has to do with a cycle of events that he cannot get out of.
It was difficult analyzing his dream because there were not a lot of strange details but using Freud’s displacement theory, I came to the idea that there is something happening in his life that he wants to happen but is scared of what will happen if he does. He is uncomfortable where he is and wants more to happen but has worries about pursuing whatever will happen.
After telling my brother what I thought his dream meant he told me that it seemed super accurate and told me that it seemed like I read his mind.
It was interesting trying to figure out what is going on in my brother’s head and coming up with the most random thing I could think of and expanding it into something that could make sense.
This unit we also talked about the difference between Continental Rationalists and British Empiricists. Descartes was a french philosopher and a continental rationalist who came to the conclusion that God must exist. He came to this realization when he started to doubt everything. The only thing that he could trust and not doubt was the fact that he was doubting. He says, “as a result, my being was not completely perfect, for I saw clearly that it was a greater perfection to know than to doubt”(Descartes), and thus he came to the conclusion that there had to be a higher power.
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher and a British Empiricist who believed that events that happen to us in the past affect how we view the future.
This action project we made a dreamcatcher. We talked about the culture it comes from and what it symbolizes. I was able to learn more about dreamcatchers and where they originated from. Dreamcatchers come from an American Indian tribe known as the Ojibwe. They come from a creation story. This story talks of a “Great Spider”. This spider brings sun and fire into the world. This spider creates the first dream catcher using natural resources, As the spider creates the dreamcatcher she talks about forces of nature. Saying: "If you work with good forces, you will be guided in the right direction and will be in harmony with nature. Otherwise, you will go towards pain and misfortune."
A dreamcatcher is like a filter for dreams. They are generally made by older people and are given to children and grandchildren. The hole in the center of the Dreamcatcher is where the dreams pass through, when the bad dreams try to pass through the center they will be unable to pass while the good ones will go through and into the mind while being unconscious. A dreamcatcher is to be placed above the bed, it must be exposed to sunlight so that in the morning the dreams caught in the center can be released.
Every part of a dreamcatcher is important. Whether it is a feather hanging on the bottom of it or the number of ties on the ring it all has meaning. I had the center of my dreamcatcher empty symbolizing that I am still on my life's journey. I am figuring out who I am and what I believe. The colors also have meaning and in my dreamcatcher I specifically chose the color based on the meaning they have to me. On the outer ring I chose the color purple because to me purple represents imagination and creativity. Blue represents trust, peace and loyalty. I have this color on the portion which I weaved on the inner part of the ring. Yellow represents happiness and optimism. I have yellow beads in the center of the ring. All of the representations that go with these colors are feelings that I want to be surrounded with. I want to be surrounded by good thoughts that build me up to be my best self. What that means to me is being my kindest, wisest, humblest and most loyal self. Caring for other people is a big thing for me, I want to be as selfless as I can be. I also want creative thoughts around me. One of my biggest fears is losing anyone close to me and I like the idea of having that negativity unable to reach me. Some other negative feelings that I would want for the dreamcatcher to catch are anger, loneliness, being overwhelmed, or anxiety.
I really enjoyed this unit of Who Am I because I was able to learn a lot more about psychology, and how the brain can show us things without us realizing it. I think that more people should have a better understanding of where common artifacts come from and the history behind them.
Works cited:
Jacobson, Sheri. “Freud vs Jung – Similarities and Differences.” Harley Therapy Counseling Blog, Harley Therapy™ Blog, 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2020.
Descartes, René. “Discourse on the Method for Reasoning Well and for Seeking Truth in the Sciences.” René Descartes, May 2014.
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