There are no absolute rules as to what the drego should and should not do in a dream but we do suggest the following general principles for drego participation and development. Here also are fundamental premises that we have observed from thousands of dreams worked with consciously and more or less objectively.
Most dreams are unresolved. They are recorded as dream dramas that never finish. The tension rises, potentials are present, but the dream does not resolve. In proof of this, we only have to look at the dream reports. Once in a long time a dreamer has a dream that also contains a choice and an outcome that seems to resolve the issues and conflicts portrayed. This seems similar to what Jung called the great dream. Such dreams can inspire our whole lives with meaning and guidance in life. Often such a dream is way beyond what we have been able to accomplish in our outer lives and personalities.
Dreamwork intervention – Dreamwork intervention means objectifying the dream to see its conflicts, issues, potentials and need for resolution. Once these dynamics are fairly clear we then also look at the drego and see whether it is connected in a congruent and resolving way to the dream’s issues and potentials for development. We analyze also to see ways for the dream issues to be resolved in dream and waking life.
Often the untrained dream ego is not in tune or congruent with the rest of the dream. Intervention then is to help the drego be more active and resolving in relating to the dream’s conflicts and issues, and to become more active, aware and choiceful in dreams and in life.
As we act in dreams so do we also act in life. Usually.
Sometimes in a dream there is different dream ego behavior from how we normally act in outer life. For instance, we may have the courage to kill in a dream whereas in outer life we would never want or attempt to kill our adversary.
Do dreams have the same rules, attitudes, constraints and reality pictures as in outer life?
Not always. It seems that in dreams we are able to engage in a range of behavior not always possible in outer life. Yet we could also say that what we do in a dream might well be possible to do in outer life in some form, but that we have not let ourselves do this behavior yet in outer life. Then why have such a dream?
It is possible that the dream source will present us with new behavior we have not let ourselves do before as a suggestion for developing a greater creative range of what we will let ourselves do in waking life, at least in modified form.
Thus the dream and its dreamwork become the middle arena between inner and outer lives. We can rehearse in dream life what we might choose to develop in outer life. We may also experience in dream life things we do in outer life but as destructive for others and ourselves. Thus dreams can be warnings of consequences to follow that we do not want to see for emotional reasons, such as fear.
Dream Ego Actions And Attitudes
These are some of the many common dream ego actions and attitudes to be aware of in doing dreamwork. With this list of actions, plus some you add of your own, you can watch for what your drego is doing and not doing in a series of your dreams. Once you have a consistent picture of how your drego is currently behaving you can also make interventions as needed to increase the creative range of drego behavior and choicemaking.
Action To Take – Use the following lists to analyze your dreams. You should see patterns of dream behavior and dream and life themes. Evaluate these and decide what needs changing and development and what interventions you will do to evoke changes. Make summary reports when you feel a process is changing.
Drego Image and Action Positive
- Drego receives gift or opportunity
- Drego interacts cooperatively with main actions and characters
- Drego does new behavior not done before in dreams
- Drego does behavior similar to what another character is doing in this or other dreams
- Drego bonds with persons or events
- Drego experiences itself as being healed or more developed
- Drego moves towards the main action or power center
- Drego gains increased sense of self and direction
- Drego makes an aware choice to go one way or another for a value
- Drego makes a statement to act for value in outer life
- Drego wakes to write down the dream
Drego Image and Action Negative
- Drego observes
- Drego wakes itself up from the dream
- Drego fails to act on opportunity
- Drego interacts with main actions and characters from its own point of view
- Drego acts without conscious direction
- Drego loses some self and direction
- Drego avoids, hides, runs away
- Drego isolates itself from persons and events
- Drego fights, attacks, defends against the main power action
- Drego experiences itself as a wounded or threatened body
- Drego resists new direction and energy coming its way
- Drego destroys or tries to destroy actions and persons coming towards it
- Drego disembodies from itself as a body
- Drego is overwhelmed and loses sense of identity
- Drego tries to sleep on and forget the dream
Drego Dream Congruence
- Drego unconsciously does things related to what is happening in the dream
- Drego choose or acts for the whole
- Drego acts like others in the dream
- Drego completes dream action related to the whole
- Drego accepts the challenges and changes
- Drego increases its relatedness to what is happening in the dream
- Dream dynamics affirm drego action and direction
Action To Take
The following repeats the lists from above but this time with the addition of self-statements. For yourself you might devise other self-statements, which are attitudes, statements about oneself, principles for living, and objective statements and contexts for choicemaking. You can also use the above lists to see what you are doing and not doing in dreams and outer life. Then you see what attitudes and actions seem to go with your drego behavior as described in these list guidelines.
Drego Image and Action Positive with Self-Statements
- Drego receives gift or opportunity “I open to what comes my way.”
- Drego interacts cooperatively with main actions and characters “I am committed to sharing things of value with others.”
- Drego does new behavior not done before in dreams “I am committed to doing new things of value.”
- Drego does behavior similar to what another character is doing in this or other dreams “I want to be in tune and learn from what is happening.”
- Drego bonds with persons or events “I learn from relating to others to give and receive.”
- Drego experiences itself as being healed or more developed “When I am positive positive things are more likely to happen.”
- Drego moves towards the main action or power center “I will try and deal with anything.”
- Drego gains increased sense of self and direction “I am effective when I work for it.”
- Drego makes an aware choice to go one way or another for a value “I choose for what is valuable in life.”
- Drego makes statement to act for value in outer life “I will do what is necessary.”
- Drego wakes to write down the dream “I am committed to living consciously.”
Drego Image and Action Negative with Self-Statements
- Drego observes “It is safer to distance than to participate.”
- Drego wakes itself up from the dream “It is better to escape than deal with things.”
- Drego fails to act on opportunity “I am afraid something will go wrong.”
- Drego interacts with main actions and characters from its own point of view “How I see things is right.”
- Drego acts without conscious direction “I follow my impulses and feelings.”
- Drego loses some self and direction “Everything is fine.”
- Drego avoids, hides, runs away “The only thing I can do is get out of the situation.”
- Drego isolates itself from persons and events “I protect myself because nobody can help me.”
- Drego fights, attacks, defends against the main power action “Weaken others before they weaken you.”
- Drego experiences itself as a wounded or threatened body “Something is always wrong.”
- Drego resists new direction and energy coming its way“ I am all right as I am.”
- Drego disembodies from itself as a body “I’m outah here.”
- Drego is overwhelmed and loses sense of identity “I can’t deal with anything.”
- Drego tries to sleep on and forget the dream “I want to rest and not work.”
Drego Dream Congruence with Self-Statements
- Drego unconsciously does things related to what is happening in the dream “I am being guided.”
- Drego choose or acts for the whole “I fulfill the large whole to fulfill myself.”
- Drego acts like others in the dream “I can learn new ways of acting from others.”
- Drego completes dream action related to the whole “I am committed to serving a purpose greater than myself.”
- Drego accepts the challenges and changes “I grow by sometimes doing what I don’t want to do.”
- Drego increases its relatedness to what is happening in the dream “I connect with others to connect with myself.”
- Dream dynamics affirm drego action and direction “When I affirm the whole the whole affirms me.”
by Strephon Kaplan-Williams