Dreams of Horses

I dreamed about horses last night. Horses and my analysis of the narrative structure of Twin Peaks.

In the dream, I was working on my paper on Ricoeur and Twin Peaks. There was a book that everyone was quoting the same paragraph from, so I figured that I should as well. I had a full day of activities. We were on a trip to finish the papers. On the way back, I was thinking of three things I had to do...go to the dentist, go to the eye doctor and take a drawing class. A woman told me that I was really letting that stuff slide. We were in a field with horses. She said that was just how she knew that she wanted to be a veterinarian. Then I was knocked over and horses were racing like mad. I was afraid to get up, due to the stampede. However, I knew that if I didn't, the horse above me would go to the bathroom on me. I also was anxious because I didn't want to miss my ride home, and hence my art class.

It seemed, in part, like an inferior sensing dream: the neglect of three sensing things (the technical aspect of drawing relates to sensing) that I actually, in reality, do neglect. Horses are harder to determine: as partially domesticated, they can refer to the third function. Yet, animals in general are often associated with the inferior function, and the horse can represent the anima/animus which often doubles in dreams as the inferior function.

Another aspect of it: horses represent creativity. Worth noting, because in the dream, the art class was the one thing I did not want to blow off. The horse is the dual aspects of creativity and constant, steady effort. While I can be inspired in my creative pursuits, the technical aspect can get overlooked.

It also represents the dual aspects of the psychic and panic. When the creative aspect of intuition is ignored, it takes the forms of perceptual illusions and strange terrors. So. A horse can indicate neglected creativity. This fits both--the artistic side that I don't always make time for--but also the creativity of my own philosophical work. In particular, the paper that I just handed in, I was acutely aware of self-doubt about my intuitions. This is new for me. I usually have unwavering faith in my ideas, to the point where if someone criticizes them or doesn't think an idea will work, I usually attribute it to a short-sightedness or inability to understand on their part. So, I think the horses in a panic represented experiencing a sudden lack of faith in my creative endeavors, drawing my attention to some problems cropping up with my intuition.

The solution was provided, too: do neglected sensing stuff. Interestingly, in the dream, I had decided to skip the dentist and eye doctor appointments, but still wanted to make the drawing class, which while definitely sensing, incorporates feeling (aesthetic judgment) and intuition (inspiration) as well, whereas the other two were pure sensing.

All things being equal, I think I'd much rather go to the eye doctor or take a drawing class than go to the dentist's office.


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first post

I've deleted my old typology blog for a number of reasons. Among others, it was getting too popular. This in and of itself isn't bad, but when the idea is merely to brainstorm typology ideas, it can seem like getting locked in and committed prematurely.

I'm taking a different approach now. I'll be writing about Jung's typology but using this to mainly unravel and interpret his ideas. I also want to use this to really explore the inferior function problem in depth, as reflected by the blog title.