What Did You Dream About Last Night?

Robert Bly tells us that “the golden ball represents that unity of personality we had as children - a kind of radiance, or wholeness, before we split into male and female, rich and poor, bad and good.” It is like living in paradise, before life suddenly expels us and we find ourselves confronted with the harsh realities of the world. It’s like riding and sleeping in the back seat of the car, before suddenly finding ourselves behind the wheel and assuming responsibility for determining speed and direction. It’s like living in a fairy tale, before the psyche suddenly awakens and we realize that the world is more vast, wonderful and frightening than we ever imagined. The golden ball represents that undifferentiated wholeness that children possess before they lose their innocence.

From the viewpoint of analytical psychology, at birth the human psyche is contained in the Self. That’s all there is. At some point, out of the Self and guided by the Self, the ego begins to emerge, like a tiny island in a vast ocean. It grows, it develops, it strengthens. It makes and finds its own unique way in the world. And then at some point, usually in midlife, the Self reappears and seeks to establish a dialectic relationship with the ego. This is what Jung called the individuation process. The Self is present throughout the whole process, but to different degrees and in various ways.

When we read fairy tales which tell the story of initially playing with a golden ball, then losing that golden ball, and ultimately recovering that golden ball, we are being told the story of the individuation process. Early in life we are, unconsciously, one with the Self, and life is golden. We lose that sense of wholeness as the Self recedes and the ego begins to realize itself - its limitations, its vulnerability, its smallness, its otherness. And then, usually at the Self’s instigation, the ego attempts, often through pain and defeat and suffering, to recover that initial relationship with the Self - the golden ball, if you will - although in a new and more conscious way.

Von Franz writes, “The symbol of the ball would represent more the capacity of the Self to effect movement out of itself. For the primitive mind the ball was obviously that object with an amazing propensity for moving along on its own volition. So the primitive might suppress that little factor that an initial push was needed, since for him the ball becomes that thing which can move without outside impetus, of its own accord; by its own inner life-impulse it moves and keeps moving through all the vicissitudes and frictions and difficulties of the material world."

Marie Louise Von Franz tells us that the motif of blowing a feather to indicate the direction the sons should take was a well-known medieval custom in many countries. If someone did not know where to go, if they were lost at a crossroads or had no special plan, a person would take a feather, blow it and walk in whichever direction the wind took it. It was a very common kind of oracle by which you could be guided. But in northern countries and in certain Russian and Italian versions of this fairy tale, instead of feathers and arrows, or rolling apples, there were spheres and balls.

Shenzi wrote:Here's a possible perspective I found online (The Golden Ball Lecture by Howard W. Tyas, Jr. -skipped some irrelevant parts) I usually amuse myself with searching for symbols in folktales and myths.

Robert Bly tells us that “the golden ball represents that unity of personality we had as children - a kind of radiance, or wholeness, before we split into male and female, rich and poor, bad and good.” It is like living in paradise, before life suddenly expels us and we find ourselves confronted with the harsh realities of the world. It’s like riding and sleeping in the back seat of the car, before suddenly finding ourselves behind the wheel and assuming responsibility for determining speed and direction. It’s like living in a fairy tale, before the psyche suddenly awakens and we realize that the world is more vast, wonderful and frightening than we ever imagined. The golden ball represents that undifferentiated wholeness that children possess before they lose their innocence.

From the viewpoint of analytical psychology, at birth the human psyche is contained in the Self. That’s all there is. At some point, out of the Self and guided by the Self, the ego begins to emerge, like a tiny island in a vast ocean. It grows, it develops, it strengthens. It makes and finds its own unique way in the world. And then at some point, usually in midlife, the Self reappears and seeks to establish a dialectic relationship with the ego. This is what Jung called the individuation process. The Self is present throughout the whole process, but to different degrees and in various ways.

When we read fairy tales which tell the story of initially playing with a golden ball, then losing that golden ball, and ultimately recovering that golden ball, we are being told the story of the individuation process. Early in life we are, unconsciously, one with the Self, and life is golden. We lose that sense of wholeness as the Self recedes and the ego begins to realize itself - its limitations, its vulnerability, its smallness, its otherness. And then, usually at the Self’s instigation, the ego attempts, often through pain and defeat and suffering, to recover that initial relationship with the Self - the golden ball, if you will - although in a new and more conscious way.

Von Franz writes, “The symbol of the ball would represent more the capacity of the Self to effect movement out of itself. For the primitive mind the ball was obviously that object with an amazing propensity for moving along on its own volition. So the primitive might suppress that little factor that an initial push was needed, since for him the ball becomes that thing which can move without outside impetus, of its own accord; by its own inner life-impulse it moves and keeps moving through all the vicissitudes and frictions and difficulties of the material world."

Marie Louise Von Franz tells us that the motif of blowing a feather to indicate the direction the sons should take was a well-known medieval custom in many countries. If someone did not know where to go, if they were lost at a crossroads or had no special plan, a person would take a feather, blow it and walk in whichever direction the wind took it. It was a very common kind of oracle by which you could be guided. But in northern countries and in certain Russian and Italian versions of this fairy tale, instead of feathers and arrows, or rolling apples, there were spheres and balls.

Dahliaa wrote:Maybe I start to write down my dreams. I think I quite often have symbolic dreams but I tend to forget them.

julllia wrote:

Dahliaa wrote:Maybe I start to write down my dreams. I think I quite often have symbolic dreams but I tend to forget them.

Sometimes i remember them for 5 minutes after i wake up and then i forget them completely