DREAMS, 'DESIRE AND ADDICTION: 'AN ARCHETYPAL ANALYSIS Kate Joyner , Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Social Science in the Department of Religious Studies and the University of Cape Town. April 1998 University of Cape Town Supervisor: Professor pavid Chidester The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town ABSTRACT This thesis suggests that dream analysis is a crucial theoretical tool, not simply to assist the individuation process, but also to gain understanding of the severing of body from soul that is so linked to addiction. Thus the thesis proposes that dream analysis is a key means to access one's spirituality, not. , simply a psychoanalytic technique. It draws on a range of qisciplines and discourses, located in a Jungian and ecofeminist framework, to suggest that a growing crisis of ill health - at both individual and ecological levels - is attributable, in essence, to a loss of soul. It focuses on addiction as a re'flection of this loss, attempting to show that the relentless craving of the addict is best understood as spiritual hunger. The deep desire which underlies this hunger is expressed in multiple ways in our dreams. A major aspect of the thesis is an attempt to explicate the nature of the loss, and of the hunger which points to it. I suggest that both have their roots in the patriarchal conquest and denigration of women and the feminine, which may be seen inscribed on the ravaged bodies of women and Mother Earth. University of Cape Town The first four chapters lay the groundwork for the case study of a woman whose experience illustrates much of the complexity of this theoretical discussion. The value of dream analysis as a theoretical tool which actively assists the individuation process is presented in Chapter 1 within a mUlti­ disciplinary framework. In Chapter 2, the focus details and analyses the Jungian model and approach to dream interpretation in preparation for the concluding 9ase study. Parallels between relevant aspects of the Buddhist I and Hindu traditions and Jungian models are also explored. Chapter 3 examines archetypal patterns of addiction seeking to understand the dynamic of wounded desire and displaced spiritual hunger. Postmodern links are made. Chapter 4 suggests that the devaluation and violation of the female body has its roots in the elevation of the patriarchal sky god of the Abrahamic tradition. The need for a rigorous application of a hermeneutic of suspicion towards androcentric constructions of meaning is highlighted and related to the vulnerabilities females experience in relation to embodiment. Foreshadowing key issues of the case study and linked clearly to the thematic of addiction, the impact of sexual abuse on the childls experience of embodiment becomes a theoretical focus. The case study conducted with a 31-year-old bulimic after her release from hospital, attempts to demonstrate the practical relevance of these ideas. A series of dreams recorded by her are analysed thematically and interpreted to support the claim that dreams offer a window on the transformative process of soul recovery. Thus major theoretical issues explored include the nature of the feminine, .;i­ various notionsUniversity of "soul", themes of of embodimentCape Town in relation to the disembodiment characteristic of the addict, the contemporary relevance of the archetypal imagery contained in myth and folk tales, and convergences between Jungian, ecofeminist, New Age, Eastern and postmodern discourses. Dream work, I suggest, opens the way to healing and empowerment. DREAMS, DESIRE AND ADDICTIONS: AN ARCHETYPAL ANALYSIS CONTENTS ABSTRACT CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1 2. THE DREAM MOVEMENT ................................................................... 6 Introduction Framework and theoretical issues Nature within, nature without The addictiveUniversity modern West of Cape Town Balance Why dream analysis? Addictions as an aspect of imbalance Embodiment and the feminist Eros Ecofeminism So what is the New Age? . Jungian theory I Dreaming within a socio-political paradigm Myth and folk / fairy tales The psychology of religion 2. APPROACHES TO DREAM INTERPRETATION ............................ 53 Working with the dream: an examination of Jungian techniques The dramatic structure of dreams Compensation Amplification A comprehensive model for interpretive purposes Anima/Animus Parallels between Eastern and Jungian approaches Relevant aspects of the Hindu and Buddhist traditions 3. ADDIC"nONS AS DISPLACED SPIRITUAL HUNGER .................... 93 . Dracula as demon lover Damaged instinctsUniversity and the demonic· of Cape Town Archetypal patterns in addiction Archetypal patterns underlying alcoholism: a paradigm Archetypal patterns relating to the sacredness of the feminine Technologies of the self and the question of cultural embodiment 4. BODY AND SOUL ............................................................................. 126 The impact of patriarchy orfthe experience of embodiment and the feminist Eros The androcentric construction of meaning The impact of chilq sexual abuse on the experience of embodiment Overcoming the trauma of childhood sexual abuse The negative mother complex Eating disorders and the negative mother complex Descent and transformation Wounded desire - displaced spiritual hunger Embodiment, ecofeminism and the feminist Eros Quest for the soul Embodiment and the nature of desire 5. CASE STUDy ..................................................................................... 182 Origins of the case study Alexandra's history Child sexual abuseUniversity and damage to of the instinctsCape Town The house of incest Sin and sexuality Scope for transformation 6. CONCLUSiON .................................................................................... 229 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................239 I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For Caro, who took me into the heart of the matter and taught me so much there. Alex, you have my eternal gratitude for your commitment to your own psychological growth and process, and for your enthusiasm to work with me in the exploration of the deeper dimensions that we have both found so meaningful. Thank-you my son, Adam, for your age-old, four year-old wisdom and your beautiful, powerful spirit. You have challenged me tremendously in the writing of this. I am also deeply indebted to my supervisor, David Chidester, and my analytical supervisor, Renee Ramsden. Thank you, David, for your skill, insight, sensitivity, patience and good humour. Renee, you played an absolutely crucial role for both Alex and I. Thank you for your own deep commitment to the craft. Thank you my dear friends and gifted editors, Shauna Westcott and Mary Armour, for your strength and generosity throughout some dark and desperate times. I shall always cherish you both for the being the sources of wisdom, clarity and depth that made all the difference. To another dear friend,University Annie Leatt, thanks of Cape so much for Town your invaluable assistance with the computer in the race for deadline, and for our more leisurely discussions around Bynum, Foucault and bulimia. Thank you, also, to a long-lost friend, Jeremy Burnham, for introducing me to the New Age healing ethos of our time. And finally, thank you Sia, for our dialogue that clarified and shifted so much in the direction of healing at a most difficult and crucial time. INTRODUCTION There are many kinds of power, used and unused, acknowledged or otherwise. The erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognised feeling. In order to perpetuate itself, every oppression must corrupt or distort those various sources of power within the culture· of the oppressed that can provide energy for change. For women, this has meant a suppression of the erotic as a considered source of power and information within our lives (Lorde 1989: 208) If lithe eroticll is read here to mean the instinctual, creative, spiritual life, then this thesis seeks to demonstrate the value of clear engagement with the depths of one's dream life as a vital facet of this domain. Consider that erotic comes from the Greek word eros, the personification of love in all its aspects; born of Chaos, it epitomises creative power and harmony. My premise, then is that our dream-life is a vital and University of Cape Town valuable part of this creative flow. In our age, however, the rational ethos of technological, post-modernist, post-industrial socio-cultural constellation, which has been produced by centuries of patriarchal domination, seems to have created an enormously displaced hunger. This hunger has been variously identified (Woolger 1983, Moore 1992, Woodman 1993) as a craving for the soul-life. This displaced spiritual craving appears to be ritualised in the rampant addictions that ultimately devastate so many modern lives. 2 A key principle that gives form to my critical feminist hermeneutic of healing is the growing understanding that our