Spiritual Meaning of Dreams: What Your Subconscious Is Showing You

Had this dream experience last night. It was too vivid to not write down.

I don’t always know the spiritual meaning of dreams when I have them. But I’ve learned that the ones that stick with me, the ones I can remember in detail, are usually trying to tell me something.

The Cargo Van

The dream begins and I’m in the passenger seat of a white cargo van. Jordan Peterson is driving me and we come across an alleyway blocked by someone who has set up a kennel for two pit bulls.

Peterson doesn’t like this and rams the fence with the cargo van, knocking the kennel over and somewhat freeing the dogs. A piece of wood from the doghouse, a giant 2×4, punctures the windshield and rips all the protective housing off our vehicle. Now we’re driving around, bare to the elements. And now, we’re no longer in the van but riding on horseback.

The College Library

We ride a bit and come upon a college library. Peterson is hopeful we’ll find some good books at a decent price. The lines are long like an amusement park. In a back hallway there’s a museum. Many people are waiting in line to see a Beatles record player made out of plastic figurines.

Peterson is furious that the books being sold are so expensive. Some friend from the past, who I recognize fully in the dream but can’t place now, is glad to see me.

The Auditorium

We all find ourselves in an auditorium. At first there’s a theatrical stage performance. A comedian is pretending to be drunk and looking out claiming to see a rescue boat, but the rest of the cast point out that he’s looking at a wall. Everyone laughs. He gladly plays the fool.

Now everyone in the auditorium is in beds facing the stage. Homeless people have come in and are filling in the empty spaces on the beds. Peterson is walking around in his underwear. A child is standing over our bed. Peterson makes exaggerated faces to get the child to smile. The child comes around. Peterson pulls the small boy close and holds him. It feels loving and completely appropriate.

The Final Vision

Peterson tells me there’s a television show I must watch. We turn towards a projection screen. A film plays on a 3D box. Inside there are two beings in a sanitary pool. They’re giving themselves surgery. One of them may not be human. His skull has no protective casing around his brain. It’s exposed except for a toupee-like quaff of hair sitting on top of the fleshly membrane.

He’s giving himself surgery using a needle and thread. The second being doesn’t want to watch, but acknowledges that he has good hair.

I awaken.

How Jungian Dream Analysis Works

Carl Jung believed dreams are messages from the unconscious mind, using symbols to communicate what our waking consciousness isn’t ready to see directly. Unlike Freud, who saw dreams as wish fulfillment, Jung saw them as compensation: the psyche’s attempt to balance what’s one-sided in our conscious life.

To interpret a dream using Jungian analysis, ask yourself:

1. Who are the figures? Every person in your dream often represents an aspect of yourself. Public figures and authority figures can represent the Wise Old Man archetype or projections of qualities you’re integrating.

2. What are the vehicles? Cars, vans, horses represent how you’re moving through life. The ego navigating the world. Damage to the vehicle often signals vulnerability or transformation.

3. What’s being contained or released? Animals in cages represent instincts you’ve domesticated. Freeing them points to shadow integration.

4. Where does the dream take place? Libraries represent knowledge and the search for meaning. Auditoriums are collective spaces where persona (the mask we wear) gets examined.

5. What children appear? The Divine Child archetype represents new potential, innocence, and the emerging Self.

A Jungian Interpretation of This Dream

The Wise Guide: Peterson driving represents an internalized authority figure, the part of me that values intellectual rigor and confronting chaos. He’s not literally Peterson; he’s the quality Peterson represents to my psyche: the willingness to face uncomfortable truths.

Freeing the Pit Bulls: Ramming the kennel and freeing aggressive dogs is classic shadow work. The instincts I’ve kept caged are being released. The consequence? The protective housing gets ripped off. I become “bare to the elements.” Vulnerability is the price of integration.

Van to Horseback: The shift from modern vehicle to horse signals a move from ego-control to instinctual navigation. The horse represents libido, vital life energy. Something more primal is now carrying me.

The Expensive Books: Peterson’s frustration at the cost of knowledge mirrors my own ambivalence: wisdom isn’t cheap. Consciousness has a price. The long lines suggest everyone is seeking, but few are willing to pay.

The Comedian Playing the Fool: This is the Fool archetype. He sees a rescue boat that’s actually a wall, but plays along anyway. Sometimes the wisest path is to embrace foolishness rather than pretend to know. The audience laughs because they recognize the human condition: we all mistake walls for rescue boats.

Homeless People Filling the Beds: The homeless represent rejected aspects of self, shadow figures. They’re integrating, filling empty spaces. The collective unconscious is being welcomed rather than pushed away.

Peterson in Underwear with the Child: Authority stripped of persona, reduced to authentic humanity. The Divine Child appears. This is the Self emerging, the union of opposites. Holding the child signals nurturing new psychological potential.

The Self-Surgery: The final image is the most Jungian. Two beings operating on themselves, one with an exposed brain covered only by artificial hair. This is the work of individuation made visible. The toupee over the exposed membrane is the thin veneer we place over raw consciousness. One being doesn’t want to watch but admits “he has good hair.” Translation: this work is uncomfortable to witness, but there’s something admirable in it.

How to Apply This to Your Dreams

When you wake from a vivid dream:

Write it down immediately. Details fade fast. Capture everything, even what seems nonsensical.

Identify the feeling tone. Was it anxious? Peaceful? Exciting? The emotion often matters more than the plot.

Ask “What part of me is this?” for every character. Your mother in a dream isn’t your actual mother; she’s your internalized mother. Your boss is your relationship to authority. A stranger might be an undeveloped aspect of yourself.

Look for compensation. If you’ve been too rigid in waking life, expect dreams of chaos. If you’ve been too passive, expect dreams of aggression. The psyche seeks balance.

Don’t rush interpretation. Sit with the images. Let them work on you. The spiritual meaning of dreams often reveals itself over days, not minutes.