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Dreams, Synchrony, and Synchronicity

Terry Marks-Tarlow

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies December 31, 2024 DOI: 10.24972/ijts.2024.43.1-2.230 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Keywords Synchronicity Psychoanalysis
Citations 1
Key points Proposes that dreams in therapy can access a transpersonal relational unconscious, illustrated by a patient dreaming the therapist's childhood dream, and that fractal consciousness and shared physiological resonance amplify transpersonal experiences.

Abstract

This essay presents the dreams of a long-term patient over the course of treatment in order to explore the transpersonal potential of the relational unconscious—those open channels of unconscious communication between people. At a key moment, the patient brings in the therapist’s own childhood dream, serving to break a period of impasse and reset the therapy. Dreams and their interpretation reveal the essence of fractal consciousness, by which a sliver of experience can shed light on the whole of the psyche. A fractal model of understanding suggests open boundaries between self/other and self/world at multiple levels. The deep intimacy of ongoing therapy can capitalize on this openness by promoting shared states of physiological resonance between patient and therapist. Such conditions are ripe for facilitating and amplifying uncanny knowing, synchronicities, and other transpersonal experiences.