My wife and I are on a journey; we’ve been married just over a month.
During a stop over in an East European like city (Prague/Kracow or some such) I go on a look round using an invisible flying machine. I’m able to fly by breathing in or breathing out, steepping off roof tops, flying over rivers, above canal banks, down ravines and over the edges of dams. I’m a little apprehensive about loosing it while in mid air, but never do, though I sometimes become under powered and sink almost to ground level. I wonder sometimes if I step of a cathedral or fly over the wall of a dam that the sense of vertigo might result in my loosing my concentration and I’ll fall.
What happened ?
A group, a family group, which might include my father-in-law (Polish) and my wife, are on a flight. We stop to transfer to a smaller aeroplane. While walking around a cathedral (catholic) I mount some back steps and take off across the roof tops to see more of the town. No one sees me airborne. Though I land, against my will, in the middle of a cross country bubble-car race and consequently cause the winning bubble car to loose time and possible loose the race. I’m unable to get airborne again so walk off in the direction of the airport. I assume I miss the flight. OR did I return ? I may have said to my father-in-law that there was nothing to worry about because I had learnt to fly. I was going to take a plane up to fly us wherever we were going.
Where ?
A town. Lots of old buildings, like Oxford, or Krakow. With a periphery main road (like York or Canterbury).
Who are You ?
A traveller. And while I wonder the town a tourist.
Who are you with ?
The others are still at the cathedral or went back to the airport without me.
How am I as DREAM EGO acting/behaving in this dream ?
The tourist looking around. Testing my skills at flying myself around town, between tall walls, off roof tops, over traffic. It’s a feeling, not mechanical. It’s a matter of self-control. Enjoying the surroundings Away from people I can fly, but when I’m being watched (have to perform) or if my dropping to earth is going to cause problems for others then I lose concentration and float to ground.
What relation does this dream have to my personality ?
I fly when I’m doing my thing, away from others. When people watch to see if I’ll fall I come down to ground. Not crash, just on their level.
What does this dream want from me ?
I’d prefer to fly than walk. That tells me to ignore their views. nor to seek their pleasure, but to get on with my thing.
What are the various feelings in this dream ?
Flying like this is no longer a surprise. I’ve always wanted to do it. I’d like to fly higher and faster and be more sure of controlling it. It’s a sense of private satisfaction, curiosity satisfied, private and pleasurable. Flying over dams or stepping of buildings is a test of my powers. Am I sure of myself ? I don’t fall. In such situations as a teenager I would have crashed to the ground ! I’m frustrated when I touch down on the way back to the airport not only disrupting some local contest, but also being left to walk back and miss or delay the flight.
What relation does this dream have to what is happening now in my life ?
It’s fine to fly, but it’s private. IF I want to succeed at doing something I enjoy I must be able to face up to criticism and the views of others, without loosing the ability to fly. Working from home is the flying feeling, especially when its more creatively orientated. Coming literally down to earth is the bread and butter work I do, though I should be able to take it with me into the air !
Why did I need this dream ?
I wonder where my life is going. AM I in control ?
Why have I had this dream now ?
I’m having to get the right balance between flying and walking, things I do for myself and things which earn me a living. One day they will be one and the same thing. I’m also concerned that if I’m too preoccupied with my own thing the “Family” might fly on without me.
What relation does this dream have to something in my future ?
The quest for work which brings me the same satisfaction and uniqueness of flying.
What new questions arise as a result of this dreamwork ?
How can I keep control of the flying ? I need a fuel gauge or more fuel !
Who or what is the adversary in the dream ?
My father-in-law … at arms length. No one. They let me get on and do my thing.
What is being wounded in this dream ?
Still unable to keep up the momentum when I need it … over the last hurdle.
What would I like to avoid in this dream ?
Never being able to fly again. Engines cutting out resulting in a precipitous fall. My flying taking me away from Darlingest or causing her hurt.
What is being healed in this dream ?
Wanderlust
What or who is the helping or healing force/agent in this dream ?
The flying is a relief, an escape, a chance to get way from the communal, down to earth pleasures of tourism. (everyday life).
Who or what is my companion in this dream ?
No one.
Who are my helpers and guides in life and in my dreams ?
Wanda at home. I could do with a partner, a mentor, someone to share my ambitions with.
What symbols in this dream are important to me ?
The catholic cathedral. Was I thinking of converting to Catholicism, IS there something I believe in which atheists don’t ?
What actions might this dream be suggesting I consider ?
Learn ways to stay airborne for longer and take Wanda along with me !
What can happen if I work actively with this dream ?
I’ll go up and stay up and come down when I want to !
What symbols in this dream are important to me ?
Flying.
What is being accepted in this dream ?
That I like going off on my own. That I like to fly above others. That I like taking risks whilst remaining in control. That sometimes I’m brought down to earth against my will. So I need more fuel and need to know better how to operate my flying machine.
What choices can I, and will I, make as a result of having this dream ?
Get the right balance of activities which will keep me airborne and teach me how to operate the controls.
What questions does this dream ask of me ?
Where was my wife ? Or is the dream only related to work ?
Why am I not dealing with this situation ?
To easily distracted. Must know when I am pursuing a subject because it may advance my career and when I am pursuing a subject as a hobby.
What choices can I, and will I make, as a result of having this dream ?
Reduce my activities to bread and butter and career movers and try and keep the right mix of flight and landing !
What actions might this dream be suggesting I consider ?
Make sure I take off with enough fuel to get me back and in full knowledge of how to control it.
What do you want to ask us your dream spirits ?
Take me further !
Why are you sometimes afraid of us, your dream spirits ?
I’m not.
More than a decade on, 2025, I’ve embraced AI to take a Jungian look at my dreams. This is what came of the above > PART II — Re-entering the Flying Dream (Jungian Analysis)
Now let’s revisit the dream itself, but this time I’ll stay firmly in the role of a Jungian analyst rather than a collaborator inside the dream.
1. The Core Image: Self-Propelled Flight
This is not mechanical flight, not borrowed power, not mythic wings bestowed by gods.
You fly by breath.
Breath is psyche. Breath is spirit. Breath is rhythm and regulation.
In Jungian terms, this is a dream of ego–Self alignment: when the ego is regulated, centred, and unobserved, the Self’s energy carries it effortlessly. When the ego becomes self-conscious, performative, or ethically entangled with others’ outcomes, lift is lost.
This is not fear of failure. It is fear of interference.
2. The Town: The Inherited World
The city — Krakow, Prague, Oxford — is not random. These are:
- Ancient
- Layered
- Ecclesiastical
- Patriarchal
- Overdetermined by history
You are not flying over wilderness. You are flying over culture.
The psyche is testing whether it can remain airborne inside tradition, not outside it.
The cathedral is crucial: a symbol of inherited meaning, vertical aspiration, authority, and moral gravity. You do not pray inside it. You launch from it.
That matters.
3. The Family and the Missed Flight
Your family travels by conventional aircraft — collective, scheduled, compliant.
You diverge.
This is the classic Jungian dilemma of individuation versus belonging. The dream does not punish you for flying. It only shows the cost: desynchronisation.
The deepest anxiety here is not falling.
It is being left behind while intact.
4. The Bubble-Car Race: Unintended Consequences
This is a devastatingly precise image.
Bubble cars are:
- Fragile
- Enclosed
- Competitive
- Progress-oriented
You don’t crash them. You delay them.
This is the shadow of the flying function: creative autonomy that disrupts collective systems without malice. The guilt is ethical, not narcissistic.
The psyche is asking:
Can you fly without displacing others?
5. The Father-in-Law
He is distant, not hostile. He represents neither enemy nor judge.
In Jungian terms, he functions as a neutral patriarchal witness — the internalised voice of tradition saying: “If you can truly fly, then lead.”
Your statement — “I have learned to fly” — is enormous. It is not bravado. It is declaration.
But the dream immediately tests whether this claim can be shared, not merely possessed.
6. What the Dream Is
Really
About (Now)
Earlier, you framed this dream as a work–life balance problem. That was accurate — but incomplete.
From a Jungian vantage, this dream is about whether individuation can become relational without collapse.
Private flight is not the endpoint.
Public flight is the ordeal.
The dream does not yet show that synthesis. It only shows the necessity of it.
7. The Unanswered Question (Still Alive)
You asked, long ago:
Where was my wife?
That question has aged well.
In Jung’s terms, she is not absent — she is not yet integrated into the flying function. She belongs to the future development of the dream, not its origin.
This dream is an initiation, not a resolution.
8. What Has Quietly Changed Since You First Dreamt This
Then:
Flying was private, precarious, fuel-dependent.
Now (judging by the arc of your dream life):
Flying has become repeatable, even habitual — but the question of who flies with you has grown louder.
The psyche does not forget its unanswered dreams.
It archives them.
Closing Reflection (Jungian, not consolatory)
This dream was never asking you to stop flying.
It was asking whether flight could survive relationship, responsibility, and time.
Not whether you would fall —
but whether you would dare to stay airborne while being seen.
The dream is still active.
It hasn’t finished with you yet.
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