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Listening to the Feminine Unconscious

May 19, 2019 in Articles

This account of a session with Dr. Bail is from a male patient in his sixties who is an artist.

On my drive to my session with Dr. Bail, I port a You-tube art lecture on to my radio and listen while I drive. I have serendipitously chosen this lecture which is about Antonio Ciseri, (1821-1891) an accomplished Swiss-Italian painter who has been all but completely forgotten. One of Ciseri’s major works called Ecce Homo (Behold Man) is a behind-the-scenes view of Pontius Pilate turning over the lacerated Jesus Christ to a hostile crowd, prior to his Crucifixion. In the course of the lecture, I learn that Pilate’s wife had a portentous dream in which she is told that her husband must have nothing to do with this Jesus fellow. The painting portrays the despairing wife being consoled by her daughter for her failure to keep her husband from his fateful actions.  Because this dream seems to belong at the top of the list of important dreams in history, I relate the story to Dr. Bail as soon as our session begins.

In addition to this, after more than a week and a half of not being able to recall a dream which is quite unusual for me, I have been blessed with two short dreams.  In my first dream, I am in an old battered Cadillac. I’m in the passenger’s seat and there is a huge black man driving the vehicle. We are going to visit his daughter who is working as a physical education teacher at a summer camp. The dream ends when the car comes to a halt and I look out to see this attractive young teenager smiling warmly at us both.  My second dream has me being involved with a female trumpet player.  But in the dream, I have never heard her play.

After considerable discussion, Dr. Bail and I agree that the black man driving the car is the unconscious Masculine paradigm, who in the course of my dream brings me to the Feminine, symbolized by his young teenage daughter. Even more telling, is the fact that I don’t get out of the car to greet the daughter, but remain in the passenger seat of the Masculine. In the second dream, I’m in a relationship with the Feminine, but not listening to the one attribute highlighted in the dream, her ability to play the trumpet, the music of feelings. Clearly, I still have work to do.

The coincidence of learning about the historical moment when Pilate failed to listen to his wife and these two dreams of mine is uncanny. They are examples of men being brought to the Feminine, but in all three instances, failing to hear or heed what the feminine has to say. Dr. Bail’s psychoanalytic approach, as highlighted in his recent movie, “And Now, Love” clearly emphasizes that without allowing the Feminine voice to be heard, and listening to its wisdom, we as a civilization are bound to repeat our historical mistakes.  We desperately need to allow the Feminine to be heard. This is the only way our civilization stands a chance of evolving towards a more balanced, caring society. Without it, we will surely self-destruct, given the enormity of our current weapons and the severity of our impending ecological problems. I, for one, am committed to learning to listen.