In 1923, the philosopher Martin Buber published his essay, Ich und Du (later translated into English as I and Thou). In the essay, Martin describes how human relationships often fall into two distinct categories, the I-It, and the I-Thou.

In I-It relationships a person tends to see others as objects who must be managed, fought, coerced, or seduced to make them follow certain predetermined behaviours. This usually leads to a self centred perspective in which a person sees others in terms of ‘what you can do for me?.’  In Dreamwork, this is termed an I-I connection as the individual finds it challenging to see beyond their own self.

In contrast, people in I-Thou relationships experience each other as being individuals with unique perspectives and needs.  From this relationship, an empathic dialogue often emerges where individuals ask ‘What can we do to help each other?.  In Dreamwork, an I-Thou connection is known as ‘We‘ as the individual needs and perspectives tend to merge into shared views and mutual needs.

In Dreamwork, we move beyond Buber’s I-Thou connection into the I-You connection.  In the I-You connection we see others as unique individuals who also reflect the unconscious projections of our own selves.  Using tools like Dreamwork Voices and Relationship Maps we can identify these I-You connections and how they form the basis of our strongest and most meaningful relationships.

In any organisation, the most powerful and transformative relationships emerge from I-You connections.  I-It connections usually confirm and promote organisation autism; I-Thou connections tend to create a strong We that often develops into ‘Us and Them’; I-You connections help make us aware of a Self beyond the Self, where we can truly connect with each other and trust in the power of that bond.

When beginning a Dreamwork project with a client, we usually start by asking three questions.  These are Who am I?, Where am I going?, How will I get there?, and if we are working with a group, then Who are we?, Where are we going?, How will we get there?

Who am I?
Who am I? usually encourages answers that begin to define Identities and Intentions. Our identity is our unique presence, and our intention is what we do with it. It is often what people ask when we meet them for the first time - who are you and what do you do?

Where am I going?
Where am I going? often produces replies that describe Values and Needs. Our value is what we are usually attracted to and our need is what we are drawn towards.  Values and Needs are often the forces that push us or pull us in particular directions.

How will I get there?
How will I get there? tends to elicit responses that express Beliefs and Perspectives. Our belief is usually the story we create about our situation and our perspective is how we position ourselves in that story.

In the Dreamwork Space, the answers to these questions also usually describe the Initiating, Stabilising and Adapting Modes.

When we work with the Known and Unknown, we often find ourselves in areas of the Unknown that seem quite familiar, even though we thought we didn’t know anything about them.

We also find ourselves in areas that we know are Known to others, but we are unfamiliar with them ourselves. 

The areas that we definitely know are fully known and familiar to us, and the areas that we really  don’t know are completely unknown and unfamiliar to us.

This gives us four areas we can use as a reference in our exploration of the Known and Unknown.  The four areas are:

Known and Familiar
This is the realm of the physical where we can simply connect with what we know and are familiar with. In Jungian terms, this is the Sensing function.  In the field of Complexity, this would be classed as Simple.

Known and Unfamiliar
This is the realm of the theoretical, where we may be unfamiliar with the subject, but we know that other people are familiar with it.  In Jungian terms, this is the Thinking function.  In the field of Complexity, this would be classed as Complicated.

Unknown and Familiar
This is the realm of the experiential, where may have experienced the subject, but have forgotten about it. Although we may initially feel that the subject is unknown, it usually becomes known by recreating the context or space that originally surrounded it.  In Jungian terms, this is the Feeling function. In the field of Complexity, this would be classed as Complex.

Unknown and Unfamiliar
This is the realm of the creative, where we have no knowledge or familiarity with the situation, and the only way we can make sense of it is to use our innate human creativity. In Jungian terms, this is the Intiuitive function. In the field of Complexity, this would be classed as Chaotic.

In Dreamwork, we often focus on exploring the Unknown.  It usually much easier to work with the known and the certain, but for most organisations, the unknown and the uncertain is where most of the value and potential is.  In a market space, the Known quickly becomes commoditised and its perceived value will decrease rapidly.

Working with the Unknown can be frustrating, as it often does not conform to logic or rational explanations.  Traditional methods of analysis and forecast tend not to work and there often seem to be no causal connections between input and output.

However, for an organisation, the key factor in working with the unknown is not focusing on individuals and artefacts. Instead, it is accomplished focusing on the relationships between individuals and creating the space for value to emerge.

House prices have been a recurring theme for some of my dreamers recently.  In many of their dreams the value of their house plunges in value. The house that they have been dreaming about may be their current home, or the one that they grew up in, or in the case of wealthier dreamers who own multiple properties, it is usually the house that they consider to be their main home, or the one that they identify with most.

When we dream of a house, particularly a building that we consider to be home, we are often dreaming about our self.  Carl Jung used to refer to the dream house as ‘the mansion of the soul’.  The homes that we dream about when we are asleep are often the most accurate reflections of how we are feeling about ourselves.  When we dream that our homes are plunging in value, then in waking life we are often concerned about our own self worth and value to others.

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