Abstract
Experts describe lucid dreams as the awareness of being in a state of dreaming during the dream itself and the ability to change its narrative. A brief introduction to this theme will be detailed, followed by an analysis of the striking features of this phenomenon: the presence of the characters that inhabit the dream state, which have a surprising degree of autonomy and ease of communication when compared to ordinary dreams. Intending to investigate the psychic substrate of autonomous entities, an investigation will be performed from the perspective of analytical psychology, emphasizing the Jungian concept of “shadow” and the theory of complexes. Finally, the importance of this analysis to the process of individuation will be highlighted.
dreams; individuation; Junguian Theory; sleep REM; unconscious