In last night’s dream, I met myself — lots of different versions of myself.

An elderly woman, accompanied by her husband, reached through a doorway to hand me an envelope full of wisdom writings. Carelessly, I dropped the envelope into a swimming pool and had to dive deep to retrieve it. I retrieved the envelope… but realized I had left a whole box of other teachings under the water.

Thus my travels began. I met a well-meaning, sullen teen at a bus stop with her father; an outgoing, adventurous young woman walking alone in a train station; and a quiet, focused middle-aged woman walking along the beach with her supportive husband.

Everywhere I went, I became aware of underground libraries, under neighbourhoods, cafes and train stations. And, oddly, each time I found an excuse not to enter.

Yet I awoke uplifted and pleased, to the sound of Sunday morning church bells.

The wisdom of maturity, says my dream, follows a life-long journey. Within a wise person, the child, the youth, the adult and the elder all speak. Each new stage adds insight; it augments the past without obscuring it. Multiple perspectives open the door to empathy, flexibility, and more accurate perception.

The dream showed me four archetypal stages of inner growth. Literally, archetypes are “primal patterns.” As C.G. Jung sees it, these patterns are common to the human psyche in all times and places. Although we lives the patterns, we cannot see them. We can, however, recognize personifications of the patterns brought to life as characters in stories, art, or dreams. Because the characters resonate deeply with our inner patterns, we may find ourselves uplifted or shaken by them. As we explore our reactions, we explore our own inner lives.

In the annual cycle of Torah reading this week, we approach the end of the Book of Genesis. Some of my friends affectionately call Genesis the story of “our dysfunctional family.” Genesis chronicles ruptures and healing between siblings, spouses and generations. Readers are often comforted, finding validation and hope.

In light of my dream, I see Genesis even more personally this year. Genesis is the story of “our wandering maturation.” Its characters bring to life many of the archetypes of which C.G. Jung spoke. In Genesis, we find:

the Self – a level of consciousness opening beyond the practicalities of everyday life, sought by Eve when she eats from the Tree of Knowledge

the Seeker or Pilgrim – as Abraham becomes when he responds to God’s call: leave behind who you used to be, and journey into the unknown

the Wise Elder – Melchizedek, priest of the Highest God, who recognizes Abraham and blesses him

the Mother – in all her diversity, including the elder overprotective Sarah and the younger unskilled Hagar, both of whom turn out to be good-enough mothers

the Eternal Child – Isaac, his young life almost ended on the altar, seems to freeze in immaturity, remaining innocent and open-hearted into his old age

the Twins of Self and Shadow – Rachel and Leah, each consumed by grief over what she lacks, imagines the other to be the blocker…until the two sisters collaborate, compromise, and begin speaking in one voice

the Trickster – Rebekah, her brother Laban, and her son Jacob, breaking social, interpersonal and economic rules in order to bring about a greater good

Genesis introduces us to these archetypal characters one by one, inviting us to resonate and reflect. Then it weaves them together into a final, representative story: the maturation of Joseph.

As a child, Joseph is called by his dreams to Seek the Self. His older, widowed, overprotective Father hopes to keep him close, as an Eternal Child. He projects all negativity onto his eleven Shadow brothers, speaking badly of them; they act in parallel, bullying him. The Shadow Twins send him on a journey into harsh adulthood where he is forced to create a life for himself. Ten years into this journey, he meets Pharaoh, who recognizes Joseph as a Wise Elder, rewarding him with heavy responsibility. The Shadow brothers show up, Joseph plays the Trickster, forcing a two-sided reconciliation and re-integration.

The results of Joseph’s inner journey are summarized at the end of Genesis.

On the one hand, Joseph loves and is loved; he passes on his wisdom through the generations. “Joseph saw his grandchildren and even his great grandchildren born on his knees,” says the book.

On the other hand, he has no say over what others do with his gift of wisdom. The text says, “He made his relatives swear to bring his bones back to the land of his ancestors. When he died at age 110, was embalmed and placed in a crypt in Egypt.”

According to a famous midrash, Joseph’s crypt remains at the bottom of the Nile River, until Moses receives advice from a wise elderly woman.

And so, suggests my dream, the archetypal cycle continues, generation after generation. The elder woman in my dream hands me the wisdom. And what do I do? I drop it in the pool and have to rediscover it all over again.

— Image: http://www.oasisenergysolutions.com. Biblical quotations: Genesis 50:23-26. Midrash: Babylonian Talmud, Sota 13a (the wise woman is Serach, daughter of Asher, niece of Joseph, who lives over two hundred years). Jungian inspiration: Edward Edinger, The Bible and the Psyche (Inner City Books, 1986)