Obviously this dream is about ambition. However, it is more than that. Icarus’ father, Daedalus, built the wings. Icarus’ father warned him of going too close to the sun, of going too high, in essence, of having too much ambition.
But in essence, Icarus’ ambition was more in fact of doing better than his father. And from this, the sun melted his wings and Icarus fell to his death into the ocean. This of course, the relationships of a son’s relation to his father, falls directly into the Oedipus Complex. A healthy son goes through the trials of the Oedipus Complex and realizes that he cannot beat his father, in particular with having his mother, and thus bows down to his father’s might and then identifies with him. Becoming necessarily aware of this in the fully and deepest unconscious sense. It is still in the case of a neurotic that he still unconsciously wants to actively beat his father without accepting the primitive truth that he can’t.
And opposite in the case of healthier people, he cannot and will not take his father (or father-figure) as his potential hero.
And this why Icarus died. He still consciously wanted to beat his father in the deepest sense. His unconscious mind would still not give up the fight of besting his father and bowing down and accepting the fate that his father will always be more powerful than him. This is the plain truth of the mental evolution of humans. To be healthy, to be not neurotic, to not die or be in real multifaceted mental danger, a son has to accept in the unconscious sense that his father will always be more powerful than him. This is a necessity because this truth is grounded in the framework of an infant’s and young child’s mind. This necessary unconscious relationship is not founded in the adult years, but founded in the most important mental times of young childhood where the father is infinitely more powerful.
I, in fact, through my self-analytic work am still working on this. Through my learnings and selfwork, I fully consciously accept that my father figure will always be more powerful than me. He will always be tougher, smarter and greater. But deep in my mind, I still don’t want to fully accept this. Still, without being fully aware, I challenge this necessary truth that I can’t beat him. I am dangerously too ambitious in this regard. And it without fail leads to mentally unstable ground. I, only hope, that my unconscious will further accept this necessary truth that I cannot beat him no matter what. I fear his power. I respect and love him. I just can’t wait till I get to the more promised land in terms of this powerful relationship. And then I will be safer.