Table of Contents
- What is the meaning behind this passage from Jung’s “Symbols and The Interpretation of Dreams”: “Through our efforts to understand dreams we become acquainted with what William James has aptly called the “fringe of consciousness.” What appear to be redundant and unwelcome accessories are, if studied more closely, the almost invisible roots of conscious contents, i.e., their subliminal aspects. They form the psychic material that must be considered as the intermediary between unconscious and conscious contents, or the bridge that spans the gap between consciousness and the ultimately physiological foundations of the psyche. The practical importance of such a bridge can hardly be overrated. It is the indispensable link between the rational world of consciousness and the world of instinct. The more our consciousness is influenced by prejudices, fantasies, infantile wishes, and the lure of external objects, the more the already existing gap will widen out into a neurotic dissociation and lead to an artificial life far removed from healthy instincts, nature, and truth. Dreams try to re-establish the equilibrium by restoring the images and emotions that express the state of the unconscious. One can hardly ever restore the original condition by rational talk, which is far too flat and colourless. But, as my examples have shown, the language of dreams provides just those images which appeal to the deeper strata of the psyche. One could even say that the interpretation of dreams enriches consciousness to such an extent that it relearns the forgotten language of the instincts.”
- If dreams are seen as a manifestations of the psyche’s personal unconscious homeostasis mechanism, by abductive reasoning, how would the psyche’s collective unconscious homeostasis mechanism manifest in our social constructions, and how should these manifestations be interpreted?
- Can a sense of lack internally be fuelling externally our dysfunctional and maladaptive unsustainable social behaviours, and if so, how do these imbalances reveal what conflicts, archetypal energies and shadows are at play?
- Is individual and collective suffering a reflection of these internal imbalances?
