5/16/2023 0 Comments Subliminal verses![]() ![]() We should understand that dream symbols are for the most part manifestations of a psyche that is beyond the control of the conscious mind. I am referring to the biological, prehistoric, and unconscious development of the mind in archaic man, whose psyche was still close to that of the animal. By “history” I do not mean the fact that the mind builds itself up by conscious reference to the past through language and other cultural traditions. It can no more be a product without history than is the body in which it exists. Just as the human body represents a whole museum of organs, each with a long evolutionary history behind it, so we should expect to find that the mind is organized in a similar way. Each individual varies so much in the way that his unconscious complements or compensates his conscious mind that it is impossible to be sure how far dreams and their symbols can be classified at all. No dream symbol can be separated from the individual who dreams it, and there is no definite or straightforward interpretation of any dream. (Carl Jung)Īnd, speaking more generally, it is plain foolishness to believe in ready-made systematic guides to dream interpretation, as if one could simply buy a reference book and look up a particular symbol. But the general undervaluation of the human soul is so great that neither the great religions nor the philosophies nor scientific rationalism have been willing to look at it twice. We cannot expect someone who has never looked through a microscope to be an authority on microbes in the same way, no one who has not made a serious study of natural symbols can be considered a competent judge in this matter. Whatever the unconscious may be, it is a natural phenomenon producing symbols that prove to be meaningful. Certain areas of outer life and of his own behavior are kept, as it were, in separate drawers and are never confronted with one another. But as long as he is unable to control his moods and emotions, or to be conscious of the myriad secret ways in which unconscious factors insinuate themselves into his arrangements and decisions, he is certainly not his own master…Modern man protects himself against seeing his own split state by a system of compartments. (Carl Jung)Ī man likes to believe that he is the master of his soul. In this respect, dream symbols are the essential message carriers from the instinctive to the rational parts of the human mind, and their interpretation enriches the poverty of consciousness so that it learns to understand again the forgotten language of the instincts. If they are split apart or “dissociated,” psychological disturbance follows. (Carl Jung)įor the sake of mental stability and even physiological health, the unconscious and the conscious must be integrally connected and thus move on parallel lines. It is frail, menaced by specific dangers, and easily injured. ![]() We can merely state what we believe them to be and describe, as best we can, how they function.” (Carl Jung)Ĭonsciousness is a very recent acquisition of nature, and it is still in an “experimental” state. ![]() Thus we cannot define either the psyche or nature. Our psyche is part of nature, and its enigma is as limitless. And this belief is clearly just as false as the assumption that we know all there is to be known about the natural universe. Whoever denies the existence of the unconscious is in fact assuming that our present knowledge of the psyche is total. What we call the “psyche” is by no means identical with our consciousness and its contents. And this evolution is far from complete, for large areas of the human mind are still shrouded in darkness. “Man has developed consciousness slowly and laboriously, in a process that took untold ages to reach the civilized state (which is arbitrarily dated from the invention of script in about 4000 B.C.). Here are some great passages from Carl Jung’s book Man and His Symbols, which was written just before his death, and was meant as an introduction to his work for the general public. Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window).Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window).Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window).Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window).Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window).Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window). ![]()
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