Carl Gustav Jung

“ In order to develop a person’s individuality and independence to the uttermost, we need to bring to fruition all those functions that have hitherto attained but little conscious development or none at all. In order to achieve this aim, we must for therapeutic reasons enter into all those unconscious aspects, of things brought forward by the dream material. This makes it abundantly clear that the viewpoint of finality is singularly important as an aid to the practical development of the individual. ”

“ A dream is a psychic structure which at first sight appears to be in striking contrast with conscious thought, because judging by its form and substance, it apparently does not lie within the continuity of development of the conscious contents, it is not integral to it, but is a mere external and apparently accidental occurrence. ”

“ The fact that a dream is a psychic structure, does not give us the slightest ground for assuming that it obeys laws and designs other than those applicable to any other psychic structure. According to the maxim: principia explicandi praeter necessitatem non sunt multiplicanda, we have to treat dreams in analysis just as any other psychic structure, until experience teaches us some better way. ”

“ Since the entire psychic content of a life may be ultimately disclosed from any single starting point, theoretically the whole previous life-experience might be found in every dream. But we only need to assemble just so much material as is absolutely necessary in order to comprehend the dream’s meaning. ”

“ We know that every psychic construction considered from the standpoint of causality, is the resultant of previous psychic contents. Moreover, we know also that every psychic structure, considered from the standpoint of finality has its own peculiar meaning and purpose in the actual psychic process. This standard must also be applied to dreams. When, therefore, we seek a psychological explanation of a dream, we must first know what were the preceding experiences out of which it is combined. We must trace the antecedents of every point in the dream picture. ”

“ Even quite primitive races have in some respects extremely strict legislation concerning sexuality. This fact proves that sexual morality in particular is a not-to-be-despised factor in the soul’s higher functions, but deserves to be taken fully into account. In this case it should be added, that the young man—influenced by his friends’ example—somewhat thoughtlessly let himself be guided exclusively by his erotic cravings, unmindful of the fact that man is a morally responsible being and must perforce submit —voluntarily or involuntarily—to a morality that he himself has created. ”

“ In the dream the young man plucks the apple of Paradise, which in reality he has not yet plucked. The remainder of the material associated with the dream is concerned with another experience of the previous day, namely, with the peculiar feeling of a bad conscience, which seized the dreamer when he was talking to his casual lady acquaintance; this, again, was connected with the fall of man in Paradise, and finally with an erotic misdemeanour of his childhood, for which his father had punished him severely. All these associations are linked together by the idea of guilt. ”

“ But a careful observer should have no difficulty in discovering that a dream is not entirely severed from the continuity of the conscious, for in almost every dream certain details are found which have their origin in the impressions, thoughts, or states of mind of one of the preceding days. ”

“ Whether this dream should be considered full, or void, of meaning depends upon a very important question, viz. whether the standpoint of morality, handed down to us through the ages by our forefathers, is held to be full or void of meaning. ”

“ As regards the much-discussed symbolism of dreams, the value attached to it varies according to whether the standpoint of causality or of finality is adopted. According to Freud’s causal view point it proceeds from a craving, viz. from the suppressed dream-wish. This craving is always somewhat simple and primitive, and is able to disguise itself under manifold forms. For instance, the young man in question might just as well have dreamt that he had to open a door with a key, or that he had to travel by aeroplane, or that he was kissing his mother, etc. ”

“ The concrete superficial meaning of the fable is an impossible phantasm, but the hidden moral meaning is plainly palpable upon reflection. It is characteristic of children that they are pleased and satisfied with the exoteric meaning of the story. But by far the best argument for the existence of a hidden meaning in dreams, is provided by the conscientious application of the technical procedure to solve the manifest dream content. ”

“ In this dream we can discern a compensating function of the unconscious, consisting in the fact that those thoughts, propensities, and tendencies of a human personality which in conscious life are too seldom recognised, come spontaneously into action in the sleeping state, when to a large extent the conscious process is disconnected. ”

“ But any one keenly interested in the dream problem cannot have failed to observe that a dream has also a progressive continuity—if such an expression be permitted—since dreams occasionally exert a remarkable influence upon the conscious mental life, even of persons who cannot be considered superstitious or particularly abnormal. ”

“ The view point of causality is obviously more in accord with the scientific spirit of our time, with its strictly causalistic reasoning. Much may be said for Freud’s view as a scientific explanation of dream psychology. ”

“ It is one of those universally human similes, which can reappear in any one, at any time. Thus, dream psychology opens up a way to a general comparative psychology, from which we hope to gain the same understanding of the development and structure of the human soul, as comparative anatomy has given us concerning the human body. ”

“ Only a combination of both points of view—which has not yet been attained to the satisfaction of the scientific mind, owing to great difficulties both of a practical and theoretical nature—can give us a more complete conception of the essence of dreams. ”

“ It is evident that this function of dreams signifies a psychological adjustment, a compensation essential for properly balanced action. In the conscious process of reflection it is indispensable that, so far as possible, we should realise all the aspects and consequences of a problem, in order to find the right solution. ”

“ Its mode of genesis is in itself sufficient to isolate a dream from the other contents of the conscious, for it is a survival of a peculiar psychic activity which takes place during sleep, and does not originate in the manifest and clearly logical and emotional continuity of the event experienced. ”

“ The combination of ideas in dreams is essentially phantastic, they are linked together in a sequence which, as a rule, is quite foreign to our current way of thinking, and in striking contrast to the logical sequence of ideas which we consider to be a special characteristic of conscious mental processes. ”

“ By trying to live without taking this fact into consideration, his life is one-sided and incomplete, so to say inco-ordinate; which has the same consequences for the psychological life as a one-sided and incomplete diet has for the physical. ”