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Reference:
Jung, C. G. (1933) Modern Man in search of a Soul. A Harvest Book • Harcourt, Inc. San Diego New York London

p2-3 “My own experience confirms this view inasmuch as I have found that dreams not infrequently bring to light in an unmistakable way the unconscious contents that are causal factors in a neurosis.”

p4 “We here come upon a characteristic of dreams that must take first place in any discussion of the applicability of dream-analysis to the treatment of neuroses. The dream gives a true picture of the subjective state, while the conscious mind denies that this state exists, or recognizes it only grudgingly. … It presents the subjective state as it really is.”

p6 “A purely causalistic approach is too narrow to do justice to the true significance, either of the dream, or of the neurosis. A person is biassed who turns to dreams for the sale purpose of discovering the hidden cause of the neurosis, for he leaves aside the larger part of the dream's actual contribution. …
We must furthermore bear in mind that a great many dreams do not touch upon the causes of the neurosis, but treat of quite different matters-among others, of the patient's attitude to the doctor.”

p8 “Initial dreams are often amazingly transparent and clear-cut. …
In themselves, dreams are clear- that is, they are just as they must be under the given conditions.”

p10 “The analyst who wishes to rule out conscious suggestion must consider any dream interpretation invalid that does not win the assent of the patient, and he must search until he finds a formulation that does.”

p11 “It is certain that consciousness consists not only of wishes and fears, but of vastly more than these, and it is highly probable that the unconscious psyche contains a wealth of contents and living forms equal to or even greater than does consciousness, which is characterized by concentration, limitation and exclusion.” Emphasis mine. These are the characteristics of consciousness

p13 “The “manifest” dream-picture is the dream itself, and contains the” latent“ meaning.”

p14 “But since it is probable, as I have shown in a few examples, that dreams contain more than practical helps for the doctor, dream-analysis deserves very special consideration. Sometimes, indeed. it is a matter of life and death.”

p16 “As far as present knowledge goes, there is only one way of doing this : there must be a thorough-going, conscious assimilation of unconscious contents. By “assimilation,” I mean a mutual interpenetration of conscious and unconscious contents, and not - as is too commonly thought - a one-sided valuation, interpretation and deformation of unconscious contents by the conscious mind.”

p17 “The unconscious is not a demonic monster, but a thing of nature that is perfectly neutral as far as moral sense, aesthetic taste and intellectual judgement go.” Emphasis mine. The unconscious is morally neutral.

p17 “The relation between conscious and unconscious is compensatory. This fact, which is easily verifiable, affords a rule for dream interpretation. It is always helpful, when we set out to interpret a dream, to ask: What conscious attitude does it compensate?”

p18 “This is why every dream is a source of information and a means of self-regulation, and why dreams are our most effective aids in the task of building up the personality. …
What conscious attitude does it compensate? As may be seen, I thus bring the dream into the closest possible connection with the conscious state. I even maintain that it is impossible to interpret a dream with any degree of certainty unless we know what the conscious situation is.”

p19 “In reality, the relation between consciousness and the dream is strictly causal, and they interact in the subtlest of ways.”

p20 “It is of the first importance for the assimilation of dream-contents that no violence be done to the real values of the conscious personality.”

p21 “Just as the interpretation of dreams requires exact knowledge of the conscious status quo, so the treatment of dream symbolism demands that we take into account the dreamer's philosophical, religious and moral convictions.”

p23 “As already remarked, it frequently happens at the very beginning of a treatment that a dream reveals to the doctor, in a wide perspective, the general direction in which the unconscious is moving.”

p26 “ The dream speaks in images, and gives expression to instincts, that are derived from the most primitive levels of nature. Consciousness all too easily departs from the law of nature; but it can be brought again into harmony with the latter by the assimilation of unconscious contents. By fostering this process we lead the patient to the rediscovery of the law of his own being.” The language of dreams

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  • Last modified: 2015/11/14 23:56
  • by janus