Dream Interpretation and the
Theories
of Carl Jung
The two people most inextricably associated
with the art and science of dream interpretation are Sigmund Freud and
Carl Jung. While Freud saw the unconscious as a wild place, Jung saw it as more refined and
spiritual.
Carl Jung was
born in 1875 and lived enjoyed a long and fruitful career until his death
in 1961. Carl Jung originally studied under the tutelage of Sigmund Freud,
and he learned a lot about the mind, the
unconscious and the world of dreams during his role as a
student.
However, it was their differing
interpretations of the dream world, and their different views of the
unconscious, that eventually led the two men to go their separate
ways.
Eventually, their differing views
on what dreams meant caused a major rift in their
relationship.
Similar to Sigmund Freud, Carl
Jung believed that the subconscious existed in its own right. Unlike
Sigmund Freud, however, Carl Jung did not view the unconscious as a
wild, instinctual and animalistic
place.
Instead, unlike Freud,
Jung saw the unconscious on a more spiritual level. To
Carl Jung, dreams were the best method for people to acquaint themselves
with their unconscious mind.
Carl Jung didn't see dreams as a
way to hide the dreamer's true feelings from the conscious mind, as Freud
did. Jung felt that dreams provided a guide to the waking self and helped the dreamer achieve a kind of wholeness.
To Jung, dreams were a way of offering solutions to problems the dreamer
was experiencing in his or her waking
life.
Jung and Archetypes
The most common facet of dream
interpretation associated with the work of Carl Jung is that of
archetypes. Jung believed there are certain universal themes and universal
images that were common to every culture
and every civilization around the world. To Carl Jung, these universal
archetypes were proof of what he called the collective unconscious — or memories handed down through the ages
from one generation to the next.
Some of the most well known
archetypes described by Carl Jung include:
The Persona — Jung described the persona as
the image presented to the public by each person. In essence the persona
is the public mask, the part of yourself that is shown to the world at large. The opposite of the persona is the
shadow.
The Shadow — Whereas the persona represents
the parts of the personality that are shown to the world, the shadow
archetype represents each person's rejected aspects of themselves.
The shadow is often seen as a symbol of fear, anger or
weakness.
The Anima — Jung saw the anima as the
feminine aspects of the male mind. The anima is the repressed
female parts of the male psyche.
The Animus — The animus is the opposite of
the anima. Where the anima is the feminine part of the male psyche, the
animus is the masculine part of the female mind. Like the anima, the
animus is most often repressed during waking hours.
The Divine Child — The divine child was
described by Carl Jung as a symbol of the true self. The divine child is
often seen to represent the sense of potential or the sense of
vulnerability.
The Wise Old Man — Jung saw the archetype of
the wise old man as a symbol of the self or of a powerful
figure.
The Great Mother — The great mother is seen
as a symbol of nurture, growth, or fertility. The great mother archetype
is also associated with dominance and seduction.
These archetypes appear in every
culture, and variations of them have occurred around the world and in many
different times. Jung saw the appearance of these archetypes
in dreams as highly significant,
and he used these archetypal images in his dream
interpretation.
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