fei75766_ch04_107-148.indd 134  02/19/20 09:00 AM
Part II    Psychodynamic Theories134
dream symbols represent sexual urges. Jung(1964) believed thatpeople usedsym-
bolstorepresent avariety ofconcepts—not merely sexual ones—to trytocomprehend 
the“innumerable things beyond therange ofhuman understanding” (p.21).Dreams 
areourunconscious andspontaneous attempts toknow theunknowable, tocompre -
hend areality thatcanonlybeexpressed symbolically.
Thepurpose ofJungian dream interpretation istouncover elements from the
personal andcollective unconscious andtointegrate them intoconsciousness inorder 
tofacilitate theprocess ofself-realization. TheJungian therapist must realize that
dreams areoften compensatory; thatis,feelings andattitudes notexpressed during 
waking lifewillfindanoutlet through thedream process. Jungbelieved thatthenatu-
ralcondition ofhumans istomove toward completion orself-realization. Thus, ifa
person’s conscious lifeisincomplete inacertain area, thenthatperson’s unconscious 
selfwillstrive tocomplete thatcondition through thedream process. Forexample, 
iftheanima inamanreceives noconscious development, shewillexpress herself 
through dreams filled withself-realization motifs, thusbalancing theman’s masculine 
sidewithhisfeminine disposition (Jung, 1916/1960).
Jungfeltthatcertain dreams offered proof fortheexistence ofthecollective 
unconscious. These dreams included big dreams, which havespecial meaning for
allpeople; typical dreams, which arecommon tomost people; andearliest dreams 
remembered.
InMemories, Dreams, Reflections, Jung(1961) wrote about abigdream hehad
while traveling totheUnited States withFreud in1909. Inthisdream—briefly men-
tioned inourbiographical sketch ofJung—Jung wasliving intheupper floor ofatwo-
story house. Thisfloor hadaninhabited atmosphere, although itsfurnishings were
somewhat old.Inthedream, Jungrealized thathedidnotknow what theground 
floor waslike,sohedecided toexplore it.After descending thestairs, henoticed that
allthefurnishings weremedieval anddated backtothe15thor16thcentury. While 
exploring thisfloor, hediscovered astone stairway thatleddown intoacellar. From 
there hedescended intoanother ancient room withbeautiful vaulted ceilings, which 
heknew intuitively werefrom theancient Roman period. While exploring thefloor 
ofthiscellar, Jungnoticed aringononeofthestone slabs. When helifted it,hesaw
another narrow stairway leading toanancient cave. There, hesawbroken pottery, 
scattered animal bones, andtwoveryoldhuman skulls. Inhisownwords, hehad
“discovered theworld oftheprimitive manwithin myself—a world which canscarcely 
bereached orilluminated byconsciousness” (Jung, 1961, p.160).
Junglateraccepted thisdream asevidence fordifferent levels ofthepsyche. 
Theupper floor hadaninhabited atmosphere andrepresented consciousness, thetop
layer ofthepsyche. Theground floor wasthefirstlayer oftheunconscious—old but
notasalien orancient astheRoman artifacts inthecellar, which symbolized adeeper 
layer ofthepersonal unconscious. Inthecave, Jungdiscovered twohuman skulls—the 
onesforwhich Freud insisted Jungharbored death wishes. Jung, however, sawthese 
ancient human skulls asrepresenting thedepths ofhiscollective unconscious.
Thesecond kindofcollective dreams isthetypical dreams, those thatarecom-
montomost people. These dreams include archetypal figures, suchasmother, father, 
God, devil, orwiseoldman. They mayalsotouch onarchetypal events, suchasbirth, 
death, separation from parents, baptism, marriage, flying, orexploring acave. They may
alsoinclude archetypal objects, suchassun,water, fish,snakes, orpredatory animals.Final PDF to printer