Discussion: Carl Jung's Man and His Symbols
Exploring the nature of the unconscious, shadow figures, the ambiguity of dreams and more
I invite you to join me in a new format today, a short reading and discussion from Jung’s Man and His Symbols. Inspired by book clubs and salons, this offering allows us to dive deeper into the literature of Jungian and depth psychology. One of the main goals is to engage in meaningful discourse together via the comments section. Once you've listened to the recording below (or read the PDF), please feel free to share your thoughts, questions, or insights.
In the recording, I'll be reading an excerpt from the book and sharing reflections and musings on various themes explored by Jung. These include the compensatory nature of dreams, the presence of shadow figures, the ambiguity of dreams, distinctions between Freud and Jung, and the cultivation of symbolic and archetypal literacy, among other topics.
Listen to me read the excerpt and offer reflections:
Join the discussion:
All comments are welcome, but here are a few prompts to consider:
What are your thoughts on the compensatory nature of dreams? Have you experienced dreams that seemed to serve this purpose?
Have you encountered figures in your dreams that seem to carry aspects of shadow? How did you interpret these figures and their qualities?
How do you approach dreams that are particularly mysterious and hard to decipher?
What most caught your attention from the reading?
I like the notion of learning the language and communication style of your own psyche.
I have had a recurring dream (not often but certainly not just once) in which I’m returning to a place, a time, and a relationship I have no desire to return to in waking life. The dream has struck me as annoying, like a waste of psychic space I think, as I often enjoy what I can remember of my dreamworld otherwise. I’ll have to reflect on whether I see this particular “return” as compensatory, whether I see any shadow lessons here.
Thanks for sharing! And I like the take on a book club. :)
Love this: "Thus, a dream cannot produce a definite thought. If it begins to do so, it ceases to be a dream because it crosses the threshold of consciousness. That is why dreams seem to skip the very points that are most important to the conscious mind, and seem rather to manifest the "fringe of consciousness," like the faint gleam of stars during a total eclipse of the sun." And this: "As a plant produces its flower, so the psyche creates its symbols. Every dream is evidence of this process."
I've worked dreams for years with two or three friends, and it always amazes us how much is packed into a single dream image, let alone a whole dream. I'm fascinated at the visual language, the wordplay, the frequent use of real people and places from waking life. As well, the universal messages dipped from an archetypal well. It's all so rich and mysterious. Thanks for doing this.