Carl Jung on Dreams

The Significance of Myths

Welcome to our Carl Jung on Dreams page.

Myth: a traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the world view of a people.

Jung believed the value of myths was highly significant within the dream state in that these tales arose from the collective unconscious. In Jung’s opinion, myths of old, when understood metaphorically, are actually reflections of the current day human psyche. Joseph Campbell (dream analyst) probably articulated this best when he said, “Myths are public dreams. Dreams are private myths.”

Comprehension of myths, metaphors, and Jung’s archetypes, allow the dreamer to delve into dreams to decode them. The dreamer, through hard work, is the person who will get to the core of meaning of a dream to gain because it will eventually offer the individual that “A-Ha!” moment. Subsequently, this connection to the dream supplies previously unknown insights about the individual, and thus, via the dream interpretation the dreamer becomes wiser in their conscious state.

In the Western world, people often use the mythology of Greek, Egyptian and Christian images because they are familiar with these. The mythic content Jung claimed to be myths and archetypes passed from one generation to the next through the unconscious, is invaluable whether it be presented undisguised or coded. It is this content that the unconscious offers in dreams that, when continued to be deciphered, is an eternal well of wisdom.

“There is a thinking in primordial images, in symbols which are older than the historical man, which are inborn in him from the earliest times, eternally living, outlasting all generations, still make up the groundwork of the human psyche. It is only possible to live the fullest life when we are in harmony with these symbols; wisdom is a return to them.”
– Carl Jung

If you found our Jung Dream Analysis article interesting, make sure to visit the following pages too:

* Carl Jung Theory: The Collective Unconscious

* Carl Jung Quotes

* History of Dream Interpretation

* Freud Dream Interpretation

(From Carl Jung on Dreams back to Jung Dream Interpretation) (From Carl Jung on Dreams back to Dream Interpretation Dictionary Home Page)

Read, reflect and be inspired. If you find something of value on our Carl Jung on Dreams page, enjoy its gifts and please pass it on to your friends.

SBI!