This short video {6 minutes} provides insights of how the unconscious works. In it Campbell gives a brief description of Jung's shadow which is the same as Freud's unconscious. The shadow is a constitution of repressed experiences that the ego does not want to acknowledge because of the 'shocks' it exposes to consciousness. The conscious mind is completely unaware of these 'energies' because of the 'shocks'. THey are repressed or hidden. Examples of such shocks are extreme emotional or sexual abuse in childhood which were/are so frightful they are blocked from consciousness. These repressed experiences are what Jung termed the personal unconscious because they come from personal experiences. They are the structures of the individual life hidden beneath surface of consciousness that 'drive' a person in later life. What is experienced in the earliest years of life are the foundations for the rest of the life.

But there is also the biology of the body which is what Jung called the collective unconscious. These 'energies' are common to mankind as a whole and originating in the inherited structure of the brain. The collective unconscious is sometimes called the objective psyche. It refers to the idea that a segment of the deepest unconscious mind is genetically inherited and is not shaped by personal experience. It is common to all human beings and is responsible for a number of deep-seated beliefs and instincts, such as spirituality, sexual behavior, and life and death instincts

It is out of these two centers that dreams originate. Dreams are primarily related to the personal unconscious since they are emotional energies that are in conflict {which the dream attempts to convey so there can be a resolution to the experiences}. These dreams experiences can be interpreted by personal associations. But dreams also have images that are from the collective unconscious and these can be interpreted by using mythology {the collective experiences of mankind}. It is during times of realizations and transformations in life the collective images come up. Thus every dream has at least two interpretations, the personal which can be interpreted by personal associations {using the couch} and the collective energies that are outlines of the biological energies within the unconscious. When I analyze a dream not knowing anything about the dreamer's personal life {as I do at my Dream Forum} I am able to provide an outline of the emotional energies. When I have personal information about the dreamer I can connect the dream images/actions to the waking life experiences, current as well as in the past.

Video: Jung and the Shadow System

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 69 Altoona, Fl