Man and His Symbols

Archetypes, or “primordial images” (55), are motifs which remain constant regardless of the symbol which represents them. Archetypes are universal and are, according to Jung, passed down through the collective unconscious from primitive times. These embedded motifs thus transcend time and space and are understood by all people. Archetypes evolve alongside the human psyche and are the result of human instincts manifesting as symbols to communicate messages to people. Archetypes appear in dreams, but also in art, science, and storytelling. Archetypes serve as a basis for dream analysis, with the stipulation that individual interpretation is tantamount to any universal meaning they may possess.

The psyche is the whole of the human mind, including the conscious, unconscious, and spiritual aspects of a person. The goal of dream analysis is to aid a person in achieving wholeness of the psyche, wherein each part complements and unites with each other. The psyche cannot be objectively defined because it is not an observable phenomenon; on top of this, its structure is different for everyone. Within the psyche are limitless dualities: good and evil, birth and death, stagnancy and growth. In an individuated person, these opposites do not conflict with each other but instead work together to achieve fulfillment of the soul.

The conscious is the part of the psyche that consists of awareness and active thought. The conscious mind contains active knowledge, memory, perception, communication, and other processes which a person is directly aware of and can immediately sense and recognize. Most if not all conscious processes are guided and influenced by unconscious processes which a person is not aware of. Jung insisted that the conscious mind represses much of the Self and that these repressed aspects of a person are pushed to the surface of conscious perception through dream symbols. Another word for the conscious mind is the ego: the aspect of the psyche which contains and produces the emotions, ideas, and memories that make up observable traits.

The unconscious is the aspect of the mind which is hidden from direct awareness. An individual cannot observe or communicate with their unconscious except through dreams. The unconscious mind contains the hidden side of processes such as perception, thought, emotion, and memory. It guides these processes and thus influences behavior and every facet of life. The unconscious also contains the repressed aspects of the Self including the shadow and the anima/animus. It is based in the instinctive and primitive drives of humans and acts as a force which propels a person through their development. The unconscious may create synchronicities in the physical world or produce archetypal symbology in dreams. A person must learn to listen to the messages of their unconscious to proceed through the transformative process that is individuation.

Individuation is the process that an individual undergoes to reunite the divided parts of the Self. A person is born whole, but as they grow up their psyche becomes fragmented. Individuation is propelled through the archetypal images in a person’s dreams. As they approach and go through each stage of the process, people seem to dream of the same archetypes. Jung suggests that this is because the stages of this process are fundamentally the same for all people, although they reach them at different points in their life and by different means and symbols. Individuation involves years of psychic growth and interpretating unconscious messages. When it is complete, a person fully realizes and accepts their unique self, including strengths and weaknesses. After individuation, both the individual unconscious and the collective unconscious exist in the conscious awareness of the person, and they have become whole.

The ego represents the heroic, proud, and strong aspects of the human psyche. Ego-consciousness occurs when a person fully realizes their own strengths in such a way that allows them to conquer whatever life presents for them. Through the process of individuation, a person matures and grows into themselves, allowing the ego to fully emerge. The weakness of the ego-consciousness is a tendency towards rationality that may become overbearing and drown out the instinctive messages of the unconscious. The ego-consciousness is a person’s sense of who they are: identity, personality, past, and future.

The Self constitutes the entirety of the human psyche. It is made up of the ego, the shadow, and all conscious and unconscious processes. Humans are born as a whole Self but become fragmented. To re-form the Self, a person must learn to unite each of the dualities within their psyche; in particular, the conscious and unconscious mind must communicate openly and willingly with one another. Through the process of individuation, the Self gradually returns to a state of wholeness. Jung notes three major archetypes which are used to represent the Self both in terms of the whole and in terms of its parts: the circle, the square, and the mandala.

The shadow includes all the aspects of a person that is repressed, ignored, or overlooked. The traits that exist within the shadow of the psyche are the negative and dark traits, desires, and tendencies of the psyche which a person often refuses to acknowledge or admit. This puts people at a great disadvantage, says Jung, because ignoring or repressing the shadow causes it to manifest in other ways which can negatively impact a person’s life. Repressing these tendencies also causes them to become stronger and more severe. The shadow may produce itself in dreams to communicate and compensate for the instinctive and destructive drives that are not being fulfilled in the waking life.

The anima is the feminine unconscious counterpart within a man, and the animus is the masculine unconscious counterpart within a woman. The anima/animus manifests in dreams in the form of archetypal images to communicate messages to the conscious mind. These archetypes include god and goddess figures, wise elders, and others. Like all aspects of the Self, the anima/animus contains within it both positive and negative qualities which the person must either learn to feed, accept, or overcome.