In "The Spiritual problem of Modern Man"
Jung writes of :
". . . .the mysterious truth that the
spirit is the life of the body seen from within,
and the body the outward manifestation of the
life of the spirit - the two being really one . .
."
It seems to me that Jungian psychotherapy is partly
directed towards some experience of this unity.
Elsewhere Jung writes of the changes that have
taken place in our inner, psychic, situation as a
consequence of our social and genetic evolution:
"..but since we have a body it is
indispensable that we exist also as an animal,
and each time we invent a new increase of
consciousness we have to put a new link in the
chain that binds us to the animal, till finally
it will become so long that complications will
surely ensue."
A great deal of psychotherapy might be seen as an
attempt to redress such complications. One
could imagine that it is the length of the chain, in
we humans, that can make us so susceptible to the
vagaries and hazards of our upbringing and life
experience.
Both Jung and Freud considered the study of dreams to be a vital
part of their therapeutic approach. However Jung, unlike Freud,
did not think that dreams purposely concealed their meaning:
"Dreams are neither deliberate
nor arbitrary fabrications; they are natural phenomena
which are nothing other than what they pretend to be.
They do not deceive, they do not lie, they do not distort
or disguise. . . . They are invariably seeking to express
something that the ego does not know and does not understand".
But we can look at our dreams, and take them seriously, and begin to try to get
some knowledge and understanding of that part of ourselves which is expressing itself through them.
This engagement can very much increase our understanding of
ourselves. It can also help to restore a living contact with the deeper
parts of our nature - often dimmed out or sidelined among the stresses and
anxieties of our life.
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