In his book, Modern Man In Search Of A Soul, C.G. Jung gives a layperson insight into his ideas on dream analysis. Jung's primary objective in this book is to educate the reader as to what a psychoanalyst does when analyzing a patient's dreams. The principal message in the section of the book centered on dream analysis is that dreams should never stand alone. Dreams are meaningless in a vacuum, but on the other hand when put against a strict set of rules, they are oftentimes misunderstood. The unconscious is a fluid entity and cannot be handled either in isolation or with a static set of guidelines. Dreams are reflections of the unconscious and can represent many different things inside of a person. Modern Man In Search Of A Soul describes the techniques of dream analysis that a psychoanalyst following Jung's ideas would ideally follow.

In the time when Modern Man In Search Of A Soul was written, 1931, many psychiatrists did not believe in the unconscious. Jung says that the unconscious exists and that without it dreams would be "merely a freak of nature". Without the unconscious the dream would simply be a group of memory fragments assembled in a strange order. With the u

Analysts who derive their interpretations of dreams on preconceived notions or a one-sided theory and then proceed to push these interpretations onto their patients have to do so by suggestion. Suggestion is a valuable tool for short-term small fixes. When an analyst uses suggestion as the basis of the analysis it becomes a volatile situation. Suggestion rests very much on the patient's own ability to understand, and in some cases the patient's lack of understanding can lead to disastrous results. Even if the suggestion is successful, it is still a makeshift solution. The patient may understand the analysis consciously, but in their core they still do not understand. It is like creating a building around a volcano, the building looks strong, but the interior can explode and destroy the building at any moment.

During the course of an analysis, which may last many months, dreams often become deluded and make less sense. This is because a relationship will develop and the analyst's interpretations are clouded by their previous judgements of the person. This does not allow for any change in the patient's inevitable movement from their initial state to their cured state. If dreams remain clear and understandable throughout an analysis, then the therapist has yet to touch on an important aspect of the patient's neurosis.

In the bible, the book of genesis, Jacob's son Joseph becomes the dream interpreter for the pharaoh of Egypt after being sold into servitude. He is in the jail with a baker and a wine maker. Each had dreams and asked Joseph to interpret them. The wine maker told his dream to Joseph as follows: "In my dream, there was a vine in front of me. On the vine were three branches. It had barely budded, when out came its blossoms and its clusters blossomed into grapes. Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand." Also the baker had a dream that he told as follows: "In my dream, similarly, there were three openwork baskets on my head. In the uppermost basket were all kinds of food for a Pharaoh that a baker prepares; and the birds were eating it out of the basket above my head."

The psyche is a living system in the same way as the body is and our environment. All large actions are usually met by a compensation to maintain equilibrium. In our body this is necessary to maintain a normal metabolism, in nature it creates the oxygen we breathe, and in our psyche it allows for sanity. In a person's psyche there is constant compensation to maintain equilibrium. Too much on one side results in too little on the other. The fundamental relationship between conscious and unconscious is compensatory. This greatly helps in dream analysis. Dreams should be seen as actions that actually happen to us. To repress these actions would bring our mind to a one-sided conscious outlook which would only promote unconscious compensation that occurred in the first place. Dreams are in effect a form of unconscious self-regulation.

When a doctor understands a patient completely and the patient seems to have no u

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Approximate Word count = 2085
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)