Man and His Symbols

“Man, as we realize if we reflect for a moment, never perceives anything fully or comprehends anything completely. He can see, hear, touch, and taste; but how far he sees, how well he hears, what his touch tells him, and what he tastes depend upon the number and quality of his senses. These limit his perception of the world around him.”

Jung reflects on the limitations of human perception. Through his investigation into the workings of the unconscious mind, he concludes that people can never be fully certain that what they are perceiving is accurate or real. The physical senses and scientific instruments that humans use cannot go beyond themselves and are always limited by the interpretations and observations of the people using them. This does not mean that Jung discounts perception as unimportant; rather, he asserts that an awareness of these limitations can help prevent a person from becoming overly rational. A connection with the instinctive drives of the unconscious is essential to healthy functioning.

“The two fundamental points in dealing with dreams are these: First, the dream should be treated as a fact, about which one must make no previous assumption except that it somehow makes sense; and second, the dream is a specific expression of the unconscious.”

The focal point of Jung’s psychological research and practice was the analysis of dreams. Here, he states that the communications of dreams are just as real as the waking life. On top of this, a person should not assume that any symbol or motif in a dream represents a specific idea, problem, or emotion. Instead, a thorough analysis of the context of the individual’s life is needed to understand the meaning of dream symbols. The symbols in dreams are messages from the