Carl Jung: Dreams bring us closer to the basic facts of human existence

A dream is nothing but a lucky idea that comes to us from the dark, all-unifying world of the psyche.

What would be more natural, when we have lost ourselves amid the endless particulars and isolated details of the world’s surface, than to knock at the door of dreams and inquire of them the bearings which would bring us closer to the basic facts of human existence?

Here we encounter the obstinate prejudice that dreams are so much froth, they are not real, they lie, they are mere wish-fulfillments.

All this is but an excuse not to take dreams seriously, for that would be uncomfortable. Our intellectual hubris of consciousness loves isolation despite all its inconveniences, and for this reason people will do anything rather than admit that dreams are real and speak the truth.

There are some saints who had very rude dreams.

Where would their saintliness be, the very thing that exalts them above the vulgar rabble, if the obscenity of a dream were a real truth?

But it is just the most squalid dreams that emphasize our blood-kinship with the rest of mankind, and most effectively damp down the arrogance born of an atrophy of the instincts.

Even if the whole world were to fall to pieces, the unity of the psyche would never be shattered.

And the wider and more numerous the fissures on the surface, the more this unity is strengthened in the depths.

“The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man” (1933). In CW 10: Civilization in Transition. pg. 305