Carl Jung made a major contribution to the psychology of dream work. His revolutionary theory of the ‘self’ was that it comprised both a personal unconscious and a collective unconscious. Dreams could originate either from the personal or from the collective unconscious.
The personal dream would be presented to the dreamer in terms of images and symbols. If one became familiar with this symbolic language, then it would be possible to decipher the message from the personal unconscious; which would usually contain a message concerning the dreamer’s personal growth and how they could reach ‘wholeness’ as a human being. Psychological good health for Jung, was to become a multi-dimensional, creative ‘individuated’ person, who was living an authentic life.
In relation to the collective dream, Jung was the first Western psychiatrist to broach the idea that dreams may not originate solely from the personal conscious or unconscious. His theory of collective dreaming at least presents a new perspective of dreaming, where humans are connected with each other and are part of the cosmos. A collective dream will present archetypes from the collective unconscious and have significance for others as well as the dreamer. These collective dreams have considerably more than personal significance and were particularly valued in antiquity, when it was accepted as having an oracular or prophetic nature and its warnings taken seriously.
