The Theory of PsychoanalysisJung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Science
The Theory of Psychoanalysis
Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Neuroses; Psychoanalysis; Psychology, Pathological; Sex
Before I enter into an analysis of this dream, I should like to point
out its beautiful parallel with certain mythological presentations. This
astonishing coincidence of thunderstorm and stork has, of course, to
those acquainted with the works of Adalbert Kuhn and Steinthal nothing
remarkable. The thunderstorm has had, from ancient times, the meaning of
the fertilizing of the earth, the cohabitation of the father Heaven and
the mother Earth, to which Abraham[13] has recently again called
attention, in which the lightning takes the place of the winged phallus.
The stork is just the same thing, a winged phallus, the psychosexual
meaning of which is known to every child. But the psychosexual meaning
of the thunderstorm is not known to everyone. In view of the
psychological situation just described, we must attribute to the stork a
psychosexual meaning. That the thunderstorm is connected with the stork
and has also a psychosexual meaning, seems at first scarcely acceptable.
But when we remember that psychoanalytic observation has shown an
enormous number of mythological associations with the unconscious mental
images, we may suppose that some psychosexual meaning is also present in
this case. We know from other experiences that those unconscious strata
which, in former times, produced mythological forms, are still in action
among modern people and are still incessantly productive. But this
production is limited to the realm of dreams and the symptomatology of
the neuroses and the psychoses, for the correction, through reality, is
so much increased in the modern mind that it prevents their projection
into reality.
We will return to the dream analysis. The associations which lead us to
the heart of this image begin with the idea of rain during the
thunderstorm. Her actual words were: “I think of water. My uncle was
drowned in water—it must be dreadful to be kept under water, so in the
dark. But the child must be also drowned in the water. Does it drink the
water that is in the stomach? It is very strange, when I was ill Mamma
sent my water to the doctor. I thought perhaps he would mix something
with it, perhaps some syrup, out of which children grow. I think one has
to drink it.”
With unquestionable clearness we see from this set of associations that
even the child associates psychosexual, and even typical ideas of
fructification with the rain during the thunderstorm.
Here again, we see that marvellous parallelism between mythology and the
individual phantasies of our own day. This series of associations
contains such an abundance of symbolic relationships, that we could
easily write a whole dissertation about it. The child herself splendidly
interpreted the symbolism of drowning as a pregnancy-phantasy, an
explanation given long ago in psychoanalytic literature.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account