No censor!
Returning to dreams, it should be emphasized that in contrast with Freudian thought, Jung maintained that there was no dream censor working to disguise dream content and meaning so as to avoid disturbing and/or shocking consciousness (Jung, CW 16, par. 55). Maybe some needed such a censor in Vienna in a Victorian era, but as most know, dreams nowadays can be very explicit - I suppose we're not so easily shocked any more. This means that dream interpretation does not consist in trying to outsmart a censor with guesses about possible prurient wishes, unsavory urges, or unsettling meaning, but rather learning to understand the symbolic language of the dreamer. This "language" takes some getting used to and with each dreamer it is different. Thus, what one thinks one knows about dream language and the meaning of dream symbols needs to be revised with each new dreamer (Jung, CW 4, par. 539 - 549 & CW 18, par. 200; par. 248).
Previous section Next section List of sections List of chapters