The role of analysis

Question: Is that part of the role of the analyst in modern society, to reconnect the individual to his own instinctive inner life?

Yes. That’s why in Jungian therapy we offer the patient an opportunity to establish a unique relationship which is not a technique of therapy, but a personal encounter. That’s why Jung said to forget all psychological theories when you meet the patient. Just meet him with your heart and your mind as a unique human being. Then every encounter is an adventure and the dream is that direct encounter. Among the thousands of dreams I’ve interpreted, I’ve never met the same dream twice. The dream is always unique and always comes at the right moment. It’s a message from the powers of the instinct, the powers of the collective unconscious, a message which comes at a specific moment during a particular night which is meant specifically for the dreamer. The alchemists would say it’s a message from the unique to the unique. Namely, from the divine center of the psyche to the unique individual pertaining to the unique situation one is in. That’s why you can never predict dreams. You can never go to bed and say, “I’ll probably dream about this or that.” You will always dream about something completely different.

So at the source of the dream there is a creative mystery which we cannot rationally explain. It’s the creativity of nature. It’s the same creativity which has created what man could never invent: the millions of species of animals and flowers and plants on the earth. The dreams are also like flowers or plants. They are something unique which you can only marvel at.

- Marie Louise von Franz (from Fraser Boa's "The Way of the Dream," p. 71)