Arbiter Mundi

In Jung’s view big dreams are the primal substance in which all religions have their origin. Dreams also play an important role in the Old Testament. In the Middle Ages the church acknowledged that certain dreams can be sent by God, but admitted only those which were in accord with the teachings of the church; so dreams were censored. Jung did not accept this. He says, “Anyone who can square it with his conscience is free to decide this question as he pleases, though he may be unconsciously setting himself up as an arbiter mundi (judge of the world). I for my part prefer the precious gift of doubt, for the reason that it does not violate the virginity of things beyond her ken.” By these “things beyond our ken” Jung refers to the mysterious world of the unconscious, from which dreams emerge and whose depths we can never truly fathom.

- Marie Louise von Franz, Dreams, p. 30