Sonu Shamdasani

C. G. Jung

These two essays, written late in Jung's life, reflect his responses to the shattering experience of WWII & the dawn of mass society. Among his most influential works, "The Undiscovered Self" is a plea for his generation -- and those to come-- to continue the individual work of self-discovery & not abandon needed psychological reflection for the easy ephemera of mass culture. Only individual awareness of both the conscious & unconscious aspects of the human psyche will allow the great work of human culture to thrive.
Jung's reflections on self-knowledge & the exploration of the unconscious carry over into the 2nd essay, "Symbols & the Interpretation of Dreams," completed shortly before his death in 1961. Describing dreams as communications from the unconscious, Jung explains how the symbols that occur in dreams compensate for repressed emotions & intuitions. This essay brings together Jung's fully evolved thoughts on the analysis of dreams & the healing of the rift between consciousness & the unconscious, ideas that are central to his system of psychology.

This edition of Jung's classic work includes a new foreword by Sonu Shamdasani, Philemon Professor of Jung History at University College London.

With Symbols and the Interpretation of Dreams

The Undiscovered Self

Laura Mei

Most people confuse "self-knowledge" with knowledge of their ego-personalities. But the ego knows only its own contents, not the unconscious and its contents. People measure their self-knowledge by what the average person in their social environment knows of himself, but not by the real psychic facts which are for the most part hidden from them. What is commonly called "self-knowledge" is therefore a very limited knowledge, most of it dependent on social factors, of what goes on in the human psyche. In this broad belt of unconsciousness, which is immune to conscious criticism and control, we stand defenseless, open to all kinds of influences. 

The devaluation of the psyche and other resistances to psychological enlightenment are based in large measure on fear — on panic fear of the discoveries that might be made in the realm of the unconscious. It is this fear of the unconscious psyche which not only impedes self-knowledge but is the gravest obstacle to a wider understanding and knowledge of psychology. Often the fear is so great that one dares not admit it even to oneself.

The Undiscovered Self quotes

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