# Man and his Symbols - Chapter 1: The importance of dreams (Part 2)
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## Summarium Meditatio
Jung explains that human beings are somewhat resistant to the notion of the unconscious. We dislike to consider ourselves as being *possessed* by or *altered* by things such as moods over which we have no control[^1]. We fail to see how we can so easily become irrational, unreasonable and even fail to recall key facts and information about ourselves and our lives which we should know.

It is the peculiar case that close friends can tell us things about ourselves about which we ourselves had no knowledge. First order observation can reveal to us much that was hidden given the psyche cannot know itself. It is almost like part of us is shut off from the rest of us and about this isolated part of us we can have no conscious knowledge[^2].

Now the capacity to isolate the mind is valuable for things such as attention and sleep, but it can also be pathological. It should be clearly expressed that not all separations between the conscious and unconscious mind appear to be pathological. We cannot however ignore that sometimes there are alarming conditions under which this can happen seemingly without out knowledge, consent or even intention[^3].

Jung points out that this is all the backdrop to what he see's as being the most universal acceess point for mans symbolising faculty; namely dreams. Jung goes on to point out that Freud was the first to interrogate this particular aspect of the unconscious.

Jung points out that Freud was one of the pioneers in interrogating empirically the unconscious mind, pointing out often the symbolic significance of neurotic symptoms. Freud found that neurotic symbols often had great symbolic significance. One man experience recurrent attacks of asthma "cant breathe" in the atmosphere at home. Another experiencing neuropathy resulting in paralysis of his legs "can't go on any more"

Despite the meaningful significance of symptoms Dream symbols, Jung maintains, have greater variety and are readily available. To make sense of these dreams Freud's original method of free association can also help to reduce dreams to basic patterns. Freud therefore began with dreams as the starting point for examining the unconscious. This became central tenant of psychoanalysis.

[^1]: See [James 1:19-20](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+1%3A19-20&version=ESV)
[^2]: See [Psalm 139:23-24](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+139%3A23-24&version=ESV), [Jeremiah 17:9](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+139%3A23-24&version=ESV)
[^3]: See [1 Corinthians 3:18](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+3%3A18&version=ESV)