The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious by C. Jung

Context

It was Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams that brought Jung and him together. Jung was asked to write a review on the book and he grew fascinated by its author. In 1906, Jung decided to contact Freud. They met for the first time in 1906 and Jung became Freud's pupil.

However, there later occurred a major clash between the two thinkers on the centrality of sexuality in psychoanalysis. Freud believed that we were driven by repressed sexual drives that govern our behaviour and determine our psychological development. While Jung did not deny its influence, he considered the significance that Freud gave to the libido an exaggeration that was too narrow to encompass the breadth of human experience. Jung believed that there were other equally important forces at play in the unconscious that Freud did not recognise.

Disagreement on the extent of the unconsciousness followed. While Freud was the first to discover that our consciousness is only the tip of the iceberg, Jung was the first to propose that our unconscious is vast. Freud believed that it consisted of repressed and forgotten memories, thoughts, and desires. Jung maintained that the unconscious comprised much more than that. Freud viewed dreams as significant in so far as they can initiate a process of ‘free association’. However, Jung reported that eventually he “began to feel that this was a misleading and inadequate use of the rich fantasies that the unconscious produces in sleep”. He affirmed that dreams, the windows to our unconscious, did not only include our repressed and forgotten experiences but also primordial themes and universal symbols that he called ‘archetypes’. He then went further to distinguish between the personal and the collective unconscious.

The two thinkers separated in 1913 during the International Psychoanalytical Association Congress after Jung gave a lecture that revealed their intellectual differences. Freud continued to develop psychoanalysis, while Jung took a more spiritual and holistic approach to understanding human behaviour, founding his school of analytical psychology. 

Jung's psychological theory evolved gradually through different conceptualisations of his experience. To reach his conclusions about archetypes he reflected on the notion of universal patterns over almost thirty years. His concept of archetypes began with Jakob Burckhardt's idea of primordial images in 1912: Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido. In 1917, he called them "dominants of the supra-personal unconscious" and "cosmic, universally-human images." In 1919, he adopted the term, archetype, attributing it to St. Augustine. In 1921, he briefly experimented with engram, the Latin equivalent of the Greek tupos (type). Augustine remained the reference for the concept through the 1930s. However, in 1948 Jung finally concluded:

 "S.Augustinus does not use 'archetypus' as I once erroneously surmised..." 

In "Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious" (1934), Jung refined his thinking about universal images, distinguishing between archetypes on one hand and Lvy-Bruhl's "collective representations" on the other.

Summary 

Die Archetypen und das kollektive Unbewusste (1959), (The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious) is structured in VI parts with subchapters. 

Part I

Chapter 1 Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious

The focus of this chapter is on a definition of the concept, a description of what it means for psychology, an explanation of the method of proof and an example. 

The collective unconscious is a part of the psyche that can be negatively distinguished from a personal unconscious by the fact that it does not owe its existence to personal experience and so is not a personal acquisition. The concept of the archetype, which is a correlate of the idea of the collective unconscious, indicates the existence of definite forms in the psyche that seem to be present always and everywhere. Medical psychology, growing out of professional practice, insists on the personal nature of the psyche. The archetypes are supposed to produce certain psychic forms.

Chapter 2 The Concept of the Collective Unconscious

The concept of the anima is a purely empirical concept, whose only purpose is to give a name to a group of related or analogous psychic phenomena. The wide distribution shows that it is a fundamental psychic factor of great practical importance, no matter whether the individual psychotherapist or psychologist understands where and in what way it influences their special field of work. The anima image, which lends the mother such superhuman glamour in the eyes of the son, gradually becomes tarnished by commonplace reality and sinks back into the unconscious, but without in any way losing its original tension and instinctivity. The archetypes occur on the ethnological level as myths, so they are found in every individual, and they anthropomorphise reality most where consciousness is weakest and most restricted and where fantasy can overrun the facts of the outer world.

Chapter 3 Concerning the Archetypes, with Special Reference to the Anima Concept

Although modernity appears to believe that the non-empirical approach to psychology is a thing of the past, the general attitude remains very much the same as it was before, when psychology was identified with some theory about the psyche. In academic circles a drastic revolution in methodology initiated by Fechner and Wundt, was needed in order to make clear to the scientific world that psychology was a field of experience and not a philosophical theory. 

To the increasing materialism of the late nineteenth century, however, it meant nothing that there had once been an “experimental psychology,” to which we owe many descriptions that are still valuable today. All “romantic” descriptions in psychology were anathema to the new developments in scientific method. The exaggerated expectations of this experimental laboratory science were reflected in Fechner’s “psychophysics,” and its results today take the form of “psychological tests” and a general shifting of the scientific standpoint in favour of phenomenology.

Part II

Chapter 4 Psychological Aspects of the Mother Archetype

The mother archetype appears under a variety of aspects. The archetype is often associated with things and places standing for fertility and fruitfulness: the cornucopia, a ploughed field, a garden. It can be mentally related to a rock, a cave, a tree, a spring, a deep well, or to various vessels such as the baptismal font, or to vessel-shaped flowers like the rose or the lotus. The qualities associated with it are: maternal solicitude and sympathy; the magic authority of the female; the wisdom and spiritual exaltation that transcend reason; any helpful instinct or impulse; all that is benign, all that cherishes and sustains, that fosters growth and fertility. An archetype is in no sense just an annoying prejudice; it becomes so only when it is in the wrong place. Archetypal images are the highest values of the human psyche.

Chapter One: On the Concept of the Archetype

The mother archetype forms the foundation of the so-called mother-complex. The mother is the first feminine being with whom the person-to-be comes in contact and she cannot help playing, overtly or covertly, consciously or unconsciously, upon the son's masculinity, just as the son in his turn grows increasingly aware of his mother's femininity, or unconsciously responds to it by instinct. The effects of the mother-complex differ according to whether it appears in a son or a daughter. The effects of a mother-complex on the son may be seen in the ideology of the Cybele and Attis type: self-castration, madness, and early death. Only in the daughter is the mother-complex clear and uncomplicated. Since a "mother-complex" is a concept borrowed from psychopathology, it is always associated with the idea of injury and illness. The daughter and the mother-complex leads either to a hypertrophy of the feminine side or to its atrophy.

Chapter Two: The Mother Archetype

The positive aspect of the first type of complex, namely the overdevelopment of the maternal instinct, is identical with that well-known image of the mother which has been glorified in all ages and all tongues. A mother is an anachronism, a throwback to a primitive state of matriarchy where the man leads an insipid existence as a mere procreator and serf of the soil. Owing to her qualities, the masculine mind finds this type easier to understand than women with other forms of mother-complex and for this reason men often favour her with the projection of positive mother-complexes. The excessively feminine woman terrifies men who have a mother-complex characterised by great sensitivity. The archetype is really far less a scientific problem than an urgent question of psychic hygiene. Only in women is it possible to examine the effects of the mother archetype without admixture of animosity and even this has prospects of success only when no compensating animus has developed.

Chapter Three: The Mother-Complex

The carrier of the archetype is in the first place the personal mother, because the child lives at first in complete participation with her, in a state of unconscious identity. Further the archetype recedes from consciousness and the clearer the latter becomes, the more distinctly does the archetype assume mythological features. In Western antiquity and especially in Eastern cultures the opposites remain united in the same figure, though this paradox does not disturb the primitive mind in the least. This chapter explores a survey of the psychic phenomena that may be attributed to the predominance of the mother-image. For a man the mother is ipso facto symbolical; for a woman she becomes a symbol only in the course of her psychological development. The declaration of the dogma comes at a time when the achievements of science and technology, combined with a rationalistic and materialistic view, threaten the spiritual and psychic heritage of man with instant annihilation.

Chapter Four: Positive Aspects of the Mother-Complex

The positive aspect of the first type of complex, namely the development of the maternal instinct, is identical with that well-known image of the mother. This is mother-love, the mysterious root of all growth and change; the love that means homecoming, shelter, and the long silence from which everything begins and in which everything ends. Intimately known and yet strange like Nature, lovingly tender and yet cruel like fate, joyous and untiring giver of life. The mother carries for us that inborn image of the mater natura and mater spiritualis, of the totality of life of which we are a small part. It is just this massive weight of meaning that ties us to the mother and chains her to her child, to the physical and mental detriment of both. A mother-complex is not got rid of by blindly reducing the mother to human proportions. That is why mankind has always instinctively added the pre-existent divine pair to the personal parents—the “god”-father and “god”-mother of the newborn child—so that, from sheer unconsciousness or rationalism, they should never forget themselves so far as to invest their parents with divinity.

Chapter Five: Conclusion

The concept of rebirth has various aspects, it may be useful to review different meanings and it implies the continuity of personality. Rebirth may be a renewal without any change of being, inasmuch as the personality which is renewed is not changed in its essential nature, but only its functions, or parts of the personality, are subjected to healing, strengthening, or improvement. According to the Metempsychosis view, one's life is prolonged in time by passing through different bodily existences; from another point of view, it is a life-sequence interrupted by different reincarnations. Reincarnation is the concept of rebirth which necessarily implies the continuity of personality. Resurrection means a re-establishment of human existence after death. The transformation is brought not directly, by passing through death and rebirth oneself, but by participating in a process of transformation which is conceived of as taking place outside the individual. In other words, one has to witness, or take part in, some rite of transformation.

Part III

Chapter 5 Concerning Rebirth

The Quoran says: "You might have seen the rising sun decline to the right of their cavern, and as it set, go past them on the left, while they stayed in the middle". The "middle" is the centre where the jewel reposes, where the incubation or the sacrificial rite or the transformation takes place. The transformation is often interpreted as a prolongation of the natural span of life or as an entry into immortality. The intuition of immortality which makes itself felt during the transformation is connected with the peculiar nature of the unconscious. The psychological connection may therefore be presumed to be as follows: Moses has had a profoundly moving experience of the self, which brought unconscious processes before his eyes with overwhelming clarity. In spite of its apparently disconnected and allusive character, it gives an almost perfect picture of a psychic transformation or rebirth which today, applying Jungian psychological insight, we would recognise as an individuation process.

Chapter 6: Forms of Rebirth

The concept of rebirth is not always used in the same sense. Jung distinguished between five different forms of rebirth: metempsychosis (transmigration of souls), reincarnation (in a human body), resurrection, psychological rebirth (individuation) and indirect change that comes about through participation in the process of transformation. In the first part of the exposition, there is a brief summary of the different forms of rebirth, while the second part presents its various psychological aspects. The third part offers an example of a rebirth mystery from the Koran.

Chapter 7: The Psychology of Rebirth

(This refers to the mythology of the "child." Jung asked Karóly Kerényi, one of the founders of modern studies of classical Greek mythology, for a psychological commentary on the subject of his research. Kerényi wrote about two of the most ubiquitous myths, the Divine Child and The Maiden, supporting the central "stories" with an introduction and a conclusion. Jung then provided a psychological analysis of both myths. It was published in 1941 as Einführung in das Wesen der Mythologie (Essays on a Science of Mythology).

Sometimes the "child" looks more like a child god, sometimes more like a young hero. The god is by nature wholly supernatural; the hero's nature is human but raised to the limit of the supernatural he is "semi-divine". The conscious mind is caught in its conflict-situation, and the combatant forces seem so overwhelming that the "child" as an isolated content bears no relation to the conscious factors. The contemporary customary treatment of mythological motifs in separate departments of science, such as philology, ethnology, the history of civilisation, and comparative religion, was not exactly a help to humans in recognising universality. Also, the psychological problems raised by universality could easily be solved by hypotheses of migration. Hindu introspection recognised psychological fact and consequently equated the subject of cognition with the subject of being in general.

Chapter 8: A Typical Set of Symbols Illustrating the Process of Transformation

Kore personifies an archetypal state of youthful being in which a person becomes one-in-herself. The figure of Demeter and the Kore in its threefold aspect as maiden, mother and Hecate is not unknown to the psychology of the unconscious, it is even something of a practical problem. The "Kore" has her psychological counterpart in those archetypes which authors have called the 'self' or 'supraordinate personality' on the one hand, and the anima on the other. In the formation of the Demeter-Kore myth the feminine influence so far outweighed the masculine that the latter had practically no significance. The Demeter-Kore myth is far too feminine to have been merely the result of an anima-projection. Although the anima can experience herself in Demeter-Kore, she is yet of a wholly different nature. The psychology of the Demeter cult bears all the features of a matriarchal order of society, where the man is an indispensable but on the whole disturbing factor.

Part IV

Chapter 6 The Psychology of the Child Archetype

Jung writes about the figure of the trickster in American Indian mythology. The trickster is a collective shadow figure, a summation of all the inferior traits of character in individuals. Since the individual shadow is never absent as a component of personality, the collective figure can construct itself out of it continually. A curious combination of typical trickster motifs can be found in the alchemical figure of Mercury, for instance, his fondness for sly jokes and malicious pranks, his powers as a shape-shifter, and last but not least, his approximation to the figure of a saviour. The medieval customs demonstrate the role of the trickster to perfection, and, when they vanished from the precincts of the Church, they appeared again on the profane level of Italian theatricals, as those comic types who, often adorned with enormous ithyphallic emblems, entertained the far from prudish public.

Chapter 7 The Psychological Aspects of the Kore

The relation between the conscious and the unconscious on the one hand, and the individuation process on the other, are problems that arise regularly during the later stages of analytical treatment. Consciousness can be equated with the relation between the ego and the psychic contents. The philosophers Cams and Von Hartmann treat the unconscious as a metaphysical principle, a sort of universal mind, without any trace of personality or ego-consciousness, similarly Schopenhauer's "Will" without an ego. The more violent an affect the closer it comes to the pathological, to a condition in which the ego-consciousness is thrust aside by autonomous contents that were unconscious before. The autonomy of the unconscious begins where emotions are generated. Emotions are instinctive, involuntary reactions that upset the rational order of consciousness by their elemental outbursts. Consciousness becomes all-embracing, but nebulous; an infinite number of things merge into an indefinite whole in which subject and object are almost completely identical.

Part V

Chapter 8 The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairytales

This chapter describes a special category of symbols, the mandala, with the help of a wide selection of pictures. It dealt with this theme on several occasions before, and in Psychology and Alchemy, with running commentary, of the mandala symbols that came up in the course of an individual analysis. The piece of psychology was expressed by the alchemists in the Mercury duplex, who on the one hand is Hermes the mystagogue and psychopomp, and on the other hand is the poisonous dragon, the evil spirit and "trickster". The Sanskrit word mandala means 'circle'. It is the Indian term for the circles drawn in religious rituals. The goal of contemplating the processes depicted in the mandala is for the yogi, becoming inwardly aware of the deity. The mandala combines the classic motifs of flower, star, circle, precinct and plan of city divided into quarters with a citadel.

Chapter 9 On the Psychology of the Trickster

This deals with the figure of the trickster in American Indian mythology. When Jung first came across Adolf Bandelier’s classic on this subject, The Delight Makers he was struck by the European analogy of the carnival in the medieval Church, with its reversal of the hierarchic order. This is still continued in the carnivals held by student societies today. Something of this contradictoriness also inheres in the medieval description of the devil as simia dei (the ape of God), and in his characterisation in folklore as the “simpleton” who is “fooled” or “cheated.” A curious combination of typical trickster motifs can be found in the alchemical figure of Mercury; for instance, his fondness for sly jokes and malicious pranks, his powers as a shape-shifter, his dual nature, half animal, half divine, his exposure to all kinds of tortures, and his approximation to the figure of a saviour. These qualities make Mercury seem like a daemonic being resurrected from primitive times, older even than the Greek Hermes. His rogueries relate him in some measure to various figures met with in folklore and universally known in fairytales: Tom Thumb, Stupid Hans, or the buffoon-like Hanswurst, who is an altogether negative hero and yet manages to achieve through his stupidity what others fail to accomplish with their best efforts. In Grimm’s fairytale, the “Spirit Mercury” lets himself be outwitted by a peasant lad, and then has to buy his freedom with the precious gift of healing.

Part VI

Chapter 10 Conscious, Unconscious, and Individuation

The relation between the conscious and the unconscious on the one hand, and the individuation process on the other, are problems that arise almost regularly during the later stages of analytical treatment. “analytical” refers to a procedure that takes account of the existence of the unconscious. These problems do not arise in a procedure based on suggestion.

Chapter 11 A Study in the Process of Individuation

Tao’s working of things is vague and obscure. In it are vague images. In it are obscure things. Its seed is very truth. In it is trustworthiness. From the earliest Beginning until today Its name is not lacking by which to fathom the Beginning of all things. How do I know it is the Beginning of all things? Through it!

Chapter 12 Concerning Mandala Symbolism

This is a description of a special category of symbols, the mandala, with the help of a wide selection of pictures. In Psychology and Alchemy there is a detailed account, with running commentary, of the mandala symbols that came up in the course of an individual analysis. In the repeat attempt in the preceding paper of the present volume the mandalas did not derive from dreams but from active imagination. In this paper Jung presents mandalas of the most varied provenance, on the one hand to give the reader an impression of the astonishing wealth of forms produced by individual fantasy, and on the other hand to enable him to form some idea of the regular occurrence of the basic elements.

Themes

Analytical Psychology

The key concepts of Jung's analytical psychology revolve around the collective unconscious, archetypes, individuation, and the profound interplay between spiritual experiences and the human psyche, encapsulating the essence of Jung’s empirical and mystical approach to understanding personality and beliefs.

Central to analytical psychology is the notion of the collective unconscious, which represents the inherited reservoir of experiences, images, and symbols that are shared by all humanity.

These universal elements are expressed through archetypes, fundamental symbols that manifest in various forms across different cultures and contexts, shaping individuals’ perceptions and behaviours.

The process of individuation involves the integration of the conscious and unconscious aspects of the psyche, leading to the development of a unique and authentic self.

This journey towards self-realisation is deeply intertwined with spiritual experiences, as individuals seek to explore the depths of their inner world and connect with the transcendent dimensions of existence.

The Collective Unconscious

In order to comprehend archetypes, it is necessary to understand the collective unconscious. While Sigmund Freud emphasised the personal unconscious, which is shaped by repressed memories, desires and traumas, Carl Jung dug a little deeper by proposing that underneath the personal unconscious lies a realm which acts like a reservoir of human experiences that is universally inherited.

This layer of the unconscious contains inborn tendencies or symbolic patterns he called “The Archetypes” that shape our perceptions and behaviours. Much like instincts, these are innate predispositions, humans are born with, symbolic patterns that manifest in dreams, myths, stories, and even social roles.

Jung differentiated between archetypes themselves, which are abstract and formless, and the archetypal images in which they are expressed. For instance, the archetype of mother is not any particular mother or goddess, but the universal idea or psychic energy of nurturing, fertility, and protection. It may appear in Christian iconography as the Virgin Mary or in Greek mythology as the concept of Gaea.

The Archetype of God as a Father is common among cultures like Odin as All-father in Norse mythology, the god being referred to as Param-pita(Supreme father) in Hinduism or Christians calling upon “The father in heaven.” These images and symbols are cultural expressions of a deeper, universal psychic structure.

Jungian Archetypes

Jung did not limit the number of archetypes since he believed they were infinite in expression. He identified several key ones that are most prevalent in human life and storytelling:

1. The Hero is the archetype of the brave warrior who leaps into the unknown, passes through tests, and returns changed. From Hercules to Harry Potter, the Hero symbolises our desire for self-actualisation, courage, and change. He battles the Shadow and confronts disorder.

2. The Wise Old Man/Woman represents wisdom, guidance, and perception. In dreams, in narratives, or even as intuition within ourselves, the Wise Old Man or Woman is a guide figure who assists the Hero (or the dreamer) on their inner quest. Examples include Merlin, Saptarishi, Gandalf, Dumbledore, and ancient wise men and women in cultures worldwide.

3. The Trickster is the morality-defying character that breaks rules and crosses boundaries. This archetype often misleads others, like the serpent in the story of Adam. He may appear as Loki in Norse mythology, the Native American Coyote, or even Bugs Bunny in pop culture. The trickster challenges authority and can catalyse transformation.

4. The Father represents authority, law, order, and structure, and the Father archetype is a source of guidance and discipline. When positive, it leads and guards, but as negative, it will be tyrannical, rigid, or oppressive.

5. The Great Mother is more ancient and universal than the Mother archetype. This feminine figure embodies fertility, life force, and the earth, as well as death and the unknown. She is both womb and tomb—both goddess and devourer. She manifests in myths such as Kali, Gaia, Demeter, or Isis.

6. The Anima and Animus represent the feminine aspect or Anima in the male psyche and the masculine aspect or Anima in the female psyche. They symbolise the inner duality that each person carries and must integrate to be psychologically whole. This duality can be seen among cultures as Yin and Yang, Purush and Prakriti. The Anima and Animus also manifest separately as muse, maiden, or temptress for Anima and a wise old man, warrior, or father for Animus. These two are overarching Archetypes that include many different concepts.

7. The Self is at the heart of Jung’s psychology. It is the totality of the psyche—the integration of conscious and unconscious, of opposites within us. It is the final goal of Jungian individuation: wholeness. The Self is frequently symbolised by a mandala, a circle, or a divine figure that symbolises unity and harmony.

Archetypes are not limited to psychology; they infuse myths, art, religion, literature, and dreams. Jung believed that recurrent patterns and symbols in diverse cultures indicated these universal archetypes. For example, the flood myth, the hero myth, the dying-and-rising god, and the journey into the underworld are all common tropes across cultures, indicating profound psychic realities.

In dreams, archetypes manifest in the form of symbols, frequently carrying messages from the unconscious. For instance, A snake dream may represent the Shadow; a journey, the Hero’s quest; a caring woman, the Anima or the Mother. Jungian dream analysis is the process of interpreting these symbols not as literal occurrences but as psychic realities in need of integration.

For Jung, Individuation, the process of becoming whole, involves recognition of these archetypes within us and integrating these unconscious parts. One must move beyond persona and confront their shadow self to understand the overarching archetypes like Anima and Animus and finally strive to be “Self”. By studying archetypes, we begin to understand not only human culture but our own inner world.

The Shadow

Jung’s Shadow is a symbol that represents the hidden side of every human psyche. The Shadow is composed of hidden aspects of an individual’s personality that are deemed as “unacceptable,” and hidden in parts of their mind.

Shadow characteristics are mostly formed by shame. These characteristics are thoughts, desires, wishes, feelings, cravings and urges that one’s own ego does not accept. For example, in the case of sexual taboo, you may have heard that certain behaviours or desires are not acceptable by your family, so you hide them, thus the urge is cast into the shadow only to show itself when the environment is safe from judgement, or even repressed away completely.

“If we understand anything of the unconscious, we know that it cannot be swallowed. We also know that it is dangerous to suppress it, because the unconscious is life and this life turns against us if suppressed, as happens in neurosis."

Shadow traits can also be positive aspects of a personality. Maybe you have associated your natural assertiveness with shame, because you were disciplined away from it at a young age. Or maybe your creativity was neglected because you were taught that it was less valuable than “hard skills.” This is why Shadow Integration is such an important tool for making progress in the process of Individuation– a term coined by Carl Jung which represents the journey a mind must undergo to achieve wholeness.

Carl Jung thought that the Shadow can provide great insight and revelation. He also knew that it can do a lot of damage to one’s psyche if not integrated. Repression, or failure to embrace the Shadow is a recipe for psychological trouble. The Shadow cannot be destroyed, and even if it is repressed into the darkness, its tentacles will still surface.

Shadow work is the practice of facing your own unconscious through the practice of introspection. This can be done with the help of Psychoanalysis, or through more individual efforts such as meditation. Jung practised his own Psychoanalytic techniques with his patients. He also suggested that there are many ways for one to access their own shadow by themselves. Shadow work is a unique process for every individual.

There are four basic steps in Jungian Shadow Work

- Accept the truth that our shadow traits cannot be repressed out of existence.

- Introspect and accept the root of each shadow trait.

- Work to bring aspects of shadow traits into the light.

- Allow shadow traits to express themselves in healthy ways.

The Unconscious mind can be accessed in a variety of ways, from traditional meditation, to more experimental forms such as psychedelics. Any confrontation with the unconscious is beneficial, even the scarier experiences. Dreams are also another way of accessing the unconscious.

Jung and Myths

Jung saw myths as “original revelations of the pre-conscious psyche”. In addition to being a natural product of our psyche, Jung thought that myths were “manifestations of unconscious impulses," “miracle tales” that express “a universal disposition in man”.

Jungian analyst James Hollis uses the word “myth” three ways: as a psychodynamic image, to refer to a personal scenario (as in a dream), and as a tribal value system.

Jung and his followers recognise myths are valuable for their explanatory, restorative, transformational, compensatory, therapeutic, spiritual and personal potentials. Jung saw the vital importance of myths in their ability to explain to the bewildered human being what was going on in his unconscious and why he was held fast by it.