
Digital Jung
Living a Symbolic Life in a Technological Age. Our digital age presents unique challenges for the practice of the inner life. What can the insights of Jungian Psychology offer for dealing with these challenges? In this series, we explore Carl Jung's idea of "the symbolic life" through the lenses of depth psychology, mythology, fairy tales, poetry, religion, and more. We focus on three core questions: 1. What is the symbolic life? 2. Why do we need a symbolic life? and 3. How can we cultivate and live a symbolic life? This is a companion podcast to the book 'Religious but Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life' by Jungian analyst Jason E. Smith.
Digital Jung
Taking Dreams Seriously
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Jason E. Smith
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Season 1
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Episode 20
In this episode:
We confront the dismissive attitudes that many people have about dreams and explore recent research that confirms the meaning and value of dreams.
Sources for quotes and more:
- “The dream is often occupied with apparently very silly details, thus producing an impression of absurdity..." ~ C.G. Jung in On the Psychology of the Unconscious from 'Collected Works, vol. 7.'
- Episode 19: Dreaming and Reality
- Francis Crick's "garbage dump theory of dreams" discussed in 'The Committee of Sleep' by Deirdre Barrett.
- Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
- Dreams That Warn of Breast Cancer
- Robert Bosnak's work on the post-surgical dreams of heart transplant patients discussed in 'The Committee of Sleep.'
- “Wakefulness may be described as a dreamlike state modulated by sensory experience.” ~ Llinas and Pare, quoted in 'The Neurobiology of the Gods' by Erik Goodwyn.
- “What proof could you give if anyone should ask us now, at the present moment, whether we are asleep and our thoughts are a dream, or whether we are awake and talking to each other in a waking condition?” ~ Socrates in Plato's 'Theaetetus.'
- “In waking life, too, we continue to dream beneath the threshold of consciousness.” ~ C.G. Jung in Problems of Modern Psychotherapy from 'Collected Works, vol. 16.'
- "Who Says Words With My Mouth?" ~ poem by Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks.
- “All dreams reveal spiritual experiences.” ~ C.G. Jung in 'C.G. Jung Speaking.'
Music:
"Dreaming Days," "Slow Vibing," and "The Return" by Ketsa are licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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For more on living a symbolic life:
Please check out my book, Religious but Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life.