This study is textual in its resource rather than empirical, and is applied to the experiential nature of the dream-ego. It is conceptual in its application, and its domain of inquiry is focussed on redescribing and reinterpreting the Jungian literature in order to further inform the understanding of the role of the dream-ego in analytical psychological practice. The major underlying assumption which forms the primary foundation for this study is that ‘mind is the subjective experience of brain’ and this statement serves the purpose of positioning the study as being anchored in biological science but not biological in scope. The statement also implies there is no conflict in the conclusions of neurobiological studies and phenomenological studies and positions these realms as correlates of each other. The subjective experience of brain is the realm in which our lives are lived and in which all our perceptions, ideas and feelings are experienced and so the phenomenological approach of the study is a consequence of that fact. The focus is on the dream-ego itself, using a selection of Jung’s own recorded dreams as vehicles to support, describe and reinterpret concepts from the literature in order to elucidate the dream-ego’s function in psychological health. If the dreaming state were exclusively an innocuous epiphenomenon of neurological processes with no experiential function, then it would be expected that the images generated would be quarantined from consciousness entirely, for reasons of psychic stability and hence then cease to be images, but the commonality and regularity of the dream-ego experience indicates an evolved psychic phenomenon with a definite relationship to the waking-ego. The remarkable images and associations experienced in dreams are expressions of the psyche’s uncompromising experiential authenticity and although these dream experiences may be profoundly complex, the dream-ego is seen to have an underlying naivety whose nature is captured by the title of Charles Rycroft’s (1981) book “The Innocence of Dreams”. When the dream-ego is contrasted to the waking-ego it becomes clear that the major difference is in this ‘innocence’ which is a consequence of the attenuation of rationality and volition for the dream-ego. This weaker rationality and volition prevents the dream-ego from talking or walking its way out of confrontation with unconscious content which manifests before it. The dream-ego experience is based on feelings and emotions which were the original reasons and criteria driving the censorship of the ‘feeling toned complexes’, as Jung describes them. The experience of unconscious material by the vulnerable dream-ego and the subsequent transfer to the waking-ego provides the option for the waking-ego to ‘reconsider’ or to make decisions based on the authentic feelings of the psyche. The fact that mammals exhibit REM sleep, and the strong case for mammals dreaming during that period, complicates the understanding of human dream function. In non dreaming sleep the ego is annihilated but is underwritten by the neural networks which constitute the ego when ‘active����. Since neural networks are known to atrophy with disuse, the sequestered ego is at risk of loss of fidelity on manifestation, and therefore may mismatch the environmental context. The study presents the dreaming state as the periodic partial activation of the ����neural ego���� to prevent atrophy and to maintain ego retrieval fidelity. This concept has applicability also to the animal case, since they must maintain their behavioural fluency and environmental congruence. Once the evolved dreaming state is established in mammals it may be subject to further evolutionary possibilities and subtleties in the human case. A consequence of this study is the presentation of the dream-ego as the partial arousal of the waking-ego, rather than the normal wording of the dream-ego as the half asleep waking-ego, since the dream-ego is seen as the psyche rehearsing its ego. The defining phenomenology of the dream-ego is found in its vulnerability to the feelings and emotions of the psyche, but paradoxically this vulnerability is its strength in its role as the feeling nexus between the unconscious and conscious mind. The waking-ego which may misconstrue its role in the psyche’s scheme of things and become aloof in its mentations believing all problems are intellectual, has the innocence of the dream-ego experience as its lifeline to the psyche’s authenticity. It is the intent of this study to contribute to the understanding of the role of the dream-ego experience in therapeutic practice, and placing the dream-ego as the protagonist of the study, to be attentive to the power of its innocence. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung describes the encounter with the archetype of the shadow as the initial step to be taken by any individual seeking to initiate the individuation process. Jung observes a close relationship between this process and religion, suggesting that a psychologically beneficial religion can help guide the subject through individuation. Yet Jung finds few existing religious traditions that satisfy his criteria. Wicca, a neopagan religion popular in Europe and North America, presents itself at times as consciously psychological, striving to lead the practitioner to a goal of self-transformation, yielding a product that strangely resembles the individuated person. The objective therefore becomes not to criticize Wiccan religious claims, nor to deconstruct Jungian philosophy, but to identify the points of intersection between Wiccan theology/theology and Jungian psychology of religion, with a particular emphasis on the archetype of the shadow.

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This study is a critical analysis of Carl Gustav Jung's interpretation of the book of Job. It presents first the methodological approach adopted in Jung's reading of the book of Job and the epistemology at the basis of his enterprise. It then explores the biographical context of Jung's writings on the book of Job followed by the reconstruction of Jung's interpretation of it with reference not only to Antwort auf Hiob ( Answer to Job) published in 1952, but also to other writings. A series of critiques addressed to Jung's reading of the book of Job are analyzed and followed by a careful study of key concepts of Jung's psychology necessary to properly situate his understanding of the book of Job. The latter is the bulk of this study and emphasizes the relevance of the notion of the self and of the individuation process. All this provides the background for an exploration of the positive aspect of the unconscious. Doing so is necessary to put in a new light the experience of Job, and thus the suffering of the righteous or the innocent. The conclusion widens the issue concerning the reality of evil and suffering in its relation to the divine according to Jung, and it suggests some possible research topics for further examination.

This study investigates whether or nor not the imagery of Catherine of Siena can be interpreted from a Jungian perspective. It takes a lead from other studies, notably one on Teresa of Avila and Jung. Reading of medieval literature suggests that medievals applied the use of symbols and imagery in ways that are at times baffling to people of our time. Carl Jung was no stranger to imagery and symbol. In our current age with its renewed emphasis on the insights of spirituality, and to some extent its disenchantment with aspects of traditional psychology, there is room for a dialogue between the two disciplines of mysticism and psychology across a six-hundred year divide. The use of imagery, as a window to the soul, in the Christian tradition is examined. Catherine of Siena is situated within her own medieval context, one of upheaval in the church, but also an age of mysticism and spiritual/religious phenomena strange to our own time. Catherine is introduced against the background of her world and against the backdrop of the Dominican tradition. A discussion of some of her major imagery demonstrates her aim of union with God. An understanding of conscious aspects and of unconscious aspects of the self is shown as key to Jung ' s view of the psyche. Elucidation of some archetypes and a discussion of Jung's dream analysis demonstrates how Jung believed the unconscious becomes conscious, and how individuation becomes a possibility. Key Catherinian images are examined from a Jungian perspective. Catherine has relevance for the twenty first century, and we are invited to be challenged by the mysteries and truths to which her images point us.