Resuming a dialogue: reply to Nicolas Gougoulis

In this appreciative response to Dr Gougoulis’s paper, the authors elaborates the contrast he draws between two methods of dream interpretation of two biblical interpreters of dreams, Joseph and Daniel, comparing them to Freud and Jung respectively. She suggests a parallel reading of two pivotal texts, The Transcendent Function, in which Jung formulates a theoretical view of how psychic change occurs dialectally, alongside the very personal Septem sermons ad mortuos, a vivid and immediate account of the dramatic psychic circumstances of his “encounter with the unconscious”, Jung’s own self analysis. Both texts were written in the crucial year 1916. Read together, the two texts offer a view of Jung’s transference, the immediacy of his psychic experiences (Septem sermones), and his countertransference reflections on his experience (The Transcendent Function). The author suggests that the process of Jung’s self-healing can be charted through the dynamic of writing the two healing texts.