A Natural Setting: The Dream

The emphasis on images in Jungian libido theory makes the dream a valuable analytical tool, although it is difficult to handle without yielding to the simplification which can be so tempting, given the complexity of Jungian thought. In counterpoint to what is commonly called the setting, and in response to the first illustration from the Philosophers’ Rosary, which is the frontispiece for The Psychology of Transference, the dream, understood as an expression of instinct in perpetual motion, can paradoxically be considered as a separate, natural setting, simultaneously dynamic and virtual. It can provide insights that will be of great assistance to the wanderings of the analyst-analysand couple.