Dreaming Consciousness in Phenomenology and Depth Psychology
Journal Title: Journal of Experiential Psychotherapy - Year 2019, Vol 22, Issue 3
Abstract
Introduction: Freud and Jung delve deep into the study of dreams and other phenomena occurring in altered states of consciousness. Edmund Husserl, the founding father of phenomenology, on the contrary, neglects mental activity in altered states of consciousness, and primarily describes mental functioning from the perspective of normal, waking consciousness. Objectives: The purpose of this comparative study is to show that a productive dialogue might be possible between phenomenology and Freudian and Jungian psychology, in their research in mental activities occurring in altered states of consciousness. Methods: First, the concepts of the unconscious of phenomenology and of depth psychology are compared. Then, the obstacles to the phenomenological analysis of dreams are enumerated. Afterwards, the Freudian and Jungian dream theories are contrasted. Finally, the Jungian active imagination is addressed from the vantage point of the phenomenological concept of phantasy. Results: Although mental processes form a continuum, until the last two decades, they were treated separately in phenomenology and depth psychology. Phenomenology specialized itself in normal awake state of consciousness, in which the various functional organizations of the human mind act in concert subordinated to and controlled by a virtual center. Freud, Jung and their disciples, on the other hand, focused on states in which consciousness is cut off from the outer world (hypnosis, dreaming, psychotic hallucinations), or the subject suspends – to a certain degree – its interest in the environment (day-dreaming and active imagination). Conclusions: The dialogue between phenomenology and the Freudian and Jungian depth psychology that has started over the past decades might significantly widen the horizon of the Husserl’s science reaching at dreams, active imagination, psychedelic experiences and other products of the infinite realms of altered states of consciousness.
Authors and Affiliations
Csaba Szummer, Attila Almási, Iszáj Fruzsina
Keywords
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