Man and His Symbols

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1964

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Conclusion

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Part 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 5: “Symbols in an Individual Analysis” by Jolande Jacobi

Part 5, Section 1 Summary and Analysis: “Fear of the Unconscious—The Saint and the Prostitute”

Jacobi explains that Henry was in a state of conflict, and the themes which occurred in his initial dream appeared in other forms. Jacobi recounts the fourth dream Henry shared, in which he participates in a long-distance race during military service. Henry explained that this was a recurring dream, and the trail was extremely familiar to him. It traced along a riverbank and a female figure followed along the other side of it. Henry asks for directions to find the road, but rather than finding the road as usual, he instead ends up in a forest. He sees a doe who runs off, and then turns and sees “three strange creatures, half pig, half dog, with the legs of a kangaroo” (240). He speculates they are people in costume and recalls his experience of dressing as a donkey as a child. Jacobi notes the similarities between this and the initial dream, including the mysterious female, the long distance to traverse, and the urge to undertake the journey alone until he becomes lost and requires help. She details the potential symbolic meaning of each image in Henry’s dream.

The next dream Jacobi describes is one in which Henry dreamt he was in a sailboat and tasked with holding a rope to keep a mast fastened. There is a wall of stone slabs, and something tells him he is not allowed to look into the water. Jacobi speculates that this represents a “psychological borderline situation” (241). The water seems to denote Henry’s hidden inner depths and strengths, and his refusal to grow into them. Jacobi describes several more dreams of Henry’s which all relate back to the initial dream. They continually suggest that Henry is fearful and doubtful of a commitment to marriage and the next phase of his life.

A particularly significant dream of Henry’s was a manifestation of his fear of the primitive side of his nature and thus his capacity for sensuality. Henry dreamed he was again on a mountain road with an abyss to his left and the mountain to his right. He passes caves, and inside one he finds a prostitute. She has a strange appearance and Henry walks up behind her and touches her buttocks. It strikes him that she might be a man; he is, a saint wearing a red coat. The saint sweeps from cave to cave banishing those who rest there, including Henry. Upon reflecting on the dream, Henry drew an association with the “Venus of Willendorf” (a 25,000-year-old figurine found in Austria). He remembered the coat from one he saw on a friend of his fiancée’s and assumed the touching of a woman’s buttocks to be a type of fertility rite. Jacobi interprets the abyss on Henry’s left as his unconscious and the mountain to his right as his conscious mind. Henry is again wandering alone, a common theme in his dreams. The caves represent holes in Henry’s consciousness, where fantasy is allowed to penetrate and take up residence. Henry dreams of a prostitute who changes genders, suggesting Henry’s sexual confusion. This confusion leads the figure to transform into a saint, implying that Henry wishes to ascend beyond fleshly desires.

Part 5, Section 2 Summary and Analysis: “How the Analysis Developed—The Oracle Dream”

Jacobi explains that approximately two months into his therapy with Henry, Henry began having dreams which seemed to suggest that he was maturing and resolving some of his inner conflicts. He dreams he sees a large lake being cleared of waste. Train cars are pulled out of it. The lake transforms into a meadow. Jacobi interprets Henry’s dream as suggestive of his unconscious connecting to his conscious mind. The train cars represent “psychic qualities” (242) which, once repressed, are being brought to the surface. The meadow symbolizes the potential for positivity in Henry’s life moving forward. Jacobi describes another dream of Henry’s in which his anima appears in the form of a humpbacked girl at school. Henry is a schoolboy and dreams that the girl sings for him. He kisses her and feels guilt resulting from loyalty to his fiancée. They sit at a square table, which Jacobi suggests is representative of Henry’s need for wholeness. Kissing her acts as a metaphor for his acceptance of his feminine side.

In the next section, Jacobi notes a phenomenon whereby overly rational and intellectual people have a tendency towards superstition and that the dreams of people such as these are often riddled with irrationality to connect the primitive and instinctive to the person’s conscious mind. Jacobi explains that Henry experienced a series of four pivotal dreams which aided him along his spiritual development. In the first of these dreams, Henry attempts to cross a passage through an ancient town but is stopped by four Chinese gatekeepers. The men tell Henry he must let the oracle decide if he passes or not. Henry fails the first judgment but is given a second chance and passes. He is let through. In their sessions, Jacobi tells Henry to consult the I Ching, an ancient book of wisdom which inspired both Taoism and Confucianism. Jacobi explains:

[The book is] based on the hypothesis of the oneness of man and the surrounding cosmos, and of the complementary pairs of opposites Yang and Yin […] It consists of 64 “signs” each represented by a drawing made up of six lines. In these signs are contained all the possible combinations of Yang and Yin. The straight lines are looked upon as male, the broken lines as female (250).

Each unique sign denotes a particular change or series of changes either in a person or in the cosmos, as well as the instructions for how to act in a given situation. The I Ching is still used today. Jacobi speculates as to what use fortune telling might have in modern times and believes that it still holds relevance due to their basis in Jung’s principle of synchronicity.

Henry decides to try tossing the coins and finding his sign. It turns out to be “Youthful Folly” (251) which contains symbols such as a mountain which indicates stillness, as well as water and an abyss. It takes Henry some time to digest the synchronous results of his reading, and he takes some time away from therapy. When he returns, he explains that his intellect was shaken by his experience and that he was deeply conflicted about tossing the coins again. His dreams seemed to be telling him to go ahead, but the text specifically forbade it. He dreams of “a helmet with a sword floating in empty space” (251). Instead of tossing the coins, he decides to open the book to a random page which happens to contain a passage regarding helmets and swords. Through his experience and his dreams, Henry learns to pay attention to the primitive “shadow” of his unconscious and accept the help that it offers him.

Part 5, Section 3 Summary and Analysis: “Facing the Irrational—The Final Dream”

Jacobi explains that this was a turning point for Henry, and he became much more open to the messages of his unconscious afterward. He continues to have dreams regarding the irrational, including one in which he dreams a mass of black beetles springs out of a hole. He manages to fend them off, except a few which crawl out into his room. Originally disgusted by the beetles, he becomes indifferent and lights the hole on fire. Henry analyzes his own dream, surmising that the beetles symbolized his unconscious being drawn to the surface of his mind and possibly overflowing into his professional life. Jacobi adds that the fire represents his transformation and rebirth. Henry has another dream in which it is suggested that if he does not play his cards right, he will end up an old man full of regret. For Henry, this relates to his reluctance to commit to his fiancée and to his own life. He can no longer deny the communications of his unconscious and is ready to move onto the final step of his analysis with Jacobi.

Jacobi ends his section by describing Henry’s final dream during the analysis process—a dream which confirmed everything they had speculated about Henry’s problem and development.

His dream takes place in four parts. The first takes place in the evening. He and three others are drinking liqueur out of vessels. The next portion occurs later at night; Henry witnesses a drunk man urinating upon the snow and then on an old woman carrying a baby. The third part of the dream takes place in the morning: Henry sees a naked African man who appears to be a form of perfection. The final part of the dream takes place at noon. Henry travels with his group to meet the African man, offering him a gift of matches. Everyone presents a gift, and they all feast together.

Jacobi explains that the dream follows the daily cycle of the sun and ends at its zenith, which he interprets as “an ascent to the bright zenith of consciousness” (260). The four members of the group represent the four corners of the mandala. Each person consumes a different type of liqueur in the first part of the dream, which signifies the different aspects of consciousness which Henry must unite. The reckless old man represents Henry’s animalistic side which he deeply represses, as well as a sign of power and abundance. The direction Henry and his friends travel in the dream also holds significance, as they tread toward the rising sun and thus “clarity of consciousness” (261).

Jacobi interprets the African man to be a symbol of Henry’s hidden, unconscious qualities, as well as his strength and prowess. Henry presents the man with a gift which allows Henry to communicate with warmth and indicates his new capabilities as a fully realized man. In his waking life, Jacobi recalls, Henry was then able to come to a firm decision and married his fiancée, moved to Canada and was at the time of writing living a happy and fulfilling life. Jacobi explains that Henry’s story reflects the stages of the first half of the individuation process. She ends the section and thus the whole work with a reminder that every individual case is unique, and that each case does not necessarily unfold quite so neatly. She states her reasoning for choosing Henry’s story, explaining that it exemplified clearly and powerfully the ability of the psyche to “support the developmental process of the soul” (264).