Jung's amplification process is similar to Freud's technique in that the dreamer freely associates from the original dream image to other images, thoughts, feelings, and memories as they arise without any guidance or censorship. One striking difference, however, is that while Freud followed these associations in a direction away from the dream, Jung continually brings the dreamer back to the dream image as the source of more and more associations, adding to its richness, depth, and meaning. Jung's method not only leads to reflections of the dreamer's inner world, but also taps into the universal world of myth and cultural heritageoften revealing the archetypes for which Jung is particularly known. Using Jung's technique, the dreamer starts with the original image, associates it with another image, then returns to the original image again in search of a second association, then a third, fourth, and so on, as if creating the spokes on a wheel rather than the chain of associations Freud's technique creates. Here is a typical Jungian association:
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Figure 5.2:
Jungian Association Wheel
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You can use either technique with individual passages or elements of the dream, or with the dream as a whole. What comes to mind when you think about the dream? What comes to mind when you think about the dream's images? Characters? Actions? Objects? Feelings? Don't try to make sense of it, just see what comes to mind.
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