現代心理學如榮格,也發現了夢境的迷人之處,在他的自傳: 回憶、夢、省思中,他大量地記錄自己的夢境,還有夢境給他在現實生活中的訊息,書中有一句話說:夜晚透過夢境告訴人們白天遺忘的神話 ( “Nights through dreams tell the myths forgotten by the day.)”我在讀那本書的時候,常感覺到很不可思議,榮格居然能夠記得住他兒童時期的夢!一個關於榮格和他個案的夢境故事,也說明了夢境不止是給予個人的,有時候,是家族共享的。一個男人因病來看榮格,榮格問這位個案,有沒有做什麼夢可以分享?男人說,他從來都不做夢,但是,他六歲的小兒子常常做非常鮮明的夢,榮格建議男人回家開始記錄兒子的夢境,男人接下來的幾週都帶著兒子的夢境內容來諮商,接著,有一天,他開始做起夢來,同時間,他兒子就不再做夢了,榮格解釋說,這個男人在不知情的狀況下,跟著整個大環境對夢的態度,認為那是不重要的,所以,從來沒有好好地花時間悉心照料生命中這麼重要的一個部份,因此,他的兒子就必須承擔起為父親做夢的責任,榮格說:「如果你希望給你的孩子最好的遺產,給他們一個乾淨的潛意識,而不是你那沒好好活過的生命,未活的生命一直都潛藏在你的無意識裡,一直到你願意面對它們為止。」(註)
Dr Jung tells the story of a man who came in for treatment of an ailment. When asked to share his dreams he replied that he never dreamed, but that his six year old son dreamed most vividly. Dr Jung asked him to record his son’s dreams. The man brought his son’s dreams for several weeks and then suddenly began dreaming himself. The son’s overblown dreams stopped immediately! Dr Jung explained that the man, unwittingly – for he had fallen into the usual modern collective attitude toward such things – had failed to take care of an important dimension of his own life and the son had been obliged to bear that burden for him. If you wish to give your children the best heritage, give them a clean unconscious, not your own unlived life, which is hidden in your unconscious until you are ready to face it. – Robert Johnson.