English translators W. S. Dell and Cary F Baynes state that, in the years following the World War I, people began to search for new ways to think about life’s meaning and values, but they disagreed on those values or how to find them. Some believed that a return to religion would help the world recover from chaos, while others believed that religion should be discarded in favor of reason and logic.

Many people stand somewhere in the middle; they believe that faith and science can be reconciled through a study of the human mind. Jung addresses his ideas to these seekers.

Psychotherapists use dream-analysis in their practice. They believe the unconscious plays a critical role in dreams and neuroses. Others believe there is no such thing as the unconscious, and they disdain dreams as unimportant by-products of the mind. While this discussion won’t revisit the ample evidence in support of the unconscious, it will take for granted that it is real. Since dreams arise out of the unconscious process of sleep, they can provide important clues about neurotic behaviors that also arise out of the unconscious.

A prominent patient of Jung presented symptoms of altitude sickness.