stands for that complex." It is, I think, clear that this does not always hold good even with the purely individual symbol. The question is a difficult one, and I should desire to avoid all appearance of dogmatism. I am perfectly willing to agree that, both in the dream and in waking life, I may use symbols a part of the significance of which, in a properly psychological sense, escapes my attention at the time. But what the significance is, and whether there is a symbol or not, must, I think, be determined in each case by analysis ad hoc. The principle "once a symbol, always a symbol," seems to me as doubtful as the further principle, "what has once been indicated by this sign always remains a part of the signification of this sign."
When we come to the universal symbol beloved of the Freudian writers the case is clearer than ever.[1] In my childhood I learned, from my mother, and from other people, many popular stories. Some of them contained material of precisely the kind discussed by Ricklin. Never till I read his book was I in any sense whatever aware of that possible symbolic meaning with which he is preoccupied. The fact is that B, receiving a symbol from A, may very well retain it, and even retain it as a symbol, and yet attach to it a perfectly different signification.[2] In fact any explanation which turns upon symbolic representation can be accepted as valid only in so far as it keeps clearly to the principle that the symbol x must be
- ↑ Here, it may be suggested, Jung's conception of the "collective unconscious" ought to be considered. The theory is a fascinating one, though probably its discussion would be more relevant to the later portions of this paper. However, as its implications are very far-reaching, I propose to defer the consideration of Jung's doctrine until some future occasion.
- ↑ E.g. D'Alviella, in The Migration of Symbols, London, 1894, gives thirteen alternative interpretations of the swastika. There is no need whatever to assume that one only of these is correct. As a symbol passes from community to community it may easily acquire diversity of significance.
