ABSTRACT
More than just dreaming inside our own heads, we dream into as well as out of the world: our psychological relation to the world is one of continuous symbolic interchange. ‘All life is a dream’, if true, seemed to author’s schoolboy self a potential reason for taking life less seriously than otherwise one might. A very significant part of the psychologist’s role is continuous with that of the ‘cunning man’ and the astrologer, and as such is a sham. No one is likely to become more aware of the extraordinary ingenuity possessed by human beings in the business of magically falsifying their experience than the psychotherapist. In fact, psychological malaise is the inevitable sequel of difficult or unfortunate aspects of the individual’s relation to his or her world, but (conveniently for the person, society or both) is not recognized as such.
