One of Jung’s central methods for dream interpretation was a process called “amplification.” In amplification, a person identifies a symbol which feels important to them, but which they do not rationally understand. The symbol is a container for an unconscious content which is trying to be expressed. Conventional wisdom nowadays is to attempt to explain this symbol in rational and logical terms, which effectively imprisons the symbol in dead matter. Amplification does the opposite, in that its a process whereby you attempt to find other instances of symbols which are similar to the one in question, or which somehow seem to “resonate” with them. By resonance, I mean an inexplicable feeling-toned relationship between two things, such that the experience of one “excites” the other. By surrounding a symbol with resonant images drawn from a variety of sources, a multiplicity of meaning may be drawn from the symbol, far greater than anything available through strictly rational understanding of it. Further, amplification functions to build connectors or bridges into the symbol itself, so that it may be integrated into the psychic landscape as a power source. Where rational explanation seeks to organize the symbol according to some preconceived framework, amplification accepts the symbol as it is, and builds around it wherever it appears.

A analogy would be a meteorite crashing into the earth (an unconscious content penetrating through to the conscious mind). A mind governed by logical organization schemes would come in and take the meteorite away to a place where it was appropriate for meteorites to be studied (lab, museum, etc). A mind which worked according to the processes of amplification would instead build a shrine around the place where the space-rock crashed. Thus the meteorite (the symbol from the unconscious) would become an integral part of the local landscape and folkore. Perhaps even pilgrims would come to the place and make offerings.

Interestingly, as I cooked up the above analogy, I realized that I was essentially describing the Black Stone, Al-Hajarul Aswad (or Hajar el Aswad), which is housed in the Kaaba, which is one of the holiest sites in Islam.

Some Muslims believe that this stone fell from the sky during the time of Adam, and that it has the power to cleanse worshippers of their sins by absorbing them into itself. For these, the Black Stone is believed to have originally been colored white, but it turned black because of the sins it has absorbed over the years.

The Kaaba, in fact, is the point which Muslims face when they pray towards Mecca five times faily. One of the Five Pillars of Islam is that each able-bodied Muslim must make the hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca, central to which is the circling of the Kaaba seven times in a counter-clockwise direction (called tawaf. Here are some nice photos of people on the hajj.

Anyway, this little tangent I went into with Islam and the Kaaba is actually itself an example of Jungian amplification. You find stories with resonate somehow with what you’re talking about, and you let the details of the two bleed together to reveal new relationships and insights into the matter at hand.