“A dream which is not understood is like a letter not opened” – The TalmudErich Seligmann Fromm (1900–1980) was a German-born American psychoanalyst, social psychologist, and philosopher best known for blending Freudian psychoanalysis with humanistic philosophy and social critique. He sought to understand how individual psychology is shaped by broader cultural and social forces, and his work emphasized the tension between freedom and security in modern life. His views align with existential thinking, hence my interest in his work.
Fromm’s major works reflect his lifelong concern with human freedom, love, and the conditions for authentic existence. His most influential books include Escape from Freedom (1941), Man for Himself: An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics (1947), The Art of Loving (1956), You Shall Be as Gods (1966), To Have or To Be? (1976). Each of these works reflects Fromm’s unique synthesis of psychoanalysis, existentialism, and social theory. He was deeply concerned about how individuals could live meaningfully in a world that often seems to undermine genuine freedom and connection.
Among his most influential books in psychology is his book on dream interpretation, The Forgotten Language: An Introduction to the Understanding of Dream, Fairy Tales and Myths. (1951). From my perspective, it is one of the classic works on the psychological importance of dreams and their interpretation. At its core, Fromm’s The Forgotten Language (1951) argues that dreams, myths, and fairy tales are expressions of a universal symbolic language, a language that we modern humans have largely ignored and forgotten but can relearn to understand the depths of individual and cultural lived experience.
The Essence of Fromm’s The Forgotten Language
Symbolic Language as Universal:
Fromm contends that symbols in dreams and myths are not arbitrary but reflect deep psychological truths. They are a shared “foreign language” of humanity, transcending culture and time.
Dreams as Windows to the Unconscious:
Dreams, like myths, use images and symbols to express processes which lie deep in the unconscious. By interpreting them, we gain insight into hidden aspects of our personality and collective human concerns.
Connection to Myths and Fairy Tales:
Myths and fairy tales are representative of the collective dreams of cultures. They embody archetypal struggles experienced within all cultures (e.g., love, fear, uncertainty, death, identity, family, transformation and transcendence) and thus mirror the same symbolic structures found in an individual’s dreams.
Critique of Reductionism:
Fromm challenges overly mechanistic or purely Freudian interpretations of dreams which focuses mainly on wish fulfillment. Fromm emphasizes that symbolic language should not be reduced to rigid formulas but appreciated as a living, expressive mode of information, insight and meaning for the individual who has the dream. His approach to dreams and dream analysis aligns more closely with that of Carl Jung than it does that of Sigmund Freud, both of whom have contributed to the art of dream, fairy tale and myth interpretation.
Practical Implication
Learning or better relearning this forgotten language and its significance allows us to reconnect with our inner life, understand art and literature more deeply, and grasp the wisdom embedded in cultural traditions. It is both a psychological and existential task.
Key Themes in Fromm’s Approach to Dream Interpretation
| Theme | Fromm’s view | Practical Implication |
| Dreams | Symbolic narratives of unconscious life | Self-understanding, therapeutic insight |
| Myths and Fairy Tales | Collective dreams of humanity | Cultural wisdom, shared archetypes |
| Symbols | Universal language of human experience | Bridge between individual psyche and culture |
| Interpretation | Requires openness and exploration, not rigid formulas | Enriches our understanding of psychology, art, culture and theology |
| Forgotten Language | Lost symbolic literacy in modernity | Relearning restores meaning and connection |
Why It Matters
Fromm’s book is not just about dream interpretation; it’s about recovering a mode of thinking and understanding that modern rationalist thinking has neglected and all but lost. By relearning this symbolic language, we can integrate important aspects of psychology, philosophy, culture and theology into a richer understanding of human experience and existence.
The Forgotten Language aligns beautifully with my work in existential analytic psychotherapy. It provides a framework for bridging clinical neurobiology (dream processes), existential philosophy (meaning and purpose, limitation, connectedness, identity, uncertainty, freedom, choice and responsibility, absurdity and alienation), and cultural traditions (myths and rituals) into a unified symbolic matrix.
Below is a visual comparative diagram mapping Fromm’s symbolic language alongside Jung’s archetypes and Freud’s dream theory.
| Thinker | Source of Symbols | Function of Dreams | Method of Interpretation |
| Fromm | Universal Symbolic Language | Express existential truths | Cultural & psychological decoding |
| Jung | Archetypes from the Collective unconscious | Guide individuation & psychic balance | Archetypal analysis |
| Freud | Repressed desires (often sexual) | Wish-fulfillment | Free association & latent content analysis |
Key Differences:
Fromm (Symbolic Language)
Dreams, myths, and fairy tales = universal symbolic expressions.
Emphasis on cultural and existential meaning.
Interpretation requires openness, not rigid formulas.
Jung (Archetypes)
Dreams express man’s “collective unconscious” through archetypal images.
Myths mirror universal psychic structures (the hero, the shadow, the anima/animus).
Symbols are transformative, guiding the process of individuation.
Freud (Dream Theory)
Dreams as disguised wish-fulfillment.
Symbols often represent sexual or repressed desires.
Interpretation relies on uncovering latent content beneath manifest images through free association and interpretation
This triadic mapping shows how each thinker treats dreams as meaningful but with different emphases: Fromm on individual existential and cultural meaning, Jung on archetypal transformation, and Freud on hidden desires.