JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY

C.G. Jung Austrian psychologist Built on Freud’s work (1856-1939) Trained in science and medicine Used thousands of clinical cases

Robertson Davies was president of the Jungian society of Canada.

“My life has been permeated and held together by one idea and one goal: namely, to penetrate into the secret of the personality. Everything can be explained from this central point, and all works relate to this one theme.” Carl Jung Memories, Dreams, Reflections

A person is made up of a body and a psyche (spirit or personality) which interact.

Like the body, the psyche has evolved for centuries. Each individual inherits from the collective past.

The psyche is made up of three components: Ego Personal unconscious Collective unconscious

Ego: This component is consciousness, the perceptions through our senses of ourselves and the world.

2. Personal Unconscious: This component encompasses feelings or states of mind which were once in our consciousness but now have slipped or been pushed outside.

3. The Collective Unconscious: Common to all humans Works in each of us as archetypes which sometimes erupt in our consciousness

We see archetypal images in dreams, myths, legends, fairy tales, art and religious symbols.

Since we are biological, we are a form of energy. Our psychic energy, the “libido” constantly flows between opposing poles.

Therefore if the consciousness represses some unconscious force, the unconscious will surge back in dreams, sudden violent emotion, pain or illness.

This reaction will continue until the conscious person recognizes the opposing force and somehow accommodates it.

Opposition of the psychic forces creates tension between parts of the personality. In response, those parts develop certain functions:

EGO: As we grow, consciousness develops Ego develops a “persona” which it interposes between itself and the world The world mistakes this “persona” for the whole personality

At the same time, the ego drives those forces that oppose its development in the social world into the personal unconscious.

THE PERSONAL UNCONSCIOUS Develops the suppressed part of the personality which Jung called “the shadow” The more primitive side of consciousness Not necessarily evil

As our EGO grows our SHADOW grows. Sometimes the shadow erupts into consciousness

Then we feel or do something that startles us because it seems out of character. I wasn’t myself. That didn’t seem like me at all. I just met him, but I hate him!

An ego that refuses to recognize its shadow invites disruption However, an ego which recognizes its shadow comes to know itself.

THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS Each male personality has a female force called the anima Each female personality Has a male force Called the “animus”

A woman searches for her ANIMUS in other men (first sought for in the father A man searches for his ANIMA in other women (first sought for in the mother)

The person who approaches psychic wholeness is the one who has found a satisfying ANIMA.

Jung’s psychology describes the growth of The individual personality towards wholeness, Towards SELF. He says: “Consciousness and unconsciousness do not make a whole when one of them is suppressed and injured by the other. If they must contend, Let it be at least a fair fight with equal rights on both sides.”

Know your SELF.

This SELF develops the whole of our lives, However the afternoon and evening of life can bring disaster to the individual who cannot adapt.

Consciousness grows by recognizing the shadow in your personal unconscious and the anima in your collective unconscious.

The anima and the shadow are only two of the archetypes (the forms, shapes of the collective unconscious) we need to understand and make part of ourselves. Out of nature and our cultural past, we may understand the following ARCHETYPAL images.

1. Shapes Cross Circle

2. Journeys Descent into darkness Rebirth

3. Locations Heaven Hell

4. Roles The hero The villain

The heroine The wise old man

The magician The witch

The great mother The prodigal son

The king, ruler The trickster

The devil The hermit

We feel archetypes in our dreams, our senses, our rituals, our celebrations, myths, legends, fairy tales, music, dance, sculpture, and literature.

We need to discover the role of such myth in our own lives.