Unit 3: Carl G. Jung  Concern?  The unconscious but much broader  Insight?  Are patterns of growth that need to be made conscious  Central Problem?  Projection

 Once unconscious want to become conscious it is projected onto world and others: unconscious evil within is projected onto others

Jungian Therapy?  Making these patterns of growth conscious  Where is religion?  In religious experience  Jung: We have to become conscious of the Imago Dei within if we are become a whole (Holy?) Self  Hugely influential in contemporary spirituality

5 Things about Jung  1. The Psyche (and Unconscious) is real: rejects Western concept of Tabula Rasa  2. Passionately concerned with experience: inner life (dreams) most important  3. Many interpretations: almost a religion: take what you want  4. Focused on second half of life (35+)  5. Is very religious (untraditionally): God very real for him

1 st Reading: Bio Questions  What do you think Jung meant by his “personal myth”?  Does a beautiful sunset need to be proved?  Do you think religious needs are more important than sexual needs?  Do you believe the universe is full of meaning, that we are surrounded by unseen powers? Why, why not?  Do you view life more as a problem to be solved or a mystery to be lived?

Jung, Freud, and James  An historic meeting at Clarkson College, RI of Freud, Jung and William James (front center)

Jung Quotes  “Our heart glows, and secret unrest gnaws at the root of our being. Dealing with the unconscious has become a question of life for us”. - Carl Jung  “Masses are always breeding grounds of psychic epidemics”  “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes”

Quotes continued  “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves”  “It all depends on how we look at things, and not how they are in themselves”  “Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people”

Theory of Personality (The Self)  How is the Self different from Ego?  Is it scientific?  A philosophical, religious postulate?  Jung: self is unifying, integrating center of consciousness

Structure of Personality   The Psychic system: – –Ego, personal unconscious, collective unconscious – –Functions: thinking, feeling, sensing, intuition – –Attitudes: introversion, extroversion   Goal?   Wholeness: a state of balance

Complexes and Archetypes   What are complexes? – –Group of emotions, behaviors linked together   How identified?   Difference from archetypes?   How do complexes and archetypes influence our behavior?   What, according to Jung is the ultimate function of consciousness?

Archetypes  From the Greek: “primary imprint”  Forms of being human: “outlines” filled in through experience  What it means to be human: parallel to instincts  As many archetypes as there are ways to be human  Archetypes for mother, father, little boy, little girl, wise old woman, wise old man

Core Concept of Individuation   Individuation: process of becoming a Whole Self   Task of going beyond individuality and individual consciousness and rediscovering one’s unity with all humanity: involves incorporating the collective unconscious   Fundamentally religious process

3 Stage Pattern of Individuation   1) Unconscious unity: the infant’s state before individual consciousness   2) Individual consciousness: distinguishing between self and others; male and female, good and evil: a tension of opposites (task of first half of life)   3) Conscious Unity: reuniting these “opposites” to state of unity: involves incorporating unconscious life into our conscious life

Process of Individuation  takes place primarily during the second half of life  Assumes the more the unconsciousness becomes conscious, the more whole one becomes  is a process (journey) towards wholeness (and holiness); is always a process of reconciling opposites  ego has to be clearly formed (primary task of adolescence and young adulthood): in terms of competency and responsibility, means taking on positive roles in the community  -if ego not strong, can be disastrous; can be taken over by archetypes (shadow)

Main Opposites  Conscious-unconscious; male-female; young-old; ego-Self; persona-shadow; anima-animus  Shadow: –all the ego has repressed in order that you can adapt to environment, society –in many ways is opposite of persona  Persona: –Mask we present to outside –develops by repressing shadow  Projection: whatever we allow to remain unconscious in ourselves (shadow) tends to be projected onto those around us

Level 1: Consciousness: Ego, Persona, Shadow  Ego: center of consciousness: –relates to reality –Thinking “I” –Has to be built up during first half of life  Persona: –Public “Face”: mask of roles we can put on and take off in society –Danger of persona taking over ego: prevents further growth from occurring –Develops through repression of shadow –Individuation requires that ego become separated from persona

Projection of Shadow  Projection: changes the world into a replica of one’s “Unknown Face”:  only that which we do not accept in ourselves do we find impossible to live with in others

Projection of Shadow cont  the shadow threatens ego; when repressed (and seen in others), it produces intense hatred and anger  to pretend shadow does not exist is to give it strength  people not in touch with shadow more likely to be manipulated and influenced by it

The Feminine and Masculine   What is the ‘contrasexual’ side of one’s personality and where, according to Jung, does it often go?   What are the two opposite archetypes that represent these two aspects of human gender?

Level 2: Anima and Animus  according to Jung, everyone has qualities of the opposite sex  we are all really male-female  anima: the female side of male  animus: the male side of female  Once persona is held lightly enough, anima and animus want to become conscious  Just as the outward face of the psyche is the persona, the inward face of psyche, for a man, is the Anima; for the woman; the animus

Anima and Animus  growing up, we all spend a lot of energy appearing to be the proper sex; for male, have to be ALL MALE; for female, ALL FEMALE; (obviously this has changed in contemporary culture but basic thrust of argument seems)

Anima and Animus  male and female sexuality largely a product of particular cultures  Both anima/animus are archetypes: patterns of being, of understanding and perceiving the opposite sex

Anima/Animus continued  if men cannot deal with their anima, they get moody, for women, they get opinionated  generally, anima of man fights with animus of woman  when anima of man cannot become conscious (remains repressed and hidden), it behaves like an undeveloped, adolescent girl: pouts, moody  when animus of women is not made conscious, it becomes aggressive, opinionated (like immature adolescent male)  need to work on making both conscious if wholeness is to be reached

Third Level: Self, or God-Image  cannot be dealt with unless first and second levels have been dealt with  Self: the most real part of person (Divine, our True Self that faces God)  the organizing principle of the psyche  It is the Principle of unification of all archetypes because it draws to itself and harmonizes the others  Self draws others to wholeness  Goal of individuation is the Self  is the archetype of Wholeness (Holiness)

Level 3 continued  *At depth of self we are the image and likeness of God  *not possible to realize self without having some kind of experience of God  for Jung: whatever reveals the self reveals God

Christ: Symbol of Fully Individuated Self  For Jung, Christ unifies the human and Divine  The Christian message is supposed to be a symbol of individuation, of Divine Wholeness  this is found in the Beatitudes: described as a sort of handbook for individuation

Christ as Individuated Self cont  believed focus of religions all wrong: should be on the experience of the God-Image; instead it was on creeds and dogmas  Creeds and Dogmas should be guides that point the way to personal religious experience; instead, too often, the creeds have become the focus