TableofContents

TitlePage

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter1-Surface:

TheRelationofEgotoConsciousness

TheLocationoftheEgo

PsychologicalTypes

PersonalFreedom

Chapter2-ThePopulatedInterior

ReachingtheUnconscious

TheComplexes

LevelsoftheUnconscious

PsychicImages

PersonalityFragments

TheStructureofComplexes

TheEruptionofComplexes

Chapter3-PsychicEnergy

SexualityandLibido

TheTransformationofPsychicEnergy

PhysicsasaModel

TheSourceofEnergy

MeasurementofPsychicEnergy

TheUnityofBodyandMind

Energy,Movement,andDirection

TransformationsandSymbols

Chapter4-ThePsyche’sBoundaries

Archetypes(PsychicUniversals)

TheUnconscious

Instincts

TheRelationshipbetweenArchetypesandInstincts

Chapter5-TheRevealedandtheConcealedinRelationswithOthers

TheEgo’sShadow

TheMakingoftheShadow

ThePersona

TheTwoSourcesofthePersona

PersonaDevelopment

ThePersona’sTransformations

IntegratingPersonaandShadow

Chapter6-TheWaytotheDeepInterior

DefiningAnimaandAnimus

GenderandAnimaandAnimus

TheDevelopmentoftheAnima/us

RaisingConsciousnesswithAnima/us

SexualityandRelationships

Chapter7-ThePsyche’sTranscendentCenterandWholeness

Jung’sExperienceoftheSelf

Jung’sDefinitionoftheSelf

SymbolsoftheSelf

TheSelfasCentralMysteryofthePsyche

Chapter8-EmergenceoftheSelf

ThePsychologicalLifespan

Individuation

TheFiveStagesofConsciousness

ACaseStudyinIndividuation

TheMovementsoftheSelf

Chapter9-OfTimeandEternity

PatternsinChaos

DevelopingtheIdeaofSynchronicity

SynchronicityandCausality

SynchronicityandArchetypalTheory

MindandMatter

AbsoluteKnowledge

ANewParadigm

Cosmology

Notes

Glossary

References

Index

CopyrightPage

ForSarahandChristopher

AcknowledgmentsThis book would not have been possible without the patient typing andeditorialassistanceofLynneWalter.Iwanttothankherforherdedicationandunflagging optimism. I would also like to thank Jan Marlan for herencouragement and enthusiastic support. Those who have sat through mylecturesovertheyearswillrecognizetheircontributionsinthemanypointsofdetail thatwouldnotbeinthistextbutfortheirquestionsandobservations.Thankstoallofyou.

IntroductionYoucouldtimidlyexplorethecoastsofAfricatothesouth,butgoingwesttherewasnothingexceptfear,theunknown,not“oursea”buttheSeaofMystery,MareIgnotum.

CarlosFuentesTheBuriedMirror

ThesummerJungdied,Iwaspreparingtogotocollege.Itwas1961.Humanswerebeginningtoexploreouterspace,andtheracewasontoseewhowouldbethefirsttoreachthemoon,theAmericansortheRussians.Alleyeswerefocused on the great adventure of space exploration. For the first time inhumanhistory, peoplewere succeeding in leaving terra firma and travelingtowardthestars.WhatIdidnotrealizeat thetimewasthatourcenturyhasbeenmarkedjustasdecisivelybythejourneysinward,thegreatexplorationsoftheinnerworldundertakenbythelikesofCarlJunginthedecadesbeforeSputnikandApollo.WhatJohnGlennandNeilArmstronghavemeanttousas explorers of outer space, Jung signifies with regard to inner space, acourageousandintrepidvoyagerintotheunknown.

JungdiedpeacefullyinhishousejustoutsideZurich,inaroomthatfacedthecalmlaketothewest.TothesouthonecouldseetheAlps.Thedaybeforehepassedawayheaskedhissontohelphimtothewindowtotakealastlookathisbelovedmountains.Hehadspentalifetimeexploringinnerspaceanddescribingwhat he found there in hiswritings.By coincidence it happenedthattheyearNeilArmstrongsteppedontothesurfaceofthemoonIembarkedonajourneytoZurich,SwitzerlandtostudyattheJungInstitute.WhatIamsharing in this volume is the distillation of nearly thirty years of studyingJung’smapofthesoul.

TheaimofthisbookistodescribeJung’sfindingsashepresentedtheminhis published writings. First discovering Jung can itself be something likeplungingintothat“SeaofMystery”writtenaboutbyFuentesinhisaccountofearlierexplorerswhoventuredacrosstheAtlanticfromSpain.Itiswitha

sense of excitement, but also fear, that one launches out into these far-reachingplaces.Iremembermyfirstattempts.IwassweptawaybysomuchexcitementattheprospectthatIanxiouslysoughttheadviceofseveralofmyuniversity professors. Iwondered if thiswas “safe.” Jungwas so attractivethatheseemedtoogoodtobetrue!WouldIbecomelost,confused,misled?Luckily for me, these mentors gave me the green light, and I have beenjourneyingandfindingtreasureseversince.

Jung’sownoriginaljourneywasevenmorefrightening.Heliterallyhadnoideaifhewasgoingtofindatreasureorfallovertheedgeoftheworldintoouter space. The unconscious was truly aMare Ignotum when he first lethimselfintoit.Buthewasyoungandcourageous,andhewasdeterminedtomakesomenewdiscoveries.Soawayhewent.

Jungoften referred tohimself as apioneer andexplorerof theunchartedmystery that is the human soul. He seems to have had an adventuresomespirit.Forhim—asforusstill—thehumanpsychewasavastterritory,andinhisdayithadnotyetbeenmuchstudied.Itwasamysterythatchallengedtheadventuresomewith theprospect of richdiscovery and frightened the timidwiththethreatofinsanity.ForJungthestudyofthesoulalsobecameamatterofgravehistoricalimportance,for,asheoncesaid,thewholeworldhangsona threadand that thread is thehumanpsyche. It isvital thatweall becomemorefamiliarwithit.

The great question is, of course:Can the human soul ever be known, itsdepths plumbed, its vast territory charted? It was perhaps some leftovernineteenth-century scientific grandiosity that led early pioneers of depthpsychologylikeJungandFreudandAdlerevertoundertakethiseffortandtothink that they could define the ineffable and the supremely inscrutablehumanpsyche.ButsetoutintothisMareIgnotumtheydid,andJungbecameaChristopherColumbusof the innerworld.The twentiethcenturyhasbeenanageofscientificbreakthroughsandtechnologicalwondersofallkinds; ithas also been an age of deep introspection and probing into our commonhumansubjectivity,whichhaveresultedinthefieldbroadlyknowntodayasdepthpsychology.

Onewaytofamiliarizeourselveswiththepsycheistostudythemapsofitthathavebeendrawnupandmadeavailablebythesegreatpioneers.Intheirworkswecanfindmanypointsoforientationforourselves,andperhapswetoo will be stimulated to carry out further investigations and tomake newdiscoveries.Jung’smapofthepsyche,aspreliminaryandperhapsunrefinedand open-ended as it is—as are all first attempts at charting unknown

territories—canstillbeagreatboontothosewhowanttoenterinnerspace,theworldofthepsyche,andnotlosetheirwaycompletely.

In this book, I accept Jung in his self-designated role of explorer andmapmaker,andIletthisimageguidemeinpresentingthisintroductiontohistheoryofthehumanpsyche.Thepsycheis theterritory, theunknownrealmhe was exploring; his theory is the map he created to communicate hisunderstandingofthepsyche.SoitisJung’smapofthesoulthatIwillattemptto describe in this book by leading you, the reader, into and through theterritoryofhiswritings.Indoingso,Iampresentingamapofamap,butonethatIhopewillbeusefultoyouinyourownfurtherjourneysintoJung’slifeandwork.

Like all mapmakers, Jung worked with the instruments and evidenceavailable to him in his time.Born in 1875, he completedhis basicmedicalstudiesattheUniversityofBaselinSwitzerlandby1900andhispsychiatrictrainingattheBurghölzliKlinikinZurichby1905.HisimportantassociationwithFreudextendedfrom1907to1913,afterwhichhespentsomeyearsinadeep self-analysis and then emergedwith his owndistinctive psychologicaltheory—called analytical psychology—which he presented to the world in1921 in the bookPsychological Types.1 By 1930, aged 55, he had createdmostofthebasicfeaturesofhistheorybuthadnotyetdetailedanumberofimportantitems.Thedetailswouldbepresentedintheyearsfollowing1930andwouldcontinuetoflowfromJung’spenuntilhediedin1961.

Theprojectofexploring thehumanpsychescientificallywasbegunearlyin Jung’s adult life.His first official expedition is described in his doctoralstudy,On the Psychology and Pathology of So-CalledOccult Phenomena.2This gives a psychological account of the inner world of a gifted youngwomanwhomwenowknowwasactuallyhisowncousin,HelenePreiswerk.Asateenager,shehadtheunusualabilitytoactasamediumforspiritsofthedead,whowouldspeakthroughherinremarkablyaccuratehistoricalvoicesandaccents.Jungwasfascinatedandsetouttounderstandandinterpretthispuzzling psychological phenomenon. Pressing ahead, he used the wordassociationtesttouncoverhiddenfeaturesofthepsychiclandscapethathadnotbeenclassifiedbefore.Thesewerepublishedinnumerouspapers,whicharenowhoused inVolume2ofhisCollectedWorks.Thenewlydiscoveredfeaturesof theunconscioushenamed“complexes,”a term thatwould stickand make him famous. After that, he took up two burning psychiatricproblemsoftheday,psychosisandschizophrenia,andproducedabook,ThePsychologyofDementiaPraecox,3whichhesenttoFreudasanexampleof

hisworkandasasuggestionforhowsomeofFreud’sideascouldbeappliedin psychiatry (Freudwas a neurologist). After receiving Freud’s warm andenthusiasticresponse,heenteredintoaprofessionalrelationshipwithhimandquickly became the leader of the fledgling psychoanalyticmovement.Withthishebeganhisstudyoftheshadowyregionsofneuroticconditions,landingfinally on the discovery of more or less invariant universal fantasies andpatterns of behavior (the archetypes) in an area of the deep psyche that hecalled the“collectiveunconscious.”Thedescriptionanddetailedaccountofthearchetypeand thecollectiveunconsciouswouldbecomehis signature,amark that sets his map apart from those of all other explorers of the deeppsyche,theunconscious.

The year 1930 divides Jung’s professional life almost exactly in half: in1900hebeganhis training andpsychiatric studies at theBurghölzliKlinik,andin1961hediedawiseoldmaninhishomeatKüsnachtonLakeZürich.Inretrospect,onecanseethatJung’sfirstthirtyyearsofprofessionalactivitywereprofoundlycreative.Duringtheseyears,hegeneratedthebasicelementsofamonumentalpsychological theoryaswellasaddressedmajorcollectiveissuesoftheday.Thesecondthirtyyearswereperhapslessinnovativeofnewtheoretical constructs,but theoutputofbooksandarticleswasevengreaterthan it had been earlier. These were the years of deepening and validatingearlierhypothesesandintuitions.Heextendedhistheoriesfurthertoincludestudies of history, culture, and religion and to create a key link tomodernphysics. Jung’s clinical workwith psychiatric patients andwith analysandswasmore consuming and intense in the first half of his professional life; ittapered off to a minimum after 1940, when the war interrupted normalcollective life inEurope and Jung himself shortly thereafter also suffered aheartattack.

Jung’sinvestigationofthepsychewasalsohighlypersonal.Hisexplorationof the unconscious mind was not only carried out on patients andexperimentalsubjects.Healsoanalyzedhimself.Infact,foratimehebecamehisownprimesubjectofstudy.Bycarefullyobservinghisowndreamsanddevelopingthetechniqueofactiveimagination,hefoundawaytoenterevermore deeply into the hidden spaces of his inner world. To understand hispatientsandhimself,hedevelopedamethodofinterpretationthatdrewuponcomparativestudiesinhumanculture,myth,andreligion;infact,heusedanyandallmaterialsfromworldhistorythathadabearingonmentalprocesses.Thismethodhecalled“amplification.”

ThemanysourcesandoriginsofJung’sthoughthavenotyetbeenclearlyworkedoutindetail.Inhiswritings,heacknowledgesadebttomanyearlier

thinkers, among them Goethe, Kant, Schopenhauer, Carus, Hartmann, andNietzsche;most importantly,heplaceshimself in the lineageof the ancientGnostics and themedieval alchemists.His philosopher of choicewasKant.The influence of Hegel’s dialectic is also apparent in his theorizing. AndFreudleftamark.WhileJung’sthoughtcanbeshowntohavedevelopedandgrown over the years that span his career, however, there is a remarkablecontinuity in his basic intellectual orientation. Someof Jung’s readers havefound seeds of his later psychological theories already apparent in somecollege papers delivered at his fraternity and published as The ZofingiaLectures. These were composed before 1900 while he was still anundergraduate at the University of Basel. The historian Henri Ellenbergergoessofarastoclaimthatthe“germinalcellofJung’sanalyticalpsychologyis tobe found inhisdiscussionof theZofingiaStudentsAssociationand inhis experiments with his young medium cousin, Helene Preiswerk.”4 TheZofingia lecturesshowJung’searlystruggleswith issues thatwouldoccupyhimthroughouthislife,suchasthequestionofexposingreligionandmysticalexperience toscientific,empirical investigation.Evenasayoungman,Jungargued that such subjects should be opened up to empirical research andapproachedwithanopenmind.WhenhemetWilliamJamesin1909atClarkUniversity,itwasahighpoint,becauseJameshadadoptedthesamepositionandhadproducedhisclassic study,VarietiesofReligiousExperience,usingpreciselythistypeofmethod.

From all of this study and experience, then, Jung drew up amap of thehumansoul.Itisamapthatdescribesthepsycheinallofitsdimensions,anditalsotries toexplain its internaldynamics.ButJungwasalwayscareful torespectthepsyche’sultimatemystery.Histheorycanbereadasamapofthesoul, but it is the map of a mystery that cannot be ultimately captured inrational terms and categories. It is a map of a living,Mercurial thing, thepsyche.

In reading Jung, also, oneneeds to keep inmind that themap is not theterritory.Knowledgeofthemapisnotthesameasanexperienceofthedeeppsyche.Atbest,themapcanbeausefultoolforthosewhowantorientationandguidance.Forsomewhoarelost,itcanevenbealifesaver.Forothers,itwill stimulate a powerful urge to experience what Jung is talking about. Ibegan to write down my dreams when I first read Jung. Later I evenjourneyedtoZürichandstudiedforfouryearsattheJungInstitute.Throughanalysisandpersonalexperienceoftheunconscious,Ihavegainedfirsthandknowledge of many of Jung’s findings. And yet my inner world is notidenticaltohis.Hismapcanshowthewayandcanindicategeneraloutlines,

butitdoesnotofferspecificcontent.Thismustbediscoveredforoneself.

Formany features of themap, Jung relied on scientific intuition and anamazinglyvigorousimagination.Themethodsofscienceinhisdaycouldnotconfirm or disprove his hypothesis about the collective unconscious, forinstance.Todayweareclosertobeingabletodothat.ButJungwasanartistwhousedhiscreativethoughtstofashionapictureoftheinnerworldofthemind. Like those beautifully illustrated maps of Antiquity and theRenaissance—drawn before mapmaking became scientific—the map thatJungcreatedisgorgeous,notonlyabstract.Hereonecanfindmermaidsanddragons,heroesandevilcharacters.Asascientificinvestigator,ofcourse,hewasobliged to testhishunchesandhypotheticalconstructsempirically.Butthisstillleftplentyofroomformythicimagination.

Jungworked in thedisciplineofpsychiatry,ormedicalpsychologyashesometimes refers to it. His chief teacher in the early years of hisapprenticeshipat theBurghölzliKlinikinZurichwasthewell-knownSwisspsychiatristEugenBleuler,whocoined the term“schizophrenia” to refer tooneof themost severeofmental illnessesandwroteagreatdeal about thepsychological issueofambivalence.Asmuchaspossible,Jungsearchedforevidenceandverificationforhistheoriesandhypothesesfromsourcesoutsideofhimselfandhisownimmediateexperience.Hisrangeofreadingandstudywasvast.Hisclaimwasthatasanempiricalinvestigatorofthepsychehewasdrawingamapthatdescribednotonlytheterritoryofhisowninnerworldbutonethatreferredtothefeaturesofthehumansoulingeneral.Likeothergreatartists, the pictures he paintedwould have the power to speak to people ofmanygenerationsandcultures.

Myview is that thisSwiss psychologist,whose name is today sowidelyknownandhighly regardedbutwhoseownwork isoftennotcarefully readand frequently criticized for being inconsistent and contradictory, actuallyproducedacoherentpsychologicaltheory.Ithinkofitasathree-dimensionalmapthatshowsthelevelsofthepsycheaswellasthedynamicinterrelationsamongthem.Itisaself-consistentworkofartthatappealstosomeandnottoothers.Itspostulatesarecastasscientificpropositions,andyetmanyoftheseareextremelyhardtoproveordisproveempirically.Importantworkisgoingon in this area,butwhatever theoutcomesmay show, Jung’sbodyofworkwillcontinuetoattractattentionandadmiration.Worksofartneverbecomeoutdated, althoughmapsmay lose their relevancewith theprogressof timeandchangesinmethodology.

TodescribeJung’smapof thepsyche inabriefbook isnotacompletely

novelproject, andothers,notably JolandeJacobiandFriedaFordham,haveproducedsimilarintroductoryworksindaysofyore.Whatmyworkadds,Ihope, isanemphasisontheoverarchingcoherencewithinthetheoryanditssubtlenetworkofinterconnections.Asthetheoryisoftenpresented,thereisabitofthisandabitofthat,andthepointthatallthepiecesstemfromasingleunified vision—which I see as a sublime vision of the soul—is not soobvious. It isalso thecase thataconsiderablenumberofyearshavepassedsincetheseearlierintroductionstoJung’stheorywereoffered,andthetimeisripeforanewone.

Myaim is toshowthatwhilegapsand inconsistenciesdoexist inJung’smap, there isamoreprofoundunderlyingunityofvision that faroutweighstheoccasionallapsesfromlogicalprecision.MymaininterestinthisaccountisnottoshowthedevelopmentofJung’sthoughtortoconsideratanylengthitspracticalapplicationsinpsychotherapyandanalysis.Itisrathertoexposetheunderlyingintellectualunitybeneaththewelterofcommentaryanddetailthat constitute his complete oeuvre. The careful reader will, I hope, comeaway from this book with a general picture of the theory of analyticalpsychology as Jung himself expounded it, as well as a grasp on the mostimportantdetailsandhowtheybelongtoasinglewhole.

ThereasonfortheremarkableunityinJung’saccountofthepsychestems,Ibelieve,fromafeatureofhisthoughtthatdidnotgrowoutofhisempiricalmethodology. Jung was an intuitive creative thinker, after the fashion ofoldtimephilosopherslikePlatoandSchopenhauer.Hecreatedhismapofthepsyche from the ideas available in the general scientific and intellectualcommunity of his day, but he gave these ideas a unique twist. He did notcome up so much with radical new notions as take what was generallyavailable and fashion a new and highly distinctive pattern out of it. Like agreat artist working in a tradition of painting, he used the images andmaterialsthatwereavailabletohimandmadesomethingnewwhichhadnotbeenseenbeforeinquitethesamecombinationofelements.

Jung was also a visionary in the tradition of Meister Eckhart, Boehme,Blake,andEmerson.Manyofhismostimportantintuitionsoriginatedinhisexperiencesofthesublime,whichcametohimindreams,visions,andactiveimagination.Heconfessesthisopenlyinhisautobiography,wherehewritesthat his prime teacher about the “reality of the psyche” was the figurePhilemon,whofirstappearedtohiminadreamandwhomhethenengagedforyearsinactiveimagination.5DirectexperienceofthesoulistheultimatesourceofJung’stheory,andthisaccountsforitsdeepinternalunityandself-consistency.

ButJungwasalsoadedicatedscientist,and thissetshisworkapart fromthe writings of poets and mystics. He worked with the scientific method,whichmeant thatheheldhisworkaccountable to the scientific communityand subjected it to empirical tests. His visions, intuitions, and innerrealizationswere not simply allowed to rest on their ownmerit; theywerecheckedagainst theevidenceofhumanexperience ingeneral. Jung’sstrongneed to be scientific and empirical accounts for the unbeveled edges in histheory, for the rough approximations that could have been made muchsmootherbypureintellectandimagination.Theempiricalworld—lifeasitisexperienced—ismessyanddoesnotfitneatlyintotheboxesmadebyhumanthoughtandimagination.BecauseJungwasbothavisionaryintuitivethinkerandanempiricalscientist,hismapofthehumanpsycheisbothcoherentandyetonlylooselysystematicandself-consistent.

One reason I have continued to appreciate Jung’swritings andhave readhim steadily for over twenty-five years is that he is not compulsivelyconsistent.When I have studied truly systematic thinkers such asTillich orHegel, Ihavealwayssquirmedin the tight jawsof theirsteelyminds.Theirthoughts are too highly organized for me. Where is the messiness, thejuicinessoflife?Thishasledmetolooktoartistsandpoetsforwisdomratherthan primarily to philosophers and theologians. I am suspicious of rigidsystems.Theyfeelparanoidtome.Jung’swritingshaveneveraffectedmeinthisway.

ReadingJung, Ihavealwayssensedhisdeep respect for themysteriesofthehumanpsyche,andthisattitudeallowsthehorizonstogoonexpanding.Hismapopensvistasupratherthanclosesthemoff.IhopeIwillbeabletocommunicatethissameimpressiontoyou,thereader.

Thisisanintroductorywork.AlthoughIdohopethatevenadvancedstudentsofJung’spsychologywillbenefitfromreadingit,mytrueaudienceis thosewhowouldliketoknowwhatJungsaidbuthavenotyetfoundtherightentryintohismassivewritingsandcomplexthinking.Eachchapterofthisbookisfocused on one theme in his theory. I look at specific passages from hisCollectedWorksthatlayoutthatpieceofhismap.Theespeciallymotivatedand diligent reader can consult those references later at leisure. My text-centered presentation will, I hope, offer a friendly invitation to becomeimmersedintheprimarydocumentsandtofacethechallengeofteasingoutJung’ssometimesobscuremeaningandreflectinguponitsimplications.

Theselectionof thesereadings ismyownpersonalchoice.Otherequallyvaluable texts could have been cited and used just as well. I have tried tochoosetheclearestandmostrepresentativeessaysandpassagesfromJung’sworktodemonstratetheessentialcoherenceofhisvision.Jung’smapofthepsyche is a massive achievement of intellect, observation, and creativeintuition. Few modern thinkers have come close to equaling this toweringwork,which is housed in the eighteenvolumesof theCollectedWorks, thethreevolumesofLetters,thevariouscollectionsofinterviewsandoccasionalwritings, and his autobiography (written with Aniela Jaffe). From thismountainofmaterialIhaveselectedthetopicsthatbelongmostessentiallytohistheoryandhaveleftoutthosethathavetodowithanalyticalpracticeandinterpretationofculture,history,andreligion.

I come back to the question I asked before: Is there really a system inJung’sworks?Isheasystematicthinker?Theanswerisprobablyaguardedyes.The theory is coherent, in the sameway thatSwitzerland is a coherentcountryalthough thepopulation speaks fourdifferent languages.Thewholehangs together even though the parts look as if they could stand alone andfunctionquite independently.Jungdidnot thinksystematically in thewayaphilosopherdoes,buildingonbasicpremisesandmakingcertainthatthepartsfittogetherwithoutcontradiction.Heclaimedtobeanempiricalscientist,andso his theorizing matches the disorderliness of the empirical world. Anintuitivethinker,Junglaysoutbigconcepts,elaborates theminsomedetail,and then proceeds to other big concepts. He backtracks frequently, repeatshimself,andfillsingapsashegoesalong.Thisqualitymakesfordifficultyinreadinghim.Onehas toknowallofhiswork inorder toget thepicture. Ifyoureadmoreorlessrandomlyinhisworksforawhile,youbegintosuspectthat the pieces fit together somehow in Jung’s own mind, but only afterreadinghiswholeworkandconsidering it fora long timecanyouseehowtheyreallydo.

I think Jung felt that, having become aware of the profundity and farreaches of the human psyche through his clinical work and his ownexperience, he had towork patiently over a considerable length of time inorder to formulate responsibly this sublime vision of the human soul. Hewouldnotrushit,andoftenhedelayedpublishingforyearswhileheworkedat building the structures that could support his thought in the intellectualcommunity.Aswe try tograsp thisvision in its fullmagnitude,weneed tobear in mind that he elaborated it over a period of some sixty years. Weshouldnotbeoverlyobsessedwithexactconsistencyinaworkthislargeandinonethatisattunedtoempiricalreality.

A story is told of Jung by his students in Zurich. Once when he wascriticizedforbeinginconsistentonsomepointoftheory,heresponded:Ihavemyeyeonthecentralfire,andIamtryingtoputsomemirrorsaroundit toshowittoothers.Sometimestheedgesofthosemirrorsleavegapsanddon’tfittogetherexactly.Ican’thelpthat.LookatwhatI’mtryingtopointto!

ItakeitasmytasktodescribeasaccuratelyaspossiblewhatJungshowsinthesemirrors.Itisavisionthathassustainedmanypeopleinourgenerationandmaybeavisionfortheforeseeablefuture.Aboveall,hiswritingsprovideuswithimagesofagreatmystery,thehumanpsyche.

1

Surface:(Ego-Conconscious)

IwillbeginunrollingJung’smapofthepsychebylookingathisdescriptionof human consciousness and its most central feature, the ego. “Ego” is atechnicaltermwhoseoriginistheLatinwordmeaning“I.”Consciousnessisthe state of awakeness, and at its center there is an “I.”This is an obviousstartingpoint, and it is the entrance to thevast inner space thatwecall thepsyche. It isalsoacomplexfeatureof thepsyche,one thatstillholdsmanypuzzlesandunansweredquestions.

Although Jung was more interested in discovering what lay beneathconsciousness in the hinterlands of the psyche, he also took on the task ofdescribing and explaining human consciousness. He wanted to create acompletemapofthepsyche,sothiswasunavoidable:ego-consciousnessisaprimefeatureof the territoryhewasexploring.Jungcannotreallybecalledanegopsychologist,buthedidplaceasocialvalueontheego.Heofferedanaccountof theego’s functions, andhe recognized thecritical importanceofgreaterconsciousnessforthefutureofhumanlifeandforculture.Moreover,he was acutely aware that ego-consciousness is itself the prerequisite forpsychological investigation. It is the tool.Our knowledge as human beingsaboutanythingat all is conditionedby the capacities and limitationsof ourconsciousness.Tostudyconsciousness,therefore,istodirectattentiontotheinstrumentthatoneisusingforpsychologicalinvestigationandexploration.

Whyisitsoimportant,especiallyinpsychology,tounderstandthenatureof ego-consciousness? It is because one needs to make adjustments fordistortion. Jungsaid thateverypsychology isapersonalconfession.1 Everycreative psychologist is limited by his or her own personal biases andunexaminedassumptions.Notallthatseemstruetoeventhemostearnestand

sincereinvestigator’sconsciousnessisnecessarilyaccurateknowledge.Muchthatpassesforknowledgeamonghumanbeings isactually,uponcloserandmorecriticalinspection,merelyprejudiceorbeliefbasedondistortion,bias,hearsay,speculation,orpurefantasy.Beliefspassasknowledgeandareclungtoasreliablecertainties.“IbelieveinorderthatImayunderstand,”afamousremarkfromSt.Augustine,maysoundstrangetoourmodernearstoday,andyet this is often the case when people begin to speak about psychologicalreality.Jungseriouslysoughttoexaminethefoundationsofhisownthinkingbycriticallyexaminingtheinstrumenthewasusingtomakehisdiscoveries.Hearguedstronglythatacriticalunderstandingofconsciousnessisessentialforscience,justasithasbeenforphilosophy.Accurateunderstandingofthepsyche, or of anything else for thatmatter, depends upon the state of one’sconsciousness.Jungwantedtoofferacriticalunderstandingofconsciousness.Thiswashisprimaryobjectiveinwritingthekeywork,PsychologicalTypes,whichdescribeseightcognitive styles thatdistinguishhumanconsciousnessandprocessinformationandlifeexperiencedifferently.

TheRelationofEgotoConsciousness

Jung therefore writes a great deal about ego-consciousness throughout hispublished works. For my purposes here, I will discuss primarily the firstchapter of the lateworkAion, entitled “The Ego,” aswell as some relatedtextsandpassages.Thesesummarizehispositionadequatelyandrepresenthismaturethinkingonthesubject.AttheendofthischapterIwillalsoincludesomereferencestoPsychologicalTypes.

Aioncanbereadonmanydifferentlevels.ItisaworkofJung’slateryearsandreflectshisprofoundengagementwithWesternintellectualandreligioushistoryandtheirfuture,aswellhismostdetailedthoughtsaboutthearchetypeoftheself.Thefirstfourchapterswereaddedtothebooklatertoprovidethenew readerwith an introduction to his general psychological theory and toofferanentrypointintothevocabularyofanalyticalpsychology.Whiletheseintroductorypagesarenotdetailedorparticularly technical, theydocontainJung’smost condensed discussions about the psychic structures called ego,shadow,anima,animus,andself.

HereJungdefinestheegoasfollows:“Itforms,asitwere,thecentreofthefield of consciousness; and, in so far as this comprises the empiricalpersonality, the ego is the subject of all personal acts of consciousness.”2

Consciousness is a “field,” andwhat Jung calls the “empirical personality”hereisourpersonalityasweareawareofitandexperienceitfirsthand.Theego,as“thesubjectofallpersonalactsofconsciousness,”occupiesthecenterofthisfield.Thetermegoreferstoone’sexperienceofoneselfasacenterofwilling, desiring, reflecting, and acting. This definition of the ego as thecenterofconsciousnessisconsistentthroughoutallofJung’swritings.

Jungcontinuesthistextbycommentingonthefunctionoftheegowithinthepsyche:“Therelationofapsychiccontenttotheegoformsthecriterionofitsconsciousness,fornocontentcanbeconsciousunlessitisrepresentedtoasubject.”3Theegoisa“subject”towhompsychiccontentsare“represented.”It is like a mirror. Moreover, a connection to the ego is the necessaryconditionformakinganythingconscious—afeeling,athought,aperception,orafantasy.Theegoisakindofmirrorinwhichthepsychecanseeitselfandcan become aware. The degree towhich a psychic content is taken up andreflected by the ego is the degree towhich it can be said to belong to therealm of consciousness. When a psychic content is only vaguely ormarginallyconscious, ithasnotyetbeencapturedandheld it inplaceupontheego’sreflectivesurface.

Inthepassagesthatfollowthisdefinitionoftheego,Jungmakesacrucialdistinction between conscious and unconscious features of the psyche:consciousness iswhatwe know, and unconsciousness is all thatwe do notknow. Inanother text,writtenat about the same time,hemakes thisa littlemore precise: “The unconscious is not simply the unknown, it is rather theunknownpsychic;andthiswedefine…asallthosethingsinuswhich,iftheycame to consciousness, would presumably differ in no respect from theknown psychic contents.”4 The distinction between conscious andunconscious,sofundamentalinJung’sgeneraltheoryofthepsyche,asitisinallofdepthpsychology,positsthatsomecontentsarereflectedbytheegoandheldinconsciousness,wheretheycanbefurtherexaminedandmanipulated,whileotherpsychiccontentslieoutsideofconsciousnesseithertemporarilyorpermanently.Theunconsciousincludesallpsychiccontentsthatlieoutsideofconsciousness,forwhateverreasonorwhateverduration.Actually,thisisthevast bulk of the psychic world. The unconscious was the major area ofinvestigationindepthpsychology,andJung’smostpassionateinterestlayinexploringthatterritory.Butmoreofthatlater.

OfteninhiswritingsJungreferstotheegoasa“complex,”atermthatwillbediscussedextensivelyinthenextchapter.IntheAionpassage,however,hesimply calls it a specific content of consciousness, stating by this thatconsciousnessisabroadercategorythantheegoandcontainsmorethanonly

theego.

What is consciousness itself, this field in which the ego is located andwhere it occupies and defines the center? Most simply, consciousness isawareness.Itisthestateofbeingawake,ofobservingandregisteringwhatisgoingonintheworldaroundandwithin.Humansarenot,ofcourse,theonlyconscious beings on earth. Other animals are conscious as well, sinceobviously they can observe and react to their environments in carefullymodulatedways.Plants’sensitivitytotheirenvironmentcanalsobetakenasa form of consciousness. By itself, consciousness does not set the humanspecies apart fromother formsof life.Nor is consciousness something thatsets human adults apart from infants and children. In the strictest sense,human consciousness does not depend for its essential quality upon age orpsychological development at all. A friend who observed the birth of hisdaughter toldmehowmovedhewaswhen,after theplacentawas removedand her eyeswere cleaned, she opened them and looked around the room,taking it in. Obviously this was a sign of consciousness. The eye is anindicatorofthepresenceofconsciousness.Itsalivenessandmovementisthesignalthatanawarebeingisobservingtheworld.Consciousnessdependsnotonlyonsight,ofcourse,butontheothersensesaswell.Inthewomb,beforethe infant’s eyes are functioning to see, it registers sounds, reacts to voicesandtomusic,andindicatesaremarkabledegreeofresponsiveness.Wedonotyet know exactly when the embryo first attains a level of awareness andreactivenessthatcoulddefinitelybecalledconscious,butitisearlyanditiscertainlyintheprenatalperiod.

The opposite of consciousness is deep dreamless sleep, the total lack ofresponsiveness and sentient awareness. And the permanent absence ofconsciousnessfromabodyispracticallyadefinitionofdeath,exceptincasesof longterm coma.Consciousness, even if it is only the potential for futureconsciousness,isthe“lifefactor”;itbelongstolivingbodies.

Whatdevelopmentdoestoconsciousnessisaddspecificcontent.Intheory,human consciousness can be separated from its contents—the thoughts,memories, identity, fantasies, emotions, images, and words that crowd itsspace. But in practice this is almost impossible. In fact, only advancedspiritualadeptsseemable tomake thisdistinctionconvincingly. It is trulyasagewhocanseparateconsciousnessfromitscontentsandkeepthemapart,whoseconsciousnessisnotdefinedbyidentificationswithselectedthoughtsandimages.Formostpeople,consciousnesswithoutastableobjecttogroundit seems to be an exceedingly ephemeral and transient thing. Thesubstantiality of consciousness and the feeling of solidity are typically

provided by stable objects and contents such as images, memories, andthoughts.Substanceandcontinuity inconsciousnessaremadeof these.Yet,as evidence from stroke victims attests, the contents and even the egofunctions of consciousness—thinking, remembering, naming and speaking,recognizing familiar images and persons and faces—are actually moretransient and fragile than is consciousness itself. It is possible to loseone’smemoryentirely,forexample,andstillbeconscious.Consciousnessislikearoom that surrounds the psychic contents that temporarily fill it. Andconsciousnessprecedestheego,whichbecomesitseventualcenter.

The ego, like consciousness, also transcends and outlasts the particularcontents that occupy the room of consciousness at any particular moment.The ego is a focal pointwithin consciousness, itsmost central and perhapsmost permanent feature. Against the opinion of the East, Jung argues thatwithoutanego,consciousnessitselfbecomesquestionable.Butitistruethatcertain ego functions can be suspended or seemingly obliterated withoutdestroyingconsciousnesscompletely,andsoasortofego-lessconsciousness,atypeofconsciousnessthatshowsverylittleevidenceofawillfulcenter,an“I,”isahumanpossibilityatleastforshortperiodsoftime.

For Jung, the ego forms the critical center of consciousness and in factdetermines to a large extent which contents remain within the realm ofconsciousness andwhich ones drop away into the unconscious. The ego isresponsibleforretainingcontentsinconsciousness,anditcanalsoeliminatecontentsfromconsciousnessbyceasingtoreflectthem.TouseFreud’sterm,which Jung founduseful, the ego can “repress” contents it doesnot likeorfinds intolerably painful or incompatible with other contents. It can alsoretrieve contents from storage in the unconscious (i.e., from the memorybank) so long as (a) they are not blocked by defensemechanisms, such asrepression,whichkeepintolerableconflictsoutofreach,and(b)theyhaveastrongenoughassociativeconnectiontotheego—theyare“learned”stronglyenough.

The ego is not fundamentally constituted and defined by the acquiredcontentsofconsciousnesssuchasmomentaryorevenchronicidentifications.Itislikeamirrorormagnetthatholdscontentsinafocalpointofawareness.Butitalsowillsandacts.Asthevitalcenterofconsciousness,itprecedestheacquisitionof language,personal identity,andevenawarenessofapersonalname.Lateracquisitionsoftheego,suchasrecognitionofone’sownfaceandname, are contents that cluster closely around this center of consciousness,and they have the effect of defining the ego and enlarging its range ofexecutive command and self-awareness. Fundamentally, the ego is a virtual

centerofawareness thatexistsat least frombirth, theeye that seesandhasalways seen the world from this vantage point, from this body, from thisindividual point of view. In itself it is nothing, that is, not a thing. It isthereforehighlyelusiveandimpossibletopindown.Onecanevendenythatitexistsatall.Andyet it isalwayspresent. It isnot theproductofnurture,growth,ordevelopment. It is innate.While it canbe shown todevelopandgain strength from this point onward through “collisions” with reality (seebelow),itscoreis“given.”Itcomeswiththeinfant.

AsJungdescribesthepsyche,thereisanetworkofassociationsamongthevariouscontentsofconsciousness.Allofthemarelinkeddirectlyorindirectlytothecentralagency,theego.Theegoisthecenterofconsciousnessnotonlygeographically but also dynamically. It is the energy center thatmoves thecontentsofconsciousnessaroundandarrangestheminordersofpriority.Theegoisthelocusofdecisionmakingandfreewill.WhenIsay,“Iamgoingtothepostoffice,”myegohasmadeadecisionandmobilizesthephysicalandemotional energy necessary to do the job. The ego directs me to the postofficeandgetsmethere.Itistheexecutivewhosetsthepriorities:“Gotothepostoffice,don’tgetdistractedbyyourwish togoforastroll in thepark.”Whiletheegocanberegardedasthecenterofselfishness(ego-ism),itisalsothe center of altruism. In and of itself, the ego, as Jung understood anddescribedit,ismorallyneutral,nota“badthing”asonehearsitreferredtoincommonparlance(“oh,he’sgotsuchanego!”)butanecessarypartofhumanpsychologicallife.Theegoiswhatsetshumansapartfromothercreaturesofnature who also possess consciousness; it also sets the individual humanbeingapartfromotherhumanbeings.Itistheindividualizingagentinhumanconsciousness.

Theegofocuseshumanconsciousnessandgivesourconsciousbehavioritspurposefulness and direction. Because we have an ego, we possess thefreedom to make choices that may defy our instincts for self-preservation,propagation, and creativity. The ego contains our capacity to master largeamounts of material within consciousness and to manipulate them. It is apowerful associative magnet and an organizational agent. Because humanshavesuchaforceatthecenterofconsciousness,theyareabletointegrateanddirectlargequantitiesofdata.Astrongegoisonethatcanobtainandmovearoundinadeliberatewaylargeamountsofconsciouscontent.Aweakegocannot do very much of this kind of work and more easily succumbs toimpulses andemotional reactions.Aweakego is easilydistracted, andas aresultconsciousnesslacksfocusandconsistentmotivation.

It is possible for humans to remain consciouswhile suspendingmuch of

normal ego functioning. Bywillwe can direct ourselves to be passive andinactive and simply to observe theworldwithin orwithout, like a camera.Normally, though, it is not possible to maintain a volitionally restrainedobservational consciousness for agreat lengthof time,because the egoandthewiderpsycheusuallybecomequicklyengagedbywhatisbeingobserved.Whenwewatch amovie, for example,wemay begin by simply observingandtakinginthepeopleandscenery.Butwesoonbegintoidentifywithonecharacter or another, and our emotions become activated. The ego readiesitself to act, and if one has difficulty distinguishing betweenmovie imagesandreality(anotheregofunction)onemaybetemptedtoengageinphysicalbehavior.Thebodythenbecomesmobilized,andtheegoaimsatandintendsa particular course of action. Indeed,movies are structured so that viewerswill take sides emotionally and support whatever a particular character isdoingorfeeling.Engagedinthisway,theegobecomesactivatedasacenterof wishing, hoping, and perhaps even intending. It is conceivable that onewouldmakeamajorlifedecisionwhilewatchingamovieasaconsequenceof the feelings and thoughts generated in consciousness by these images.People have been known to leave a movie theater and become violent orlustful as a direct result of the impact of the movie. The ego has becomeenlistedbyemotion,identification,anddesire,andusesitsdirectivefunctionandenergytoact.

Asbecomesevident,theego’sfreedomislimited.Itiseasilyinfluencedbyboth internal psychic and external environmental stimuli. The ego mayrespondtoathreateningstimulusbytakinguparmsanddefendingitself;oritmaybeactivatedandstimulatedbyaninteriorurgetocreate,ortolove,ortoseekrevenge.Itmayalsorespondtoanegoimpulse—thatis,narcissistically.Itmayinthiswaybeseizedbyaneedforrevenge,forexample.

Wakingconsciousnessisfocused,then,bytheego’sregisteringofinternalandenvironmentalstimuliandphenomenaandputtingthebodyintomotion.Theoriginsoftheego,tosayitagain,extendbackbeforeearliestchildhoodand infancy. Even a very young infant notices shapes in its environment,someofwhichseempleasurable,anditreachesoutforthem.Theseveryearlysignalsofanorganism’sintentionalityareevidencefortheprimordialrootsoftheego,one’s“I-ness.”

Reflecting on the nature and essence of this “I” leads to profoundpsychological questions.What is the ego fundamentally?What am I? Jungwouldsimplysaythattheegoisthecenterofconsciousness.

The“I”feels,perhapsnaively, that ithasexistedforever.Evennotionsof

earlierlifetimessometimestakeonafeelingoftruthandreality.Itisanopenquestionwhetherthe“I”changesessentiallyinthecourseofalifetime.Isnotthe“I”thatcriedformotherattwothesameonethatcriesforalostloveatforty-five or over a lost spouse at eighty?Whilemany features of the egoclearly do develop and change, particularly with regard to cognition, self-knowledge, psychosocial identity, competence, etc., one also senses animportantcontinuityattheheartoftheego.Manypeoplehavebeenmovedtofind the “child within.” This is nothing less than the recognition that theperson I was as a child is the same person I am as an adult. Probably theessential core of the ego does not change over a lifetime. This could alsopossiblyaccountfor thestrongintuitionandconvictionofmanypeoplethatthis coreof the egodoesnotdisappearwithone’sphysicaldeathbut eithergoestoaplaceofeternalrest(heaven,nirvana)orisreborninanotherlifeonthephysicalplane(reincarnation).

Achildfirstsays“I”atabouttwo.Untilthenitreferstoitselfinthethirdpersonorbyname:“Timmiewant”or“Sarahgo.”Whenachildisabletosay“I”andtothinkself-referentially,placingitselfconsciouslyatthecenterofapersonalworldandgivingthatpositionaspecificfirst-personpronoun,ithasmadeagreatleapforwardinconsciousness.Butthisisbynomeansthebirthof the primordial ego. Long before this, consciousness and behavior havebeenorganizedaroundavirtualcenter.Theegoclearlyexistsbeforeonecanrefertoitconsciouslyandreflectively,andtheprocessofcomingtoknowitisgradualandcontinuesthroughoutalifetime.Growingintoself-consciousnessisaprocessthatpassesthroughmanystagesfrominfancytoadulthood.Oneof these Jung describes in some detail inMemories, Dreams, Reflections,when he speaks ofwalking out of a cloud at about the age of thirteen andrealizingforthefirsttime:“NowIammyself.”5

By virtue of this capacity to achieve a high level of self-knowledge andself-awareness-that is, a self-reflective ego—human consciousness differsfrom animal consciousness, at least so far as we presently know. Thisdifference is attributablenotonly tohumanverbal capacity,whichgivesustheabilitytotalkaboutthe“I”thatweknowweareandtherebytoenrichitscomplexity, but to the sheer self-mirroring function present in humanconsciousness.Thisfunctionisprelinguisticandpostlinguistic.Itisknowingthat one is (and later, that onewill die). By virtue of having an ego—thisbuilt-inmirrorwithinconsciousness—wecanknowthatweareandwhatweare. Other animal species also clearly want to live and to control theirenvironments,andtheyshowevidenceofemotionandconsciousnessaswellasintentionality,realitytesting,self-control,andmuchelsethatweassociate

withanegofunction.Butanimalsdonothave,orhavemuchlessof,thisself-mirroringfunctionwithinconsciousness.Theyhave lessofanego.Do theyknow that they are, that they will individually die, that they are separateindividuals?Itisdoubtful.ThepoetRilkeheldthatanimalsdonotfacedeaththewayhumansdo,andthatgivesthemtheadvantageoflivingmorefullyinthe present moment. Animals are not self-conscious in the same way thathumans are, and without language they cannot express whatever self-consciousnesstheydohavewithanydegreeofsophisticationnordifferentiatethemselvesfromotherswiththekindoflinguistictoolshumanspossess.6

After a certain point in development, the human ego and humanconsciousness become largely defined and shaped by the cultural world inwhichapersongrowsupandbecomeseducated.Thisisalayer,orwrapping,ofegostructurethatsurroundsthecentralego.Asachildgrowsintoacultureand learns its forms and habits through family interactions and educationalexperiences in school, this egowrappingbecomes thicker and thicker. Jungreferstothesetwofeaturesoftheegoas“PersonalityNo.1”and“PersonalityNo.2.”7PersonalityNo.2istheinnatecoreego,andPersonalityNo.1istheculturallyacquiredlayeroftheegothatgrowsupovertime.

Somespecificcontentsofaperson’sego-consciousnesscanshowagreatdealofstabilityover time.One’sownname isordinarilyastable featureofconsciousness. It may even seem after a certain point to be permanentlyweldedtotheego.Whileanameisanimpersonalhandleandbelongstothepublicarenaaspartofone’spersona (seechaper5),whenit isspokenbyaparentorachildoraloverittouchesourmostintimateplacesofself-feeling.Yetitmuststillberecognizedthatanameisaculturalartifactandassuchisless securely fixed to the ego than is, for instance, the body. People havechanged their names and remained the same people. So far no one haschangedcompletebodiestoseeifthisisstillthecase;if(orwhen)thiscomesto pass,wewill find out if the ego also transcends the body. I suspect theanswerwillbethatitdoesindeedtranscendthebody,eventhoughitsrelationtothebodyseemstoussocompletelyfused.

Onemight be tempted to define the ego as the body’s consciousness ofitselfasawilling, individual, limited,uniqueentity. Ifonehadbeennameddifferently,itcouldbeargued,one’sessential“I”wouldnotbedifferentthanitis.Butifonehadadifferentbody,wouldtheegobeessentiallyother?Theegoisdeeplyrootedinabody,moresoeventhanitisinculture,butjusthowdeep this connection goes is open to debate. Nevertheless, the ego isprofoundly fearful of the body’s death. It is a fear that the ego’s extinctionwillfollowuponthebody’sdemise.AccordingtoJung,however, theegois

notstrictlylimitedtothesomaticbase.InAionhestatesthattheego“isnotasimple or elementary factor, but a complex one, which as such, cannot bedescribed exhaustively. Experience shows that it rests on two seeminglydifferentbases,thesomaticandthepsychic.”8

InJung’s thinking, thepsychecannotbe reduced toamereexpressionofthebody,theresultofbrainchemistryorsomesuchphysicalprocess.Forthepsyche also partakes ofmind or spirit (the Greekword nous captures bestJung’s thinking on this point), and as such it can and occasionally doestranscenditsphysicallocation.Inlaterchapters,weshallseemorepreciselyhow Jung derives psyche from a combination of physical nature andtranscendent spirit ormind,nous. But, for now, it is sufficient to note thatpsycheandbodyarenotcoterminous,noristheonederivedfromtheother.Theego,too,whichispredominantlytreatedbyJungasacompletelypsychicobject, rests onlypartiallyon a somaticbase.The ego is based in thebodyonlyinthesensethatitexperiencesunitywiththebody,butthebodythattheegoexperiences ispsychic. It is abody image.andnot thebody itself.Thebodyisexperienced“fromthetotalityofendosomaticperceptions,”9thatis,fromwhatonecanconsciouslyfeelof thebody.Theseperceptsof thebody“are produced by endosomatic stimuli, only some of which cross thethresholdofconsciousness.Aconsiderableproportionof thesestimulioccurunconsciously,thatis,subliminally…Thefactthattheyaresubliminaldoesnotnecessarilymeanthattheirstatusismerelyphysiological,anymorethanthis would be true of a psychic content. Sometimes they are capable ofcrossingthethreshold,thatis,ofbecomingperceptions.Butthereisnodoubtthata largeproportionof theseendosomaticstimuliaresimply incapableofconsciousnessandaresoelementarythatthereisnoreasontoassignthemapsychicnature.”10

In this passage, we observe how Jung draws the line on the psyche’sboundary to include ego-consciousness and the unconscious but not thesomaticbaseassuch.Manyphysiologicalprocessesneverpassoverintothepsyche,evenintotheunconsciouspsyche.Inprinciple,theyareincapableofeverbecomingconscious. It isevident that thesympatheticnervoussystem,forinstance,isforthemostpartnotaccessibletoconsciousness.Astheheartbeats,bloodcirculates,andneuronsfire,somebutnotallsomaticprocessescan become conscious. It is not clear just how far the ego’s capacity topenetrate into thesomaticbasecanbedeveloped.Trainedyogisclaimtobeable to exercise very large control over somatic processes. They have beenknown to will their deaths, for example, and to have simply stopped theirheartsatwill.Oneyogi’sabilitytochangethesurfacetemperatureinthepalm

ofhishandbywillwastestedandverified:hecouldwillfullyalteritbytenortwenty degrees. This demonstrates a considerable psychic capacity topenetrate and control the body, but it still leavesmuch territory untouched.How far down into the cellular substructure can the ego penetrate? Can atrained ego shrink a cancerous tumor, for example, or effectivelyovercomehypertension?Manyquestionsremain.

Oneshouldkeep inmind that thereare two thresholds: thefirstseparatesconsciousness from the unconscious, the second separates the psyche (bothconscious and unconscious) from the somatic base. I will discuss thesethresholds ingreaterdetail in later chapters,but fornow it shouldbenotedthattheyarebroadthresholdsandshouldbeconceivedofasfluidboundaries,not fixed and rigid barriers. The psyche is, for Jung, inclusive of bothconsciousnessandtheunconscious,butitdoesnotincludeallofthebodyinitspurelyphysiologicaldimension.Theego,Jungholds,restsonthepsychicsoma, that is, on a body image, and not on the body per se. The ego isthereforeessentiallyapsychicfactor.

TheLocationoftheEgo

The whole territory of the psyche is very nearly coterminous with thepotential rangeof theego.Thepsyche,asJungdefines it in thispassage, isboundedbyand limited towhere theegocan inprinciplego.Thisdoesnotmean thatpsycheandegoare identical, however, since thepsyche includestheunconsciousandtheegoismoreorlesslimitedtoconsciousness.Buttheunconscious isat leastpotentiallyavailable to theego,even if theegodoesnoteveractuallyexperiencemuchofit.Thepointhereisthatthepsycheitselfhasalimit,andthatlimitisthepointatwhichstimuliorextrapsychiccontentscan no longer, in principle, ever be experienced consciously. In Kantianphilosophy,which Jung followed, this nonexperiencable entity is called theDingansich,the“thinginitself.”Humanexperienceislimited.Thepsycheislimited. Jungwas not a pan-psychist, that is, someonewho claims that thepsycheiseverywhereandmakesupeverything.Thebodyliesoutsideofthepsyche,andtheworldisfargreaterthanthepsyche.

We should avoid imposing too much precision on Jung’s use ofterminology, however, particularly on terms like psyche and unconscious.Otherwise we will create tight fits where Jung deliberately left gaps andopenings. Psyche is not precisely co-extensive with the combined territory

conscious-and-unconscious,nor is itexactly limited to the rangeof theego.At theedges,wherepsycheandsomacome togetherandwherepsycheandworld meet, there are shadings of “inside/outside.” These gray areas Jungcallspsychoid .This isanarea thatbehaves inapsyche-likewaybut isnotaltogetherpsychic.It isquasi-psychic.Inthesegrayareasliepsychosomaticpuzzles, for example.Howdomind andbody influence eachother?Wheredoesone leaveoffand theotherbegin?Thesequestionshave stillnotbeenanswered.

Jung draws these subtle distinctions in the Aion passage, where hedescribesthepsychicbaseoftheegothisway:“ontheonehandtheegorestson the total field of consciousness, and on the other, on the sum total ofunconscious contents. These fall into three groups: first, temporarilysubliminalcontents thatcanbereproducedvoluntarily(memory)…second,unconsciouscontentsthatcannotbereproducedvoluntarily…third,contentsthatarenotcapableofbecomingconsciousatall.”11Thisthirdgroupshould,byearlierdefinitions,beleftoutsideofthepsyche,andyetJunghereplacesitinsidetheunconscious.Evidentlyhesawthattheunconsciousreachesaplacewhereitisnolongerpsycheandextendsintononpsychicregions,thatis,intothe“world” beyond the psyche.And yet for a certain distance at least thisnonpsychicworldlieswithintheunconscious.Hereweapproachthebordersof great mysteries: the basis for extrapsychic perception, synchronicity,miraclehealingsofthebody,andothers.

Asascientist,Junghad toprovideargumentsandevidenceforsuchboldhypotheses as the existence of the unconscious, both its personal andcollectiveaspects.Herehemerelyalludestothesearguments,whichinotherwritingsaredeveloped ingreatdetail: “Group twocanbe inferred from thespontaneous irruption of subliminal contents into consciousness.”12 Thisdescribeshowcomplexesaffectconsciousness.“Groupthreeishypothetical;it is a logical inference from the facts underlying group two.”13 CertainconsistentpatternsinthecomplexesledJungtohypothesizethearchetypes.Ifcertain effects are sufficiently strong andpersistent, a scientist formulates ahypothesiswhich,itishoped,willaccountfortheeffectsandleadtofurtherinvestigation.14

The ego, Jung goes on in the Aion text, rests on two bases: a somatic(bodily)andapsychic.Eachofthesebasesismultilayeredandexistspartiallyinconsciousnessbutmostlyintheunconscious.Tosaythattheegorestsonthem is to say that the ego’s roots reach into the unconscious. In its upperstructure,theegoisrational,cognitive,andreality-oriented,butinitsdeeper

and more hidden layers it is subject to the flux of emotion, fantasy, andconflict, and to intrusions from the physical and psychic levels of theunconscious. The ego can be easily disturbed, therefore, both by somaticproblemsandbypsychicconflicts.Apurelypsychicentity,avitalcenterofconsciousness,thehomeofidentityandvolition,theegoinitsdeeperlayersisvulnerabletodisturbancesfrommanysources.

As I pointed out above, the egomust be distinguished from the field ofconsciousnessinwhichitisnestedandforwhichitformsthefocalpointofreference.Jungwrites:“WhenIsaidthat theego‘rests’onthetotalfieldofconsciousnessIdonotmeanthatitconsistsofthis.Werethatso,itwouldbeindistinguishablefromthefieldofconsciousnessasawhole.”15LikeWilliamJames who distinguished between the “I” and the “me,”16 Jung draws adifference between the ego and what James called “the stream ofconsciousness.”Theegoisapointoradotthatdipsintothestreamandcanseparate itself from the streamof consciousness andbecome aware of it assomethingotherthanitself.Consciousnessisnotfullyundertheego’scontrolevenifitgainsdistancefromitsufficienttoobserveandstudyitsflow.Theego moves around within the field of consciousness, observing, selecting,directingmotoractivitytoanextent,butalsoignoringagooddealofmaterialthatconsciousnessisotherwiseattendingto.Ifyoudriveacaronafamiliarroute, theego’sattentionwill frequentlywanderandattend tomattersotherthandriving.Youarrive safelyatyourdestination,havingnegotiated trafficlights and numerous hazardous traffic situations, wondering how you gotthere!Thefocusofattentionwaselsewhere,theegohadwanderedoffandleftthe driving to non-egoic consciousness. Consciousness, meanwhile, asidefromtheego,isconstantlymonitoring,takingin,processing,andreactingtoinformation.Shouldacrisisoccur,theegoreturnsandtakescharge.Theegooftenfocusesonamemory,onathoughtorfeeling,oronplanswhichithaspluckedoutofthestreamofconsciousness.Itleavesotherroutineoperationsto an habituated consciousness. This separability of the ego fromconsciousness is amild andnon-pathological formofdissociation.The egocandissociatefromconsciousness,toadegree.

Although a rudimentary or primitive ego seems to be present from theearliestmomentsofconsciousnessasasortofvirtualcenterorfocalpoint,itdoes grow and develop in important respects during the early phases ofinfancyandlaterchildhood.Jungwrites:“Althoughitsbasesarethemselvesrelativelyunknownandunconscious,bothpsychicandsomatic, theegoisaconscious factor par excellence. It is even acquired, empirically speaking,during the individual’s lifetime. It seems to arise in the first place from the

collision between the somatic factor and the environment, and, onceestablishedasasubject,itgoesondevelopingfromfurthercollisionswiththeouterworldandtheinner.”17Whatmakestheegogrow,accordingtoJung,iswhathecalls“collisions.”Inotherwords,conflict, trouble,anguish,sorrow,suffering. These are what lead the ego to develop. The requirementsmadeuponaperson to adapt tophysical andpsychic environmentsdrawsuponapotentialcenter inconsciousnessandstrengthens itscapacity to function, inorder to focus consciousness and to mobilize the organism in a specificdirection.As a virtual center of consciousness, the ego is innate, but as anactualandeffectivecenter itowesitsstature to thosecollisionsbetweenthepsycho-physical body and an environmental milieu that demands responseand adaptation. A moderate amount of conflict with the environment andsomefrustrationare,therefore,accordingtoJung,thebestconditionsforegogrowth.

Thesecollisionsmaybecatastrophic,however,andleadtoseveredamagetothepsyche.Thenthenascentegoisnotstrengthenedbutratherinjuredandsoseverelytraumatizedthatitslaterfunctioningisradicallyimpaired.Infantabuse and childhood sexual trauma are examples of such psychiccatastrophes.From these theego isoftenpermanently impaired in its lowerpsychicregisters.Cognitively itmaybeable tofunctionnormally,but in itslessconsciouspartstheemotionalturmoilandabsenceofcohesivestructurecreate severe character disorders anddissociative tendencies. Such egos arenot merely vulnerable in a normal fashion—as all egos are—but they arefragile andhyperdefensive.They fragment easily under stress and thereforetendtoresorttoprimitive(butverypowerful)defensestowallofftheworldand to protect the psyche from intrusions and possible injury. Such peoplecannot trust others. Paradoxically, they are also constantly let down andseriously disappointed by others and by life in general. Gradually thesepeople isolate themselves from the environment, which is perceived asoverwhelmingly threatening, and they live out their lives in defensiveisolation.

Thenascentegomightbedescribedasaninfant’scryofanguishsignalingadiscrepancybetweenneedandsatisfaction.Fromthereitbeginstodevelopandeventuallyitbecomesmorecomplex.Bythetimeatwo-year-oldchild’sego is saying “no” to everybody, it is not only coping with environmentalchallenges,butitisalreadytryingtochangeortocontrolmanyaspectsofitsenvironment. That little person’s ego is very busy strengthening itself bycreatingnumerouscollisions,andthat“no!”and“Iwon’t!”areexercisesthatstrengthen the ego as a separate entity and as a strong inner center ofwill,

intentionality,andcontrol.

An ego that has achieved autonomy in childhood feels also thatconsciousness can be harnessed and directed at will. The guardednesscharacteristicoftheoverlyanxiouspersonisanindicationthattheegohasnotfullyachievedthislevelofconfidentautonomy.Moreopennessandflexibilityispossiblewhentheegohasacquiredadegreeofcontrolsufficienttoinsuresurvivalandbasicneed-gratification.

Jung’s notion of ego development arising from collisions with theenvironment offers a creative way of viewing the potential in all of thoseinevitable human experiences of frustration in the face of an ungratifyingenvironment.Astheegotriestoapplyitswill,itmeetsacertainmeasureofresistancefromtheenvironment,andifthiscollisionishandledwelltheresultwill be the ego’s growth. This insight also cautions us against trying toprovide too much insulation for a child against the onslaughts of achallenging reality. For stimulating ego growth, a constant-climatedoverprotectiveenvironmentisnotparticularlyuseful.

PsychologicalTypes

AbriefdiscussionofJung’stheoryofpsychologicaltypesalsobelongsinthischapter on ego-consciousness. The editors of Jung’sCollectedWorks quoteJungintheirintroductorynotetoPsychologicalTypesasviewingthisworktobe “a psychology of consciousness regarded from what might be called aclinicalangle.”18Thetwomajorattitudes(introversionandextroversion)andthe four functions (thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition) have a stronginfluence upon the ego’s orientation as it undertakes its adaptive tasks andrequirements.Thecoreego’sinnatedispositiontowardassumingoneoftheseattitudes and functions forms its characteristic stance toward theworld andtowardassimilatingexperience.

Collisionswithrealityawakenthenascentego’spotentialityandchallengeit to relate to the world. Such collisions also interrupt the psyche’sparticipationmystique19with the surroundingworld.Oncearoused, theegomustadapt itself to realitybywhatevermeansareavailable. Jung theorizedthattherearefoursuchmeansorfunctionsoftheego,eachofwhichcouldbeoriented by either an introverted (i.e., inward-looking) or extroverted(outward-looking) attitude. After a certain amount of ego development has

takenplace, theperson’s innate tendency toorient to theworld,bothwithinandwithout,will reveal itself in certaindefiniteways. Jungargued that theegohasan inborn,genetic tendency topreferoneparticular typeofattitudeandfunctioncombinationandtorelysecondarilyonanothercomplementarycombination for balance, with a third and fourth remaining less used andconsequently lessavailableanddeveloped.Thecombinationsmakeupwhathecalled“psychologicaltypes.”

For example, a person is born with an innate tendency to assume anintrovertedattitudetowardtheworld.Thisfirstmanifestsitselfasshynessinthe infant,and later itdevelops intoapreference topursuesolitary interestssuch as reading and studying. If this is combined with an innate tendencytoward adapting to the environment by using the function of thinking, thisperson will be naturally inclined to adapt to the world by seeking outactivities, such as science or scholarship,whichmatch these tendencies. Insuch arenas this person does well, feels confident, and finds satisfactionfunctioninginawaythatcomesnaturally.Inotherareas,suchassocializingor selling newspaper subscriptions door to door, this introverted thinkingorientation is much less useful, and the person feels at a loss often withconsiderable discomfort and stress. If this person is born into a culture thatrewards the extroverted attitude more than the introverted one, or into afamilythatnegativelyreinforcesintroversion,theegoisforcedtoadapttotheenvironment by developing extroversion. This comes at a high price. Theintrovertedpersonmustassumeagooddealofchronicpsychologicalstressinordertomakethiswork.Sincethisegoadaptationdoesnotcomenaturally,itwillalsostriketheobserverasartificial.Itdoesnotworkverywell,andyetitis necessary. Such a person functions with a handicap, just as a naturalextrovertwouldtakeonahandicapinanintrovertedculture.

Typological differences between people lead to a great deal of conflictwithin families and groups. Children who are typologically different fromtheir parents are often misunderstood and may be coerced into adopting afalse typology that conforms to parental preferences. The child with the“correct” typologicalprofilewillbepreferredandbecomethefavorite.Thissetsthestageforsiblingrivalryandenvy.Eachchildinalargefamilywillbesomewhat different typologically, as the parents usually are also. Theextrovertsmaygangupontheintroverts,andtheintrovertsarenotasgoodatforminggangsandteams.Ontheotherhand,introvertsarebetterathiding.Ifthedifferencesoftypecanberecognizedasapositivevalueandappreciated,therecanbeagreat enrichment in family life andgrouppolitics.Whatonepersoncancontribute,otherswillfindtobebeneficialpreciselybecausethey

arenottunedintothesamewavelength.Recognitionandpositiveappreciationoftypologicaldifferencescanformthebasisforcreativepluralisminfamilialandculturallife.

Thiscombinationofa superior functionandapreferredattitudemakeupthe ego’s singlebest tool for adapting to and interactingwith the inner andouter worlds. The inferior fourth function, on the other hand, is the leastavailable foregoutilization.Thesecondary function is,next to the superiorfunction,themostusefultotheego,andthesuperiorandsecondaryfunctionsin combination aremost frequently and effectively used for orientation andaccomplishment.Asaruleoneofthesetwobestfunctionsisextrovertedandtheotherisintroverted,theextrovertedfunctiongivingareadingofexternalrealityandtheintrovertedfunctionprovidinginformationaboutwhatisgoingonwithin.Theegousesthesetoolstocontrolandtotransformbothinnerandouterworldstothebestofitsability.

Muchofwhatweexperienceofotherpeople,andindeedmuchofwhatwecome to recognize as our own personalities, does not belong to ego-consciousness.Thevitalityapersoncommunicates,thespontaneousreactionsand emotional responses to others and to life, the burst of humor and themoodsandspellsofsadness,thepuzzlingcomplicationsofpsychologicallife—allofthesequalitiesandattributeswillbeassignedtootheraspectsofthelargerpsyche,nottoego-consciousnessassuch.Soitisincorrecttothinkoftheegoasbeingequivalenttothewholeperson.Theegoissimplyanagent,afocus of consciousness, a center of awareness.We can attribute either toomuchortoolittletoit.

PersonalFreedom

Oncetheegohasachievedsufficientautonomyandameasureofcontroloverconsciousness, the feeling of personal freedombecomes a strong feature ofsubjective reality. Throughout childhood and adolescence, the range ofpersonal freedom is tested, challenged, and expanded. Typically a youngpersonliveswithanillusionofmuchgreaterself-controlandfreewillthanispsychologicallytrue.Allthelimitationsonfreedomseemtobeimposedfromtheoutside,fromsocietyandexternalregulations,andthereislittleawarenessof how the ego is just as much controlled from within. Closer reflectionreveals that one is as enslaved to one’s own character structure and innerdemonsastoexternalauthority.Oftenthisisnotrealizeduntilthesecondhalf

of life,when there is typically a dawning awareness that one is one’s ownworstenemy,harshestcritic,andseveresttaskmaster.Fateisspunfromwithinaswellasdictatedfromwithout.

Jung has some thought-provoking reflections to offer on the question ofhowfreethewillactuallyis.Aswewillseeinthechapterstocome,theegoisonly a small part of amuch larger psychologicalworld, like the earth is asmallpartofthesolarsystem.Learningthattheearthrevolvesaroundthesunissimilar tobecomingaware that theegorevolvesaroundagreaterpsychicentity, the self. Both insights are disturbing and destabilizing to the personwhohasputtheegoatthecenter.Thefreedomoftheegoislimited.“Insidethe field of consciousness [the ego] has, aswe say, freewill,” Jungwrites.“By this I do not mean anything philosophical, only the well-knownpsychological fact of ‘free choice’, or rather the subjective feeling offreedom.”20 Within its own domain, ego-consciousness has an amount ofapparentfreedom.Butwhatistheextentofthis?Andtowhatdegreedowemakeour choiceson thebasisof conditioningandhabit?Choosing aCokerather than aPepsi reflects ameasureof freedom,but in fact this choice islimitedbypreviousconditioningsuchasadvertisingandbytheavailabilityorlackofotheralternatives.Achildmaybeencouragedtopracticefreewillandtomakediscriminationsbybeinggivenachoiceamongthreekindsofshirts,forexample.Thechild’segofeelsgratified,foritisfreetochoosetheoneitwants. Yet the child’s will is limited by many factors: the subtle wish toplease the parent, or contrarily thewish to rebel against the parent; by therangeofpossibilitiesoffered;bypeergrouppressuresandrequirements.Ouractual range of free will is, like the child’s, limited by habit, pressure,availability,conditioningandmanyotherfactors.InJung’swords,“justasourfreewillclasheswithnecessityintheoutsideworld,soitalsofindsitslimitsoutside the field of consciousness in the subjective inner world where itcomes into conflictwith the facts of the self.”21 The outsideworld inflictspolitical and economic limitations, but subjective factors limit us equallymuchfromexercisingfreechoice.

Broadlyspeaking,itisthecontentsoftheunconsciousthatcurtailthefreewill of the ego. The Apostle Paul expressed this classically when heconfessed:“Idonotunderstandmyownactions.ForIdonotdowhatIwant,butIdotheverythingIhate…IcanwillwhatisrightbutIcannotdoit.”22Demons of contrariness conflict with the ego. Jung concurs: “just ascircumstancesandoutsideevents‘happen’tousandlimitourfreedom,sotheself acts upon the ego like an objective occurrence,which freewill can doverylittletoalter.”23Whenthepsychetakesovertheegoasanuncontrollable

inner necessity, the ego feels defeated and has to face the requirement ofaccepting its inability to control inner reality just as it has to come to thisconclusionregardingthelargersurroundingsocialandphysicalworlds.Mostpeopleinthecourseoftheirlivescometorealizethattheycannotcontroltheexternalworld,butfairlyfewbecomeconsciousthatinnerpsychicprocessesarenotsubjecttoegocontroleither.

With this discussion we have begun to enter the territory of theunconscious. In the next chapters I will describe Jung’s vision of theunconscious areas of the human psyche, which make up by far the vastmajorityofitsterritory.

2

ThePopulatedInterior(TheComplexes)

In the previous chapter,we saw that ego-consciousness—the surface of thepsyche—issubjecttodisturbancesandemotionalreactionsthatarecreatedbycollisionsbetweentheindividualandtheexternalenvironment.Jungfeltthatthesecollisionsbetweenpsycheandworldhaveapositivefunction.Ifnottooharsh, they tend to stimulateegodevelopmentbecause theydemandgreaterfocusing capacity on the part of consciousness and eventually this leads tostrongerproblem-solvingabilityandgreater individualautonomy.Forced tomakechoicesandtakestands,apersondevelopsthecapacity todomoreofthe same and to do it better. This is like building a muscle by applyingisometric tension. The ego grows throughmany such vigorous interactionswith the world. Dangers, attractions, annoyances, threats, and frustrationsfromotherpeopleandvariousenvironmentalfactorsallarouseacertainlevelof focused energy in consciousness, and the ego is mobilized to deal withtheseaspectsoftheimpingingworld.

Thereareotherdisturbancesofconsciousness,however,thatarenotclearlylinkedtoenvironmentalcausesandareoutofallproportiontotheobservablestimuli. What causes these disturbances are not primarily outer but innercollisions.Peoplesometimesgocrazyforlittleapparentreason.Ortheyhavebizarre internal imaginary experiences that lead to inexplicable forms ofbehavior.Theybecomepsychotic, theyhallucinate, theydream,or they justplain get mad or fall in love or run amuck. Humans do not always actrationallyandbehaveaccordingtoclearcalculationsofpersonalinterest.The“rationalman,”onwhomsomucheconomictheoryisbased,isatbestonlyapartial description of human beings as they actually function. Humans aredrivenbypsychicforces,motivatedbythoughtsthatarenotbasedonrationalprocesses, and subject to images and influences beyond those that can be

measured in the observable environment. In short, we are emotion- andimage-driven creatures as much as we are rational and environmentallyadaptedones.Wedreamasmuchaswecogitate,andwefeelprobablyalotmorethanwethink.Attheveryleast,alotofthinkingiscoloredandshapedbyemotions,andmostofourrationalcalculationsareservantsofourpassionsandfears.ItwastounderstandthislessrationalsideofhumannaturethatledJungtotakeupthetoolsofscientificmethodandspendhislifeinvestigatingwhatshapesandmotivateshumanemotion,fantasy,andbehavior.Thisinnerworldwasaterraincognitainhisday.Andhediscoveredthatitispopulated.

ReachingtheUnconscious

Imagineforamoment that thepsyche isa three-dimensionalobject like thesolarsystem.Ego-consciousnessistheearth,terrafirma;itiswherewelive,at least during ourwaking hours. The space around the earth is filledwithsatellites andmeteorites, some large, some small. This space is what Jungcalled the unconscious, and the objects that we first come across as weventureoutintothisspacearewhathecalledthecomplexes.Theunconsciousispopulatedbycomplexes.ThisistheterritorythatJungexploredinitiallyinhiscareerasapsychiatrist.Helatercalleditthepersonalunconscious.

Hebegantomapthisareaofthepsycheevenbeforehelookedverycloselyattheegocomplexoratthenatureofconsciousness.

Heundertookthisinitialexplorationbyusingascientificinstrumentthatwashighlyregardedattheturnofthecentury,theWordAssociationExperiment.1Later he also employed some insights gleaned from the early writings ofSigmund Freud. Armed with the notion of unconscious determination ofmentalprocessesand theWordAssociationExperiment, Jung leda teamofresearchers on the scientific project of conducting carefully controlledlaboratoryexperimentstoseeifsuchunconsciouspsychologicalfactorscouldbeverifiedempirically.

The results of this project were assembled in the book DiagnostischeAssoziationstudien (Studies in Word Association), edited by Jung. ThesestudieswerecarriedoutatthePsychiatricClinicoftheUniversityofZurichwith the support and encouragement of his teacher, Eugen Bleuler.2 Theprojectwas conceived in 1902 and continued over the next five years.Theresults were singly published between 1904 to 1910 in Journal für

Psychologie und Neurologie. It was in the course of these experimentalstudiesthatJungbegantousetheterm“complex,”whichheborrowedfromtheGermanpsychologistZiehenbutexpandedandenrichedwithagreatdealofhisownresearchandtheorizing.ThistermwaslateralsoadoptedbyFreudandwasusedwidely in psychoanalytic circles3 until Freud and Jung endedtheir relationship,afterwhich itwasmoreor lesscompletelydeleted,alongwithJungandeverything“Jungian,”fromtheFreudianlexicon.

The theoryofcomplexeswasJung’smost importantearlycontribution totheunderstandingoftheunconsciousanditsstructure.PartiallyitwasJung’swayofconceptualizingwhatFreudhadbeenwritingaboutuptothatpointonthe psychological results of repression, on the enduring importance ofchildhood for the structure of character, and on the puzzle of resistance inanalysis. It continues tobeauseful concept in analyticpractice to thisday.Howdidhefirstcometodiscoverandmapthisfeatureoftheunconscious?

The questionwas how to penetrate into themind beyond the barriers ofconsciousness.Consciousnesscanbeinvestigatedbysimplyaskingquestionsandnotingresponses,orbyintrospecting.Buthowcouldonegodeeperintothe subjectiveworldandexplore its structures andworkings?Toget at thisproblem, Jung and a team of fellow psychiatric residents set up a series ofexperimentswith human subjects to see if, by bombarding the psychewithverbalstimuliandobservingtheresponsesinconsciousness—the“tracks,”soto speak, of subtle emotional reactions—they could find evidence ofunderlyingstructures.WorkingcloselywithhiscolleaguesBleuler,Wehrlin,Ruerst,Binswanger,Nunberg,andmostimportantlyRiklin,Jungfirstrefinedthe Word Association Experiment for their purposes and settled on 400common, everyday, seemingly neutral stimulus words—words like table,head,ink,needle,bread,andlamp.4Scatteredamongthesewordsweremoreprovocative ones—war, faithful, to strike, to stroke. This numberwas laterreducedto100.Thesestimuluswords,readonebyonetoasubjectwhohadbeen instructed to respondwith the firstword that came tomind, elicited awidevarietyofreactions.Therewouldbelongpauses,nonsensicalresponses,rhymesand“klang”responses,andevenphysiologicalreactionsthatcouldbemeasuredusingadevicecalledapsychogalvanometer.5

TheinterestingquestionforJungwas,whatishappeninginthepsycheofthe test subjectwhen the stimulusword is spoken?He looked for emotion,and in particular for signs of stimulation of anxiety and its effects uponconsciousness.Theresponsetimeswereclockedandrecordedalongwiththeverbatimresponses.Thenallthestimuluswordswererepeatedasecondtime,

and the subjectwasasked to repeat eachearlier response.Again the resultswere noted. The test was then analyzed, first by calculating the subject’saverage response time, to which all other response times were compared.Somewordsmight takeonesecond toelicit a response,others tenseconds;othersmight produce no response at all as the subject blocked completely.Thenother types of responseswere noted. Somewordswould bemetwithidiosyncratic responses such as rhymes, nonsense words, or uncommonassociations. Jung considered these responses to be complex indicators—signs of anxiety and evidence of defensive reactions against unconsciouspsychological conflicts. What could they tell him about the nature of theunconscious?

TheComplexes

Jungassumed that thedisturbancesofconsciousness,whichwere registeredandmeasuredas responses to theseverbalstimuli,weredue tounconsciousassociationstothewordsread.HerehisthinkingwascongruentwithFreud’sas expressed inThe InterpretationofDreams,where Freud had argued thatdream images could be linked up with thoughts and feelings from theprevious day (or even from previous years, including the time all the waybacktoearlychildhood).Suchassociations,however,areextremelyobscureandhidden.Theassociationsexist, Jungreasoned,notbetween thestimulusand response words, but rather between the stimulus words and hidden,unconscious contents. Some stimulus words activate unconscious contents,and these are associated with yet other contents. When stimulated, thisnetworkofassociatedmaterial—madeoutof repressedmemories, fantasies,images, thoughts—produces a disturbance in consciousness. The complexindicatorsarethesignsofdisturbance.Preciselywhatcausesthedisturbancestillneedstobeferretedout,andthiswasdonethroughfurtherquestioningofthe subject and then through more analysis if that was needed. But thedisturbances registeredby thisexperimentprovided thekeysites for furtherexploration and offered evidence that unconscious structures were indeedlocatedbeneath the levelofawareness.Often subjectsdidnotat firstknowwhycertainwordscausedthesereactions.

Jungobservedthatmeasurabledisturbancesinthestreamofconsciousnessaresometimesrelatedtoseeminglyinnocuousstimuluswordslike“table”or“barn.”Analyzingthepatternsofresponse,hefoundthatthewordsshowing

disturbancecanbeclustered thematically.Theseclusterspoint toacommoncontent.Whenthesubjectswereaskedtotalkabouttheirassociationstotheseclustersofstimuluswords,theygraduallywereabletotellhimabouthighlychargedemotionalmomentsintheirpast.Usuallytraumaswereinvolved.Thestimuluswords,itturnedout,hadarousedpainfulassociationsthathadbeenburied in the unconscious, and these stressful associations were what haddisturbed consciousness. The unconscious contents responsible for thedisturbancesofconsciousnessJungcalled“complexes.”

Having established that complexes exist in the unconscious, Jung wasinterestedinexaminingthemfurther.WithtoolssuchastheWordAssociationExperiment he could measure them rather precisely. Exact measurementcould transformvague intuitions and speculative theories intodata and intoscience,afactverypleasingtoJung’sscientifictemperament.Jungfoundthathe couldmeasure the emotional charge held by a particular complex if hesimply added up the number of complex indicators it generated and theseverityof thesedisturbances.This indicated tohim the relativequantityofpsychic energy bound up in that complex. Investigation of the unconsciouscould thusbequantified.This informationwouldalsobecomeimportantfortherapy,asaguidetowherethemostsevereemotionalproblemsofapatientwere located and what work needed to be done in the treatment. It isespeciallyusefulforshort-termpsychotherapy.

TheresultsofhisexperimentsconvincedJungthatthereareindeedpsychicentities outside of consciousness, which exist as satellite-like objects inrelation to ego-consciousness but are able to cause ego disturbances in asurprisingandsometimesoverwhelmingway.Theyarethegremlinsandinnerdemons that may catch a person by surprise. The disturbances caused bycomplexesmustbedifferentiated,understandably,fromdisturbancesbroughtaboutbystressorsoriginatingintheexternalenvironment,eventhoughtheymayandoftendorelateintimatelytooneanother.

When Jung sent hisDiagnostischen Assoziationstudien to Freud inApril1906,Freudimmediatelyrecognizedakindredspiritandwrotehimawarmletterof thanks.The twomenmet ayear later, and from thatmomentuntiltheyfinallyendedtheircorrespondenceearlyin1913,theirrelationshipwasemotionally and intellectually filled with high purpose and intensity. Onemight say that they succeeded in stimulating core complexes in each other.Certainly they connected profoundly around their shared interest in theunconscious. For Jung, the personal connection with Freud had enormousimplicationsforhiscareerinpsychiatryandalsoforthelaterdevelopmentofhisownpsychologicaltheory.Bothhiscareerandhistheorytooktheirearly

shape in the shadow of Freud’s growing cultural presence.And yet, for allthat, Jung’s final map of the inner world is remarkably independent ofFreudianinfluence.Jung’smindwasfundamentallynon-Freudian,andsohismap of the psyche is vastly different from Freud’s. For readers who arefamiliarwithFreud’swork,thiswillbecomeevidentintheremainderofthisbook.Thesetwomenlivedindifferentintellectualuniverses.

By1910,Jung’stheoreticalworkonthecomplexeswaslargelycomplete.Inlateryearshewouldcontinuetoelaborateitabit,buthedidnotaddmuchnew material or change his mind about the basic concept of the complexexcept to add that every complex contains an archetypal (i.e., innate,primitive) component. His paper, “A Review of the Complex Theory,”6publishedin1934,offersanexcellentsummary.WrittenlongafterhisbreakwithFreud,Jungmakessomehighlycomplimentaryreferencestohisformerteacher and colleague and to psychoanalysis generally as he acknowledgesFreud’ssignificanceforhisownworkonthetheoryofcomplexes.IfFreud’sinfluenceistobefoundimportantlyanywhereinJung’stheories,itishere.

ItisworthnotingthatJungdelivered“AReviewoftheComplexTheory”in May 1934 in Bad Neuheim, Germany at the 7th Congress forPsychotherapy.At the time,Jungwaspresidentof theInternationalMedicalSociety for Psychotherapy, which sponsored this conference. The politicalsituationinGermanywasatthetimefraughtwithconflictandconfusion.TheNazis, having recently taken power, were attacking Freud, a Jew, as apoisonous influence to be expunged from German culture. Freud’s bookswere burned and his ideas violently opposed. Jung, who had been vicepresident of theorganization andhad accepted thepresidency in1933,wasfacedwithacomplicatedanddangeroussetofpoliticaloptions.On theonehand, itwas a terrible time to be the leader of any type of organization inGerman-speaking lands.TheNaziswatched likehawks for the least signofdeparturefromtheirracistdoctrines.Thismedicalsocietywasnoexception.JungwasheavilypressuredtosaywhattheGermanofficialswantedtohearandtoconformtotheirprogram.Ontheotherhand,itwasamomentwhenanon-German psychiatrist could possibly make a difference in thisinternationalassociation.ItwasJung’s intent topreservetheorganizationasan international medical society. One of his first acts as president was tomodify the constitution so thatGerman Jewishdoctors couldmaintain theirmembershipasindividualmemberseventhoughtheywereexcludedfromallGermanmedicalsocieties.In1933therewasnowaytoknowhoweffectiveandall-consumingtheevilimpulseoftheNazileaderswouldturnouttobe.

On the shadow side of the ledger, however, this was also a moment of

professional opportunity for Jung. Freud had been pre-eminent amongpsychiatrists and psychologists in Germany for the past decade, and nowJung’s ideas had a chance to come to the fore. Jung was walking amoraltightrope. The world was watching, and every move he made during thisperiodinfluencedpublicopinion.Jung’sdecisiontoacceptthepresidencyofthismedicalorganizationin1933andhissubsequentroleinituntil1940havebeen the cause for agreatdealofheateddiscussion thenandnow.Chargesthat Jung was sympathetic to Hitler’s policies and to the Nazi program of“purifying” the German volk have an important source in the things heactually, perhaps inadvertently andunder severe political pressure, said anddidinhisfirstyearsaspresident.7

One item in Jung’s favor is that he did present this particular paper, “AReview of the Complex Theory,” at Bad Neuheim in 1934, for in thispresidentialaddresshedoesnotdiscounttheimportanceofFreud.Infact,hecreditshimwithasmuchinfluenceashecouldreasonablybeexpectedtogivetoanearlymentorwithwhomhehadbrokenandtowhomhehadnotspokenfortwentyyears.In1934,itwascourageoustospeakinevenmildlypositivetones about Freud in Germany. Jung was if anything protecting Freud’sinternationalreputationbygivinghimsomuchcreditinthispaper.

The paper begins with a discussion of the word association work Jungsponsoredandcarriedout in theearlyyearsofhiscareer.Having learnedagreatdeal in themeantimeabouthowhumanbeingsreact tooneanother inclinicalandotherintimatesettings,hestartsbyfocusingonthepsychologicaldimensionsof theexperimental situation.Hepointsout that inandof itselfthis testing situation already leads to the constellation of complexes.Personalitiesaffecteachother,andwhentheybegintointeractapsychicfieldissetupbetweenthemwhichstimulatesthecomplexes.

The term “constellation” appears frequently in Jung’s writings and is animportantoneintheJungianlexicon.Itisawordthatoftenmystifiesreadersatfirst.Usuallyitreferstothecreationofapsychologicallychargedmoment,a moment when consciousness either already is, or is about to become,disturbedbyacomplex.“Thistermsimplyexpressesthefactthattheoutwardsituationreleasesapsychicprocessinwhichcertaincontentsgathertogetherandprepareforaction.Whenwesaythatapersonis‘constellated’wemeanthathehas takenupapositionfromwhichhecanbeexpected toreact inaquitedefiniteway.”8Complexreactionsarequitepredictableonceoneknowswhat the specific complexesof an individual are.We refer to the complex-ladenareasofthepsychecolloquiallyas“buttons,”asin“Sheknowshowtopress my buttons!” When you press such a button, you get an emotional

reaction.Inotherwords,youconstellateacomplex.Afteryouhaveknownapersonforawhile,youknowwheresomeoftheirbuttonsareandeitheravoidthesetenderareasorgooutofyourwaytotouchthem.

Experientiallyeveryoneknowswhatitmeanstobeconstellated.Itoccursonaspectrumfrombeingslightlyanxioustolosingitandgoingoverthetopintomadness.Whenacomplexisconstellated,oneisthreatenedwithlossofcontrol over one’s emotions and to some extent also one’s behavior. Onereacts irrationally and often regrets it or thinks better of it later. For thepsychologically-minded,thereisthedepressingknowledgethatonehasbeenheremanytimesbefore,hasreactedinjustthiswayonmanyoccasions,andyet is utterly helpless to refrain fromdoing the same thing again this time.Whenconstellated,oneisasthoughinthegripofademon,aforcestrongerthanone’swill.Thiscreatesa feelingofhelplessness.Evenasonewatchesoneself becoming the witless victim of an inner compulsion to say or dosomething one knows should better be left unsaid or undone, the scenariounscrollsaspredictedandthewordsaresaid,thedeedsdone.Anintrapsychicforcehasbeencalledintoactionbyaconstellatingsituation.

The architects of these constellations “are definite complexes possessingtheir own specific energy.”9 The complex’s “energy” (this term will bediscussedmorethoroughlyinthenextchapter)referstothepreciseamountofpotentialforfeelingandactionthatisboundupinthemagnet-likecoreofthecomplex.Thecomplexeshaveenergyandmanifestasortofelectronic“spin”of their own, like the electrons surrounding the nucleus of an atom.Whentheyarestimulatedbyasituationoranevent,theygiveoffaburstofenergyandjumplevelsuntiltheyarriveinconsciousness.Theirenergypenetratestheshellofego-consciousnessandfloodsintoit,therebyinfluencingittospininthe same direction and to discharge some of the emotional energy that hasbeen released by this collision. When this happens, the ego is no longeraltogether in control of consciousness or, for that matter, of the body. Theperson becomes subject to energic discharges that are not under the ego’scontrol.Whattheegocando,ifitisstrongenough,istocontainsomeofthecomplex’s energy within itself and to minimize emotional and physicaloutbursts.But,toadegree,noneofusiswhollyresponsibleforwhatwesayanddowhileinthegripofacomplex.Needlesstosay,thisdoesnotconstituteaneffectivedefense inacourtof law.Sometimessocietydemandsahigherstandardthanthepsychewillallow.

The complexity (pardon the pun) of the psyche is becoming apparent. Infact,Jung’stheorywassometimescalledcomplexpsychology(ratherthanthemore usual name for it, analytical psychology): both complexity and the

conceptofcomplexesarefundamentaltohisviewofthepsyche.Thepsycheismadeupofmanycenters,eachofthempossessingenergyandevensomeconsciousnessandpurposeoftheirown.

Inthisconceptualizationofthepersonality,theegoisonecomplexamongmany.Eachhas itsownspecificquantumofenergy.Whenwespeakof theego’senergy,wecallit“freewill.”Ifwewishtorefertotheamountofenergytiedupinacomplex,wecanspeakofthepowerofourinnerdemons.Theseare the irrationalcompulsions thatcanseizeusanddowithusmoreor lesswhattheywant.Acomplexgenerallycreatesitseffectswithinthedomainofconsciousness, but this is not always so. Sometimes the disturbances occuroutside of the psyche altogether. Jung observed that a complex can affectobjectsandotherpeopleinthesurroundingworld.Itcanactasapoltergeistorasubtleinfluenceonotherpeople.

Jungmadeanotherinterestingobservationaboutcomplexes.Apersoncansometimesblocktheeffectsofastimulusandfendofftheconstellationofacomplex: “subjects with strong wills can, through verbal-motor facility,screenoff themeaningofastimuluswordbyshortreactiontimesinsuchaway that it does not reach them at all, but this only works when reallyimportant personal secrets have to be protected.”10 Thismeans that peoplecancontroltheirunconsciousreactionsbydeliberatelyscreeningoutstimuli.Toovercomethisobstacleinthetestingsituation,Jungcookedupwhatistheprecursorof the liedetector test. Itwasan ingeniousextensionof theWordAssociationExperiment.

By measuring the skin’s electrical conductivity with a psycho-galvanometer, Jung showed that changes in conductivity correlate withcomplex indicators. In otherwords,when a person lies or tries to hide theevidence of a complex-charged reaction, the ego may be able to cover upsomeoftheindicators,butithasamuchmoredifficulttimesuppressingthemore subtle physiological responses. In response to a complex-stimulatingword or question a person might get sweaty palms or begin shivering orexperience dryness of the mouth. By measuring skin conductivity, Jungintroducedamorerefinedmethodofcollectingcomplexindicators.Byusingthis device, Jung was able to solve a case of robbery in his psychiatrichospital.11Needlesstosay,thismethodisnotinfallible.

Most people’s egos will normally be able to neutralize the effects ofcomplexestosomedegree.Thisabilityservestheinterestsofadaptationandevensurvival.Thisisakin(orperhapsidentical)totheabilitytodissociate.Ifonecouldnotdothis,theegowouldbecomedysfunctionaljustatthemoment

ofgreatestdangerwhenkeepingacoolhead ismostdesperatelyneeded. Inprofessionallife,itisessentialtoputone’spersonalcomplexestothesideforthe sake of carrying onwith one’s job. Psychotherapists have to be able tobracket their own emotions and personal conflicts when they are seeingpatients. In order to be present for a patientwhose life is in shambles, thetherapistmuststaycalmeventhoughthismaybeamomentofchaos in thetherapist’sownlife.Allprofessionsdemand that the jobgetdonenomatterwhatisgoingoninpersonallife.Astheysayintheater,theshowmustgoon.This requires the ability to override the effects of complexes upon ego-consciousness to at least some degree. In discussing this ability to containone’s own personal anxieties and complex reactions, Jung refers to aconsummatemasterofthisart,thediplomatTalleyrand.Diplomatsoperateoninstructionfromheadsofstateanduseavocabularythatbetrayslittleoftheirownfeelingorpreference.Theyprizetheartofspeakingintermsthatconcealemotion and hide complex indicators. And they have the advantage of notbeinghookeduptopsychogalvanometers.

LevelsoftheUnconscious

Usually one considers complexes to be “personal.”And it is true thatmostcomplexes are generated in a person’s own specific life history and belongstrictlytotheindividual.Buttherearealsofamilyandsocialcomplexes.Suchcomplexes belong no more to the individual than a disease belongs to anindividual. It belongs to a collective, and the individual “catches” it. Thismeans that in society many people are similarly wired, psychologicallyspeaking. People who grow up in the same families or extended kinshipgroupsortraditionalculturesshareagreatdealofthiscommonunconsciousstructure. Even in a large and diverse society like America, many typicalexperiences are shared throughout the entire population.Nearly every childbeginsschoolattheageoffiveorsix,experiencesthesamestressoftestsandtraumaoffailuresandhumiliations,thengoesthroughtheanxietyofapplyingto colleges for further education or to businesses for jobs. All of thesecommonexperiencesat thehandsofsimilarlydisposedpersons inauthoritycreate socially based psychological patterns through a kind of subtleprogrammingof thepersonal unconscious.Shared traumasmake for sharedcomplexes. Sometimes these are generational. Earlier, one often spoke of a“depressionmentality”characteristicofpeoplewhocameofageinthe1930s

and shared the trauma of the Great Depression. Today we speak of the“Vietnam veteran” and assume that all who participated in this war sharemoreorlessthesametypeofcomplex-formationfromthetraumasoffightinginthatwar.

Wecanthinkhereofaculturallayeroftheunconscious,asortofculturalunconscious.12Itispersonalinthesensethatitisacquiredintheindividual’slifetime, but it is collective because it is shared with a group. Theunconscious, at this level, is structured by larger cultural patterns andattitudes,andtheseendupinfluencingtheindividual’sconsciousattitudesandthe more unique complexes within a nexus of unconscious culturalassumptions. (The cultural unconscious is different from the collectiveunconscious,whichIwilldiscussinchapter4.)

This raises the interesting question of how complexes are formed. Theusualanswer isby trauma.But thismustbeput intoawidersocialcontext.SomeofJung’sstudies inwordassociationlookedat thequestionoffamilyinfluencesontheformationofunconsciouscontentsinchildren.ThroughtheWordAssociationExperimenthefoundstrongevidenceofstrikinglysimilarpatterns of complex formation among family members—between mothersanddaughters,fathersandsons,andmothersandsons,forexample.Ofthesecombinations,theclosestweremothersanddaughters.Theirresponsestothestimulus words revealed nearly identical anxieties and conflicts. From thisJung concluded that the unconscious is importantly patterned by closerelationships in the familyenvironment.Exactlyhow this takesplace isnotclearfromhiswork.Isitbysomesortoftransmission?Isitbyrepetitionofsimilartraumaspassedalongthroughthegenerations?Thisisnotanswered.

Laterinachild’sdevelopmenttheseearlypsychicstructuresaremodifiedsignificantlybyexposuretothewiderculture.Thepsyche’sconstantexposuretosocialandculturalstimuli,fromTVandschool,becomesafactorinlaterstages of childhood, and this reduces the psychological influence of ethnicandfamilycultures,atleastinapluralisticsocietylikeAmerica’s.Whenthepeergroupbecomes central, it generates important new structural elements,manyofthembased,however,oncommonlyavailableculturalpatterns.Andyet the early family-induced complexes do not disappear from the psyche.The mother and father complexes continue to dominate the scene in thepersonalunconscious.13Theyarethegiants.

PsychicImages

Togetatthebasicstructureofthecomplex,itmustbebrokendownintoitsparts.“Whatthen,scientificallyspeaking,isa‘feeling-tonedcomplex’?”Jungasks. “It is the image of a certain psychic situation which is stronglyaccentuated emotionally and is, moreover, incompatible with the habitualattitude of consciousness.” 14 The word “image” is key here. It is anextremely important term for Jung. Image defines the essence of psyche.Sometimes Jung uses thewordLatin imago rather than image to refer to acomplex.The“motherimago”isthemothercomplex,asdistinguishedfromthe actual mother. The point is that the complex is an image and as suchbelongsessentially to thesubjectiveworld; it ismadeofpurepsyche, so tospeak,althoughitalsorepresentsanactualperson,experience,orsituation.Itshouldnotbemistaken forobjective reality—foranotheractualpersonoramaterialbody.Thecomplexisaninnerobject,andatitscoreitisanimage.

Surprisingly,theremaybeaclosecorrespondencebetweenapsychicimageand external reality, even when no chance exists that the psyche has beenimprinted by it or recorded it from experience. Konrad Lorenz, a famousethologist, studied innate reflex responses in some animals in reaction tospecificstimuli.Forexample,chickswhohadneverbeenexposedtochickenhawks knew to run for cover when a chicken hawk flew overhead and itsshadow appeared on the ground.Using devices that ran onwires overheadandcastshadowsresemblingthechickenhawk,ethologistshaveshownthatuntutored chicks, seeing the shadow, will run for cover. The defensiveresponse toapredator isbuilt into thechick’s system,and the imageof thepredatorisinnateandrecognizedwithouthavingtobelearned.

Complexesoperateinasimilarway,onlyinhumanstheyseemtobeonlyquasi-instinctive rather than truly instinctive. They act like instincts in thatthey produce spontaneous reactions to particular situations or persons, buttheyarenotpurelyinnateinthesamewaythatinstinctsare.Mostlytheyareproducts of experience—trauma, family interactions and patterns, culturalconditioning. These are combined with some innate elements, which Jungcalled archetypal images, to make up the total package of the complex.Complexesarewhatremaininthepsycheafterithasdigestedexperienceandreconstructed it into inner objects. In human beings, complexes function astheequivalentofinstinctsinothermammals.Imagoes,orcomplexes,are,inamannerofspeaking,constructedhumaninstincts.

Dreams aremade out of these unconscious images, the complexes. Jungspeaksinvariousplacesofcomplexesasbeingthearchitectsofdreams.Overaperiodoftime,dreamspresentimages,patterns,repetitions,andthemesthatgiveusapictureofwhataperson’scomplexeslooklike.

“Thisimagehasapowerfulinnercoherence,ithasitsownwholenessand,inaddition,a relativelyhighdegreeofautonomy,so that it issubjectof thecontroloftheconsciousmindtoonlyalimitedextent,andthereforebehaveslike an animated foreign body in the sphere of consciousness.”15 Each ofthese features of the image—its inner coherence, its wholeness, and itsautonomy—are important aspects of Jung’s definition of the complex. Acomplexpossessespsychicsolidity;itisstableandenduresthroughtime.Leftin its own spacewithout intervention or challenge by ego-consciousness, acomplextendsnottochangeverymuch.Onecanwitnessthisinrepetitionsofthesamepatternsofemotionalreactionanddischarge,thesamemistakes,thesameunfortunatechoicesmadeoverandoveragaininaperson’slife.

Analysistriestouncoverthecomplexesandexposethemtotheconsciousreflectionoftheego.Thisinterventioncanalterthemsomewhat.Inanalysisaperson learnshow thecomplexes function,what triggers their constellation,andwhat can prevent their endless repetition.Without such intervention onthepartoftheego,acomplexwillbehavelikeananimatedforeignbodyoraninfection. In the grip of a complex, a person can feel quite helpless andemotionallyoutofcontrol.

Generally, thepsychologicaleffectsofcomplexconstellationsperseverateoveranextendedperiodoftimeafterthestimulushasleftoffimpactingthepsyche. “Certain experimental investigations seem to indicate that [thecomplex‘s] intensity or activity curve has a wavelike character with a’wavelength’ of hours, days, or weeks.”16 The stimulus that provokes thecomplexmaybeslightorgreat,oflongorshortduration,butitseffectsonthepsyche can continue for extended periods of time and can come intoconsciousness inwavesofemotionoranxiety.Oneof thesignsofeffectivepsychotherapy is that the complex-induced disturbances perseverate forshorter lengths of time than they did before. A more rapid recovery fromcomplex-induced disturbances indicates increased ego strength andintegrationofpsychicmaterial,aswellasdecreasedpowerinthecomplexes.A shortened perseveration time means that the complex’s power hasdiminished.Nevertheless,itmustberecognizedthatacomplexcanneverbecompletely eliminated. The wavelike effects of complex “after-shock” areexhaustinganddraining.Thedischargeofapowerfulcomplexcanconsumeanenormousamountofpsychicandphysicalenergy.

PersonalityFragments

The complexes can be thought of, too, as personality fragments orsubpersonalities. Every adult’s personality is somewhat vulnerable todisintegration because it is constructed of large and small fragments.Thesecan come unglued. “My findings in regard to complexes corroborate thesomewhatdisquietingpictureofthepossibilitiesofpsychicdisintegration,forfundamentally there is no difference in principle between a fragmentarypersonalityandacomplex.Theyhaveall theessential features incommon,until we come to the delicate question of fragmented consciousness.Personalityfragmentsundoubtedlyhavetheirownconsciousness,butwhethersuch small psychic fragments as complexes are also capable of aconsciousness of their own is a still unanswered question.”17 Jung is hereraising an important but extremely subtle question about the differencesbetweennormaldissociation,moreseveredissociativedisorders,andmultiplepersonalitydisorder.

Everyhumanbeingcananddoesfromtimetotimedissociate,inthesenseof experiencing mild altered states of consciousness or splitting off fromtraumatic experience in order to keep functioning. Being “in complex” isitself a state of dissociation. Ego-consciousness becomes disturbed and,dependingupon theextentof thedisturbance, canbe thrown intoa stateofconsiderabledisorientationandconfusion.Sincecomplexespossessatypeofconsciousnessintheirownright,apersonwhois“incomplex”isinasortofstate of possession by an alien personality. In the multiple personalitydisorder, these various states of consciousness are not held together by aunifying consciousness, and the ego is not able to bridge thepsychic spaceamong the pieces. In this case, the ego is restricted to fragments ofconsciousness,whileeachothercomplexpossessesasortofegoofitsown,eachoperatingmoreorlessindependently.Eachhasitsownidentityandevenits own type of control over somatic functions. Some studies of multiplepersonalities have indicated surprising psyche-soma connections in each ofthe subpersonalities, to the extent that one personality may show physicalcapacities or difficulties not displayed by others. One personality may beallergictotobaccosmoke,anothercanbeachainsmoker.

The multiple personality represents an extreme form of personalitydissociation. The integration processes normally active in the psyche havebeen thwarted by severe (usually sexual) childhood trauma.But to a lesserdegree,everyonehasmultiplepersonalities,becauseeveryonehascomplexes.Thedifferenceliesinthefactthatcomplexesareasarulesubordinatedtoanintegrated ego, and ego-consciousness is maintained when a complex isconstellated.Ingeneral,thecomplexeshavelessenergythantheegohas,and

theyshowonlyminimalconsciousnessoftheirown.Theego,incontrast,hasconsiderable energy andwill at its disposal, and it is the primary center ofconsciousness.

While the ego is responsible for much of what we call motivation andpurpose,theothercomplexesalsoseemtohaveaseparatepurposeandwill.Often this is in conflict with what the ego complex wants at a particularmoment. Jungdescribes complexes as “the actors inourdreams,whomweconfront so powerlessly; they are the elfin beings so aptly characterized inDanish folkloreby thestoryof theclergymanwho tried to teach theLord’sprayertotwoelves.Theytookthegreatestpainstorepeatthewordsafterhimcorrectly, but at the very first sentence they could not avoid saying: ‘OurFather,whoarenotinheaven’.Asonemightexpectontheoreticalgrounds,these impish complexes areunteachable.” 18Themoral of this story is thatcomplexes cannot bemade to dowhat the egowants them todo.They areintractable. They are like frozen memory images of traumatic experiences.And they are not experienced only in dreams but in everyday life aswell,wheretheyleavetheegofeelingequallypowerless.

TheStructureofComplexes

Furtheronthestructureofthecomplex,Jungdescribesitasbeingmadeupofassociatedimagesandfrozenmemoriesoftraumaticmomentsthatareburiedintheunconsciousandnotreadilyavailableforretrievalbytheego.Thesearerepressed memories. What knits the various associated elements of thecomplex together and holds them in place is emotion. This is the glue.Furthermore, “the feeling-toned content, the complex, consists of a nuclearelementanda largenumberof secondarilyconstellatedassociations.”19Thenuclear element is the core image and experience onwhich the complex isbased—the frozen memory. But this core turns out to be made up of twoparts: an image or psychic trace of the originating trauma and an innate(archetypal) piece closely associated to it. The dual core of the complexgrows by gathering associations around itself, and this can go on over thecourseofanentirelifetime.If,forexample,amanremindsawomanofherharsh,abusivefatherbyhistoneofvoice,byhiswayofreactingtolife,byhisintensityofemotionalresponse,andsoon,hewillunderstandablyconstellateherfathercomplex.Ifsheinteractswithhimoveraperiodoftime,materialwillbeaddedtothatcomplex.Ifheabusesher, thenegativefathercomplex

will be further enriched and energized, and she will become all the morereactive in situationswhere the father complex is constellated. Increasinglyshemayavoidsuchmenentirely,orontheotherhandshemayfindherselfirrationally drawn to them. In either case, her life becomesmore andmorerestrictedbythiscomplex.Thestrongerthecomplexes,themoretheyrestricttherangeoftheego’sfreedomofchoice.

That complexes can be modified by later experience is of course to thebenefitoftheindividual,andthehealingpotentialofpsychotherapydependsupon this. Therapy involves a kind of thawing out of the frozen memoryimages.Itcanrestructurethepersonalitytosomeextentbecausetransferenceallows the therapist to stand in for (amongother figures of the psyche) theparents, both mother and father, at different stages of therapy. When aparentalcomplexisconstellatedbythetherapist,thepatient’sexperienceofadifferentkindofparentfigureaddsmaterialtotheoldcomplexandbuildsanewlayerinto,orover,it.Thisnewstructuredoesnotentirelyreplacetheold,but it can importantlymodify it, to the pointwhere the complex no longerrestrictsaperson’slifeinsuchadebilitatingway.Theharshnessofanabusiveparentimagomaybesoftened—thawedout—oroffsetbynewstructures.

The other piece of the complex’s nuclear core is “a factor innate in theindividual’s character and determined by his disposition.” 20 This piece isarchetypal.Inthecaseofparentalcomplexes,forinstance,itisanarchetypalimage ofMother or Father, an image derived not frompersonal experiencebut from the collective unconscious. The archetypal elements in thepersonality are innate dispositions to react, behave, and interact in certaintypical and predictable ways. They are similar to the innate releasemechanismsofanimals.Theyareinheritedandnotacquired,andtheybelongtoeachhumanbeingbyvirtueofbeingbornhuman.Theyarewhatmakeusuniquelyandcharacteristicallyhuman.Notonlythebodybutalsothesoul—thepsyche—isspecificallyhumanandcreates thepreconditionsforall laterexperience,development,andeducation.IwillexpanduponJung’stheoryofarchetypes in later chapters. For now it is sufficient to recognize that thearchetypal elements of the psyche are experienced in everyday life throughtheexperienceofthecomplexes.

Generallyspeaking,complexesarecreatedbytrauma.Priortothetrauma,thearchetypalpieceexistsasan imageandamotivating forcebutdoesnothavethesamedisturbingandanxiety-producingqualitiesofthecomplex.Thetrauma creates an emotionally charged memory image that becomesassociatedwithanarchetypalimage,andtogetherthesefreezeintoamoreorlesspermanentstructure.Thisstructurecontainsaspecificamountofenergy,

andwiththisitcantieinotherassociatedimagestocreateanetwork.Thusacomplex becomes enriched and extended by later experiences of a similarsort.Butnotalltraumasareofanexternalnatureorareinflictedbyabrasivecollisionswiththeenvironment.Therearetraumasthatoccurmostlyinternaltotheindividualpsyche.Jungindicatesthatcomplexesmayalsobecreatedorsupplemented by a “moral conflict, which ultimately derives from theapparent impossibility of affirming the whole of one’s nature.”21Everchangingmoralattitudesinoursocietymakeitimpossibletoaffirmourwholenesscompletelyinmanysituations.Wehavetodenyourtruefeelingsandrefrainfromexpressingtheminordertogetalongor,occasionally,eventosurvive.Makingsuchsocialadjustmentsforthesakeofadaptationcreatesasocialmask,a“persona,”thatexcludesessentialpartsofoneself.Ingeneral,people prefer to be included in their social groups, and those who bluntlyspeaktheirmindsordonotconformtogroupstandardstendtobeostracizedor marginalized. This social dilemma puts a person into what Jung calls amoral conflict.At the deepest level, the imperative is to bewhole.Humannaturerebelsagainstthestricturesofsocietyandcultureiftheytooseverelyinhibit this innate drive toward wholeness, and this is a further source ofcomplexes.

This was the issue that Freud took up in Vienna, a society that wasofficially sexually inhibited but also quite blatantly hypocritical about itssexualmores.Freuddemonstratedhowtheconflictsaroundsexualitybecomerooted in psychological patterns and produce neurosis. Sexuality, which isbuilt into the innate makeup of the human being, becomes sociallyincompatibleandisthereforesplitofffromconsciousnessandrepressed.Thiscreates a sexual complex around which related traumas cluster.Fundamentally, what makes the repression of sexuality the source ofpathology is the insistent imperative of the human organism to pursue itsinnatewholeness,which includesuninhibitedsexuality. It isnot theconflictbetweentheindividualandsocietypersethatproducestheneuroticproblem,as Freud argued, but the moral conflict that comes about in a psyche thatwantstodenyitselfontheonehandbutisforcedtoaffirmitselfontheother.

TheEruptionofComplexes

Complexes have the ability to erupt suddenly and spontaneously intoconsciousnessandtotakepossessionoftheego’sfunctions.Whatappearsas

utter spontaneity, however, may not be so pure. Often there is a subtletriggeringstimulusthatcanbedetectedifonelookscarefullyenoughintotherecent past.Aneurotic depression, for instance,may look endogenousuntilone finds the tiny insult that set it off.When the ego is possessed in thisfashion, itbecomesassimilated to thecomplexand thecomplex’spurposes,and the result is what we call “acting out.” People who are acting out areoftennotaware that this iswhat isgoingon.Theyaresimply“inamood,”and the behavior seems congruent with the ego. But this is the nature ofpossession:theegoisdeceivedintothinkingthatitisfreelyexpressingitself.Onlyinretrospectdoesonerealize,“Somethinggotintomeandmademedoit.Ididn’tknowwhatIwasdoing!”Ifanotherpersontriestopointoutthatoneisactingoutofcharacter,theusualresponseisangrydefensiveness.Thepersoninastateofpossessiondoesnottakesuchfeedbackkindly.Jungsaysthat intheMiddleAgesthisidentificationwithacomplex“wentbyanothername;itwascalledpossession.

Probablynooneimaginesthisstateasbeingparticularlyharmless,andthereis in it no difference in principle between a slip of the tongue caused by acomplexandthewildestblasphemies.”22Thedifferenceisamatterofdegree.Therearedegreesofpossession, fromthemomentaryandslightones to thepsychotic and chronic ones.What we see in possession is that features ofpersonalitythatareusuallynotapartoftheego’scharacterandstylebecomeblatantly manifest. These unknown features have been built up in theunconsciousoveraperiodoftime,andsuddenlytheegoisovercomebythisinneropposite.Nowthepersonispossessedbythedevilandcursesthethingsthatconsciousnesshadformerlyheldmostsacred.

PeoplewithTourette’sSyndromedothisopenlyonacontinualbasis.Foraperson blessed with so-called normal psychology, the splinter personalitiesshowthemselvesinamultitudeofmuchmoresubtleways,somesoslightastobenearlyundetectable—slipsofthetongue,forgetfulness.Inthecourseofan hour one may pass through several states of consciousness, moods,subpersonalities,andbarelynotice theshifts.Thissubtletypasses intomoregross forms as we approach the level of true possession. Possession has amore extreme and distinctive quality. It is hard to miss, and it often evenacquires the features of a specific character type. A Savior complex, forexample, typically develops from painful experiences of abandonment inchildhood, and then shows itself in behavior that passes for kindness andhelpfulness. These features do not, however, belong to the ego in anintegratedway;rathertheytendtowaxandwanebecausetheyarerootedinanautonomouscomplexoverwhichtheegohaslittlecontrol.Theseare the

peoplewho cannot refrain from being helpful and enabling nomatter howdestructive it may be to themselves or to others. The behavior is actuallycontrolledbyacomplexandisthereforenotunderegocontrol.Italsotendstofluctuatemoreorlessarbitrarily.Therearesuddeninconsistenciesthatcannotbe anticipated or explained. Sometimes this person will be excessivelythoughtful and caring, at other times ruthless, indifferent, or even abusive.Othersplinterpsyches(complexes)arecompetingfortheego’ssponsorship.When a possession-prone ego leaves off identifying with one complex, itshiftstoanother.Thisotherismoreoftenthannotasortofshadowbrotherorsister of the first.AChrist-like complexwith its spiritual, upward-oriented,giving,altruisticfeaturesismatchedbyaDevilishcomplexwithanattitudeofmaterialismandselfishness.Thetwomayalternateintakingpossessionoftheego, Jekyll-and-Hyde-like. The one will function as the official persona inmany public social situations, and the other will dominate the consciouspersonality inprivate, intimatesettings.Thisegoisvulnerable towhatJungcalled“enantiodromia,”areversalintotheopposite.

Thecomplexesareobjectsoftheinnerworld.“Itisonthemthatthewealand woe of personal life depends. They are the lares and penates [thehouseholdgods]whoawaitusat thefireside,andwhosepeaceableness it isdangeroustoextol.”23Suchdeitiesarenottobetakenlightly.

3

PsychicEnergy(LibidoTheory)

Thus far I have described two basic structures of the psyche—egoconsciousness and the complexes—as Jung conceived and wrote aboutthem.NowIwillconsidertheforcethatanimatesthesestructuresandgivesthem life, namely libido. This is desire and emotion, the life blood of thepsyche.Jungcalledlibidopsychicenergy.Intheprevioustwochapters,Ihavefrequently used the termenergy.This is thedynamic feature of thepsyche.Jung’s theory of libido conceptualizes, in an abstractway, the relationshipsamongthevariouspartsofthepsyche.Tousethemetaphorofthepsycheassolar system, this chapter is about physics and the forces that affect thevariousobjectsinthisuniverse.

In a general philosophical sense, the subject of psychic energy has beeninvestigated by thinkers throughout the ages. It is not something new andmoderntoreflectuponquestionsoflifeforce,thewill,passionandemotion,the ebb and flow of interest and desire. Philosophers in the West haveconsideredsuchmatterssinceHeraclitusandPlato,andintheEastsinceLao-tsu and Confucius. In recent centuries, philosophers like Schopenhauer,Bergson, and Nietzsche have given these questions central attention.Physicians,too,likeAntonMesmerwithhistheoryofapsychicfluidinthebody,begantopursuethesubjectofpsychologicalmovementandmotivationinmoreempirical andquasi-scientificways.The famousnineteenth-centuryGerman physician-philosopher C.G. Carus speculated extensively and indepth about the unconscious as a source of energy and noted its extensiveinfluencesupontheconsciousmind.Jungcitessuchfiguresasthese,aswellas von Hartmann, Wundt, Schiller, and Goethe, as precursors to his ownthinking. Although Freud was the modern psychological originator of the

term libido and the figure to whom Jung bows in his psychoanalyticdiscussionsof libidotheory,hewasnot theonlyinfluenceuponJungor thesinglefiguretowhomhewasrespondinginhisextensivewritingsonlibidoandpsychicenergy.

Apositiononthenatureandflowofpsychicenergyis,infact,fundamentalto everyphilosophyof humannature and the soul, for thiswill contain theauthor’s views on motivation and on the dynamic elements in life thatseparatelivingbeingsfromthedead.Thedistinctionbetweenmovementandstasis constitutes a basic category of human thought, and it leadsspontaneously towonderingwhat accounts for thedifferencebetween thesetwostatesofbeing.Whydophysicalbodiesmoveinspace,andwhydotheymove in one direction rather than in another? In physical science thesequestionsleadtotheoriesofcausationandtheformulationoflawsofmotion,like the law of gravity. The same is true for philosophy and psychology,where questions of causation, motivation, and the laws governing psychicbodies in movement are equally important. In psychology it becomes aquestionofthesoulanditsmovementandofitspowertomoveotherobjects.Aristotleponderedthis.Psychicenergyispresentinalivingbodyandnotinacorpse;itispresentinallwakinglifeandindreamlife;itiswhatmakesthedifferencebetweenbeing“on”andbeing“off,”touseanelectricalmetaphor.Butwhatisit?

SexualityandLibido

What Schopenhauer called Will and presented as the primal motivator ofhumanactivityandthought,Freudchosetocalllibido.

Withthischoiceofterminology,heemphasizedthesensual,pleasure-seekingelementinhumannature.ThesoulforFreudisessentiallyqualifiedbysexualenergy.TheLatinwordlibidosuitedhispurposesparticularlywellbecauseofhisconvictionthatthesexualdriveliesatthebaseofpsychiclifeandistheprimarysourceof thepsyche’smovement.Freud’slibidotheorybecame,ontheonehand,apolitewaytotalkaboutsexuality,givingsexaLatinnameandmakingtheconversationsoundsomewhatmedical;ontheotherhand,itwasawaytocarryonaquasi-scientificandabstractdiscussionabouthowsexualitymovesandmotivatesapersontoengageinavarietyofdifferentactivitiesandhowitendsupinsomeinstancescausingneuroticattitudesandbehavior.

ItwasFreud’scontentionthatsexuality is theprimemotivatorofmost, ifnot all, mental processes and behavior. Libido is the juice that turns thehumanmachineonandmakesithum,evenifthespecificactivitiesapersonmaybe engaged in, like playing the violin or countingmoney, do not lookparticularly sexual.Sexuality is theprimarymotivatorof even thosehumanactivities,aswellastheprimarycauseofthepsychologicalconflictsthatendupensnaringaperson in the tanglesofneurosisandseveremental illnessessuch as paranoia and schizophrenia. In the final analysis, Freud wanted toshow,allmanifestationsofpsychicenergyinindividualandcollectivelifecanbeassigned,atleastinsignificantpart,tothesexualdriveanditssublimationsor repressions. Freud was particularly intent on demonstrating that sexualconflictlayatthebaseofallneuroticandpsychoticillnesses.

EarlyinhisdiscussionswithFreudaboutpsychologicaltheoryandclinicalpractice,Jungshowedgravereservationsabouttheprimacyofsexualityandsuggestedtheobviouspointthattheremightbeotherdrivesactiveinhumanlifeaswell.Forinstance,thereisabasicdrivecalledhunger:

Asyouhavenoticed,itispossiblethatmyreservationsaboutyourfar-reachingviewsareduetolackofexperience.Butdon’tyouthinkthata number of borderline phenomena might be considered moreappropriately in termsof theotherbasicdrive,hunger: for instance,eating, sucking (predominantly hunger), kissing (predominantlysexuality)?

Two complexes existing at the same time are always bound tocoalesce psychologically, so that one of them invariably containsconstellatedaspectsoftheother.1

ThisnoteofdisagreementappearsalreadyinJung’ssecondlettertoFreud,dated October 23, 1906. From the very outset of this collaboration, Jungevidently had doubts and reservations about Freud’s insistence on thecentrality of sexual conflict in psychopathology. In the years that followed,there were many more letters and numerous published exchanges on thesubjectofdrivesandthesourcesofpsychicenergy,andJungwentbackandforth in his adherence to Freudian doctrine. “Under the impress of Freud’spersonality,”Jungwouldwritemanyyearslaterinhisautobiography,“Ihad,asfaraspossible,castasidemyownjudgmentsandrepressedmycriticisms.Thatwastheprerequisiteforcollaboratingwithhim.”2At timesinhisearlywritings,JungsoundslikeatruereductionistintheFreudianmold.Andyetitis also clear from the written record that he never became an uncriticaldiscipleofFreud’s,eventhoughhemayhaveheldbackinhisdisagreement

for the sakeof smoothingoverdifferences andpotential troublespots in therelationship.

Asitturnedout,thedebateoverhowtoconceptualizepsychicenergyandwhat to name it became much more than a minor technical point. WhileJung’searlydivergentviewsmayhaveseemedsomewhat trivialandvague,orbasedonmisunderstandingsofwhatFreudmeanttosay, theimplicationsrandeepandintimetheseledtomajorphilosophical,theoretical,andclinicaldisagreements.Infact,theirdifferencesonthesubjectoflibidoturnedouttodefinethecentraltheoreticalpointofdivisionbetweenthem.Atissuewastheconceptionofhumannatureandthemeaningofhumanconsciousness.Intheearlyyears,thiscouldnotbeforeseenwiththeclaritythathindsightprovides.Jungwas learning as hewent—from Freud and also from his patients andfrommanyothersources.

In the masterful essay “On Psychic Energy,”3 published in 1928, Jungspellsouthisfullyconsideredpositiononthesubjectoflibido.Thispaperistheprimarysourceforthepresentchapter.Bythetimehewroteitinthemid-1920s,hehadbeenseparatedfromFreudand thepsychoanalyticmovementformorethanadecade.Thisessayhasthequalityofcoolobjectivity,whereashis earliermajorworkon the subject,Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido(1912—13)(translatedintoEnglishin1916byBeatriceHinkleasPsychologyof theUnconscious, by which title I refer to it throughout this book), washastilyassembledandbears themarksof feverishcreative thinking thathasnotquitesettledintoplace.Inthatearlierwork,composedwhilehewasstillinclosecommunicationwithFreudandindeedwasstillFreud’scrownprinceand heir apparent as president of the International PsychoanalyticAssociation,hetackledlibidotheoryasakindofside-issue,butitbecamethecenterpiecebeforehewasfinished.Iwillconsiderthatworkbrieflyhere,ashistorical background, before going on to describe Jung’s later essay onpsychicenergy.

InalettertoFreud,datedNovember14,1911,Jungwrote:

In my second part [of Psychology of the Unconscious] I have gotdowntoafundamentaldiscussionofthelibidotheory.ThatpassageinyourSchreberanalysiswhereyouranintothelibidoproblem(lossoflibido= loss of reality) is one of the pointswhere ourmental pathscross.InmyviewtheconceptoflibidoassetforthintheThreeEssaysneedstobesupplementedbythegeneticfactor tomakeitapplicabletoDem[entia]praec[ox].4

Jung is referring here to his second chapter in Part II ofPsychologyof the

Unconscious, “The Conception and the Genetic Theory of Libido.” In thischapterhediscussesthequestion,referredtointheletterquotedabove,oftherelationshipbetweenlibido(assexuallydefinedbyFreudin“ThreeEssaysontheTheoryofSexuality” in1905) and the fonctiondureel (a termusedbyFrenchpsychiatristPierreJanetforego-consciousness).Doesthelatterderivefromtheformer?Ifego-consciousnessisaderivativeofsexuallydeterminedattachments to objects, then it would follow that disturbances of sexualitywouldcausedisturbancesintheego,andindeedthategodisturbancescouldbe assumed to be rooted in sexual disturbances. What Freud (and Berlinpsychoanalyst Karl Abraham) wanted to argue was that the severedisturbancesintheego,inpsychosisandschizophrenia,aretobeattributedtothelossofsexualinterestintheobjectworld,becausetherealityfunctionandattachmentstoobjectswerecreatedbysexualinterestinthefirstplace.Thisisacircularargument,however,andJungcogentlypointsthisout.5Inplaceofthis,heoffersanotherexplanationforschizophreniaandpsychosis,butonethatwouldleadtoabasicrevisionoflibidotheory.

Jungstarts fromwhathecalls agenetic insteadofadescriptiveposition.He begins with a broad conception of libido as psychic energy, followingSchopenhauer’s conception of Will. “As you know,” he writes somewhatapologetically to Freud, “I always have to proceed from the outside to theinside and from thewhole to the part.”6 From this broad viewpoint, sexuallibido isbutonebranchof themoregeneralWillor life force.Thisgeneralstreamofpsychicenergyhas severalbranches, and in thehistoryofhumanevolution someof thesebranchesaremoreprominent thanothersat certainpoints.Atsomestagesofhumandevelopment,bothcollectiveandindividual,sexuallibidoismoreprominentandfundamental;atothers,itislessso.

Moreover, Jung writes, it can be argued that activities which were onceclosely related to sexuality and indeed could be clearly seen as derivativefrom the sexual instinct have become, through evolution of humanconsciousnessandculture,separatedfromthesexualdomaintosuchagreatextentthattheynolongerhaveanyrelationtosexuality:

Thus we discover the first instincts of art in animals used in theserviceoftheimpulseofcreation,andlimitedtothebreedingseason.The original sexual character of these biological institutions becamelost in their organic fixation and functional independence. Even iftherecanbenodoubtaboutthesexualoriginofmusic,stillitwouldbeapoor,unaestheticgeneralization ifonewere to includemusic inthecategoryofsexuality.Asimilarnomenclaturewouldthenleadustoclassify thecathedralofCologneasmineralogybecause it isbuilt

ofstones.7

Itwasobvious to Jung thatnotallexpressionsofpsychicactivityhaveasexual origin or purpose, even though they may once have had suchconnections in the primordial history of the human race. Taking anevolutionary viewpoint, Jung then speculates about how activities that hadonce been sexual in meaning and intention have later become transformedintononsexualactivities,suchasmusicandart.

TheTransformationofPsychicEnergy

How is psychic energy transformed from an expression of simple instinct,fromthedischargeofapowerfulimpulse(i.e.,eatingbecauseoneishungryorcopulatingbecauseone feels sexy) toculturalexpressionsandendeavors(i.e.,hautecuisineormusicmaking)?Whendotheseactivitiesleaveoffbeing“instinctual”inanymeaningfulsenseofthewordandbecomesomethingelsewithquitedifferentmeaningandintention?

Jungargues inPsychologyof theUnconscious that this transformationofenergymayhappenbyvirtueofthehumanmind’snativecapacityforcreatinganalogies.Humanshavetheability,andtheneed,tothinkinmetaphors,andthismayliebehindthisprocessoftransformation.Thushunting,forinstance,islike(gleichwie)findingasexualmate,sothisanalogycanbeappliedandused inorder togenerateenthusiasmandexcitementabouthunting. In timethe activity of hunting develops its own culturalmeanings andmotivationsand takes on a life of its own. It does not need the sexual metaphor anylonger,andsosexualitydoesnotapplytoitsoconcretely.Yetsomeresiduesofastronganalogyalwaysremain,andtheseresiduesallowforthepossibilityofreductivesexualinterpretationsofcontemporaryculturalactivities.

Duetothetendencytocreateanalogies,thehumanworldofconsciousnessandcultureintimebecomesvastlyexpanded:

Itappearsasif,bythismeansofphantasticanalogyformation,morelibido would gradually become desexualized, because increasinglymore phantasy correlates were put in the place of the primitiveachievementof the sexual libido.With this anenormousbroadeningoftheworldideawasgraduallydevelopedbecausenewobjectswerealwaysassimilatedassexualsymbols.8

The archaic world of human activity and consciousness thus became overmillennia more sexualized, but was also de-sexualized at the same time:sexualized because more analogies to sexuality were continually beingcreated, but de-sexualized because these analogies becamemore and moreremotefromtheirsource.

Jung’sinsightwasthatsexualmotivesandthoughtsaregraduallyreplacedbymetaphors,analogies,andsymbols in theconsciousandunconscious lifeof the human being. The sexual motive will reappear vividly duringregressions in the patient’s mental life, however, and this is what Freud’sconceptionsarebasedon.Uptothispointintheargument,Jungisfillingindetailandaddingsupportingargumentsfortheviewthatmuchofthemodernhumanadult’smentallifederivesfromsexualsourcesevenifitnolongerhasmuchtodowithsexualityperse.SuchdifferencesasheshowsfromFreudianorthodoxytothispointwouldnothaveconstitutedheresy.Themorecriticalpartwastocomelater,inthefinalchapterofPsychologyoftheUnconsciousentitled“TheSacrifice,”whichdealtwiththesubjectofincest.

Inhisautobiography,Jungrecalls:

WhenIwasworkingonmybookaboutthelibidoandapproachingtheend of the chapter “The Sacrifice,” I knew in advance that itspublicationwouldcostmyfriendshipwithFreud.ForIplannedtosetdowninitmyownconceptionofincest,thedecisivetransformationofthe concept of libido … To me incest signified a personalcomplication only in the rarest cases. Usually incest has a highlyreligious aspect, for which reason the incest theme plays a decisivepart in almost all cosmogonies and in numerous myths. But Freudclungtotheliteralinterpretationofitandcouldnotgraspthespiritualsignificanceofincestasasymbol.Iknewthathewouldneverbeabletoacceptanyofmyideasonthissubject.9

Whywas Jung’s conception of incest “the decisive transformation of theconceptoflibido”?Itwasbecausehedeliteralizedtheincestwish.Freudsawintheincestwishanunconsciouswishtohavetheactualmothersexuallyinaliteralsense.Jung,ontheotherhand,interpretedtheincestwishsymbolicallyas a general longing to remain in the paradise of childhood. This longingbecomesmorepronouncedwhenapersonfacesadauntingchallengeinlife,togrowup,toadapttoastress-filledenvironment.Onewantstoclimbinbedand pull the covers over one’s head. The longed-for “mother” becomes, inJung’ssymbolic interpretation, thedesire to regress to infantiledependence,tochildhood, tounconsciousnessand irresponsibility.This is themotivation

behindmuchdrugandalcoholaddiction.When incest fantasiesappeared inthetreatmentofneurosis,therefore,Jungwouldinterpretthemasresistancestoadaptationratherthanastheappearanceofactualunconsciouswishesorofchildhood memories of such wishes. The practice of literal incest amongsome ancient peoples, like the Egyptian pharaohs for example, wasunderstoodbyJungtobereligiouslysymbolic,statingaprivilegedstatusandindicating the unionwith a divine source of energy. Itwasmarriage to theMother-as-origin-of-life, not a wish-fulfillment of literal sexual desire.Actually, Jung argued, sexuality has little to do with incest. Incest issymbolicallysignificant,notbiologicallydesired.

This kindof symbolic interpretationof psychological themes and imagesset Freud’s teeth on edge.Over against his doctrines, Jung held that libidodoes not consist simply of sexual desire for specific objects, nor is it to beconceived as a kind of inner pressure that seeks to discharge itself byattachingto(“cathecting”is thepretentiouspsychoanalyticterm)fixed-uponlove objects. Libido is “will.” Jung is bowing to Schopenhauer here. But,Jungcontinues,willisdividedintotwoparts,awilltolifeandawilltodeath:“Inthefirsthalfoflife[thelibido’s]willisforgrowth,inthesecondhalfoflife it hints, softly at first, and then audibly, at its will for death.”10Amazingly, this reference to divided libido and to a death wish precedesFreud’stheoryofadeathwishbyroughlyadecadeandowesitssourcemostprobablytoJung’scollaborationwithSabinaSpielrein,whowashisstudentatthetime.ItshouldbenotedthatJungdeletedthisphrasingfromhistextwhenhe revised it in 1952 in thework entitledSymbols ofTransformation.11 Bythat time,hehaddroppedSpielreinfromhis theoryandno longerespousedthenotionofadeathinstinct.

ThethemeofsacrificethatJungdwellsuponatlengthinPsychologyoftheUnconscious is a centerpiece in his thoughts about the growth ofconsciousness and the needs of the human personality to developmaturity.Were humans to stay in bondage to incestuous desire and behavior,symbolically speaking, there would be no psychic movement out ofchildhood. Paradise would be home. At the same time, the human specieswouldfailtothrivebecauseadaptationtoharshanddemandingenvironmentscould not occur. The incestwish for eternal childhood had to be sacrificedcollectively in primordial times, and it has to be sacrificed individually byeverymodernperson,inordertopromotemovementinconsciousnesstowardgreater consciousness. And for Jung this movement toward psychologicalmaturitycomesaboutnaturallythroughinternalmechanismsanddynamics.Itdoesnothavetobeinducedbyouterthreats.Thegreatsacrificeofincestis

made voluntarily, not (as taught by Freudian theory) because of threats ofcastration.Freud’s theoryofpatricideor atonement forguilt as thebasisofconsciencewasalientoJung’swayofthinking.Humansdevelopconscience,morality, and culture naturally, as part of their nature. Culture is thereforenaturaltothehumanspecies.

InPsychologyof theUnconscious, Jungargues thegeneral point that thetransformation of libido comes about not through a conflict between thesexual drive and external reality but rather through the intervention of amechanism within human nature itself. This mechanism produces thesacrificeofincestforthesakeofdevelopment.Itcanbeseenatworkinmanyreligions,notablyinMithraismandChristianity,whichJungcompareshereatsomelength.

Atthispointinhiscareer,Junghadnotyetconceptualizedthearchetypeasaforcethatstructuresthepsycheandpsychicenergy.Thiswouldcomelaterandwould thenallowhimtoachievemuchgreaterspecificity in tracing thevarious transformations within the instinctual base.When he produced theextensive revision of the 1912—13 text in 1952, published as Symbols ofTransformation, he inserted archetypal theory in many places in order toachievepreciselythistypeofspecification.In1913,however,hewaslimitedtheoretically and could only speak vaguely about the notion that there is anaturalmovement toward sacrifice of instinctual gratification, innate to thehuman psychic system,withoutwhich culture and human consciousness asweknowitwouldnotbepossible.Sacrificeaccountsforthetransformationofenergyfromoneformofexpressionandactivity toanother,but it remainedunclear at that time what motivates humans to make such extraordinarysacrifices.12Furthermore, there is thequestionofwhatdirects energyalongparticular pathways to specific occupations and endeavors. A key insightwouldbethecapacityforsymbolstotransformanddirectlibido.

Intakingthepositiononinstinctandlibidothathedid,JungknewthathisdaysasFreud’sheirandcrownprincewerenumbered.Freudwasnotonetotoleratewide differences of opinion among his followers.Authoritywas atstakehere,andFreudwoulddemandanintellectualkowtow.Jungbalkedonthispoint,andthiswasthepsychologicalnuboftheirbitterseparation.13

And so it did indeed come to pass that Jung’s collegial relationshipwithFreudendedwithinmonthsofthepublicationofPartIIofPsychologyoftheUnconscious. The publication datewasSeptember 1912,when thematerialappeared in the sixth volume of Jahrbuch für psychoanalytische undpsychopathologischeForschungen,ofwhichJungwasthegeneraleditor.For

Jung,thewholepointofdifferingwithFreudonthedefinitionandconceptionof libidowas to avoid his severe type of reductionism that considers everymanifestation of conscious life and cultural activity to be assignable tosexuality inoneor anotherof its varietyof flavors.ForFreud, thepoint ofinsisting on the centrality of sexuality was to retain the edge ofpsychoanalytic insight into how the civilized humanbeing avoids truth andsuffersfromhavingtodealsodeviouslywithsexuality.Inaddition,Jungwasaiming for the creation of a general theory of energy and for a generalpsychology, while Freud was intent on burrowing ever deeper into thedistortions and subterfuges of psychological life as regards sexuality and(later)destructivenessandthedeathwish.

By1928,whenhepublished“OnPsychicEnergy,”Junghadbeenthinkingabout this subject for twentyyears.Hisdetailedargumentand references tovariousauthoritiesinthisessaystillreflecthisdisagreementwithFreudandpsychoanalysis, but they also represent his desire to present the strongestpossiblecaseforageneralviewoflibidoaspsychicenergy.

PhysicsasaModel

Physics,withwhichJungwasnottechnicallyfamiliarinanygreatdetailbutwhich was very much in the air around him in the Zurich of the earlytwentieth century, provided amodel for thinking about psychic energy. ForJungitwasametaphorthatofferedpossibilitiesforformulatingasimilarsetof understandings for psychic energy. Physics had constructed an elaboratetheory of energy, with laws of causality, entropy, conservation of energy,transformation,andsoon.Lookingtotheselawsofphysicsandleavingoutthemathematical formulas and equations, Jung set out to conceptualize thepsyche in a manner that reminds one somewhat of his earlier work inexperimentalpsychologywiththeWordAssociationExperiment.Jungpointsoutthatwhendealingwithenergyoneisdrawntoquantification.14

Energyisanabstractionfromtheobjectworld,hewrites.Onecannotsee,touch, or taste it. To speak of energy is to be concerned with the relationbetweenobjectsratherthanwiththeobjectsthemselves.Gravity,forexample,describes the way one object affects another but says nothing specificallyaboutthequalityoftheobjectsinquestion.Similarly,Jungargues,atheoryofpsychicenergy,orlibido,shouldaccountforhowobjectsinthepsychicworldaffectoneanother.

Jung argues that energy is finalistic and has to do with the transfer ofmotion or momentum among (psychic) objects as they move irreversiblyalong a gradient and end up in a state of equilibrium. This resembles adescriptionofaphysicalchainofevents:asoneobjectbumps intoanother,thefirstisslowedandthemomentumofthesecondisincreased.Thelawofconservationofenergyisappliedtothissequence,whichsaysthatenergycanneitherbecreatednordestroyed,sotheamountofenergythatleavesthefirstobjectmustequaltheamountofenergyreceivedbythesecond.Thiscanbepreciselymeasured.Thus,whileenergyisabstractandintangible, itseffectsareobservable,asanyonewhoplayspoolknows.Jungappliedthismodeltothe psyche, and this essay is aboutmeasuring psychic energy and thinkingaboutpsychiclifeintermsofenergytransfersandmovements.

“Empathyleadstothemechanisticview,abstractiontotheenergicview,”15Jungwrites, andgoes on to contrast amechanisticwith an energic viewofphysicalandpsychicreality.Theperspectivesareincompatible,yetbotharetrue. “The causal-mechanistic view sees the sequence of facts, a-b-c-d, asfollows: a causes b, b causes c, and so on,”16 its focus being on causation.Thisballhitsasecondone,whichhitsthethird.Thefirstcollisioncausesaneffect,whichcausesanothereffect,andsoon.Effectsarethustracedbacktoan initial cause. “Here the conceptof effect appears as thedesignationof aquality,asa‘virtue’ofthecause,inotherwords,asadynamism.”17Applyingthis perspective to psychological life, a complex is seen as caused by atrauma.Theforceofthetraumaentersthepsychicsystem,causingaseriesofeffects that continue tomanifest formany years in the form of symptoms.Fromamechanisticperspective,thetraumaisregardedasthecausaloriginofthe complex. And this understanding leads to empathy for the traumatizedone.

“The final-energic view, on the other hand,” Jung writes, “sees thesequencethus:a-b-caremeans towards the transformationofenergy,whichflowscauselesslyfroma, theimprobablestate,entropically tob-candso tothe probable stated. Here a causal effect is totally disregarded, since onlyintensities of effect are taken into account. Insofar as the intensities are thesame,wecouldjustaswellputw-x-y-z insteadofa-b-c-d.”18Fromafinal-energic point of view, energy is transferred from a less probable to amoreprobable state bymoving along a gradient of intensities until it ends up inequilibrium. Applying that perspective to psychological life—and here onecomes to understandwhy Jung called this an abstract and not an empathicview—whereveroneendsupinlife,psychologicallyoremotionallyspeaking,is where the intensity of gradients has led in order to achieve a state of

equilibrium.Equilibriumis theaim,and in thatsense it is thecause,afinalcause,thatdrawsachainofeventstoitself.Itisa“justso”story.Causationseemslikepersonaldestiny.19

Forwhatever reason—whetherpushed from thebehindordrawn forwardto a goal in the future—energy moves. According to the physical law ofentropy,energyflowsfromhighertolowerlevels,fromlesstomoreprobablestatesof intensity;according to the lawofnegentropy,on theotherhand, itmoves toward states of greater complexity. The energic viewpoint sees thefinal state as the most important fact, while the mechanistic-causalperspectivefocusesontheinitialimpetusthatsentenergyintothesysteminthe first place. Neither perspective finds outcomes to be random orunpredictable.Andbotharepotentiallyscientific.

ItshouldbenotedthatJungisnotdealingherewithquestionsofultimatepurpose or meaning. Often accused of being a mystic, he was especiallysensitive to the dangers of projecting purpose and meaning into naturalprocesses.He does not regard the final-energic view as teleological, in thereligious sense of natural and historical processes aiming for and seeking ameaningful spiritual conclusion.He is simply speaking here of a viewpointthat observes the transfer of energy from less probable to more probablestates. Questions like: Is there a designer behind the design? Does Godcontrol and guide energy and lead it to preordained conclusions and goals?are interestingmetaphysically,but Jungdidnotwish to address such issueshere. He is merely speaking of the transfer of energy from one level toanother.

While his psychological theory is finalistic in importantways, Jung alsotriedtocreateasynthesisbetweencausalandfinalperspectives.Hethoughtthat the disagreement between Freud and Adler could be attributed to thedifference between a causal and a finalistic psychology. While Freud’spsychology (extroverted) searches out causes, Adler’s finalistic psychology(introverted) looks at endpoints.Adler assumed that aperson’spresent lifesituation,nomatterwhat itmightbe,wasconstructed to fit the individual’spersonalneedsandpreferences insomeway.Adler’s finalistic-energicviewconflicted absolutely with Freud’s mechanistic-causal position. Jung waslookingforamiddleground,forapositionthatcouldtakebothperspectivesintoaccount.20

Causal-mechanistic models and finalistic models begin with a differentpremise concerning original energy states. The causal-mechanistic modelstarts with an assumption of original stasis. At the beginning nothing has

happened yet, and nothing will happen until something intervenes fromoutside the system and gives it a boost of energy. Someone gives a ball ashove,ithitsanother,andsoachainofeventsissetinmotion.Thefinalistic-energic position, on theother hand, assumes a highly energized state at thebeginning,andfromthisthereemergepatternsofmovementasenergyseeksmoreprobablestates,finallyachievingbalanceandstasis.Complexes—Jungwouldsay,forexample—possessaspecificquantumofenergy,andthiscanresultinmovementifthepsychicsystemisindisequilibrium.Complexesarenotonly reactive, then,butat times theycanalsobecreative. If complexeswere not proactive and creative but only reactive, they could not beconsidered autonomous in any strong sense of the word. Under certainconditions,theywillpressintoegoconsciousnesswithafantasyoradesireorthought that is quite unprovoked by the environment. The environmentalstimulussimplyinvitesorreleasestheenergythatisboundupinthecomplex.Finalistically seen, the complex would be seen as seeking to discharge itsenergyandtoreturntoalowerenergylevel.Itdoesthisbyintroducingintotheconscioussubjecta thought,a feelingormood,orfantasy,and thismayleadthepersontobehaveinacertainway.Whenthedischargeofenergyhasbeencompleted,itsettlesbacktoamorelatentstateintheunconsciousandawaitseitherthebuild-upofmoreenergyfromwithintheintrapsychicsystemorconstellationbyanouterstimulus.

TheSourceofEnergy

Intheessay“OnPsychicEnergy,”Jungdoesnotgointodetailonthespecificsources of a complex’s energy. He states only that psychic energy getsdistributedamongthevariouscomponentsofthepsyche,andheisinterestedinstudyinghow,usingtheenergicviewpoint,onecantrackthedistributionofenergyfromonestatetoanother.Hisquestionsare:Howdoesenergymoveabout within the psyche? Why are some complexes more energized thanothers, or sometimes more energized than at other times? How doesinstinctualenergy,whichhas itssourcein thebiologicalbaseof thepsyche,gettransformedintootheractivities?

A complex collects new psychic energy to itself in twoways: from newtraumasthatbecomeassociatedwithitandenrichitwithmorematerial,andfromthemagneticpowerofitsarchetypalcore.Thiscoreattractsitsenergyfromtwosources.It isfedwithenergyontheonehandbytheinstinctwith

whichitisaffiliated.Instinctsandarchetypesaretwosidesofasinglecoininthe psyche, as I will discuss in detail in the next chapter. The archetypalimage,therefore,actsasanattractorofenergyasitbecomesavailabletothepsyche from the biological base (through a process that Jung callspsychization).On the other hand, archetypes also attract energy from othersources.Theytuneintoculture,toexchangeswithotherpeople,eventospirititself,asJungwillsayinhislateressay,“OntheNatureofthePsyche.”Thepsycheisbynomeansaclosedsystem.Ratheritisopentotheworldthroughthebodyandthroughthespirit.

Theirruptionofacomplexintoconsciousnessindicatesthatithasbecometemporarilymoreenergizedthantheego.Itsenergyflowsfromthecomplexintotheegosystemandmayfloodandpossessit.Whetherornottheegocanmanage to contain this influx of energy is an important practical question.How can the ego channel and use what at times seems like a tremendousfloodofunrulyenergy?Thekeylieswiththeego,whichcanchoose,ifitisstronganddeterminedenough,todirectthisinfluxofenergyintothecreationof structure, boundaries, or projects, for example. Otherwise a personmaysimplybecomeemotionallyoverwroughtanddysfunctional.

For Jung, then, thepsychewasnot conceivedas a closedenergy system.Closedsystemsmovetowardentropy,andabsolutelyclosedsystemsstabilizein a totally static final state. Jung believed that the psychic system is onlyrelatively closed. The healthy psyche is somewhat closed and does show atendencytowardentropy,butitisalsoopeninthatitisfedandinfluencedbythe surrounding world. Tightly closed psychic systems are pathological.Thoseareoftensosealedofffromouterinfluencesthattheydonotyieldtopsychotherapy.Paranoidschizophrenia,for instance, issuchatightlylockedpsychic system, and it ends in total stasis with rigidly frozen ideas andattitudesandincreasedisolation.Onlybiologicaltreatmentcaninfluenceit.

Inahealthypersonality,psychicenergyalsofollowsthelawofentropytosomeextent.Overtimethereisatendencytowardconservatismandgradualstasis. Change becomes more difficult as one ages. The polarities in thepsyche,whichgenerateenergythroughtheirvigorousinteraction,approachaposition of stability and accommodation. This fact would indicate that thenormalpsychicsystemisonlyrelativelyopenandsomewhatclosed.Energydistribution tends to move from high to lower levels, analogous to waterfallingtothelowestlevelitcanreach.

MeasurementofPsychicEnergy

Jung wonders in this essay how such energy states could be measuredscientifically.Hesuggests that thiscouldbedonebyestimatingvalues.Theamountofvalueplacedonanattitudeoractivityindicatestheintensitylevelof energy. Quantifying that, however, presents difficulties. If one were tomakeaninventoryofone’sconsciouscontentsandpreoccupations—politics,religion, money, sex, career, relationships, family—and put an estimate ofvalueoneachitem,usingascaleof1to100,onewouldhaveasenseofhowenergy is distributed among the contents of consciousness. Obviously thisfluctuates day by day, year by year, decade by decade.And how does onereallyknowhowmuchsomethingisvaluedbythepsyche?Itiseasytofooloneself.Aninventoryofconsciouscontentscanberatedonascale,butonecannotbecertainoftheaccuracyoftheseratingsuntiltheyareputtothetest.Onlywhenchoicesare forcedbetween twoormoreattractive thingsdoesapersonactuallybecomecertainofwhat therelativevaluesare.Analcoholicwhoisforcedtochoosebetweenmoreboozingandawifeandfamilywillbehardpressedtocommithimself,butsuchacrisiswilltesthispromisenevertodrinkagain.Spendinghabitscanprovide importantclues toone’sactual,asopposed one’s supposed, values. The flow of money, which symbolizesenergy, is a way of showing where value intensity lies. People voluntarilyspendmoneyforwhattheyvaluehighly.

These are some of the ways in which the energy values of consciouscontents can be measured. But what about the values of unconsciouscontents? How can these be measured? This cannot be accomplished byintrospection alone because the ego cannot ordinarily penetrate far enoughintotheunconsciousdepths.Complexeswillmakechoicesthattheegowouldnotmake.Anindirectmethodofmeasurementisnecessary,andforJungtheWordAssociationExperimentprovidedsuchamethod.Acomplex’senergylevelisindicatedbythenumberofcomplexindicatorsassociatedtoit.Oncethisisknown,anestimatecanbemadeofitsenergypotential.Overtime,too,one learns experientially which complexes generate the most intenseemotionalreactions.Thesesensitiveareasarebetternotexposedinpublicandin polite society because of one’s predictably intense reactions. Somecollectivecomplexes,circlingaroundissuesofsex,religion,money,orpoweraffect almost everyone to some degree and can lead to fierce discharges ofenergy, even to war, if provoked severely enough. The intensity andfrequency of disturbances in daily life are useful indicators of the energy

levelsof theunconsciouscomplexes.Theenergy levelof apsychiccontentmaybeindicatedbyeitherpositiveornegativeemotionsandreactions.Fromanenergicpointofview,thisdistinctioninfeelingmakesnodifference.

TheUnityofBodyandMind

Psychic energy—Jung repeats in this essaywhat he said some fifteenyearsearlier inPsychology of the Unconscious—is a subcategory of life energy.Somepeoplesimplyhaveagreatdealofit,whileothershaveless.ItwassaidthatLyndonJohnson,forexample,seemedtohavemoreglandsthananybodyelsearound.Hecouldoverwhelmpeoplewithhissheerenergy.Asasenator,hewrote250lettersadaytoconstituentswhilecarryingouthisregulardutiesasmajority leader. Some people have a tremendous amount of raw energywhile others can barely get frombed to the breakfast table. In a sense, thephysical side of life strongly affects the psychological, and feeling healthyphysically contributes to one’s reservoir of psychic energy.But the relationbetweenpsyche and body is complex and often paradoxical.Nietzsche, forexample, was extremely ill and in severe pain while writing his poeticmasterpiece,AlsoSprachZarathustra.HeinrichHeinespentthelasttenyearsofhislifeinbedinphysicalagony,andyethecomposedhundredsofsongsandpoemsandotherliteraryworksofthehighestcaliberduringthisperiod.The immense amountsof psychic energyneeded for these efforts of geniuscannot be accounted for by using the simple notion that a healthy bodyproduces thepsychicenergythat isavailableforwork.There ismoregoingonthanasimpletransferofcaloriesfromsomatosoulandmind.

Because of conundrums such as these, some thinkers have regarded thephysical and psychological as two relatively independent parallel systems.Thishasthevirtueofpreservingtheintegrityofeachsystemanddenyingthereductionofpsychicenergytophysicalenergy.ButJungwasnotcontentwiththat model, even while he strongly opposed biological reductionism. Heaffirmed that there are two systems, but their interaction is so intricate andcomplex,andforthemostpartburiedsodeeplyintheunconscious,thatitisdifficult todefinewhereonebeginsand theother leavesoff. In somewaystheyareindependent,but inothers theyaredeeplyinterconnectedandseemdependentononeanother.Themind/bodyissueappearsmanytimesinJung’swritings, and I will touch on it again in later chapters. In the essay “OnPsychicEnergy”hemerelyalludestotheproblem.

Since the psyche-soma unity is only a relatively and not an absolutelyclosed system, neither entropy nor conservation of energy operates in itprecisely.Practicallyspeaking,however,thereisastrongcorrelation.Ifone’sinterestinonethingdiminishesorvanishes,thatsameamountofenergyoftenappearssomewhereelse.The twoobjectsof interestmightnotberelated inany apparent way, but the total amount of energy in the system remainsconstant. On the other hand, a great deal of energy sometimes vanishescompletely.Apersonbecomes lethargicordepressed. In this instance, Jungsays,theenergyhasgoneintoregression.Ithasdrainedoutofconsciousnessandreturnedtotheunconscious.

Energy,Movement,andDirection

Regression andprogression of libido are important terms in Jung’s theory.Theyrefertodirectionsofenergymovement.Inprogression,libidoisutilizedforadaptationtolifeandtheworld.Thepersonusesitforfunctioningintheworldandcanspenditfreelyonchosenactivities.Thispersonisexperiencingapositiveflowofpsychicenergy.Butsupposethispersonfailsanimportantexam,orgetsshuntedasideinacorporateshake-up,orlosesabelovedmateorachild.Progressionof libidomaycometoastop, lifeceases its forwardmomentum,andtheflowofenergyreversesdirection.Itgoesintoregressionanddisappearsintotheunconscious,whereitactivatescomplexes.Thismaylead to splitting apart polarities that were once linked; they now becomewarring opposites. Now ego-consciousness may have one set of principlesandvalues,whiletheunconscioustakesupacontraryposition.Thepersonistorn by inner conflict and becomes paralyzed. During progression, thepolaritieswithin theselfbalanceeachotherandgenerateenergythatmovesforward.Onemaybeambivalent,but inawaythat isadaptive toreality. Inregression,ontheotherhand,theflowofenergygoesbackintothepsychicsystem and becomes unavailable for adaptation. When the polarities comeapart,aseverekindofambivalencedevelopsthatparalyzeslife.Astandstillensues,yesandnocanceleachotherout,andonecannotmove.

Jungnotedthatwhenenergyisnotspentadaptingtotheworldandisnotmoving in aprogressiveway, it activates the complexes and increases theirenergypotentialinthedegreetowhichtheegolosesavailableenergy.Thisisthelawofconservationofenergyasitappliestothepsyche.Theenergydoesnotdisappearfromthesystembutratherdisappearsfromconsciousness.And

this results typically in states of depression, crippling ambivalence, internalconflict,uncertainty,doubt,questioning,andlossofmotivation.

While progression fosters adaptation to the world, regression leadsparadoxically tonewpossibilities fordevelopment.Regressionactivates theinnerworld.Whenthe innerworldhasbeenactivated,aperson is forced todealwith itand later tomakeanewadaptation to life that takes the resultsinto account. Thatmovement toward inner adaptation eventually leads to afresh outer adaptation when the libido once again begins moving in thedirection of progression. But now the person is more mature preciselybecauseoftheconfrontationwiththeunconscious—thecomplexes,personalhistory, foibles, faults, and all theother troublesomeandpainful issues thatsurfaceduring regression. (Iwill discuss Jung’s concept of individuation ingreaterdetailinchapter8.)

It should be noted that Jung makes a clear distinction between theprogression and regression of libido on the one hand and the attitudes ofextroversion and introversion on the other. It is easy for the beginner toconfusethem.Introvertsprogressintheirownway,adaptingtotheworldinan introvertedfashion,whileextrovertsprogress inanextrovertedway.Thesame holds true for regression. For example, an extroverted-thinking typeperson, who has habitually used thinking to deal with the world and tomanipulate people, comes up against a situation in lifewhere that functiondoesnotworkveryeffectivelyandexperiencesdefeat.Relationshipproblemscannot as a rule be solved by extroverted thinking.Here a totally differentapproachisneeded.Whenthisperson’ssuperiorfunctionisrendereduseless,asenseoffrustrationanddefeattakesover,fornowsuddenlyotherfunctionsaredemandedandthesearenotreadilyavailable.Sothelibidoregressesandtypically activates the inferior function, in this case the introverted-feelingfunction.AsJungpointedout,theinferiorfunctionisunconsciousandcarriestheslimeof themurkydepthswith itwhen itcomesup intoconsciousness.An integrated-feeling function is a tool of the ego and is a refined,discriminating and rational function that orients one by establishing values.An inferior, undifferentiated feeling function surging up from theunconscious, however, provides only a small amount of guidance aboutvalues, but rather screams in bright red letters: “This is themost importantthinginmywholelife!Icannotlivewithoutit!”Itishighlyemotional.Theinferior function’s lackofadaptive skill isgenerallyall tooevident,but theego is challenged to use the emotions and thoughts that come intoconsciousnessinthisfashion,andbydoingsoitbeginsthetaskofadaptingtothehiddensideofthepersonality,theunconscious.

Bycontrast,peoplewhogetalotofmileageinthefirsthalfoftheirlivesoutoftheirabilitytorelatewell tootherpeoplereachapointwherethisnolongersatisfiesthem.Thehighlydevelopedextroverted-feelingfunctiondoesnot feed the soul anymore.Otherpotentialsdemand tobe realized.Perhapsintroverted intuitive-thinking projects (studying philosophy or theology)beckonandseemmoreattractive thananother luncheonwith friendsoronemorefamilygatheringovertheholidays.Thefullhumanlifespanhasmanyperiodsofsignificanttransformation.

TransformationsandSymbols

HowsuchtransformationsoccurwasadeepandabidingconcernofJung’s.Inthe essay “OnPsychicEnergy” he provides a formal theoretical account oftransformation.Inthesectiononcanalizationoflibido,21heconsiderssomenatural gradients of energy. A gradient is a pathway along which energyflows.Inthestateofnature—thatis,intheparadisalstateasweimagineit—nowork as such is required or gets done. Like the pet dogwho lives in acomfortable home, sleeps a lot, begs for table scraps, and (if not neutered)engagesinseasonalfreneticsexualactivities,soahumanbeinglivingpurelyin the state of naturewould live by physical instinct and desire alone. Buthumans have created culture and have specialized in work, and thispresupposes the ability to channel energy out of the natural gradients intoother,seeminglyartificialpathways.Howdoesthishappen?

Jungdoesnot conceiveofnatureandcultureasdiametricallyopposed tooneanother.Rather,heregardsthembothasbelongingtohumannatureinafundamentalway.Thehumaninventionsofcultureandspecializationinworkcomeaboutbymeansofthemind’screationofanaloguestoinstinctualgoalsand activities. Such analogues function as symbols.22 Ideas and images—mental contents—channel libido in new directions by diverting it from itsnaturalgradientandobjects.Forexample, an ideaarises in theyoungchildthat is as appealing as the image of the breast. This idea, realized in play,drawsmoreenergytoitselfthandoesthebreastandallowsthechildtodelaygratifying the urge to nurse and eventually towean spontaneously. In laterlife,theanalogueorsymbolthatreplacesthebreastmaybeagourmetmeal.Thethoughtofenjoyinghautecuisineoffersthesametypeofsoothingtotheadult as the image of the full breast offers to the small child.An idea or aculturalobject thuscapturestheenergythatwouldotherwisehaveremained

fixatedonthebreastofthemother.Bothbreastandrestaurantaresymbolsforsomething that at that moment in psychological development can beexpressedinnobetterway.

Asymbol attracts a great deal of energy to itself and shapes theways inwhich psychic energy is channeled and spent. Religions have traditionallyattractedlargeamountsofhumanenergy,andtheyrelyfortheirpoweralmostexclusively on symbols. Through their use of symbols they also becomepowerfulpoliticallyandeconomically,butthesepowersaresecondarytothesymbolic onewhich undergirds them.Remove the symbolic power and thewhole edifice collapses.When vibrant and alive, religious ideas and ritualshavetremendousattractivepowertopullhumanenergyintocertainactivitiesand preoccupations.Why does the symbol have a steeper gradient than thenaturalobject?Howcananideabecomemoreinterestingandcompellingtohumanbeingsthaninstinctivelyattractiveobjectslikebreastsorpenises?

Jungknewwellenoughthatthisdoesnotcomeaboutbecauseofadecisiontaken by the ego. When “Bill W.” (William G. Wilson), cofounder ofAlcoholicsAnonymous,wrote to Jung in1961 and reportedonRolandH’sfate (a patient Jung had treated for alcoholism in the early 1930s), Jungresponded by admitting that the therapist is essentially helpless in trying toovercome a patient’s substance dependence.23 Jung’s message was—in myparaphraseofhis letter—Youneedasymbol,ananaloguethatwilldrawtheenergythathasgoneintodrinking.Youmustfindanequivalentthatismoreinteresting than getting drunk every night, that attracts your interest morethanthatbottleofvodka.Apowerfulsymbolisrequiredtobringaboutsuchamajor transformation in an alcoholic, and Jung spoke of the need for aconversion experience. Symbols emerge out of the archetypal base of thepersonality, thecollectiveunconscious.Theyarenotartificially inventedbythe ego but rather appear spontaneously from the unconscious especiallyduringtimesofgreatneed.

Symbolsarethegreatorganizersoflibido.Jung’suseofthetermsymbolisprecise.Asymbolisnotasign.Signscanbereadandinterpretedwithnolossof meaning. A stop sign means “stop!” But a symbol is, in Jung’sunderstanding,thebestpossiblestatementorexpressionforsomethingthatiseitheressentiallyunknowableornotyetknowablegiventhepresentstateofconsciousness. Interpretations of symbols are attempts to translate thesymbol’smeaning into amore understandable vocabulary and set of terms,but the symbol remains the best present expression of the meaning itcommunicates. Symbols open one up to mystery. And they also combineelements of spirit and instinctuality, of image and drive. For that reason,

descriptions of exalted spiritual states and mystical experiences frequentlyrefertophysicalandinstinctualgratificationslikenourishmentandsexuality.MysticstalkabouttheecstasyofunitingwithGodasanorgasmicexperience,andmostlikelyitis.Theexperienceofthesymbolunitesbodyandsoulinapowerful, convincing feeling of wholeness. For Jung the symbol holds somuch importance because of its ability to transform natural energy intocultural and spiritual forms. In this essayhe does not discuss the timingofsuchsymbolicemergencesinthepsyche.Thisisconsideredinotherwritings,importantlyinthelateworkentitled“Synchronicity:AnAcausalConnectingPrinciple.”24

Thedifferencebetween transformationand sublimation spellsout abasicdistinction between the theories of Jung and Freud. For Freud, civilizedhuman beings are able to sublimate libidinal desires, but sublimation onlyproducessubstitutesforthetrueobjectsofsuchdesire.Libidowillattachtothesubstitutes,buttheseremainonlysecondbest.Inreality,thelibidowishestoreturntoearlychildhood,tomotherandfatherfixations,toOedipalfantasyfulfillment. Freud’s analysis, therefore, was always reductive. Jung agreedthat the libido originally seeks the mother’s body because nurturance isessential for the baby’s survival. Later, the libido is drawn into sexualchannels and flows along those gradients: procreation is necessary for thesurvivalofthespecies.Butwhenthelibidofindsaspiritualanalogue,anideaor image, it will go there because that is its goal, not because this is asubstitute forsexual fulfillment.ForJung, this isa transformationof libido,and culture arises from such transformations. Culture is a fulfillment ofdesire,notanobstructionofit.Jungisconvincedthatthenatureofthehumanbeingleadstocultureformation,tothecreationofsymbols,tocontainmentofenergy so that its flow can be directed toward these spiritual and mentalcontents.

4

ThePsyche’sBoundaries(Instincts,Archetypes,andtheCollectiveUnconscious)

Beforemoderntimesmapmakersputadistinctivestampontheirworks.Youcouldidentifyamapbycertainuniquefeaturesthatpointedtothehandofitscreator. Itwasaworkofart aswell asaworkof science.Up to thispoint,Jung’s map of the soul does not look so different from other depthpsychological accounts. With this chapter, however, we begin studying itstrulyuniquefeatures.ItwasJung’sexplorationandaccountofwhathecalledthecollectiveunconsciousthatgavehisworkitsmostdistinctivestyle.

Topickupwhereweleftoffintheprecedingchapteronpsychicenergy,Iwill simply state that for Jung the archetype is aprimary sourceofpsychicenergyandpatterning.Itconstitutes theultimatesourceofpsychicsymbols,which attract energy, structure it, and lead ultimately to the creation ofcivilizationandculture.Fromhintsinearlierchapters,itshouldbesomewhatevidentthatthetheoryofarchetypesiscriticaltoJung’soverallconceptionofthepsyche.Infact,itisthefoundation.

AdiscussionofJung’stheoryofarchetypes,however,alsomeansthatwemust take up his theory of instincts as well. Archetype and instinct areprofoundly related, in Jung’s view. For Jung, mind and body are sointerrelatedthattheyarenearlyinseparable.Ifthisisignored,thediscussionofarchetypal imageseasilyslips intoanoverlyspiritualizedandgroundlesspsychology.Todiscussthearchetypefromapsychologicalstandpointratherthanfromaphilosophicalormetaphysicalone,onemustgrounditinlifeaslived in the human body, where it also becomes intertwined with personalhistory and psychological development. The theory of archetypes is whatmakesJung’smapofthesoulPlatonic,butthedifferencebetweenJungandPlatoisthatJungstudiedtheIdeasaspsychologicalfactorsandnotaseternal

formsorabstractions.

AsIsaidattheoutsetofthisbook,Jungwasintentonexploringthepsychetoitsfurthestboundaries.Ifhewasnotasystematicthinker,hewascertainlyanambitiousone,andhisambitionpushedhimtopressonbeyondtheboundsofscientificknowledgeinhistime.Scienceisstillcatchingupwithmanyofhisintuitions.Probingeverfurtherintothedarkunknownterrainofthemind,he made some of his most original contributions to psychology andpsychoanalysisinhistheoryofacollectiveunconsciousanditscontents.Itissometimesaskedwhetherwhathedescribedaspsychicfactsarediscoveriesorinventions.Butthisisthefateofthemapmakerwhenthecontinentsheisoutliningarebrandnewandstillwhollyunknownandunexplored.Theearlymapmaker is forced to draw on intuition and to risk guesswork. He alsoconsults the maps of others and even studies ancient texts. These can behelpful,ortheycanbemisleading.Jungwasmorethanadequatelyawareofthe pitfalls in this enterprise, and he was as cautious in formulating hisspeculationsashewasadventurous inallowinghimself tohave themin thefirstplace.1

Forthischapter,IwillrefermainlytoJung’slatesummationoftheory,theclassicpaper“On theNatureof thePsyche.”Thisessaydoesnotdepict therealmofthecollectiveunconsciousinthefloridmannerofgrandimagesthatJungwasso fondof inotherworks,particularly inhis lateworksusing theimagesandtextsofalchemy.Thisisasoberandabstracttheoreticalaccount,rather difficult to read and dry to the taste of those who look to Jung forvisionaryinspiration.Butthisworksuppliesthetheoreticalbedrockonwhichthoseotherformulationsrest,andwithoutunderstandingthisbasictheorytherestcanlookmuchlikeacollectionofanimalsinawell-stockedzoo:alotofexoticcolorbutnotmuch rationale.2Thecriticswho read Jung in thiswayfrankly do not understand the nature of his project. The rationale for hiscollections of abstruse and exotic facts is given in many places, but withspecialclarityinthistheoreticalpaper.

This essay was written in 1945—46 and revised in 1954. I consider itarguably Jung’smost comprehensive and synthetic theoretical work. A fullunderstanding of this work actually requires extensive knowledge of all ofJung’spreviouswritings.Itpresentslittlethatisnewinhisthinkingbutratherpullstogethermanythreadsthathavebeendroppedinnumerousessaysfromthe prior three decades. A brief review of the thinking that led up to thisclassic paper is in order andwill provide the context for understanding itsimportance.

Jung’sambitionfromveryearlyonwastoparticipate in thecreationofageneralpsychologythatwouldmapthepsychefromitshighesttoitslowestdimensions, its closest to its farthest reaches, truly amap of the soul. Thisambition can be traced back into the early years of his career. In a letterwritten in1913 to editorsSmithEly Jelliffe andWilliamAlansonWhiteofthenewlyfoundedPsychoanalyticalReviewandpublishedinthefirstissueofthatjournal,Jungoffersasketchofhisboldvisionforthisnewpsychology.He applauds the editors on their plan to “unite in their journal thecontributionsofcompetentspecialistsinvariousfields.”3Thefieldshecitesasbeingrelevantandusefultopsychologyare,amazingly,philology,history,archaeology, mythology, folklore studies, ethnology, philosophy, theology,pedagogy,andbiology!Ifallofthesecontributetheirspecializedknowledgeto the study of the human psyche, Jung writes, there will be a chance ofreaching“thedistantgoalofageneticpsychology,whichwillclearoureyesfor medical psychology, just as comparative anatomy has already done inregardtothestructureandfunctionofthehumanbody.”4Jungspeaksinthisletter also of a “comparative anatomy of the mind,”5 which would beachieved by pooling expertise frommany fields of research and study.Hisgoalwastoachieveabroadoverviewofthepsycheandtograspitasawhole,fromwhichonecouldobservethevariouspartsintheirdynamicinterplay.

As Jung penetrated more deeply into the sources of the unconsciousmaterial—primarily dreams and fantasies—presented by his patients anddiscovered in his own innerwork on himself, hewas led to theorize aboutsomegeneralstructuresofthehumanmind,structuresthatbelongtoeveryoneandnotonly tohimselfor to the individualpatientbeforehim.Thedeepestlayer of the human psyche he named the “collective unconscious” andconceivedof its contents as a combinationof universally prevalent patternsand forces called “archetypes” and “instincts.” In his view, there is nothingindividualoruniqueabouthumanbeingsatthislevel.Everyonehasthesamearchetypes and instincts. For uniqueness one must look elsewhere in thepersonality. True individuality, he argued in Psychological Types and TwoEssays in Analytical Psychology, is the product of a personal struggle forconsciousness that he called the individuation process (see chapter 8).Individuation is the flower of a person’s conscious engagement with theparadox of the psyche over an extended period of time. Instincts andarchetypes,ontheotherhand,arenature’sgifttoeachofus.Theyaregivenequallytooneandall,andeveryonesharesthemwhetherrichorpoor,blackorwhite,ancientormodern.This themeofuniversality isabasicfeatureofJung’s understanding of the human psyche. He gave it succinct expression

lateinlifeintherevisionofaworkentitled“TheFatherintheDestinyoftheIndividual”:

Man “possesses”many things which he has never acquired but hasinherited from his ancestors. He is not born as a tabula rasa, he ismerely born unconscious. But he brings with him systems that areorganizedandreadytofunctioninaspecificallyhumanway,andthesehe owes to millions of years of human development. Just as themigratory and nest-building instincts of birds were never learnt oracquiredindividually,manbringswithhimatbirththeground-planofhisnature,andnotonlyofhis individualnaturebutofhiscollectivenature. These inherited systems correspond to the human situationsthat have existed sinceprimeval times: youth andold age, birth anddeath, sons and daughters, father and mothers, mating, and so on.Only the individual consciousness experiences these things for thefirst time, but not the bodily system and the unconscious. For themtheyareonlythehabitualfunctioningofinstinctsthatwerepreformedlongago.6

Archetypes(PsychicUniversals)

Theorigin of Jung’s notionof archetypes canbe tracedback in hiswrittenworks to the periodbetween1909 and1912when,while still collaboratingwith Freud, hewas investigatingmythology andwritingPsychology of theUnconscious. In that work he studied the fantasies of Miss Frank Miller,whichhadbeenmadepubliclyavailableinabookpublishedbyhisfriendandcolleague from Geneva, Gustav Flournoy. Jung wanted to explore thesignificanceofthesefantasiesfromhisnewlyemergingpointofview,whichhad been incubating since his early psychiatric study of his mediumisticcousin, Helene Preiswerk. His engagement with Frank Miller’s fantasymaterialsbecametheoccasionforJungtobegindistancinghimselfexplicitlyfromFreud’slibidotheoryandtostartdiscussinggeneralpatternsinwhathewouldlatercometocallthecollectiveunconscious.

Accordingtohisautobiography,JunggothisfirstimpressionofimpersonallayersoftheunconsciousfromadreamhehadduringthevoyagetoAmericawithFreudin1909.Hedreamedofahouse(called“myhouse”inthecontextof thedream) thathadmany levels. In thedreamheexplores thestoreysofthehousefromthemainfloor(thepresentage)downintothebasement(the

recenthistoricalpast)andbeyondthatdownthroughseveralsub-cellars(theancienthistoricalpast,liketheGreekandRoman,andfinallytheprehistoricand Paleolithic past). This dream answered a question he had been askingduringthetrip,namely:“OnwhatpremisesisFreudianpsychologyfounded?Towhatcategoryofhuman thoughtdoes itbelong?”7Thedream image,hewrites, “became for me a guiding image” for how to conceive of psychicstructure.“Itwasmyfirstinklingofacollectiveaprioribeneaththepersonalpsyche.”8

WhenhefirstexaminedtheworkofFlournoy,JungknewlittleaboutMissMiller or her personal life history. Perhaps thiswould be an advantage fortheory, he mused, since now his thought could not be contaminated bypersonalassociationsandprojections.Undistractedbythetrees,hecouldlookattheforest.Hewouldbefreetospeculateaboutmoregeneralpsychologicalpatterns. And speculate he did, with considerable zest and abandon. As helookedatMissMiller’sfantasies,heimaginedherrealityfromthefewfactsthatwereincludedintheaccount:anunmarriedyoungwomantravelingalonein Europe, attracted to an Italian sailor but unable to act upon her eroticinterest, damming up unused sexual libido and falling into a profoundregression.Usingwhatheknewatthetimeaboutpsychologicaldynamics—learned largely fromFreud and fellowpsychoanalysts—he also ventured toextend some of those understandings to the point of suggesting that libido,sexuality itself, has a dual nature. On the one hand, it seeks fulfillment insexual involvement and pleasure; on the other hand, it inhibits suchinvolvement and even seeks the opposite, death. He ventured to propose adeathwishequaltothewishforlife,thesecondbecomingmoreprominentinthesecondhalfoflifeasonepreparestodie.Innatetothehumanpsychewasa tendency to sacrifice satisfaction, sexual or otherwise, and to pursuenonsexualtendenciesanddesiresthatcouldnotbesatisfiedbyanyamountofsexualactivity.

Thiswasa strangecourse for Jung’s thinking to take in reflectingon thepsychological situation of this young woman. On the one hand, she wasobviouslyseekinganeroticoutletinlifeandwasnotabletofindone.Henceher regressions and attempts at sublimation: visions, poetry writing,daydreaming, all ofwhich, Jung felt, showed evidenceof premorbidity andcould eventually lead to mental illness. On the other hand, perhaps MissMiller’s sexual inhibitions reflected a deeper conflict within her psyche, aconflict thatonecouldseeasgenerallyhumanandindeedarchetypal.Therewas the much larger issue of the whole course of human evolution anddevelopment,andJungwastheorizingthatsexuallibidohadinthecourseof

eons of human evolution been channeled into pathways of culture throughmetaphorsandlikenessesatfirstandthenintodeepertransformations.Thesecouldnolongerbeadequatelydefinedintheleastassexual.HewasarrivingatawholenewtheoryofculturewhiletracingthelibidofluctuationsofMissMiller.Itisnowonderthatmanyreadershavefoundthisbookconfusing.

AsJungexploredhumanevolution,drawingmanyparallelsbetweenwhatwas going on in a sort of morbid way with Miss Miller and what hadhappenedhundredsandthousandsandindeedhundredsofthousandsofyearsinthepast,heoutlinedtheconstellationoftheheromythandassignedtotheherotheroleofcreatingconsciousness.Theheroisabasichumanpattern—characteristic of women equally as of men—that demands sacrificing the“mother,” meaning a passive childish attitude, and assuming theresponsibilities of life and meeting reality in a grown up way. The heroarchetypedemands leavingoffwith childish fantasy thinkingand insistsonengagingrealityinanactiveway.Ifhumanshadnotbeenabletotakeupthischallenge, theywouldhavebeendoomedeonsago. Inorder tomeet realityconsistently,though,atremendoussacrificeofdesireandwistfullongingforthecomfortsofchildhoodisdemanded.ThiswasMissMiller’sdilemma:shewas confrontedwith the task of growing up andmeeting her adult roles inlife,andshewasshrinking fromthechallenge.Shewasnot leaving fantasythinkingbehind,andshewasgetting lost inamorbidunrealworld thatwasrelatively unrelated to her reality. She was in a massive regression to the“mother,” and thequestionwas:Would sheget stuck there, likeTheseus inHades,andneverreturn?Jungwasnotsosure,butheguessedshemightfallintopsychosis.

AsheworkedonthesefantasiesofFrankMiller,Jungbrought togetherahostofrelatedmyths,fairytales,andreligiousmotifsfromremotecornersofthe world to interpret her images. He was awestruck by these amazingparallels, and his mind groped for an explanation of why this woman hadspontaneously produced images and themes resembling those of Egyptianmythology,oftheaboriginaltribesofAustralia,andofthenativepeoplesofAmerica.Why do such striking parallels occur to the humanmindwithoutmuchseemingeffort?Whatdoesthismean?Heconnectedthesefactstohisdreamofthedescendingbasements,andthushebegantorealizethathewasdiscovering evidence for the existence of a collective layer of theunconscious.Thiswouldmeanthat there ismaterial in theunconscious thathasnotbeenputtherebyrepressionfromconsciousness.Itistheretobeginwith.

The same pursuit of psychic universals, it must be noted, also intrigued

Freud, but in quite a different way. Freud was looking for a singleunconscious wish—a central complex—that would explain all psychicconflict, and he thought he had found it in the story of the primal horde.WhileJungwaswritingPsychologyoftheUnconscious,FreudwasworkingonTotemandTaboo.WithclinicalmaterialinonehandandFrazer’sGoldenBough in theother,Freudwaspursuing aproject similar to Jung’s, and theracewasonastowhowouldmaketheGreatDiscoveryfirst.WhetherFreud’sor Jung’s version is preferred, the common denominator is that the humanmind has universal structures, just like the human body, and these can bediscoveredthroughaninterpretiveandcomparativemethod.

Inonesense,then,Freud,likeJung,producedatheoryofarchetypes.Hisnotion of archaic residues acknowledged ancient patterns. While Freud’sattitude toward this material was very different from Jung’s discussions ofmythology and its relation to the psyche, the two men were neverthelessfollowingsimilarlinesofthoughtandreachingforasimilarconclusion.

TheUnconscious

The parallels Jung found between images and myths of individuals andgroupsinunrelatedhistoricalperiodsandlocationsintensifiedhisquestforanexplanation. Is thereacommonpointoforigin forpsychotic images,dreamimages, and personal fantasy productions on the one hand, and collectivemythicalandreligiousimagesandthoughtsontheother?Jungwasexploringcommonalities in human thinking and imagining. In order to carry thisresearch further, he had to get his patients to reveal their unconsciousfantasiesandthoughts.

In his paper “On theNature of the Psyche,” Jung tells how he activatedfantasyactivityinhispatients:“Ihadoftenobservedpatientswhosedreamspointed to a rich store of fantasy material. Equally, from the patientsthemselves, I got the impression that they were stuffed full of fantasies,withoutbeingabletotellmejustwheretheinnerpressurelay.Ithereforetookupadreamimageoranassociationofthepatient’s,and,withthisasapointof departure, set him the task of elaborating or developing his theme bygiving free rein to his fantasy.”9 Freud’s technique of free association hadbeen similar, but Jung let imagination roam further and more freely. Heencouraged his patients to elaborate fantasy material: “This, according toindividual tasteand talent,couldbedone inanynumberofways,dramatic,

dialectic, visual, acoustic, or in the form of dancing, painting, drawing, ormodeling. The result of this technique was a vast number of complicateddesignswhosediversitypuzzledme foryears,until Iwasable to recognizethat in the method I was witnessing the spontaneous manifestation of anunconsciousprocesswhichwasmerelyassistedbythetechnicalabilityofthepatient, and towhich I latergave thename ‘individuationprocess.’”10 Thisprocessofimagingunconsciouscontentsbringsthemintoconsciousform.

Thechaoticassortmentofimagesthatatfirstconfrontedmereduceditself in the course of the work to certain well-defined themes andformalelements,whichrepeatedthemselvesinidenticaloranalogousformwith themostvaried individuals. Imention,as themostsalientcharacteristics, chaoticmultiplicity andorder; duality, theoppositionof light and dark, upper and lower, right and left; the union ofopposites in a third; the quaternity (square, cross); rotation (circle,sphere);andfinallythecentringprocessandaradialarrangementthatusuallyfollowedsomequaternarysystem….Thecentringprocess is,in my experience, the never-to-be-surpassed climax of the wholedevelopment, and is characterized as such by the fact that it bringswithitthegreatestpossibletherapeuticeffect.11

Jung goes on to speak about “formative principles [that] areunconscious.”12 In addition to his consideration of the fantasy materialproducedbypsychotics,Jung’sexperiencewithneuroticpatientsencouragedhim to think that major formative elements exist within the unconscious.Since ego consciousness does not determine this process, the source of theformsthatappearmustliesomewhereelse.Someformsmightbedeterminedbycomplexes,butothersaremoreprimordialandimpersonalandcannotbeaccountedforbyindividuallifeexperience.

Jung presented this paper in 1946 at the Eranos Conference at Ascona,Switzerland, where many of his major essays were given and which heattendedfromitsinceptionin1933until1960,theyearbeforehisdeath.Herepeople gathered annually from all over the world. Their interests layparticularly in psychology and religion, especially Eastern religions. OlgaFroebe-Kapetyn, the founderwhose longstanding serious interest inEasternthought and all kinds of occultism hadmotivated the undertaking, broughttogether renowned experts to discuss various topics. This audience seemedtruly to stimulate Jung and to drawout his best efforts. These peopleweremembers of a world class community of scientists and scholars, and theydemandedpapersofextremelyhighquality.

“On the Nature of the Psyche” is a mature summation of Jung’spsychological theory. The historical sections of the paper deal with theunconscious in philosophy and academic psychology. Here Jung lays thegroundworkforhisowndefinitionsoftheunconscious,forhisunderstandingofitsrelationtoconsciousness,andforintrapsychicdynamics.Thenotionofanunconsciousisfundamentaltoalldepthpsychologies.Thisseparatesdepthpsychologiesfromotherpsychologicalmodels.Asevidencefortheexistenceof the unconscious, Jung cites the dissociability of the psyche. In certainaltered states of consciousness, for example, one finds a subliminal self orsubject,aninnerfigurewhoisnottheegobutshowsintentionalityandwill.Theegocanenterintodialoguewiththisothersubpersonality.Sucha“Jekylland Hyde” phenomenon indicates the presence of two distinct centers ofconsciousness within one personality. This also exists, Jung writes, in so-callednormalpersonalitiesevenifpeoplearenotawareofthisfact.

Butonceonepositsanunconsciouspsyche,howisonetodefineitslimits?Cantheybedefinedatall,oraretheysoindefiniteastobeconsideredmoreor less limitless? As a scientist and thinker, Jung wanted some cleardefinitions and in this paper he proposes several of them.One of themostimportant is a theoretical concept called thepsychoid aspect of the psyche,whichformsathreshold:

Thesoundfrequenciesperceptibletothehumanearrangefrom20to20,000vibrationspersecond;thewave-lengthsoflightvisibletotheeye range from7700 to3900angstrom-units.This analogymakes itconceivable that there is a lower as well as an upper threshold forpsychic events, and that consciousness, the perceptual system parexcellence,may therefore be comparedwith the perceptible scale ofsoundorlight,havinglikethemalowerandupperlimit.Maybethiscomparisoncouldbeextendedtothepsycheingeneral,whichwouldnotbeanimpossibilityiftherewere‘psychoid’processesatbothendsofthepsychicscale.13

Jung’sviewof thepsycheposits that itmovesalonga scalewhoseouterlimits gradually disappear into a psychoid (that is, psyche-like) area. Jungacknowledges that he is borrowing the adjective “psychoid” from Bleuler,whodefineddasPsychoideas“thesumtotalofallthepurposive,mnemonic,andlife-preservingfunctionsofthebodyandcentralnervoussystem,withtheexceptionofthosecorticalfunctionswhichwehavealwaysbeenaccustomedto regardaspsychic.”14Bleuler thusproposedadistinctionbetween (a) thepsychic functions,which in Jung’s terms includeego-consciousnessand theunconscious (personal and collective), and (b) the other life-preserving

functionsofthebodyandthecentralnervoussystem,someofwhichappearto be quasi-psychic. The body itself is able to remember and to learn. Forinstance,onceyoulearntorideabicycle,youdonotneedtorecallthisskillconsciously.Thebodyretainsthememoryofhowtodoit.Thebodyisalsopurposiveandorientedtowardthepreservationoflife,strugglingforsurvivalinitsownway,outsidetherangeofthepsyche.Jungworksbasicallywithinthis set of definitions regarding the psychic, the quasi-psychic, and thenonpsychic.

Jung usesBleuler’s term psychoid in a number of hiswritings, butwithsome reservations. He criticizes Bleuler for unduly linking psychoid tospecificbodilyorgansandforencouragingakindofpan-psychismthatwouldfindpsyche in everything living.Psychoid for Jung is a term thatdescribesprocessesthatarepsyche-likeorquasi-psychicbutnotproperlyso.Thetermis used to distinguish psychic functions from vitalistic ones. Psychoidprocesses liebetweensomatic life-energyandsheerbodilyprocesseson theonehandandtruepsychicprocessesontheother.

Instincts

At this point in his argument, Jung takes up the subject of human instinct.Instinct is rooted in thephysical andenters thepsycheas impulse, thought,memory, fantasy,andemotion.Tobesure, thewholesubjectof instinct isaproblemwithregardtohumans.Becausehumanshavetheabilitytochoose,toreflect,and toactornot toactonso-called instinctual impulses,asotheranimals do not, it is questionable how large a role instincts play in humanbehavior.Jungrecognizedthatforhumanstheinstinctualsideofbehaviorisfarlessdeterminativethanitisforanimals.Nevertheless,peoplearetosomedegree influenced by physiological, as distinct from psychic, needs andprocesses.Using Janet’s term, Jung calls this thepartie inferieur of humanexistence. This part is controlled by hormones and shows a compulsivecharacterthathasledsometospeakof“drives.”15Insofarashormonesdictatewhatwedoorfeel,wearesubjecttodrivesandinstinct.Thepartieinferieur,that is, the somatic level of the psyche, is strongly influenced by bodilyprocesses.

Havingrecognizedthissomaticsubstrate,Jungthenstates:

Fromthesereflectionsitappearsthatthepsycheisanemancipationof

function from its instinctual form and so from the compulsivenesswhich,assoledeterminantof thefunction,causes it tohardenintoamechanism. The psychic condition or quality begins where thefunctionlosesitsouterandinnerdeterminismandbecomescapableofmoreextensiveandfreerapplication…16

As informationmoves fromsoma topsyche, itpasses through thepsychoidregion, and as a result there is a considerable softening of biologicaldeterminism,whichthengiveswaytoamore“extensiveandfreerapplication…where it begins to show itself accessible to awillmotivated fromothersources.”17Theappearanceofwill isdecisive forestablishinga functionaspsychic.Hungerandsexuality,forinstance,aresomatically-baseddrivesthatinvolve the release of hormones. Both are instincts. Onemust eat, and thebodycravessexual release.Butwillenters thepicture,sincechoicescanbemade about what is eaten or how to satisfy one’s sexual urges. Will canintervenetoanextent,evenifitcannotabsolutelycontrolaperson’sultimatebehaviorinallrespects.

If there is a limit on the psyche at the somatic end of the spectrum (thepartieinferieur),thereisalsoalimitatthepartiesuperieurofconsciousness:“with increasing freedom from sheer instinct the partie superieur[consciousness]willultimatelyreachapointatwhichtheintrinsicenergyofthefunctionceasesaltogethertobeorientedbyinstinctintheoriginalsense,and attains a so-called ‘spiritual’ form.”18 Instinct loses control over thepsycheatacertainpoint,butotherfactorsentertocontrolandorientit.Thesefactors Jung calls “spiritual,” but the translation of theGerman“geistlich”presentsaproblemhere.AnotherEnglishadjectivethatcouldbeusedjustaswellis“mental.”Thesecontrollingfactorsaremental—theyareofthemind,in the sense of theGreek nous—and they are no longer organically based.Theymayoperate like instincts, in the senseof calling thewill into action,andtheymayevencausethebodytosecretehormones.Jungwantstotiethewholesystemofsoma,psyche,andspirit togetherwhilepreservinganalyticdistinctionsamongthevariousaspects.

The ego is motivated in part by instincts, in part by mental forms andimages.Andtheegohassomefreedomofchoiceamongitsvariousoptions.Itenjoys an amount of “disposable libido”19 even if its motivations aregrounded in instinct or governed by spirit. Jung, ever the biologist andmedical psychologist, refused to distance himself very far from drives andinstincts.Eventhewill,theveryessenceofwhatdefinespsyche,ismotivatedby biological drives: “themotivation of the will must in the first place be

regarded as essentially biological.”20 The instincts lose their potency,however,atthementalendofthepsychicspectrum:“atthe…upperlimitofthepsyche,wherethefunctionbreaksfreefromitsoriginalgoal,theinstinctslosetheirinfluenceasmoversofthewill.Throughhavingitsformaltered,thefunction is pressed into the service of other determinants or motivationswhichapparentlyhavenothingfurthertodowiththeinstincts.”21

What I am trying tomake clear is the remarkable fact that thewillcannot transgress theboundsof thepsychic sphere: it cannot coercetheinstinct,norhasitpoweroverthespirit,insofarasweunderstandby this somethingmore than the intellect. Spirit and instinct are bynatureautonomousandbothlimitinequalmeasuretheappliedfieldofthewill.22

The psychoid boundary defines the gray area between the potentiallyknowable and the totally unknowable—the potentially controllable and thewholly uncontrollable—aspects of human functioning. This is not a sharpboundarybutratheranareaoftransformation.Thepsychoidthresholdsshowan effect that Jung calls “psychization”: nonpsychic information becomespsychized,passingfromtheunknowable into theunknown(theunconsciouspsyche)andthenmovingtowardtheknown(ego-consciousness).Thehumanpsychic apparatus, in short, shows a capacity to psychizematerial from thesomaticandspiritualpolesofnonpsychicreality.

If oneobservespsychic life concretely andclinically, it is never the casethatinstinctually-baseddrivedataistotallyfreeofmentally-basedformsandimages.Theactualpresentationisalwaysamixture.Thisisbecauseinstinct“bearsinitselfapatternof itssituation.Alwaysitfulfillsanimage,andtheimagehas fixedqualities.”23 Instincts functionverypreciselybecause theyare guided by images and shaped by patterns, which also constitute themeaningoftheinstinct.Atthispointinhisessay,Junglinksarchetypes,thebasic mental patterns, with instincts. Instincts are guided and oriented byarchetypal images.On theother hand, however, archetypes canbehave likeinstincts:

Totheextentthatthearchetypesinterveneintheshapingofconsciouscontentsbyregulating,modifying,andmotivatingthem,theyactlikethe instincts. It is thereforeverynatural tosuppose that thesefactors[the archetypes] are connected with the instincts, and to inquirewhether the typical situational patternswhich these collective form-principles apparently represent are not in the end identical with theinstinctualpatterns,namely,withthepatternsofbehavior.24

Socloselyconnectedarearchetypalpatternsandinstinctualdrivesthatonemightbetemptedtoreduceonetotheother,claimingoneortheotherholdspriority. There was the Freudian option, but Jung rejected it as biologicalreductionism.Freudwouldhold that archetypes (thoughhedidnot use thisterm)arenothingbutimaginalrepresentationsofthetwobasicinstincts,ErosandThanatos.Thisoptionwouldpositarchetypesasimagesofinstinctandasderivativefromthem.Jungconcedesthatthisargumentisformidable:“ImustadmitthatuptothepresentIhavenotlaidholdofanyargumentthatwouldfinally refute this possibility.”25 Since Jung could not prove unequivocallythat archetypes and instincts are not identical, biological reductionismremainedapossibility.However,healsoknewthat

archetypes have, when they appear, a distinctly numinous characterwhichcanonlybedescribedas‘spiritual’,if‘magical’istoostrongaword.Consequentlythisphenomenonisoftheutmostsignificanceforthe psychology of religion. In its effects it is anything butunambiguous. It canbe healingor destructive, but never indifferent,providedofcoursethatithasattainedacertaindegreeofclarity.Thisaspectdeservestheepithet‘spiritual’aboveallelse.Itnotinfrequentlyhappensthatthearchetypeappearsintheformofaspiritindreamsorfantasy products, or even comports itself like a ghost. There is amysticalauraabout itsnuminosity, and ithasacorrespondingeffectupon the emotions. It mobilizes philosophical and religiousconvictions in the very peoplewho deemed themselvesmiles aboveanysuchfitofweakness.Oftenitdriveswithunexampledpassionandremorseless logic towards its goal and draws the subject under itsspell, fromwhichdespite themostdesperate resistancehe isunable,and finally no longer even willing, to break free, because theexperience brings with it a depth and fullness of meaning that wasunthinkablebefore.26

Archetypal images and the ideas derived from them have an extraordinarypower to sway consciousness, every bit as forcefully as the identifiableinstincts. This tended to persuade Jung that archetypes are not limited toinstincts,thatspiritisnotreducibletobody,normindtobrain.

Whentheegocomesuponanarchetypalimage,itmaybecomepossessedby it, overwhelmed, and give up evenwanting to resist, for the experiencefeels so rich and meaningful. Identification with archetypal images andenergies constitutes Jung’s definition of inflation and even, eventually,psychosis.Acharismaticleader,forexample,convincespeoplewithpowerfulwordsandstimulates ideas foraction,andsuddenly those ideasbecome the

mostimportantthinginlifeforthemesmerizedfollowersandtruebelievers.Lifeitselfmaybesacrificedforimagessuchastheflagorthecrossandforideas like nationalism, patriotism, and loyalty to one’s religion or country.Crusades and countless other irrational or impractical endeavors have beenengaged in because the participants felt, “This makes my life meaningful!ThisisthemostimportantthingI’veeverdone.”Imagesandideaspowerfullymotivate the ego and generate values andmeanings. Cognitions frequentlyoverrideanddominateinstincts.

In contrast to the impact of the instincts on the psyche—when one feelsdrivenbyaphysicalneedornecessity—theinfluenceofarchetypesleadstobeingcaughtupinbigideasandvisions.Bothaffecttheegoinasimilarwaydynamically,inthattheegoistakenover,possessed,anddriven.

“In spite or perhaps because of its affinity with instinct, the archetyperepresents the authentic element of spirit, but a spirit which is not to beidentifiedwith the human intellect, since it is the latter’s spiritus rector.”27Thedistinctionbetweenspiritandintellect iseasilyconfused,soJungmadeanefforttostateclearlythatheisnotspeakingofthethinkingfunction,butrather of the spiritus rector (guiding spirit), which guides the ego and itsvarious functions.Grippedbyanarchetype,one’s thinking functionmaybeusedtorationalizethearchetypalideaandtobringittowardrealization.Onemightevenbecomeatheologian!Whentheyaregrippedbyarchetypalideas,theologians will produce elaborate rationales to help integrate theirarchetypallybasedvisionsandideasintoaculturalcontext.Butit isnotthethinking function thatgrips themandmotivates their efforts; rather it is theelement of vision, archetypally rooted in nous, that directs the thinkingfunction.Jungsaysbaldly that the“essentialcontentofallmythologiesandallreligionsandallismsisarchetypal.”28

TheRelationshipbetweenArchetypesandInstincts

While it is true that instincts and archetypes belong together “ascorrespondences,”29Jungclearlydoesnotwanttosaythatarchetypescanbereducedtoinstinctsorinstinctstoarchetypes.Theyareintimatelyrelatedascorrespondences and they “ subsist side by side as reflections in our ownminds of the opposition that underlies all psychic energy.”30 The psycheexistsinthespacebetweenpurebodyandtranscendentmind,betweenmatter

and spirit, and “psychic processes seem to be balances of energy flowingbetweenspiritandinstinct.”31Thepsycheisaninbetweenphenomenon,anditsprocesses“behavelikeascalealongwhichconsciousness‘slides’.Atonemomentitfindsitselfinthevicinityofinstinct,andfallsunderitsinfluence;atanother,itslidesalongtotheotherendwherespiritpredominatesandevenassimilatestheinstinctualprocessesmostopposedtoit.”32Thereisakindofeternal shuttle between partie inferieur and partie superieur, between theinstinctual pole and the spiritual, archetypal pole of the psyche.Consciousnessstruggles“inaregularpanicagainstbeingswallowedupintheprimitivity and unconsciousness of sheer instinctuality”33 on the one hand,butitalsoresistscompletepossessionbyspiritualforces(i.e.,psychosis)onthe other. When coordinated, however, the archetype provides form andmeaning to the instinct, and instinct provides raw physical energy toarchetypalimagestoassisttheminrealizingthe“spiritualgoaltowardwhichthewholenatureofman strives; it is the sea towhichall riverswend theirway,theprizewhichtheherowrestsfromthefightwiththedragon.”34

Jungmaps thepsycheasaspectrum,with thearchetypeat theultravioletendandtheinstinctattheinfraredend.“Becausethearchetypeisaformativeprincipleofinstinctualpower,itsblueiscontaminatedwithred;itappearstobeviolet,oragain,wecouldinterpretthesimileasanapocatastasisofinstinctraised to a higher frequency, just aswe could easily derive instinct from alatent (i.e., transcendent) archetype that manifests itself on a longerwavelength.”35Inpracticeandactualexperience,instinctsandarchetypesarealways found in mixed and never in pure form. The archetypal and theinstinctual ends of the psychic spectrum come together in theunconsciousness,wheretheystrugglewithoneanother,intermingle,andunitetoformunitsofenergyandmotivationwhichthenappearinconsciousnessasurges, strivings, ideas, and images.What we experience in the psyche hasbeenfirstpsychizedandthenpackagedintheunconscious.

Imagine a line running through the psyche and connecting instinct andspiritateitherendofit.Thislineisattachedtoarchetypeononeendandtoinstinctattheother.Itpassesinformationanddatathroughthepsychoidrealminto thecollectiveand then into thepersonalunconscious.From there thesecontents make their way into consciousness. Instinctual perceptions andarchetypal representationsare thedataof actualpsychicexperience,not theinstincts and archetypes in themselves.Neither of the ends of the spectrumcan be experienced directly, for neither is psychic.At the ends, the psychefades intomatterandspirit.Andwhatareexperiencedasarchetypal images“are very varied structures which all point back to one essentially

‘irrepresentable’basicform.”36Allthearchetypalinformationpatternscomefromasinglesource,anentitybeyondhumangraspforwhichJungreservesthetermselfThisbasicform“ischaracterizedbycertainformalelementsandby certain fundamental meanings, although these can be grasped onlyapproximately.”37ItisJung’sGodterm.(Theselfwillbediscussedindetailinchapter7.)Thearchetypalimagesthatlinktheselfandego-consciousnessformamiddlerealm,whichJungcallsanimaandanimus, the realmofsoul(treated in chapter 6). In Jung’s view, polytheistic religions stem from andrepresent the realm of the anima and animus, while monotheistic religionsbasethemselvesonandpointtotheselfarchetype.

OnJung’smap,thepsycheisaregionthatislocatedinthespacebetweenpurematter and pure spirit, between the human body and the transcendentmind,betweeninstinctandarchetype.Heshowsitasstretchedbetweentwoendsofaspectrumthathasopeningsateitherendpermittinganentranceofinformationintothepsyche.Attheendsofthepsychearethepsychoidareasthat produce quasi-psychic effects like psychosomatic symptoms andparapsychological happenings. As information passes through the psychoidarea,itbecomespsychizedandtransformedintopsyche.Inthepsyche,matterand spiritmeet. First these packages of informationpass into the collectiveunconscious where they become somewhat contaminated by other contentsalready in theunconscious, andeventually theymayenter consciousness inthe form of intuitions, visions, dreams, perceptions of instinctual drives,images,emotions,and ideas.Theegomustdealwithemergingunconsciouscontents by making judgments about their value and sometimes decisionsaboutwhetherornottoactonthem.Theburdenofchoiceisplacedonego-consciousnesstodealethicallywiththeseinvasionsfrominnerspace.

5

TheRevealedandtheConcealedinRelationswithOthers

(PersonaandShadow)

It was an early observation of Jung’s—later developed into theoreticalpropositions—that the psyche consists of many parts and centers ofconsciousness. In this inneruniverse, there isnot simplyoneplanet,but anentire solar system and more. One can speak of people as having apersonality,butinfactthisismadeupofaclusterofsubpersonalities.

Jung elaborated these. There is the ego complex; then there are themultitudeoflesserpersonalcomplexes,ofwhichthemothercomplexandthefather complex are themost important andmost powerful; and finally onefindsthemanyarchetypalimagesandconstellations.Inasense,wearemadeofmanypotentiallydivergentattitudesandorientations,andthesecaneasilyfallintooppositionwithoneanotherandcreateconflictsthatleadtoneuroticpersonality styles. In this chapter, I will describe a pair of these divergentsubpersonalities, the shadow and the persona. They are complementarystructures and exist in every developed human psyche. Both of these arenamedafterconcreteobjectsinsensateexperience.Theshadowistheimageof ourselves that slides along behind us as we walk toward the light. Thepersona,itsopposite,isnamedaftertheRomantermforanactor’smask.Itisthefaceweweartomeetthesocialworldaroundus.

Atthebeginningoflife,thepersonalityisasimpleundifferentiatedunity.Itis unformed andmore potential than real, and it iswhole.As developmenttakesplace,thiswholenessbecomesdifferentiated,anditseparatesintoparts.Ego-consciousnesscomesintobeing,andasitgrowsitleavesbehindmuchofthewhole self inwhat isnow the“unconscious.”Theunconscious, in turn,becomesstructuredasmaterialclustersaroundimagoes,internalizations,and

traumatic experiences to form the subpersonalities, the complexes. Thecomplexes (as I discussed in chapter 2) are autonomous, and exhibitconsciousness of their own. They also bind a certain amount of psychicenergyandhaveawilloftheirown.

TheEgo’sShadow

One of the unconscious psychic factors that the ego cannot control is theshadow.Infact,theegoisusuallyquiteunawarethatitevencastsashadow.Jungusedthetermshadowtodenoteapsychologicalrealitythatisrelativelyeasytograsponanimagistic levelbutmoredifficult tograpplewithonthepractical and theoretical levels. He wants to highlight the flagrantunconsciousnessthatmostpeopleexhibit.Ratherthanreferringtotheshadowasathing,however,itisbettertothinkofpsychologicaltraitsorqualitiesthatare “in the shadow” (i.e., hidden, behind one’s back, in the dark) or“shadowy.”Whateverpartsofthepersonalitythatwouldordinarilybelongtotheegoiftheywereintegrated,buthavebeensuppressedbecauseofcognitiveor emotional dissonance, fall into the shadow. The specific contents of theshadowmay change, depending upon the ego’s attitudes and its degree ofdefensiveness.Generally,theshadowhasanimmoraloratleastadisreputablequality, containing features of a person’s nature that are contrary to thecustoms andmoral conventions of society. The shadow is the unconsciousside of the ego’s operations of intending, willing, and defending. It is thebacksideoftheego,sotospeak.

Every ego has a shadow.This is unavoidable. In adapting to and copingwith theworld, theego,quiteunwittingly,employs theshadowtocarryoutunsavory operations that it could not perform without falling into a moralconflict. Without the ego’s knowledge, these protective and self-servingactivities are carried out in the dark. The shadow operates much like anation’ssecretespionagesystem—withouttheexplicitknowledgeoftheheadofstate,whoisthereforeallowedtodenyculpability.Althoughintrospectioncantosomeextentbringtheseshadowyegooperationstoconsciousness,theego’s own defenses against shadow awareness are usually so effective thatlittlecanpenetratethem.Askingclosefriendsoralongtermspousetorevealtheir honest perceptions is usually more useful as a method of gatheringinformationabouttheego’sshadowoperationsthanintrospection.

If the ego’s willing, choosing, and intending are tracked deeply enough,

onecomestorealmsofdarknessandcoldnesswhereitbecomesapparentthatthe ego has the capacity, in its shadow, to be extremely selfish, willful,unfeeling, and controlling. Here a person is purely egoistic and intent onfulfilling personal desires for power and pleasure at any cost.This heart ofdarknesswithin theego is theverydefinitionofhumanevil1as it isplayedout inmythandstory.The figure Iago inShakespeare’sOthello isaclassicexample. In the shadow reside all the familiar cardinal sins. Jung identifiedFreud’snotionoftheidwiththeshadow.

Ifshadowtraitstosomeextentbecomeconsciousandintegrated,apersonisverydifferent fromtheaverage individual.Mostpeopledonotknowthatthey are quite as self-centered and egotistical as they are, and theywant toappearunselfishand incontrolof theirappetitesandpleasures.People tendrather to hide such traits from others and themselves behind a facade thatshows them to be considerate, thoughtful, empathic, reflective, and genial.The exceptions to this social norm are thosewho have formed a “negativeidentity”—theblacksheepwhoareproudof theirgreedandaggressivenessand flaunt such traits in public,while in their hidden shadow side they aresensitive and sentimental. Other exceptions are those who have nothing tolose, the out-and-out criminals and sociopaths. Some notorious individuals,likeHitlerorStalinforinstance,gainsomuchpowerthattheycanaffordtoindulge their evil passions to the fullest degree imaginable. Most people,however,thinkofthemselvesasdecentandconductthemselvesaccordingtotherulesofproprietyintheirsocialcirclesandonlyrevealshadowyelementsby accident, in dreams, orwhen pushed to extremes. For them the shadowsideof theegostilloperates,but through theunconscious,manipulating theenvironmentandthepsychesothatcertainintentionsandneedsgetsatisfiedin a socially acceptable manner.What the ego wants in the shadow is notnecessarilybadinandofitself,however,andoftentheshadow,oncefaced,isnotasevilasimagined.

Theshadowisnotexperienceddirectlybytheego.Beingunconscious,itisprojected onto others. When one is tremendously irritated by a reallyegotistical person, for instance, that reaction is usually a signal that anunconscious shadow element is being projected.Naturally the other personhas topresenta“hook” for the shadowprojection,andso there isalwaysamixture between perception and projection in such strong emotionalreactions.Thepsychologicallynaiveor thedefensively resistantpersonwillfocusonandarguefortheperceptionandwillignoretheprojectivepart.Thisdefensive strategy, of course, forecloses the possibility of using theexperiencetogainawarenessofshadowfeaturesandforpossibleintegration

ofthem.Instead,thedefensiveegoinsistsonfeelingself-righteousandcastsitselfintheroleofinnocentvictimorsimpleobserver.Theotherpersonistheevilmonster,whiletheegofeelslikeaninnocentlamb.Ofsuchdynamicsarescapegoatsmade.

TheMakingoftheShadow

The specific contents and qualities that go into making up this internalstructure,theshadow,areselectedbytheprocessofegodevelopment.Whatego-consciousness rejects becomes shadow; what it positively accepts andidentifies with and absorbs into itself becomes a part of itself and of thepersona. The shadow is characterized by the traits and qualities that areincompatiblewith the conscious ego and the persona. The shadow and thepersonaareboth ego-alien “persons” that inhabit thepsychealongwith theconsciouspersonalitythatweknowourselvestobe.Thereistheofficialand“public person” that Jung called the persona, and this is more or lessidentifiedwithego-consciousnessandformsthepsycho-socialidentityoftheindividual.Andyetitisalso,liketheshadow,ego-alien,althoughtheegoismore at easewith it because it is compatiblewith social norms andmores.The shadow personality is hidden away from sight and comes out only onspecial occasions. The world is more or less unaware of this person. Thepersonaismuchmoreevident.Itplaysanofficialrole,daily,ofadaptationtothe socialworld. Shadow and persona are like two brothers (for aman) orsisters(forawoman);oneisoutinpublic,andtheotherishiddenawayandreclusive.Theyareastudyincontrasts.Ifoneisblond, theother isdark; ifone is rational, the other is emotional.Narcissus andGoldmund,Dr. JekyllandMr. Hyde, Cain and Abel, Eve and Lilith, Aphrodite and Hera—thesefigures are such pairs. The one complements—ormore often opposes—theother. Persona and shadow are usuallymore or less exact opposites of oneanother,andyettheyareascloseastwins.

The persona is the person that we become as a result of acculturation,education, and adaptation to our physical and social environments. As Imentioned, Jung borrowed this term from the Roman stagewhere personareferred to the actor’s mask. By putting on a mask, the actor assumed aspecificroleandanidentitywithinthedrama,andhisvoicewasprojectedoutthrough themouthpiececut into themask’s face.Takenpsychologically, thepersonaisafunctionalcomplexwhosejobisbothtoconcealandtorevealan

individual’s conscious thoughts and feelings to others. As a complex, thepersonapossessesconsiderableautonomyandisnotunderthefullcontroloftheego.Onceinrole,theactorrattlesoffhisorherlineswilly-nillyandoftenwithout much consciousness. “How are you?” someone asks on a rainymorning,andquickasawink,withoutamoment’shesitation,yousay,“Justfine,howaboutyou?”Thepersonamakescasualsocial interactiongomoreeasily, and it smoothes the rough spots that might otherwise causeawkwardnessorsocialdistress.

The shadow, a complementary functional complex, is a sort of counter-persona.Theshadowcanbethoughtofasasubpersonalitywhowantswhatthe persona will not allow. Mephistopheles in Goethe’s Faust is a classicexampleofashadowfigure.Faustisaboredintellectualwhohasseenitall,hasreadalltheimportantbooksandhaslearnedeverythinghewantstoknow,and now he has run out of gas and the will to live. He is depressed andcontemplatingsuicidewhenalittlepoodlesuddenlyrunsacrosshispathandthenchangesintoMephistopheles.MephistophelesenticesFausttoleavehisstudyandtogooutintotheworldwithhim,toexperiencehisotherside,hissensuality.HeintroducesFausttohisinferiorfunctions,sensationandfeeling,andtothethrillsandexcitementofhishithertounlivedsexuallife.Thisisaside of life that his persona as professor and intellectual had not permitted.UndertheguidanceofMephistopheles,FaustgoesthroughwhatJungcalledenantiodromia,areverseofthepersonalityintoitsoppositecharactertype.Heembraces the shadow and indeed for a time becomes identified with itsenergiesandqualities.

Toanegothathasbeenidentifiedwiththepersonaanditsassumedvaluesandqualities, theshadowstinksofrottennessandevil.Mephistophelesdoesembody evil—pure, intentional, willful destructiveness. But the encounterwith the shadow also has a transformative effect on Faust. He finds newenergy,hisboredomvanishes,andhesetsoutonadventures thatwill in theendgivehimamorecompleteexperienceoflife.Theproblemofintegratingtheshadowisamoralandpsychologicalproblemofthemostthornysort.Ifaperson completely shuns the shadow, life is proper but it is terriblyincomplete.Byopeninguptoshadowexperience,however,apersonbecomestaintedwithimmoralitybutattainsagreaterdegreeofwholeness.Thisistrulya devil’s bargain. It is Faust’s dilemma, and it is a core problemof humanexistence.InFaust’scase,hissoulissavedintheend,butonlybythegraceofGod.

ThePersona

InhisofficialwritingsJungdoesnotgo intomuchdetailabout theshadow,buthedoesgiveaninterestinganddetailedaccountofthepersona.Fromthiswecandrawaswellsomeinformationabouttheshadowanditsconstellationwithin a personality. Iwill look now somewhatmore closely atwhat Jungwritesaboutthepersona,itspositioninthepsycheanditsformation.

Hedefines this termin themajorworkPsychologicalTypes,published in1921. This volume concludes with a long chapter titled “Definitions,” inwhich Jung tries to be as clear as possible about the terminology he hasadaptedfrompsychoanalysisandtakenfrompsychologyingeneralaswellasabout the termshehascreated forhisownanalyticalpsychology.As faraspsychology and psychoanalysis are concerned, the term persona is Jung’sown special intellectual property. Section 48, one of the longest in thischapter,isdevotedtothetermsoul,andthisiswherethepersonaisdiscussed.Here Jung reflects on two complementary structures, the persona and theanima.Iwilldiscussthelatterinthenextchapter.

Todaythetermpersonahasbeensomewhatacceptedintothevocabularyofpsychology and contemporary culture. It is used frequently in popularparlance, in newspapers, and in literary theory. It means the person-as-presented, not theperson-as-real.Thepersona is a psychological and socialconstructadoptedforaspecificpurpose.Jungchoseit forhispsychologicaltheorybecauseithastodowithplayingrolesinsociety.Hewasinterestedinhow people come to play particular roles, adopt a conventional collectiveattitude, and represent social and cultural stereotypes rather than assumingandlivingtheirownuniqueness.Certainlythisisawell-knownhumantrait.Itisakindofmimicry.Junggaveitanameandworkeditintohistheoryofthepsyche.

Jung begins his definition of the persona bymaking the point thatmanypsychiatricandpsychologicalstudieshaveshownthatthehumanpersonalityisnotsimplebutcomplex,thatitcanbeshowntosplitandtofragmentundercertainconditions,andthattherearemanysubpersonalitieswithinthenormalhuman psyche. However, “it is at once evident that such a plurality ofpersonalitiescanneverappearinanormalindividual.”2Inotherwords,whilewe are not all “multiple personalities” in a clinical sense, everyone doesmanifest “traces of character splitting.”3 The normal individual is simply aless exaggerated version of what is found in pathology. “One has only to

observeamanratherclosely,undervaryingconditions, tosee thatachangefromonemilieutoanotherbringsaboutastrikingalterationofpersonality…‘angel abroad, devil at home’.”4 In public such an individual is all smiles,backslapping, gladhanding, extroverted, easygoing, happy-go-lucky, joking;athome,on theotherhand,he is sourandgrumpy,doesn’t talk tohiskids,sulks and hides behind the newspaper, and can be verbally or otherwiseabusive.Characterissituational.ThestoryofJekyllandHyderepresentsanextreme formof this.Anothernovelwith the same theme isThePictureofDorianGray,wherethemaincharacterkeepsapictureofhimselfintheattic.Ashegrowsolder, theportraitages,revealinghistruenatureandcharacter;yet he continues to go out in public without wrinkles—youthful,sophisticated,andcheerful.

Jung goes on to discuss the fascinating subject of human sensitivity tomilieus,tosocialenvironments.Peopleareusuallysensitivetootherpeople’sexpectations.Jungpointsoutthatparticularmilieussuchasfamilies,schools,andworkplaces requireone toassumespecific attitudes.By“attitude” Jungmeans“anaprioriorientation toadefinite thing,nomatterwhether thisberepresented in consciousness or not.”5 An attitude can be latent andunconscious,butitisconstantlyoperatingtoorientapersontoasituationoramilieu.Further, an attitude is “a combinationof psychic factors or contentswhichwill…determineactioninthisorthatdefinitedirection.”6Anattitudeis a feature of character, therefore. The longer an attitude persists and themorefrequentlyit iscalledupontomeetthedemandsofamilieu,themorehabitualitbecomes.Asbehaviorismwouldexpressit,themorefrequentlyabehavior or attitude is reinforced by the environment, the stronger and themore entrenched it becomes. People can be trained to develop specificattitudestocertainmilieusandthustorespondinparticularways,reactingtosignals or cues as they have been trained to do.Once an attitude has beenfullydeveloped,allthatisrequiredtoactivatebehavioristheappropriatecueor trigger. Jungobserved this in1920, about the time that behaviorismwasgainingground inNorthAmerica, ledbyJohnBroadusWatson,whosefirstmajorpublicationappearedin1913.

Incontrasttopeoplelivingandworkinginruralornaturalareas,whicharerelativelyunifiedenvironments,manyeducatedurbandwellersmovein twototallydifferentmilieus: thedomesticcircleand thepublicworld.ThiswasmoretrueofmenthanofwomenintheEuropeofJung’sday.MenofJung’stime and culture worked in one environment and lived domestically inanother,and theyhad to respond to twodistinctlydifferentmilieus,eachofwhich provided a different set of cues. “These two totally different

environmentsdemandtwototallydifferentattitudes,which,dependingonthedegreeoftheego’sidentificationwiththeattitudeofthemoment,produceaduplicationofcharacter.”7

Afriendofminehas amidlevelmanagerial job in agovernment agency,andsohemustsetthetoneforemployeesinhisgroupregardingvaluesandbehavioralpatternsinthepublicsector.Theagencyisamilieu,andhefindsout from other sources what the correct values are and then informs theworkersunderhimthat,forexample,theymustbesensitivetosuchissuesasnondiscrimination,sexism,andaffirmativeaction.Myfriendtoldmethatheplaysthatroleeasilyandwellintheworkplace,butwhenhewatchesTVinthe privacy of his own home he has very different reactions. There he isultraconservative. In the workplace he is a liberal and enlightenedmodernman. His ego is not, however, strongly identified with the attitude of thatmilieu.Hehasafunctionalpersona:onethatheputsonandtakesoffeasilywithout identifyingwith it.Myfriend isveryclear inhisownmind thathedoesnotidentifywiththatworkplacepersona.

Frequently, however, the ego does identify with the persona. Thepsychological term identification points to the ego’s ability to absorb andunitewithexternalobjects,attitudes,andpersons.

This is a more or less unconscious process. One simply finds oneselfunintentionallyimitatinganotherperson.Perhapsonedoesnotevennoticeitoneself,butotherpeoplesee themimicry. Inprinciple,onecansay that theegoisquiteseparatefromthepersona,butinactuallifethisisoftennotthecase, because the ego tends to identifywith the roles it plays in life. “Thedomestic character is, as a rule, molded by emotional demands and aneasygoingacquiescencefor thesakeofcomfortandconvenience;whence itfrequently happens that men who in public life are extremely energetic,spirited,obstinate,willfulandruthlessappeargood-natured,mild,compliant,evenweak,whenathomeandinthebosomofthefamily.Whichisthetruecharacter,therealpersonality?Thisquestionisoftenimpossibletoanswer.”8

Evenso, there isalwaysmore to theego thanpersona identification.Thepersonawill atmost forma closewrapping around the sideof the ego thatfaces out into the social world. But people will usually still recognize adifferencebetweenroleandtrueinneridentity.Theego’scoreisarchetypalaswellasindividualandpersonal.Thisisthestill,smallpointofreflection,thecenter of the “I.” The archetypal side of the ego’s core is pure “I am,” amanifestationoftheself.Itissimply“I-am-ness”(seechapter1).

On the personal side, however, the ego is permeable to influence from

externalforces.Suchinfluencemakesitswayintotheegoandpushesasidethispure“I-ness”astheegoidentifieswiththenewcontent.Thisistheego“learning.”Welearnournames.Afterthatwebecomeournames,weidentifywiththesoundsofthem.Whentheegoisidentifiedwiththepersona,itfeelsidenticaltoit.ThenIammyname;Iamthesonofmyfatherandmother,thebrotherofmysister.Oncethisidentificationismade,Iamnolongersimply“I am that I am,” but instead, I amMurrayStein, born on such-and-such adate,with this particular personal history.This iswho I amnow. I identifywithmemories,withaconstructionofmyhistory,withsomeofmyqualities.Inthiswaythepure“I-ness”—thearchetypalpiece—cangetobscuredandgointo hiding or disappear from the conscious altogether. Then one is trulydependentuponthepersonaforone’sentireidentityandsenseofreality,nottomentionone’ssenseofself-worthandbelonging.

Ofcourse thiscanalso fluctuate.At timesonecanbe in thepure“I-am”state,notidentifyingwithanythinginparticular;atothertimesoneisfirmlyidentified with some content or quality and heavily invested in a personaimage.T.S.Eliotsaidofcatsthattheyhavethreenames:onethateverybodyknows,onethatonlyafewknow,andonethatonlythecatknows!Thefirstandsecondrefertothepersona,thethirdreferstothearchetypalcoreoftheego.

TheTwoSourcesofthePersona

Jungfoundtwosourcesofthepersona:“Inaccordancewithsocialconditionsand requirements, the social character is oriented on the one hand by theexpectationsanddemandsofsociety,andontheotherbythesocialaimsandaspirationsoftheindividual.”9Thefirst,theexpectationsanddemandsofthemilieu,includessuchrequirementsasbeingacertainkindofperson,behavingappropriatelyaccordingtothesocialmoresofthegroup,andoftenbelievingin certain propositions about the nature of reality (such as consenting toreligious teachings). The second source includes the individual’s socialambitions.

Inorderforsocietytobeabletoinfluenceone’sattitudesandbehavior,onemust want to belong to society. The ego must be motivated to accept thepersonafeaturesandtherolesthatsocietyrequiresandoffers,orelsetheywillsimplybeavoided.Therewillbenoidentificationatall.Anagreementmustbestruckbetweentheindividualandsocietyinorderforpersonaformationto

take hold.Otherwise the individual lives an isolated life on themargins ofculture,foreverasortofuneasyadolescentinanadultworld.Thisisdifferentfromtheheroicrebelwhogoeshisownwayandignoressocialnorms.Thatisanotherkindofpersona,andone that isofferedbyall societiesandgroups.Therearemanyrolestoplay.

Generally speaking, the more prestigious the role, the stronger is thetendency to identifywith it.Peopledonotusually identifywith lower-classpersonaroleslikegarbagecollectororjanitor,orevenmiddleclassroleslikemanager or superintendent. If they do, they often do so humorously. Thesejobs have their own value and dignity but they do not imply roles towearproudly in society, and the temptation to identify strongly with them isminimal. Role identification is generally motivated by ambition and socialaspiration.Forexample,apersonwhoiselectedtotheUnitedStatesSenateacquires a role with high collective value and enormous prestige. With itcomefame,honor,andhighsocialvisibility,andthepersonwhoisasenatortends to fusewith this role, even to the extent ofwishing to be treated byclosefriendswithconspicuousrespect.IthasbeenreportedthatafterJohnF.Kennedy’s election as president of the United States even his close familymemberscalledhimMr.President.

In IngmarBergman’sautobiographical filmFannyandAlexander, a littleboyissenttolivewithahorrible,abusivebishopwhoisemotionallyremoteandcoldanddeeply identifiedwitha religiouspersona. Inonesceneof thefilm,thebishopisshowndreaming.Inthedream,heisstrugglingtotearoffamask,whichhecannotdetach,andheendsuppullinghisfaceoffalongwiththemask.Thebishop’segoisutterlyfusedwiththebishoppersonabecausethat rolehasguaranteedhispersonalaspirations in life.Abishop iswithoutdoubtahighrankingpersoninsociety.Similarlyphysicians,militarymen,androyalty are granted personas that attract strong identification. And yet thebishop,inhisnightmare,triestoremovethemaskfromhisface.Why?

The relation between ego and persona is not simple because of thecontradictory aims of these two functional complexes. The egomoves in afundamentalwaytowardseparationandindividuation,towardconsolidatingaposition first of all outside of the unconscious, and then also somewhatoutsideof the familymilieu.There is in theegoastrongmovement towardautonomy, toward an “I-ness” that can function independently.At the sametime,anotherpartoftheego,whichiswherethepersonatakesroot,ismovingin the opposite direction, toward relating and adapting to the objectworld.Thesearetwocontrarytendencieswithintheego—aneedforseparationandindependenceontheonehand,andaneedforrelationshipandbelongingon

theother.Theego’sradicaldesireforseparation/individuationisoftenrootedin the shadow because it is so threatening both to group life and to theindividual’s well-being. Objectively, we all need other people in order tosurvive physically and psychologically. The ego’s movement towardrelationship and adaptation to the present milieu, which seeks to insuresurvival,providestheopportunityforthepersonatotakehold.Andthisthenbecomesaperson’sself-presentationtotheworld.

PersonaDevelopment

This conflict in the ego between individuation/separation and socialconformitygeneratesagooddealoftheego’sbasicanxiety.Howcanonebefree,unique,andindividualwhilealsobeingacceptedandlikedbyothersandaccommodating to their needs andwishes.Clearly a source of fundamentalconflict exists between ego and persona development. By early adulthood,one hopes that sufficient development has taken place in both ego andpersona so that the ego’s dual needs for independence and relationship aresatisfied, while at the same time the persona has made a suitable enoughadaptation so that the ego can live in the realworld. Famous geniuses likeWagner, Beethoven, and Picasso seem to be exceptions to this rule in thattheir gifts grant them license to be themselves as individuals to anextraordinarydegree.Theyareforgiventheirexcessesbecauseofwhat theyoffertheworldincompensation.

Theegodoesnotdeliberatelychoosetoidentifywithaparticularpersona.Peoplefindthemselvesinmilieusinwhichtheyhavetosurvive,andmostdotheir best tomake theirway ahead.Birth order is an important factor, alsogender.A little girl or boy observeswhat other kids are doing and imitatesthem.Littlegirlstryouttheirmothers’attitudeswhiletryingontheirmothers’clothes. Little boys also try on their mothers’ clothes sometimes, and theirparents worry about it. Clothes represent the persona. Little boys morefrequently imitate their fathersorbrothers,wearingcapswhen theydo,andswaggerandspit if that’swhat theothersaredoing.Gender iscertainlyonewayinwhichwesortourselvesoutearlyon,andthesefeaturesaretakenupinthepersona.Ayoungsterrealizesthatheorsheistreatedinacertainwayifthebehaviorisright,andrespondsinagender-appropriatemanner.Thismaycome quite naturally to the individual child or not. Sometimes the personafits, sometimes it does not. Eventually an attitude is formed that is at least

adequate, if not enhancing, in terms of gender-related attractiveness. (Thedeeperissuesrelatedtogenderandgenderidentificationwillbediscussedinthefollowingchapter.)

Personadevelopmenthas twopotentialpitfalls.One isover-identificationwith the persona. The individual becomes unduly concerned with pleasingand adapting to the socialworld and comes to believe that this constructedimage isall there is to thepersonality.Theotherproblemlies innotpayingenough attention to the external object world and being too exclusivelyinvolvedwiththeinnerworld(aconditionthatJungwilldescribeasanimaoranimuspossession).Suchapersonattends to impulses,wishes,desires, andfantasies, and is so taken upwith thatworld and identifiedwith it that notenoughattentionispaidtootherpeople.Consequently,suchapersontendstobe inconsiderate, blind, and unrelated to others, and gives up thesecharacteristicsonlywhenforcedtodosobytheharshestblowsoffate.

Personadevelopmentistypicallyamajorprobleminadolescenceandearlyadulthood, when there is so much activity in the inner world, so manyimpulses,fantasies,dreams,desires,ideologiesandidealismsontheonesideandsomuchpeerpressuretowardconformityontheother.Relatednesstothelargersocialworldmay lookveryprimitiveandcollective,unbalancedbyakind of horde mentality, an identification with the peer group and itscollective values. Such identification with the peer group assists theadolescentinbreakingfreefromparents,anecessarysteptowardmaturity.Atthesametime,theteenagerisblindlyinconsiderate,indeed,almostunaware,oftheobjectworldandlivesinafantasyofinvincibility.Adultstendtoapplyterms like inflation and grandiosity to describe this combination ofhypertrophy of the inner world and maladaptation to outer reality. On theother hand, some adolescents pay too much attention to adult values andexpectations.Dressedintheirbutton-downshirts,carryingbriefcases,and,atfifteen, talking about becoming corporate attorneys, they are so adapted toexpectations of family and culture that not much personal identity isdeveloping. They are on theway to becomingmere stereotypes of culturalforms,victimsofprematurepersonaadaptation.

Both introverts and extroverts develop a persona, for both attitude typesmustrelatetotheworldofobjects.Forextroverts,however,thedevelopmentofthepersonaisasimplerprocessthanitisforintroverts.Extrovertedlibidogoestotheobjectandstaysthere,andextrovertsrecordandrelatetoobjectswithout much fuss or complication. For introverts, attention and psychicenergygoouttoobjectsbutthenreturntothesubject,andthiscreatesamorecomplicatedrelation toobjects.Anobject isnotonlysomethingoutside the

psychebutisalso,fortheintrovert,profoundlyinsidethepsyche.Attachmentismoredifficult.Extroverts,therefore,haveaneasiertimefindingasuitablepersona. They are more at ease with the object world because it doesn’tthreaten them so intimately. The introvert’s persona is more ambiguous,diffidentoruncertain,andvariesfromonecontexttoanother.

For everyone, though, the personamust relate to objects and protect thesubject.Thisisitsdualfunction.Whileintrovertscanbeveryoutgoingwithafewpeople,inalargegrouptheyshrinkanddisappearandthepersonaoftenfeels inadequate, particularly with strangers and in situations in which theintrovert does not occupy a defined role. Cocktail parties are a torture, butactinga roleonstagemaybeapure joyandpleasure.Many famousactorsand actresses are quite deeply introverted. In private theymay be shy, butgivenapublicroletheyfeelprotectedandsecureandcaneasilypassasthemostextrovertedtypesimaginable.

The persona, when used creatively within the context of a strongpsychologicaldevelopment,functionstoexpressaswellastohideaspectsofthepersonality.Anadequatepersonaisbroadenoughnotonlytoexpressthesocially appropriate aspects of the personality but also to be genuine andplausible.Theindividualcan,withoutmuchdamage,identifywithapersonato theextent that it is an trueexpressionofpersonality.Ofcourse thismaychangewithage,andnewpersonasappearasindividualsenternewstagesoflife. Social extroverts may become more introverted, for example, as theypassintotheir50’sand60’s.Laterinlifeonealsorealizesthereisadifferencebetweenfeelingthatthepersonaistrue,honest,andgenuineontheonehandandfullyandunconsciouslyidentifyingwithitontheother.

Essentially,thepersona,whichisthepsychicskinbetweenegoandworld,is not only a product of interaction with objects, but includes as well theindividual’s projections onto those objects. We adapt to what we perceiveotherpeopleareandwhattheywant.Thismaybeconsiderablydifferentfromhowothersseethemorhowtheyseethemselves.Wrappedintothefabricofthepersonaareprojectionsthatoriginateinthecomplexes,forinstanceintheparentalcomplexes,andreturntothesubjectviatheintrojectiveprocessandenterintothepersona.Thisiswhyearlychildhoodhassuchaprofoundeffectupon adult personas. Even after parents are long since outgrown and leftbehind,theycontinuetoaffectthepersonabecausetheyareprojectedintotheworld from the parental complexes and are continually adapted to by theindividual’spersona.Wearegoodlittleboysandgirlslongafterweneedtobe.Carryingthepersonaoverfromonecontexttoanotherpresentsproblemsbecause,inacontinuingefforttoadapt,theoriginalcontextisprojectedonto

new, quite different situations. This was Freud’s observation concerning“transference.” The old context of childhood is transferred into the newcontextofthedoctor-patientrelationship.Untilonerealizeshowmilieusaredifferent, one perseveres in old habitual behaviors, responding to the newmilieuasthoughitweretheoldfamiliarone.

ThePersona’sTransformations

Thearchetypalcoreoftheegodoesnotchangeovertime,butthepersonacanbeandismodifiedmanytimesinthecourseofalifetime,dependingontheego’sperceptionofthechangedenvironmentanditsabilitytointeractwithit.A major change occurs in the passage from childhood into adolescence;anotherinthepassagefromadolescenceintoadulthood;anotherinthecourseofthemid-lifetransitionfromearlyadulthoodintomiddleage;yetanotherinthe transition into old age. The competent ego meets each of theseadaptational challenges with appropriate alterations in self-concept andpersona self-presentation. People think differently of themselves, dressdifferently, cut their hair differently, buy different kinds of cars and housesdependingon their age,marital status, economicand social class, andpeer-grouppreferences.Allofthisisreflectedinpersonachanges.

Thevariousrolesoneassumesinthecourseofalifetimehave,ofcourse,acollective and to some extent archetypal basis. The persona has, like everyfunctionalcomplex,anarchetypalcore.Therearepredictable,typicalrolestobefilledinallhumangroups.Forexample,thereistheoldestchildwhoistheLittleAdult,andthemischievousTricksterKidwhoisstillplayingpracticaljokes inmiddle and old age, and the alluring FemmeFatalewho flirts andseducesherwaythroughlifebeginninginearliestchildhood.Familiesassignrolesintypicalwaystotheirchildrenandtheiradultmembers.Birthorderofchildrenoftenplaysalargeroleinthepersonastheywilladopt.Thefirstchildis a responsible little grownup, the middle child is a mediator, and theyoungestchildisthecreativebaby.Theblacksheeproleisfoundeverywhereand in all times, as is the scapegoat. People are assigned such roles byunconsciousdynamicswithinfamiliesandgroups,andwhentheyaccepttheminchildhoodtheyoftencarrysomeversionoftherolewiththemthroughoutlife.

Whatisitthatcausespersonastosticktopeoplewithtenacity?Inpartitisidentificationandsheerfamiliarity.Apersonabecomesidentifiedwithone’s

personality.Itoffersapsychosocialidentity.Butshameisalsoafundamentalmotivator.Thepersonaprotectsonefromshame,andtheavoidanceofshameisprobablythestrongestmotivefordevelopingandholdingontoapersona.Ruth Benedict’s writings on shame and guilt cultures showed that westernnations are characteristically guilt cultures and eastern countries are bycontrast shame cultures. Shame cultures emphasize persona more than doguiltcultures,inthesensethatifonelosesfaceonemightaswelldie.Lossofface is the ultimate crisis. The situation is quite different in guilt cultureswhereguiltcanbeassuagedorredressed:theguiltypersoncanpaythepriceandberestoredtocommunity.

Guilt involves a discrete action, whereas shame wipes out one’s wholesense of self-worth. Shame is a more primitive, and potentially a moredestructivekindofemotion.Wetendtofeeleitherguiltyaboutorprofoundlyashamedofthethingswedothatareatoddswiththeadoptedpersona.Thisistherealizationofshadowinthepersonality.Shadowinducesshame,asenseofunworthiness,afeelingofuncleanness,ofbeingsoiledandunwanted.Tobewell-trained is to be proud; to soil oneself is shameful.Nature has beenconquered by the toilet-trained ego. Such experiences of shame includeanythingthatdoesnotfitintothewayweweretrained:tobeagoodperson,therightkindofperson;tofitin,tobeaccepted.Inapuritanicalculturelikeours, particular kinds of sexual fantasies and behaviors that are notappropriate to a “good person’s” persona easily lead to feelings of shame.Anothershadowfeatureisaggression.Feelingaggressive,hateful,orenviousareshamingemotions.

Thesenormalhumanreactionstendtobehiddenaway;weareembarrassedbythem,inthesamewaythatweareashamedofcertainphysicalorcharacterflawsthatweseeinourselves.Thepersonaisthefaceweputontomeettheotherfaces,tobelikethemandtobelikedbythem.Wedonotwanttobetoodifferent,forourpointsofdifference,wherethepersonaendsandtheshadowbegins,makeusashamed.

IntegratingPersonaandShadow

Theshadowandpersonaareaclassicpairofopposites,standinginthepsycheaspolaritiesoftheego.Sincetheoveralltaskofpsychologicaldevelopment(“individuation,”discussedinchapter8) is integration,andwholenessis theover-archingandsupremevalue,weneedtoaskhereinapreliminarywayat

least:Whatdoesitmeantointegratepersonaandshadow?Inthecontextofthischapter’stopic,integrationhingesonself-acceptance,onfullyacceptingthosepartsofoneselfthatdonotbelonginthepersonaimage,whichisitselfusually an image of an ideal or at least of a cultural norm. The personalaspects of which one is ashamed are often felt to be radically evil.Whilesomethingstrulyareevilanddestructive,frequentlyshadowmaterial isnotevil. It is only felt to be so because of the shame attached to it due to itsnonconformitywiththepersona.

What is it like when somebody has achieved a measure of integrationbetween persona and shadow? Jung quotes a letter from a former patient,writtensometimeafterhesawherforanalysis:

Outofevil,muchgoodhascometome.Bykeepingquiet,repressingnothing, remainingattentive,andbyaccepting reality—taking thingsastheyare,andnotasIwantedthemtobe—bydoingallthis,unusualknowledge has come tome, and unusual powers as well, such as Icould never have imagined before. I always thought that when weacceptedthingstheyoverpoweredusinsomewayorother.Thisturnsoutnottobetrueatall,anditisonlybyacceptingthemthatonecanassumeanattitudetowardsthem.SonowIintendtoplaythegameoflife,beingreceptivetowhatevercomestome,goodandbad,sunandshadow forever alternating, and in this way also acceptingmy ownnaturewith itspositiveandnegativesides.Thuseverythingbecomesmorealivetome.WhatafoolIwas!HowItriedtoforceeverythingtogoaccordingtothewayIfeltitoughtto!10

This woman has stepped back both from the persona and from splittingpersona and shadow into opposites, and she is now simply observing,reflectingonandacceptingherpsycheasitcomestoher,thensorting,seeingwhatitwasabout,andmakingsomechoices.Shehascreatedapsychologicaldistance between the ego complex and the persona, aswell as between theegoandtheshadow.Sheisnolongerpossessedoneitherendofthespectrum.

Jungholdsthatoppositesareunitedinthepsychethroughtheinterventionof a “third thing.” A conflict between opposites—persona and shadow, forexample—canberegardedasanindividuationcrisis,anopportunitytogrowthroughintegration.Comingintoconflictarecollectivevaluesonthepersonaside, and shadow aspects of the ego that belong to the individual’s nativeinstinctualmakeup (Freud’s id) and also some that are derivative from thearchetypes and the unconscious complexes. Since shadow content is notacceptabletothepersona,theconflictmaybefierce.Jungheldthatifthetwo

polesareheldintension,asolutionwillappeariftheegocanletgoofbothand create an inner vacuum in which the unconscious can offer a creativesolutionintheformofanewsymbol.Thissymbolwillpresentanoptionformovement ahead that will include something of both—not simply acompromise,butanamalgamationthatcallsforthanewattitudeonthepartoftheegoandanewkindofrelationtotheworld.Thisprocesscanbeobservedas people develop both in therapy and through life experience—as theyoutgrowtheirformerconflicts,assumenewpersonas,andintegrateformerlyunacceptablepartsoftheself.

Peopledochange through therapyand in the courseof lifedevelopment.Thepersona,asa toolofadaptation,hasagreatpotentialforchange.Itcanbecome increasingly flexible, given that the ego is willing to modify oldpatterns. Stories such asDr. Jekyll andMr.Hyde describe a complete splitbetween persona and shadow. In these stories there is no integration, onlyfluctuationbackandforthbetweentheopposites.Shadowrolesandimpulsesare acted out, without the appearance of a transcendent function to bringaboutanintegrationofthoseopposites.Onewondersaboutpeopleinreallifewhocannotintegratesuchopposites.Insomecases,thedarksidemaybesoextremeandsohighlychargedwithenergythatitsintegrationwithasociallyacceptablepersonaofanykindisimpossible.Todaytheonlysolutiontothisproblem is psychotropic medicine, which can put a severe damper on theunconsciousandinhibittheshadow’spowersources.Inothercases,theegoistoo unstable and weak to moderate impulsivity enough to allow for theconstellationofthetranscendentfunction.

6

TheWaytotheDeepInterior(AnimaandAnimus)

InhisautobiographyJungtellsastoryaboutthediscoveryoftheanima.1HewritesthatduringhisyearsofintenseinnerworkafterbreakingwithFreudin1913 there was a period when he questioned himself about the nature andvalueofwhathewasdoing.Isthisscience?heaskedhimself.Orisitart?Hewas recording his dreams, interpreting them, sometimes painting them, andtrying to understand themeaning of his spontaneous fantasies.At a certainmomentheheardafemale“voice”say,“Itisart.”Surprised,heenteredintoadialoguewith her and gradually recognized that she resembled a patient ofhis.Shewasthusasortofinternalizedfigure,butshealsospokeforsomeofhisownunconscious thoughtsandvalues. InhisownegoandpersonaJungwasself-identifiedasascientist,notanartist.Butthisvoicespokeforanotherpointofview.Whileretaininghisconsciousegoposition,hebeganadialoguewith this figure and a study of her.Therewasmore to her than simply theinternalizedimageofhispatient.Gradually,throughdialogue,shetookshapeandassumeda fullerpersonality.“I felta littleawedbyher. Itwas like thefeelingofaninvisiblepresenceintheroom,”2herelates.

For Jung thiswasan important innerexperienceof theanima,and it hasbecomeakeyreferencepointfor theanima’smanifestationinthecollectivememory of analytical psychology.Since Jungmanyother peoplewhohaveengaged in active imagination have discovered similar inner figures.Conventionally, for men the anima is a feminine figure; for women theequivalent inner figure—called the animus—is masculine. The anima andanimus are subjective personalities that represent a deeper level of theunconsciousthantheshadow.Forbetterorworse,theyrevealthefeaturesofthesoulandleadintotherealmofthecollectiveunconscious.

ThroughoutthischapterIwillrefertothisinnerstructureastheanima/us.Itis,liketheshadow,apersonalitywithinthepsychethatdoesnotmatchtheself-presentationandself-identityreflectedbythepersona.Itisdifferentfromtheshadow,however,inthatitdoesnotbelongtotheegointhesameway:itismore “other” than the shadow is. If the distinction between persona andshadowis“goodversusbad”—plusandminus,positiveandnegativeaspectsof the ego—the distinction between ego and anima/us is marked by themasculine-femininepolarity. It is not thedifferencebetweenCain andAbelbutbetweenSolomonandtheQueenofSheba.

DefiningAnimaandAnimus

Of all the aspects of Jung’s theory, the topic of this chapter has become inmanyways themost controversial, for it raises profound gender issues andsuggestsessentialdifferencesinthepsychologyofmenandwomen.WhereasthissubjectmayhaveseemedcalmandsettledinJung’stime,todayitstirsahornet’snest.Tosomecontemporaries it seems that Jungwasamanbeforehis timewhoanticipatedand indeedadvocateda typeofprotofeminism.Toothersheappearstobeaspokesmanforstereotypictraditionalviewsonthedifferencesbetweenmenandwomen.Infact,Ithinkhewasalittleofboth.

InhislaterworksJungreferstotheanimaandanimusasarchetypalfiguresofthepsyche.Thustheylieessentiallybeyondtheinfluenceoftheforcesthatmold and shape the consciousness of individuals such as family, society,culture,andtradition.Archetypesarenotderivedfromculture;ratherculturalforms (in Jung’s theory) arederived fromarchetypes.Thisdefinitionof theanima/us as archetype therefore places its deepest essence outside of thepsyche altogether, in the realm of impersonal spiritual forms and powers.Animaandanimusarebasiclifeforms,andtheyshapehumanindividualsandsocieties,inadditiontootherinfluencesthatimpactthem.Thearchetypeis,aswesawinchapter4,aDingansich(Kant:“athinginitself”),andthereforeitliesbeyondtherangeofhumanperception.Wecanonlyperceiveitindirectlybynotingitsmanifestations.

The anima/us, strictly speaking, is a scientific hypothesis about“something”thatexistsbutcannotbeobserveddirectly,likeanunknownstarwhosepositionandsizeareknownonlyfrommeasurementsofgravitationalpullsinitsvicinity.Andyet,sincethemanifestationsofanimaandanimus,asJungnotedanddescribedthem,doinfactoftenresemblewell-knowncultural

images embodied by traditional men and women, the question has beenraised:WasJungavictimofhisculturalblinderswhoinadvertentlybecametheexponentofculturalstereotypes?Inotherwords,arethe“archetypes”infact social constructions? Or, was Jung investigating deeper structures thatperhaps are embedded in these culturalpatternsbut transcend themandareindeeduniversalformsofhumanpsychologicaltraitsandbehavior?Iwillnotanswer this question definitively in this chapter, but I hope to advance thecase that the issue ismore complicated and Jung’s thinkingmore complexthanmanyofhiscriticshavegranted.Inthemeantime,Iwilltrytopresenthisthoughtasclearlyaspossible.

Wewill enter this territory carefully, trying to grasp Jung’smeanings fortheseelusivetermsstepbystep.Iftheplacesonthemapofpsychewhichwehave examined up to this point seem relatively clear and well-defined, theterritory of anima and animus seems at times like a deep and tangledwilderness.Perhapsthisisasitshouldbe,forhereweareenteringthedeeperlayers of the unconscious, the collective unconscious, the territory of thearchetypalimages,whereboundariesareblurred.

Beforeapproachingtheissueofgenderinrelationtotheseterms,Ishouldpoint out that an account can be given of anima and animus that does notdrawgender into itatall.Gendercanbeseenasasecondary featureof theanima/us,justasanobject’sessenceisnotdeterminedbyblueorpink.Thereis an abstract, structural way of understanding the anima/us. Because it ispossibletospeakofthisfeatureofthepsycheasabstractstructure,Iwilluse,throughout this chapter, the notation “anima/us.” This indicates a psychicstructurethatiscommontomenandwomen.Thedifferentiatedendingsof-aand -uswill be usedwhen Imean to refer to the gendered features of thisinner object. Abstractly, the anima/us is a psychic structure that (a) iscomplementarytothepersonaand(b)linkstheegotothedeepestlayerofthepsyche,namelytotheimageandexperienceoftheself.

As discussed in the previous chapter, the persona is the habitual attitudethatanegoadoptstomeettheworld.Itisapublicpersonalityandfacilitatesadaptation to the demands of physical and (primarily) social reality. It is a“functionalcomplex,”touseJung’stermfromhisdefinitioninthe1921textPsychological Types. It operates like the skin on the body, providing aprotectivebarrierbetweentheegoandtheoutside.Theanima/usissimilarlyafunctional complex, but one that is concerned with adaptation to the innerworld.“Thenaturalfunctionoftheanimus(aswellasofintheanima)istoremain in place between individual consciousness and the collectiveunconscious; exactly as the persona is a sort of stratum between the ego-

consciousness and the objects of the external world. The animus and theanima should function as a bridge, or a door, leading to the images of thecollective unconscious, as the persona should be a sort of bridge into theworld.”3 In other words, the anima/us allows the ego to enter into and toexperiencethedepthsofthepsyche.

In1921,nowfreedfromhisdependenceonFreudandreadytolaunchhisown views on depth psychology, Jung published Psychological Types, inwhichhesummarizedhisownnewtheorytodate.Inthisvolumemanynewterms appeared andwere used to define his revisionist views on the natureand structure of the psyche. So much was this the case, that he felt (as Iindicatedinchapter5)aneedtoincludeawholechapterofdefinitionsattheconclusionof thiswork.Thesearedetaileddefinitionsandcanbe readasakind of early textbook in analytical psychology. Here he gives extensivecoverage to the concepts of anima and animus in the entries on “soul” and“soul-image.”Thesedefinitions,whilesomewhatmechanicalandsimplistic,dohelp toprovideboundariesand togiveshape tohis terms,at least in thewayhewasusingthematthattime.

In approaching the definition of the anima/us, he contrasts it with thepersona:“Thepersonaisexclusivelyconcernedwiththerelationtoobjects,”4whiletheanima/usconcernstheego’srelationtothesubject.“Bythe‘subject’I mean first of all those vague, dim stirrings, feelings, thoughts, andsensations which flow in on us not from any demonstrable continuity ofconsciousexperienceoftheobject,butwelluplikeadisturbing,inhibiting,orattimeshelpfulinfluencefromthedarkinnerdepths.”5The“subject”hereisprimarilytheworldoftheunconscious,nottheego.Thisisthesubjectivesideof the psyche, its ground, its inner space. It contains “inner objects,” so tospeak, sometimes called by Jung “imagoes” or simply “images” or“contents.”Becausetheterm“subject,”atleastinthisspecificcontext,referstotheunconscious,itfollowsquitelogicallythat“justasthereisarelationtotheouterobject,anouterattitude[i.e.,thepersona],thereisarelationtotheinnerobject,aninnerattitude.”6

Jungconcedesthatit“isreadilyunderstandablethatthisinnerattitude,byreasonofitsextremelyintimateandinaccessiblenature,isfarmoredifficultto discern than the outer attitude, which is immediately perceived byeveryone.”7Onecaneasilyenoughobserveaperson’streatmentofothers,butit requiresmore subtlety to see how people treat themselves.What is theirattitudetowardtheinnerworld?Isitreceptiveandwarm(asthepersonamaybe), or is it harsh and hypercritical? Many generous people are their own

worst enemies within—their ownmeanest judges and harshest critics—butthisisconcealedbehindacharmingandhospitablepersona.Orapersonmaybe extremely judgmental of others while treating his own inner life withsentimentalself-indulgence.Onemustknowpeoplewellbeforelearninghowthey actually treat themselves inwardly.Do they take themselves seriously?Do they treat themselves like children? The ways they actually feel abouttheirowndeeperinnerselvescharacterizetheiranimaoranimusattitude.

Jung says further in this passage: “onemanwill not allowhimself to bedisturbed in the slightest by his inner processes… another man is just ascompletelyattheirmercy…avaguelyunpleasantsensationputstheideaintohis head that he is suffering from a secret disease, a dream fills him withgloomy forebodings … One man takes them as physiological, anotherattributes them to the behaviour of his neighbours, another finds in them areligious revelation.”8 “Thus, Jung concludes, the inner attitude … iscorrelated with just as definite a functional complex as the outer attitude.Peoplewho,itwouldseem,entirelyoverlooktheirinnerpsychicprocessesnomorelackatypicalinnerattitudethanthepeoplewhoconstantlyoverlooktheouterobjectandtherealityoffactslackatypicalouterone.”9

The above summarizes Jung’s structural definition of the anima/us as hepresenteditin1921inPsychologicalTypes.Theanima/usisanattitudethatgoverns one’s relationship to the inner world of the unconscious—imagination, subjective impressions, ideas,moodsandemotions.So far thissaysnothingwhateveraboutcontentof this structurenoraboutgender.Theusual shorthanddefinition is that theanima is the inner feminine for amanandtheanimusistheinnermasculineforawoman.Butonecanalsosimplyspeakofthemasfunctionalstructuresthatserveaspecificpurposeinrelationtotheego.Aspsychicstructure,theanima/usistheinstrumentbywhichmenandwomen enter into and adjust to the deeper parts of their psychologicalnatures. As the persona faces out into the social world and assists withnecessary external adaptations, so the anima/us faces inward to the innerworld of the psyche and helps a person to adapt to the demands andrequirements of intuitive thoughts, feelings, images, and emotions thatconfronttheego.

For instance, amanwho is frequentlymoody is said to have an “animaproblem.”“Heisintheanimatoday,”onemightsaytoafriend.Hisanima,insteadofhelpingtomanageemotions,releasesamoodthatseepslikeagasintoegoconsciousnessandcarrieswithit,insuspensionsotospeak,alotofraw and undifferentiated affect. This has been known to interferewith egofunctioning, to say the least. This man’s ego becomes identified with the

anima personality, which is as a rule hypersensitive and soggy withemotionality.Hisanimaisnothighlydeveloped,andinsteadofhelpinghimtocopewithanoverwhelmingmooditdrawshimdeeperintoit.Amangiventofrequentandintensemoodinesshastooclosearelationwiththis—usuallyinferior—partofhispersonality.OfcourseifheisapoetlikeRilke,whohadananimaproblemofthefirstorder,hecanusethisrelationcreatively.Buthemay be only uncommonly emotional and overreactive to slights andminorannoyances and injuries and therefore psychologically dysfunctional. Hisrelationships typically are fraught with conflict because he has emotionalreactions that are too powerful for him tomanage. The anima overwhelmshimratherthanhelpshim.

Similarly, a woman with an “animus problem” is also overcome by herunconscious, typicallybyemotionally charged thoughts andopinionswhichcontrolhermore thanshecontrols them.This isnotverydifferent fromtheanima-possessedman, only the accent tends to bemore intellectual on thewoman’s side.These autonomous ideas and opinions end up disturbing heradaptationtotheworldbecausetheyaredeliveredwiththeemotionalenergyofabully.Often theywreakhavoconher relationships,because thepeoplenearhermustbuildself-protectiveshieldsaroundthemselveswhentheyarewithher.Theyfeelonthedefensiveanduncomfortableinherpresence.Hardasshemaywanttobereceptiveandintimate,shecannotbecauseheregoissubject to these invasions of disruptive energies that transform her intoanythingbut thekinder,gentlerpersonshewould like tobe. Instead, she isabrasiveandgrippedbyunconsciousstrivingsforpowerandcontrol.Thisiswhat Jung called animus possession. The animus is a powerful personalitythatisnotcongruentwiththeegoorthedesiredpersona.Itis“other.”

Meninthegripoftheanimatendtowithdrawintohurtfeelings;womeninthe grip of the animus tend to attack. This is a conventional distinctionbetween the genders, and of course it is subject to revision in the light ofrecentculturaldevelopments.Inbothcases,however,whateverthecontentofthe “possession” happens to be, the inner world of the unconscious is notsufficientlyheldincheck,andemotionalandirrationalneedinessdisturbsanddistortsnormalrelationswithotherpeopleandwithlifeingeneral.Anima/uspossession throws the gates of the unconscious wide open and lets inpractically everything that has enough energy to come through.Moods andwhimssweepinandcarryoneaway.Impulsecontrolisminimal.Thereisnocontainment of thought or affect. This is an ego problem, too, of course—symptomaticofanundevelopedegothatcannotholdandcontainthecontentsthat normally float into consciousness but need to be reflected upon and

digestedbeforebeingcarriedintoverbalorphysicalaction.Butthereisalsotheproblemoftoolittledevelopmentintheanima/usstructure.Thislackofdevelopmentislikeanundevelopedmuscle.Itistooflabbyandinadequatetodoitsjobwhencalledupon.Menwillthentypicallylookforawomantohelpthemmanage theiremotions,andwomenwill typicallyfindamanwhocanreceive their inspired thoughts and do something with them. Thus otherpeopleenterthegameofego-anima/usrelations.

For the sake of discussion, let me describe an ideal psychologicaldevelopment (highly theoretical and improbable as this may be). Theconscious and unconscious parts of the psychic systemwork together in abalancedandharmonious interplay,and this takesplace inpartbetween theanima/us and the persona. Here the ego is not flooded by material fromwithout orwithin but is rather facilitated and protected by these structures.Andlifeenergy—libido—flowsinaprogressivemovementintoadaptationtothetasksanddemandsoflife.Thisisapictureofhealthy,highlyfunctioningpersonalitywithaccesstoinnerresourcesandskilledatouteradjustment.Theattitude toward the outer world is balanced, and it is complemented by anattitude toward the world within. Neither is out of joint or inadequatelydeveloped.Thepersonaisabletoadapttothedemandsoflifeandtomanagestable relations with the surrounding social and natural worlds. Internallythere is well managed and steady access to a wellspring of energy andcreativeinspiration.Outerandinneradaptationsareadequatetothedemandsoflife.

Whyisn’tlifemorelikethis?Actually,manypeopleexperiencesomethinglikethisfromtimetotimeintheirlives.Thesearethegoodperiodsofworkandlove.Buttheseareoftenrelativelyshortlivedinterludesinamuchmoreconflict-riddenpicture.Onelargereasonforthisisthatwedevelopunevenly.And very little attention is paid in our contemporary culture to true innerdevelopment—to what Jung called “individual culture” as opposed tocollective(persona-based)culture.Inside,mostofusareextremelyprimitive.Itisonlywhenthepersonaisstrippedawayandtheanima/usopensthegatestothedeeperlayersoftheunconscious—when,asatmidlife,forexample,theegoistornbyconflictbetweenpersonaandanima/us—thattheneedforinnerdevelopmentbecomesanacute issueand is takenseriously.While thismaylook like an outbreak of neurosis, it may well be the call for furtherindividuation,andthechallengetotakeadeeperjourneyintotheinteriorontheroadtowardindividualdevelopment.

GenderandAnimaandAnimus

Turningnowtotheviewsonanimaandanimusthatimplygenderdirectly,itisfirstofallnoteworthythatthesearetermstakenfromtheLatin.Likemostcultivated Europeans of his day, Jungwas fluent in the classical languagesand he found it quite natural and convenient to use these sources to namepsychic figures and structures. Anima means “soul” in Latin, and animusmeans“spirit.”(InGermantheseappearasSeeleandGeist.)Fromonepointofview,thereisnotactuallymuchdifferenceinmeaningbetweenthesetwoLatinterms.Ifonethinksofthesoul(anima)asleavingthebodyatdeath,asthe Greeks and Romans supposed, it is equivalent to saying that the spirit(animus)hasdeparted.Spiritisoftendepictedasbreathorair,andtocatchaperson’slastbreathasitleavesthebodyistocatchtheperson’ssoul.Thusthetermsspiritandsoularenearlyinterchangeable.Also,bothwordsrefertotheinnerworldofpersons, to thesoulfulandthespiritual.Thequestionstoaskaboutone’sownanimaandanimusare:WhatkindofsouldoIhave?Whatkindofspirit?

OfcourseJung isnot speakingof the religiousmeaningof soulwhenheusesthetermanima.Hedoesnotmeantheimmortalpartofahumanbeing,as traditional religious writers use this term. He is capturing the term forpsychology, andby it hemeans to denote the hidden inner side of aman’spersonality.Similarly,withthetermanimusheisnotreferringtosomethingmetaphysical and transcendent—theHolySpirit, for instance—but rather tothehiddeninnersideofawoman’spersonality.

Theendingsofthewordsconnoteagenderdifference.Theendingofanim-a is feminine and the ending of anim-us ismasculine. (Seele andGeist aresimilarly feminine andmasculine respectively in theGerman language.) Sobyassigningtheseterms, theonetomenandtheother towomen,Jungwassetting up his theory to show fundamental (that is, archetypal) differencesbetweenthesexes.Whilehewouldoftensaythatallhumansbeingssharethesamearchetypes,inthisinstanceheissayingthatmenhaveoneandwomenanother.HadJungnotwantedtodothishecouldeasilyhaveusedthesametermforboth.Orhecouldhaveinventedaneutralterm,suchas“anime.”Hedidnot,however,andthisissignificant.Howandwhyaremendifferentfromwomeninthisessentialinnerway?

Jung argues that both genders have both masculine and femininecomponentsandqualities.Insomepassageshelinksthistothefactthateachhasbothmasculineandfemininegeneticmaterial.Theirempiricaldifferences

areonly amatterofdegree. In this emphasishe isperhaps aprotofeminist.Jungseemstoavoiddividingthehumanraceintotwoclearlydifferentgendergroupswith little in common. Inhis theory, bothmen andwomenarebothmasculineand feminine.However, thesequalitiesaredistributeddifferently.Andthisdifferenceisarchetypal,notsocietalorcultural.Itisnotadifference,inotherwords,thatcanbeerasedbychangesinsocialpolicy.Inthisrespectherunsafoulofatleastthosecontemporaryfeministswhowanttoinsistonlittleornoessentialpsychologicaldifferencebetweenmenandwomen.Jungsays thatmenaremasculineon theoutsideand feminineon the inside,andthatwomenaretheotherwayaround.Womenarerelationalandreceptiveintheiregoandpersona,andtheyarehardandpenetratingontheothersideoftheirpersonality;menare toughandaggressiveon theoutsideand soft andrelationalwithin.Takeawaythepersonasofmaleandfemaleadults,andtheperception of gender will be reversed. Women will be harder and morecontrolling than men, and men will be more nurturing and relational thanwomen.

Statisticallyatleast,ifnotforeachindividual,Jung’sdefinitionappearstobetherule.Ifpoliticsareguidedbyperceptionsatthepersonalevel,whichisabout as much as people will reveal to pollsters, the campaigns of savvypublicofficials aregeared to theview that towin thevotesofwomen theymust show compassion, sentiment, and a desire for unity and tolerance; ifthey are after the male vote they must demonstrate logic, competitiveness,toughness,andmoraljudgment.10Ontheotherhand,accordingtoJung, theinner worlds of men and women—their hidden personalities, theirunconscious other selves—would be the exact opposite of this. In otherwords, human beings are more complex than public appearance and pollsmake out.Whenwomen lookwithin, they come upon (and reveal to thoseintimatelyinvolvedwiththem)logic,competitiveness, toughness,andmoraljudgment aplenty. Likewisemen show compassion, sentiment, and a desirefor unity and tolerance. In part, it is this complexity of human beings thatJungistryingtosortoutwithhistheoryofanimaandanimus.

In his 1921 definition of anima and animus, Jung offers somegeneralizations from his own observation and experience. These give aglimpseofwhathewouldfocusonandemphasizeinmanyofhisotherlaterwritings.“Astothecharacteroftheanima,myexperienceconfirmstherulethat it is, by and large, complementary to the character of thepersona.Theanima usually contains all those common human qualities which theconscious attitude lacks.”11 He had not yet at this point put his notion ofshadowinplace.Thisdistinctionbetweenshadowandanima/uswillbesorted

out later, and the shadow will take up many of the contents that arecomplementary to the persona but are excluded from conscious identitybecausetheyareincompatiblewiththepersonaimage.Inthispassage,Jungisthinkingaboutthetypeofcounter-personathattheshadowwilllaterdescribe,rather than about complementary attitudes toward outer and inner objects.“The anima usually contains all those common human qualities which theconscious attitude lacks. The tyrant tormented by bad dreams, gloomyforebodings,andinnerfearsisatypicalfigure…hisanimacontainsallthosefallible human qualities his persona lacks. If the persona is intellectual, theanimawillquitecertainlybesentimental.”12Whilethesefeatureswouldlaterbeassigned to the shadow, it is this lineof thought that leads to thegenderissue: “The complementary character of the anima also affects the sexualcharacter,asIhaveprovedtomyselfbeyondadoubt.Averyfemininewomanhasamasculinesoul,andaverymasculinemanhasafemininesoul.”13Hereitisonlybecausetheanima/animusstructureisseenascomplimentarytothepersona that the gender features become included in its image. If a man’spersona contains the qualities and features commonly associated withmasculinityinaparticularculture,thenthefeaturesofpersonalitythatdonotconform with that image will be suppressed and gathered together in thecomplementaryunconsciousstructure,theanima.Theanimathencontainsthefeaturesthataretypicallyidentifiedasfeminineinthatculture.Soamanverymasculineinthepersonawillhavebeequallyfeminineintheanima.

Butwhat aboutwomenwhoarenot very feminine andmenwhoarenotverymasculine in their personas?Does a not-very-femininewoman have anonmasculine animus, and a not-very-masculine man have a nonfeminineanima? Jung would be obliged to follow this line of thought, given hispremises. Some individuals may not be very much internally polarizedbetween masculine and feminine features. The more androgynous style ofrecentdecadeshasclearlymovedawayfromtheclassicgenderpolarizationof macho males and passive females. Women dress and behave in moremasculine ways than they did in earlier generations, and many men aresimilarlymore feminine in their personas than their forefatherswere. Howdoes this affect the features of the anima and animus?As the predominantcollectiveimagesforcorrectmaleandfemaledressandbehaviorchange,theinnerimagesofanimaandanimuswouldalsoshiftaccordingly.Accordingtotherule,whateverisleftoutoftheconsciousadaptationtotheregnantcultureof the individual person is relegated to the unconscious and will collectaroundthestructurethatJungnamedanima/us.Foranextremelyeffeminateman the inner attitude (anima)will bemasculine in quality because this is

whathasbeenleftoutofthepersonaadaptation.

What do these gender qualities actually mean, then, when it comes todefining thenatureandqualityof the innerattitude, theanimaandanimus?Masculinehasbeenalmostuniversallydefinedbysuchadjectivesasactive,hard, penetrating, logical, assertive, dominant; feminine has been widelydefinedasreceptive,soft,giving,nourishing,relational,emotional,empathic.Whetherhousedinamaleorfemalebody,thesecategoriesofattributesseemtoremainstable.Thedebateiswhetherthesecategoriesshouldbeassociatedwith gender. Some women are more masculine than feminine in theirpersonas,somemenmorefemininethanmasculine,butthisdoesnotchangetheir genders as biological females andmales. The Chinese terms Yin andYanghavebeenproposedasmoresuitableandneutraltermsforthesegroupsofattributes,andtheymightbeusedinexchangeforthetermsmasculineandfeminine.Eitherwaywearespeakingofthesamequalities.Takingofffromthere,Jungwouldsaythat the innerattitudeshowsthequalities thatare leftoutinthepersona:ifapersonisYanginthepersona,heorshewillbyYinintheanima/usstructure.Buttheinnerattitude,becauseitisintheunconscious,islessunderthecontroloftheegoandislessrefinedanddifferentiatedthanthe persona is. So it is an inferior Yang that appears in a Yin-dominatedpersonaindividual,andaninferiorYinthatcropsupinunguardedmomentsofaYang-dominatedconsciousness.

Thusaveryfemininewomanhasamasculinesoul,butnotaveryrefinedone. In her relationship to the world she holds a distinctive and markedfeminine attitude, which we recognize and describe as receptive, warm,nurturing, and embracing.Within that person there is a very different innerattitude: hard, critical, aggressive, domineering.The inner face of that veryfeminine-lookingwoman reveals a personalitymade of steel. Similarly theverymasculineappearingman,whoishard-driving,tough-minded,detached,andaggressivecontainsaninnerpersonalitythatissentimental,touchy,easilywounded, and vulnerable. The macho man loves his mother, loves hisdaughter,loveshishorse,butrefrainsfromadmittingit(eventohimself),andin public hewill shun those feelings although in private hemay givewayoccasionallyandblubberintohisbeer.“Thiscontrastisduetothefactthatamanisnotinallthingswhollymasculine,butalsohascertainfemininetraits.The more masculine his outer attitude is, the more his feminine traits areobliterated: instead, they appear inhis unconscious.This explainswhy it isjustthoseveryvirilemenwhoaremostsubjecttocharacteristicweaknesses;their attitude to theunconscioushas awomanishweakness and impression-ability. Conversely, it is often just themost femininewomenwho, in their

innerlives,displayanintractability,anobstinacy,andawillfulnessthataretobefoundwithcomparableintensityonlyinaman’souterattitude.Thesearemasculine traits which, excluded from the womanly outer attitude, havebecomequalitiesinhersoul.”14ItisobviousthatJungisnotspeakinghereoftheinnermasculineandfeminineintheirhighestandmostdevelopedformsbutratherascaricatures, inferiorversionsofmasculinityandfemininitythatarebasedonundevelopedpartsoftheindividual’spersonality.

TheDevelopmentoftheAnima/us

It is precisely the above lack of development and inferiority, however, thatgives the anima and animus such potential for further development in thepsyche. Because the persona is based on collective values and features—whatever happens to be “in” in the way of male and female behavior andattitudesatagivenmomentinculture—thepotentialforbecominguniqueasanindividualresidesnotinthepersonabutelsewhereinthepsyche.Aslongasaperson’sego-consciousnessisidentifiedwiththepersonaandfeelsatonewith it, there is no room for qualities of personality and expression ofindividualitythatwoulddepartfromthecollectiveimages.Theimpulsetobean individual is suppressed (or repressed altogether) for the sake ofadaptation, in order to “fit in.”What these individual qualitiesmaybe in aparticularcasecannotbedeterminedbyexaminingthepersona.Theymaybesomewhat included in the persona presentation or they may be almostcompletely excluded. “This is a fundamental rulewhichmyexperiencehasborneoutoverandoveragain…asregardsindividualqualities,nothingcanbe deduced about them [from the persona]…We can only be certain thatwhen a man is identical with his persona, his individual qualities will beassociatedwiththeanima.”15

Thisisthemaninthegrayflannelsuit,whoridesthetraintoworkeverymorning and is so closely identifiedwith his collective role that he has nopersonalityoutsideofitsframework.Hisinherentuniquenesswillshowupinthe anima: he will be (perhaps secretly) attracted by extremelyunconventionalwomenbecausetheycarrytheanimaprojectionforhim,theyportrayhissoul,theycapturehisspiritofadventureanddaring.Preciselythesameruleholdstrueforwomen:whentheyarecollectiveandconventionalintheir persona presentations, they harbor a secret inner lover (oftenunconscious to them)who is anythingbut theportrait of their conventional

mate.Whenheappearshewillmesmerizethemandleadthemintoabandon.Thisfundamentalruleofthepsychecanbeobservedoperatinginlife,anditisportrayedincountlessnovels,operas,andfilms.Theoutcomeofanactualencounterwith someonewho is acarrierof theanimaoranimusprojection“frequentlygivesriseindreamstothesymbolofpsychicpregnancy,asymbolthatgoesbacktotheprimordialimageofthehero’sbirth.Thechildthatistobe born signifies the individuality, which, though present, is not yetconscious.”16Therealpsychicpurposeoftheconventionalman’saffairwithhisveryunconventionalanimawomanistoproduceasymbolicchild,whichrepresentsaunionoftheoppositesinhispersonalityandisthereforeasymboloftheself.

ItisthisencounteroftheegowiththeanimaoranimusthatJungthoughtwassorichwithpotentialforpsychologicaldevelopment.Themeetingwiththeanima/usrepresentsaconnectiontotheunconsciousevendeeperthanthatof theshadow.In thecaseof theshadow, it isameetingwith thedisdainedandrejectedpiecesofthetotalpsyche,theinferiorandunwantedqualities.Inthemeetingwiththeanima/us,itisacontactwithlevelsofthepsychewhichhasthepotentialtoleadintothedeepestandhighest(atanyratethefurthest)reachesthattheegocanattain.

Inorder topursue this intuition,however,Junghad tochangecourseandbegin to redefine the nature of the anima/us. The shadow does not usuallyleadonemuchpastthepartsofthepsycherejectedfromthepersona,unlessittakesone toanencounterwithabsoluteevil.Theanima/usstructure,on theotherhand,hasthepotentialtobridgetotheself,amuchfurtherreach.Theanima/uscannotthenbesimplytheconverseofthepersona,asortofnegativereflection of the collective attitudes of the times. It must be more deeplyanchoredinthecollectiveunconsciousandinthestructuresofarchetypeandarchetypalimage.Itsrootsmustextendfurtheroutanddownintothedepthsthanthoseoftheshadow.In1921Jungwasjustonthevergeoftrackingthesetrailsintothehinterlandofthecollectiveunconscious.Hegivesahintofwhatistocome:“inthesamewayasthepersona,theinstrumentofadaptationtothe environment, is strongly influenced by environmental conditions, theanimaisshapedbytheunconsciousanditsqualities.”17Heretheconceptoftheanimachangesasmallbuthighlysignificantbit.Insteadofsimplybeingthecomplementofthepersona,andthereforecriticallyshapedandcoloredbywhatis inthepersona, theanimaisnowseenasshapedbytheunconsciousand its qualities. Later, when Jung comes to conceive of the animus andanimaasarchetypalimageswhichreceivetheirformsfromthespiritualendofthepsychicspectrum(seechapter4),hewillconcludethattheanima/usis

shapedby the archetypemore thanby the collective consensusof the time.The anima and animuswill become enduring forms of psyche, powers thatshape thepsycheasmuchas theyareshapedby it,dynamicforces thatcanbreaktheformsofcultureandimposetheirownagendasuponasurprisedandsometimesunwillingego.

“Everymancarrieswithinhimtheeternalimageofwoman;nottheimageof this or that particular woman, but a definitive feminine image,”18 Jungwritesin1925inanessayonmarriage.Thishascometobethemoreorlessstandard definition of the anima in analytical psychology. Here Jung ispointingtothearchetypalnatureoftheanima/us,andheleavesasidethewayinwhich this innerattitude iscomplementary to thepersona.Hegoeson tosaythatthisis“anhereditaryfactorofprimordialorigin”andoffersanimageofwomanassheappears tomanandnotasshe is inherself.Similarly, theanimus is a woman’s internal image of the male personality. The images,thoughts, and assumptions generated by these internal structures are behindall the confusions and obfuscations between men and women. Theymisunderstandone another because they are often relating to images of theothersexratherthantoactualpeople.Itisevidenthowtheseinnerstructurescandistortrealityandcausemisperceptionsbetweenotherwisefairlyrationaland well-meaning individuals. The male and female images housed in theunconscious of each gender respectively are primordial and relativelyunchanged by historical and cultural circumstance. They are close topermanently stable images that repeat their portraits in individual humanpsyches from generation to generation. What confused Plato and Socratesabout women is the same as the anima image that creates pitfalls formentoday. And the expectations and longings that filled the heart of MaryMagdalenecontinuetoinfiltratetheconsciousnessofmodernwomeninspiteof thevastculturalandsocialdistances that separate them.Theanima/us isthe great creator of illusion that provides chuckles for the jaded andheartbreakforthenaive.

“The projection-making factor is the anima, or rather the unconscious asrepresentedbytheanima,”19Jungwritesfromthevantagepointofoldagein1950 in Aion, where he attempts to offer once again a definition of thiselusiveinnerfactor.Junghadalwaysheldthatprojectionsarecreatedbytheunconsciousandnotby theego.Wearenot responsible forourprojections,only for not becoming conscious of them, taking them back, or analyzingthem.Theyoccurspontaneouslyandcreateaviewoftheworldandofrealitythat is based on unconscious images and structures rather than on testedperceptions of reality. Jung now locates the origin of all projections in the

anima/us,therebyhighlightingthedynamicandactivenatureofthispsychicfactor.

We are of course projecting constantly, and our views of life, of otherpeople,andofthewaytheworldisconstructedaremadeupquiteimportantlyofunconsciouscontentsthatareprojectedintotheenvironmentandclungtoasabsoluteverities.Theanima/us,Jungsaysinthispassage,islikeMaya,theIndianGoddesswhocreatesillusoryworlds,andtheegoendsupinhabitingaworldthatislargelybasedonprojections.Junghadlearnedthisnotprimarilyfrom study ofEastern religions but fromhis own firsthand experience as apsychiatrist and analyst. It is amazing how distorted some people’s viewsreallyare.Anditisequallyremarkablethatallofusbelieveinourownviewsabsolutelyevenwhenwefindseriousflawsinthem.Itisrarethatwequestionasetofbasicassumptions.

RaisingConsciousnesswithAnima/us

The anima/us image, based on the archetypal structures underlying thepsyche, assumes particular shape and form by being filtered through thepsychic system and perceived by ego consciousness. If the image of theshadow instills fear and dread, the image of the anima/us usually bringsexcitement and stimulates desire for union. It engenders attraction. Wherethereisanima/us,wewanttogo,wewanttobeapartofit,wewanttojoinit,ifwe are not too timid or afraid of adventure. The charismatic charge thatelectrifiesanaudiencewhenagreatoratorcastshisspellenliststheanima/usandconstellatesitspresence.Theaudiencewantstobelieve,andindividualswill follow the clarion call to action.A perception of reality is created andconvictionfollowsuponthestrongemotionalcommandoftheanima/us.Theanima/usisthereforetransformative.

Forpurposesofpsychologicaldevelopmentandincreaseofconsciousness,however, the essential ego action is to engage the anima/us in a dialecticalprocess and not to follow the call immediately to action. This process ofdialogueandconfrontationiscalledbyJunganAuseinandersetzung.ThisisaGermanwordthatmeansliterally“takingsomethingtopieces”andreferstotheprocessthattakesplacewhentwopeoplestronglyengageoneanotherindialogueornegotiation,neitheronefleeingtheconflict.Astheystandheadtoheadandhaveitoutphysicallyorverbally,thedifferencesbetweenthemthatwereatfirstgrossandbarelyarticulatebecomemoredifferentiated.Linesare

drawn,distinctionsmade,clarityeventuallyachieved.Whatbeganasahighlyemotionalconfrontationturnsintoaconsciousrelationshipbetweentwoverydifferentpersonalities.Perhapsanagreementisreached,acontractdrawnupandsigned.

Soitiswiththeengagementbetweenegoandanima/us.Thisistheworkofraisingconsciousness,ofbecomingawareofprojections,ofchallengingourmost romantic and carefully guarded illusions. To have anAuseinandersetzungwiththeanima/usistodismembertheillusoryworldofunconsciousfantasy.Itisalsotoallowoneselftoexperiencemostprofoundlythe heights and depths of one’s own mental universe, the unconsciousassumptions that keep us salivating formorewhenwe are already overfed,thatkeepus lustingalthoughweshouldhave longsincebeensatisfied, thatdrive us to repeat endlessly the emotionally engorged patterns in the ironchain of stimulus-response sequences. Dungeons and dragons, myths andfairytales, romantic excess and sarcastic recriminations are all a part of theworldwoveninourpsychicinteriorsbytheanima/us.Atmostwemayfeigntogiveitupwhileclingingallthemoretenaciouslytoourmostpreciousself-deceptions and illusions. “What we can discover about them [anima andanimus]fromtheconscioussideissoslightastobealmostimperceptible.Itisonlywhenwethrowlightintothedarkdepthsofthepsycheandexplorethestrangeandtortuouspathsofhumanfatethatitgraduallybecomescleartoushowimmenseistheinfluencewieldedbythesetwofactorsthatcomplementourconsciouslife.”20ThisisperhapsareplytoFreudwhoheldthatcharacterwasfate.InJung’sview,theanima/usisfate.Weareguidedtoourfatesbytheimagesofarchetypalpowersfarbeyondourconsciouswillorknowledge.

In theAion text,which is arguably themaster textonanima/us in Jung’swritings,Jungalsoacknowledgesthecentralityofrelationshipintheprocessofbecomingconsciousof thehiddenterritorywithinourpsyches.“Ishouldlike to emphasize,” he writes, “that the … shadow can be realized onlythrougharelationtoapartner,andanimaandanimusonlythrougharelationto a partner of the opposite sex, because only in such a relation do theirprojectionsbecomeoperative.”21As I said earlier,wemight need to revisethispointinlightofcontemporarydevelopmentsingenderidentity,wheretheanima/us images are sometimes carried by members of the same sex.Nevertheless, the point is that it is in emotional relationships that thesedevelopmentsofconsciousnessbecomepossible.Becomingconsciousisnota project carried out in isolation, although it does require a good deal ofintrospection to bring it to its full flowering. But experiencemust precedeinsight.Theshadowisexperiencedinprojectionuponsomeonewhocaptures

thosequalitiesofthepersonalunconscious.Similarlytheanima/usiscapturedin projection by a person who bears its traits and features to some quiteimportant extent, a personwho can evoke the response of the unconsciousfromthissector.Whenthishappens,Jungcontinues,thepsychicconstellationis such that three figures become relevant: “The recognition of the animagives rise, in a man, to a triad, one third of which is transcendent: themasculinesubject,theopposingfemininesubject,andthetranscendentanima.With a woman the situation is reversed.”22 This assumes a considerabledegree of consciousness because generally the projection-carrier and theprojection are fused, anima/us and other subjects becoming one.Here Jungassumes a degreeof separation, however, such that there is (1) a consciousegoalongwithitspersonalsubjectivity,(2)anotherperson,thepartner,withher/hisconsciousegoandpersonalsubjectivity,and(3)thearchetypalimageoftheanima/us.Thistriadiscompleted,Jungwrites,byafourthfigure, theWiseOldManinthemale instanceand theChthonicMother in thefemale.The anima/us and the wisdom figures are transcendent, in the sense ofbelongingessentiallytotheunconsciousandoriginatingintherealmofspirit,while the ego and the partner are the conscious persons involved in theemotional relationship thathas stimulated thisconstellation. In thepresenceof this quaternity, we find the numinous experience of the self, as arelationship. Provided that enough consciousness prevails to see thedifferences between human and archetypal features in this situation of loveandattraction, there is theopportunityhere for a full experienceof the self(seechapter7).

The complicating feature is that this experience of the anima/ us-in-projectionhappenstopeopleatmanystagesofpsychologicalmaturity.Ifitisonlyamatteroffascinationandfallinginlove,itcantakeplaceinchildhoodbetweenparentsandchildren;thenithappensagain(classicallyandintensely)in adolescence; and fortunately it continues to happen as peoplemove intoadulthood. It even continues into old age (Goethe is reported to havewhisperedaprayerof thanksinhisseventies thathewasstillabletofall inlovewithayoungwoman).Theanima/usiseternallyactiveinpsychologicallife,anditsabsencedefinesthenatureofdepression.Beyondthesexualityofthebody,thisisthepsyche’ssexuality.Itbeginsbeforethephysicalorganismisreadyforsexualexperienceandcontinuestobevibrantlyactivebeyondthephysicalbody’sabilitytoperformtherigorsofthesexualact.Yettogetthefull psychological benefit of the anima/us experience, a person must havearrived at an unusually advanced level of consciousness. The ability todifferentiate between projection and projection-carrier, between fantasy and

reality, is rare indeed. So the realization of what Jung is speaking of—thequaternity involved in this constellation and the realization of thetranscendent features in the experience—is reserved for the few individualswith thekindofsubtlepsychologicaldiscernment thatpertains toKundalinimastersandotherslikethem.Fortherest,theanima/usisMaya,thecreatorofillusions, themystifier, the trickster, the ever-recedingmirageof the eternalbeloved.Tosee through theanima/usgameof illusionswithout recognizingthetranscendentfiguresatworkleadstocynicismanddespair:Theanimaistrulylabelledamesansmerci.

SexualityandRelationships

For good reason many people steer clear of the shoals of the anima/usexperience.Thenativedefensesoftheegoholdthistemptationatadistance.Little boys run away from little girls who are too powerful and attractive,knowingintuitivelytheyarenotable tomeet thechallenge.Grownmenaresometimes wise enough to do the same, for the anima is a wrecker ofconventional marriages and careers. Women too will resist the call of theDionysiananimusdrawing them towardecstasyandpromisesof fulfillmentby abandoning themselves to love, for here also lie the dangers ofdismembermentandmadness.Itisnotwithoutreasonthatmanyhaveprayedtobedeliveredfromtemptationsbeyondtheirabilitytoremainstanding.OneofJung’sfavoriteillustrationsofthepoweroftheanimawasRiderHaggard’sShe,asecond-ratenovelthatdepictsanimmortalfemmefataleinthewildsofAfricawhosecommandsmustbeobeyed.(“Shewhomustbeobeyed”isnotsimplyahumorousappellationforRumpole’sbossywife; thephrasecomesfromHaggard’s novel.) She is an eternally dying and resurrecting goddesswholeadsmenintotheflamesofpassionandfinallytotheirdestruction.ButJungalsofeltthatifonewasabletoendurethefiresofemotionandpassion,onecouldbetransformed.Theexperienceofthearchetype,ofthecollectiveunconsciousanditspowers,canleadtoanewstateofconsciousnessinwhichtherealityofthepsychebecomesasconvincingtotheegoastherealityofthematerial world is to the senses. The anima/us, once experienced astranscendent and recognized asMaya, becomes the bridge to awholly newapprehensionoftheworld.Theanima/usexperienceistheRoyalWay(theviaregia)totheself.

Jung’sanima/us theoryseems inpart tobeahighly imaginativevariation

on Freud’s old theme of sexuality as the central source of libido. But inhumansexualityJungseesagooddealmorethananimalsruttinginheatandtrying to relieve themselves of tension or to pursue pleasure. Psychicattractors are involved, and when these are distinguished from theaccompanyingbiologicalactivity,theimageemerges.Thisimageisapsychicfact whose source lies at the archetypal end of the psychic spectrum. It iswedded to the sexual instinct, and this combination gives the anima/us itsdrivingphysicalpower.

Human sexuality is guidedby the archetypal image, but the image is notreducible to the drive. We are attracted to certain people. Why does onechoose thisperson fora soulmateandnotanother?This isgovernedby theimages thatareprojected.Typically,“theanimus likes toproject itselfupon‘intellectuals’ and all kinds of ‘heroes’, including tenors, artists, sportingcelebrities, etc. The anima has a predilection for everything that isunconscious,dark,equivocal,andunrelated[viz.,ata looseend]inwoman,andalsoforhervanity,frigidity,helplessness,andsoforth.”23Whydosuchdifficultwomenattractmensofrequentlyandwithsuchease?Whyisitthatstrongwomenoftendonotattractmen?Jungsuggests that thispredilectionfor weak and helpless women is based on an anima projection, the animabeing undifferentiated and inferior in the unconscious of a strongly male-identified person. Age-old wisdom tells women that to attract a man, “Behelpless!”Theanimarepresentstheundevelopedsideofaman,whereheisunconsciouslyhelplessandatlooseends,darkandequivocal.Heisattractedby that. Similarly, strong women will be attracted often to weak men,sometimes fatefully, and then become filled with fantasies of saving themfrom alcoholism or some other decrepitude. Again, they are seeking a lostpartofthemselves,theanimus,whoappearsasaninferiormaleinprojection.Or, if she is aweakandhelplesswoman,herunconsciousmaycompensatewith images of male competence, and she will find herself hopelesslyattractedtoanheroicanimusprojectioncarrier.

Oncepersonsget togetherandspendsometimeineachother’scompany,the ensuing relationship begins showing some other typical anima-animuscharacteristics. In an intimate relationship, it is not only the egos of thepartnersthatenterintothemixtureofpsyches;itisalsotheunconsciousparts,and importantly the anima and animus. They have been there all along,supplying the attractors to bothmembers of the couple, but now theymayappearsurprisinglydifferentfromwhattheylookedlikeinthecourtshipstageof the relationship. Here is Jung-the-psychological-realist describing thesituation: “no man can converse with an animus for five minutes without

becomingthevictimofhisownanima.Anyonewhostillhadenoughsenseofhumour to listenobjectively to theensuingdialoguewouldbe staggeredbythe vast number of commonplaces, misapplied truisms, clichés fromnewspapers and novels, shop-soiled platitudes of every descriptioninterspersed with vulgar abuse and brain-splitting lack of logic. It is adialogue which, irrespective of its participants, is repeated millions andmillionsoftimesinalllanguagesoftheworldandalwaysremainsessentiallythesame.”24On themale side the anima becomes touchy, overly sensitive,andemotional;onthefemalesidetheanimusbecomeabusive,power-ridden,andopinionated.Thisisnotaprettypictureandsurelyoffersastarkcontrastto the more romantic version of the mysterium coniunctionis (“mysticalunion”)ofsongandstory.Theonepartnerbecomespossessedbytheanimus—anundifferentiatedcollectionofopinionsmotivatedbyapowerdrive—andtheotherretreatsintoamoodthatisundifferentiatedanddrivenbytheneedfor love. One is dogmatic, the other becomes withdrawn or emotional andstartsthrowingthingsaround.Itisatypicalanimaversusanimuscat-and-dogfight.

Iftheemotionalityandvituperation,theheatandfireworks,ofthisconflictdiesdownabit,thereisapossibilitythatthingswillhavebeensaidthatareimportantforthecouple.Oncetheegosarerestoredtotheirnormalpositions,theymay even realize that some transcendent event has taken place.Whatwas said was probably not very personal. It was more general, collective,perhaps even archetypal and universal. Perhaps there is a germ of wisdomhidden in the dark mass of material that has erupted from each partner.Perhaps some clarifications and insights can result from the storm that hasnowpassed.Thiswouldbetheworkofconsciousness,risingabovethelevelofemotionalityandarrivingatinsightandempathy.Attheveryleast,onewillhave had a glimpse into the depths of oneself and of the other, into theemotional far reaches that are normally hidden behind the socialized andadaptedpersona.

ItwouldofcoursemakesensetolookatJung’sownlifetoamplifyfurtherthemeaningtheanimafigureheldforhim.Thatisbeyondthescopeofthisstudy. I have used somepassages fromhis autobiography, and biographicalworksare inprintandothersareunderwaythatgivefullerdepictionsofhisprofound relationships with women. Jung once said that all psychologicaltheory is also personal confession, and this is especially true of these areasthat speak of the inner figures and personalities of the psyche such as theshadow,theanima/us,andtheself.Theseconceptsandabstracttheorieswerebasedonconcretepsychologicalexperiences,muchofitinterpersonalandnot

onlysolitaryandprivate.Withrespecttotheanima,shewasforJungbothaliving inner reality, a true inner figure of the first rank, and she was alsopowerfully experiencedbyhim inprojection and in relationship.BeginningearlyinlifewithhisnursemaidandextendingthroughhisromanticcourtshipandmarriagetoEmmaRauschenbachandhisdeepandenduringrelationshipwith ToniWolff, the animawas a constant companion in Jung’s inner andouter life. To him, she seemed to be the guide of his fate. And the mostprofound experience of the self, a concept which I will describe in thefollowing chapter, occurred for Jung in the conjunction between man andwoman,whentheanimaandanimusweretheguidingfiguresintheirunion.

7

ThePsyche’sTranscendentCenterandWholeness(TheSelf)

Iwastemptedtobeginthisbookwithachapterontheself,becauseitisthemost fundamental feature of Jung’s entire vision. It is the key to hispsychological theory,andinsomerespects it is thepiecethatmostsetshimapart from all other figures in depth psychology and psychoanalysis. It isinstructive to note that psychoanalytic theory has moved significantly inJung’s direction over the past half century, and yet few if any otherpsychoanalytictheoristshaveventuredasfarashisconceptionoftheselfintheir theorizing.While many other writers today use the term self in theirclinicalstudiesandtheoreticalstatements,nonehasinmindthesamedomainthat Jungwas trying to encompass with his concept. To begin with Jung’stheory of the self would have been misleading, however, historically andconceptually. It is notonly themost fundamental featureofhis theory, it isalsothecapstone.Itthereforeneedspreparationinordertograspitsfullrangeandimportance.

ForJungtheselfistranscendent,whichmeansthatitisnotdefinedbyorcontained within the psychic realm but rather lies beyond it and, in animportantsense,definesit.Itisthispointabouttheself’stranscendencethatmakes Jung’s theory different from those of other self-theorists likeKohut.For Jung, the self is paradoxically not oneself. It is more than one’ssubjectivity,anditsessenceliesbeyondthesubjectiverealm.Theselfformsthegroundforthesubject’scommonalitywiththeworld,withthestructuresofBeing.Intheself,subjectandobject,egoandotherarejoinedinacommonfieldofstructureandenergy.ThisisthepointIhopewillbecomemostsalientfromwhatfollowsinthischapter.

ThetypicalEnglishusageoftheword“self”makesitdifficulttoappreciate

what Jung is getting at in his theory.As used in everyday parlance, self isequivalent toego.Whenwesay that someone is selfish,wemean that theyare egotistical or narcissistic. But in a Jungian vocabulary, self has theoppositemeaning.Tosaythatsomeoneisself-centeredistosaythattheyareprecisely not egotistical and narcissistic, but rather philosophical, having awide perspective, and not personally reactive or easily thrown off balance.When the ego iswell connected to the self, a person stands in relationshipwith a transcendent center and is precisely not narcissistically invested innearsightedgoalsand short-termgains. In suchpersons there is anego-freequality,asthoughtheywereconsultingadeeperandwiderrealitythanmerelythe practical, rational, and personal considerations typical of egoconsciousness.

Jung’sExperienceoftheSelf

Before entering into a discussion of Aion, the central text of Jung’s selftheory,IthinkitwillbeusefultothereadertohaveanimpressionofJung’soriginal experiences that led him to postulate the existence of the self.Hislatertheorizingsprangfromhisexperience.

Jung’sownaccountofhisfirstmajorexperienceoftheselfplacesitintheperiodbetween1916and1918.Duringthisdifficulttimeinhislifehemadethemajordiscoverythatatbottomthepsycherestsonafundamentalstructureand that this structure is able towithstand the shocks of abandonment andbetrayal which threaten to undo a person’s mental stability and emotionalbalance. This was the discovery of a deep, largely unconscious pattern ofpsychologicalunityandwholeness.

ForJungtheexperienceoftheself—thatmostimpersonalofallarchetypes—hadahighlydramaticquality.Itcameoutofhisinnerstrugglesandturmoilandcappedaperiodofhislifethatoftenhadhimwonderingifhewaslosinghiswayinapsychicwilderness.Therewerenomapsforhimtoconsultashegropedthroughajungleoftangledemotions,ideas,memories,andimages.Inhis autobiography, he calls this the period of “Confrontation with theUnconscious.”1At the time of hismomentous discovery, Jungwas alreadywell-launched into his midlife crisis. About forty-one years old, he hadbroken with Freud some five years earlier and had after that sufferedemotional disorientation and professional uncertainty, from which he wasnow gradually recovering. He refers to the first half of his midlife period

(1913-1916)asthetimewhenhediscoveredtheinnerworld, theanima,theplurality of unconscious images and fantasies. Throughout these years ofinner exploration, Jung recorded his dreams, fantasies, and other importantexperiences in an elaborately detailed and illustrated document which hascome tobe called the “RedBook.”While struggling to sort out the imagesandemotionsthathadburstuponhimfromtheunconscious,hehadalsobeentryingtounderstandhowtheyfittogetherandwhattheymeant.Hehadusedpracticessuchasyogabreathingtomaintainhisemotionalequilibrium.Whenhisemotionsthreatenedtodestroyhispsychicequilibriumandsanity,heusedmeditation, play therapy, active imagination, and drawing to calmdown.Atherapisttohimself,heworkedouttechniques(whichhelaterwouldusewithpatients)tokeephisownego-consciousnessstableinthemidstofthisfloodofmaterialfromtheunconscious.

Now,ashecontinuedtoobserve, listen,andrecordhis innerexperiences,hisopennessincreasedtothearchetypalendofthepsychiccontinuumandtothe spirit world into which it merges. After spending several years at the“animalevel,”hebegantoenterintoaterritorythatrevealedthearchetypeoftheself,themostfundamentalarchitectofpsychicwholenessandorder.Thisdiscoveryoftheselfisrecountedinhisautobiographyandtookplaceovertheperiodofseveralyears.

Firsttherewasthepeculiarincidentoftheringingdoorbell.JungtellsofhowoneSundayafternoon in1916, ashewas sitting inhis living roomonSeestrasseinKusnacht,hesensedaheavyemotionalatmosphereinthehouse.The members of his household seemed tense and irritable. He did notunderstand why, but the air seemed charged with the presence of unseenfigures. Suddenly the doorbell rang.Hewent to answer it, but no onewasthere.Yet the knockerwas clearlymoving.He swears he saw itmove. Byitself!Whenthemaidaskedwhohadrungthebell,Jungsaidhedidnotknowsincetherewasnooneatthedoor.Itrangagain.Thistimethemaidalsosawthe knocker move. He was not hallucinating. And then Jung heard thefollowingwordssuggestthemselves:

ThedeadcamebackfromJerusalem,wheretheyfoundnotwhattheysought.Theyprayedmelettheminandbesoughtmyword,andthusIbeganmyteaching…2

Hedecidedtowritethesewordsdown.Morecame:

Harken:Ibeginwithnothingness.Nothingnessisthesameasfullness.Ininfinityfullisnobetterthanempty.Nothingnessisbothemptyandfull.Aswellmightyesayanythingelseofnothingness,asforinstance

white is it, or black, or again, it is not, or it is.This nothingness orfullnesswenamethePLEROMA.3

Over the next few days Jung took down, as if by dictation, aGnostic textentitled“SevenSermonstotheDead.”Thisteaching,deliveredinthewordsandundertheidentityoftheancientGnosticmaster,Basilides,isamessagethatcametoJungfromthearchetypalrealmofthepsyche.4

OfcourseoneknowsthatJungwasveryinterestedinGnosticismpriortothisvisitationandthathehadreadmanyfragmentsofancientGnostictexts,so therewereundoubtedlymanyconnections to thisvisionaryexperience inhis living room and library. Yet this was also a highly imaginative andcreativenewwork,albeitintheformofagrandiosereligioustext,anditcamespontaneously from the depths of Jung’s own psyche. He was not simplyquoting frommemory—even cryptomnesia does not account for it, since itcannotbefoundelsewhere in theclassic textsofGnosis.Norwashe tryingdeliberately to write in the style of the Gnostics. This writing was notintentional.Inretrospectitcanbeseenthatthistext,whichwascompletedinaboutthreedays,containstheseedsofmanyideasthatJungwouldworkoutinthefollowingdecadesinmorerationalintellectualandscientificterms.

Thiswasoneofmanyunusualpsychicexperiencesduring theseyearsofconfrontationwith unconscious.At amoremundane level, Jung carried onwith his life and his professional practice. This period coincided almostexactlywithWorldWar I,duringwhichSwitzerland,aneutralcountry,wasisolated fromEurope and thewiderworld. Travelwas impossible. Like allSwissadultmen,Jungwasin theArmy—hewasamedicalofficer—andhewasassignedtheroleofcommandantattheprisonerofwarcampinChateaud’OexintheFrench-speakingpartofthecountry.Itmusthavebeenamoreorless tedious administrative job, and he began routinely to spend some timeeachmorningdrawingcirclesandelaborating themashefelt inclined todoso.After thisexercisehewould feel refreshedandreadyfor thedayahead.Thisactivitycenteredhim,hesaysinhisautobiography.5

Some of these drawings turned into very elaborate paintings. Jung latercompared them to what Tibetan Buddhists call mandalas, images thatrepresent the cosmos, the spiritual universe of the Buddhist practitioner.(Some twenty years later on his trip to India Jung would note with greatinteresthowpeoplepaintthesetraditionalimagesonthewallsoftheirhomesorintemplesinordertostayconnectedtocosmicspiritualpowersortofendoff evil forces and influences. Mandalas have both a protective and aprayerfulfunction.)Jungcametorealizethathewasreproducingauniversal

underlyingarchetypalpatternthathastodowithputtingthingsinorder.Thisexperience led him eventually to the conclusion that if a spontaneouslyunfoldingpsychicprocessisfollowedtoitsownlogicalendandispermittedto express itself fully, the goal of this process will be fulfilled, namely tomanifest universal images of order and a unity.Themandala is a universalsymbol that expresses the intuition of ordered wholeness. To name thearchetypalfactorthat isoperativeinthepsycheproducingthisgoalandthispattern, Jung chose the term self, following the IndianUpanishads in theirdesignationofthehigherpersonality,theatman.ThisexperienceofdrawingandelaboratingmandalaswouldstaywithJungas thecentralexperienceoftheself:emergingslowly,experientially,spontaneouslyintoconsciousness.

Finally, Jung recorded a dream in 1928 that represented for him thecompletionofhisrealizationoftheself.(Althoughtheintensityofhismidlifecrisiswasoverby1920,thelingeringafter-mathcontinueduntil1928whenJungwasfifty-twoyearsold.)ThroughouthisfortiesJunglivedinakindofpsychologicalliminality,orlimbo,atfirstintenselyanddeeplyandthenlessso.AttheendhehadadreaminwhichhefoundhimselfintheEnglishcityofLiverpool.HewaswalkingthroughthestreetswithagroupofSwissfriendson a rainynight, and soon they cameupon an intersection thatwas shapedlikeawheel.Severalstreetsradiatedfromthishub,andinthemiddleoftheintersectiontherewasasquare.Whileeverythingwasdarkinthesurroundingarea, this center island was brightly lit. On it there grew a single tree, aMagnoliafullofreddishblossoms.Hiscompanionsdidnotseemabletoseethe beautiful tree, but Jung was overcome with the beauty of it. Later heinterpretedthisdreamtomeanthathehadbeengivenavisionofthecenter,the self, an image of unearthly beauty that is located in the “pool of life”(Liverpool).Fromthisdreamexperience,hewrites,“emergedafirst inklingofmypersonalmyth.”6 In thiskeypassage,Jungdeclares theself tobe thecenterofhispersonalmyth.He laterconceivedof itas theprimearchetype(the One) from which all the other archetypes and archetypal imagesultimately derive. The self is the magnetic center of Jung’s psychologicaluniverse.Itspresencepullstheego’scompassneedletotruenorth.

Jung’sDefinitionoftheSelf

TurningnowfromJung’sownpersonalexperienceoftheselftohistheory,afew remarks will pave the way for the discussion of the key text on this

subject, Aion. Jung’s writings on the self are scattered throughout hisCollectedWorks in the volumes and essays that were published after 1925(the year of Jung’s 50th birthday), and of these the most focused on thissubject isAion. This work was published in 1951 and is, according to theeditorsof thevolume, “a longmonographon the archetypeof the self.” Itssubtitle, “Researches into thePhenomenologyof theSelf,”makes the samepoint.Thebook’stitleistakenfromtheancientreligionofMithraism,whereAionisthenameofagodwhorulesovertheastrologicalcalenderandthusover time itself. The title therefore suggests a factor that transcends thetime/spacecontinuumthatgovernsego-consciousness.

The first fourchaptersofAion functionasabriefgeneral introduction toJung’spsychology,coveringtheconceptsofego,shadow,andanimus/anima,andafirstpassatthetheoryoftheself.Fromthereheentersintodiscussionsof many symbolic representations of the self, primarily in the Biblicaltraditions and the relevant “heresies” such asGnosticismand alchemy.Thework concludes with a grand theoretical summation in the final chapterentitled “The Structure and Dynamics of the Self.” Jung’s argument, oftendifficult to follow as he threads his way through astrology, Gnosticism,alchemy, theology, and various traditional symbol systems, claims that thistranscendent factor of the psyche—which we now call the self—has beenstudiedandexperiencedbymanypeopleinearlier times,andtheiraccountsofitinsymbolictermscanbeusefulforgraspingitsnatureandenergy.

The introductory chapter on the self begins as follows: “the self … iscompletely outside the personal sphere, and appears, if at all, only as areligiousmythologem,and its symbols range fromthehighest to the lowest…anyonewhowantstoachievethedifficultfeatofrealizingsomethingnotonly intellectually,butalsoaccording to its feeling-value,must forbetterorworsecometogripswiththeanima/animusprobleminordertoopenthewayfor a high union, a coniunctio oppositorum. This is an indispensableprerequisite for wholeness.”7 At this point in the text, Jung introduces“wholeness,” a term that is equivalent to the self. Wholeness results,practicallyspeaking,whentheselfisrealizedinconsciousness.Infact,thisisnot completely achievable, since thepolarities andopposites resident in theselfareforevergeneratingmoreandnewmaterialtointegrate.Nevertheless,practicingwholenessonaregularbasisisthewayoftheself,Jung’sversionoflivinginTao.“Although‘wholeness’seemsatfirstsighttobenothingbutanabstractidea(likeanimaandanimus),itisneverthelessempiricalinsofaras it isanticipatedbythepsychein theformofspontaneousorautonomoussymbols.Thesearethequaternityormandalasymbols,whichoccurnotonly

inthedreamsofmodernpeoplewhohaveneverheardofthem,butarewidelydisseminatedinthehistoricalrecordsofmanypeoplesandmanyepochs.”8

SymbolsoftheselfdeterminethefocusofAion.AsJungseesit,theyareubiquitous and autochthonic (that is, innate and spontaneous), and they aredelivered to the psyche through the archetypal psychoid region from thearchetypeperse.Theself,atranscendentnonpsychologicalentity,actsonthepsychic system to produce symbols of wholeness, often as quaternity ormandalaimages(squaresandcircles).“Theirsignificanceassymbolsofunityandtotalityisamplyconfirmedbyhistoryaswellasbyempiricalpsychology.What at first looks like an abstract idea stands in reality for something thatexists and can be experienced, that demonstrates its a priori presencespontaneously. Wholeness is thus an objective factor that confronts thesubjectindependentlyofhim.”9

Inthispassage,Junggoesontodescribeahierarchyofagencieswithinthepsyche.Astheanimaoranimushas“ahigherpositioninthehierarchythanthe shadow, so wholeness lays claim to a position and a value superior tothoseofthesyzygy.”10Atthemostimmediatelevelistheshadow,andoverthis the anima/animus—the syzygy—stands as a superior authority andpower.Presidingovertheentirepsychicgovernmentis theself, theultimateauthorityandhighestvalue:“unityand totalitystandat thehighestpointonthe scale of objective values because their symbols can no longer bedistinguished from the imago Dei.”11 Jung contends that every one of usbearstheGod-image—thestampoftheself—withinourselves.Wecarrythemarkofthearchetype:typosmeansastampimpressedonacoin,andarchemeans the original or master copy. Each human individual bears animpressionofthearchetypeoftheself.Thisisinnateandgiven.

SinceeachofusisstampedwiththeimagoDeibyvirtueofbeinghuman,wearealsointouchwith“unityandtotality[which]standatthehighestpointonthescaleofobjectivevalues.”Whenneeded,thisintuitiveknowledgecancome to our assistance: “experience shows that individual mandalas aresymbolsoforder,andthat theyoccur inpatientsprincipallyduring timesofpsychicdisorientationorre-orientation.”12Whenpeoplespontaneouslydrawor dream about mandalas, this suggests to the therapist that there is apsychologicalcrisisinconsciousness.Theappearanceofselfsymbolsmeansthatthepsycheneedstobeunified.ThiswasJung’sownexperience.Duringhis most disoriented time, he spontaneously began drawing mandalas.Compensatory symbols of wholeness are generated by the self when thepsychic system is in danger of fragmenting. This is the point at which the

archetypeoftheselfintervenesinanefforttounifyit.

The emergence of unity symbols and of integrative movements in thepsychic systemgenerally aremarksof the actionof the self archetype.Theself’staskseemstobetoholdthepsychicsystemtogetherandtokeepit inbalance.Itsgoalisunity.Thisunityisnotstaticbutdynamic,asweshallseein the next chapter on individuation. The psychic system is unified bybecomingmorebalanced,interrelated,andintegrated.Theself’sinfluenceonthe psyche as a whole is mirrored by the influence of the ego uponconsciousness.Like theself, theego toohasacentering,ordering,unifyingfunction, and itsgoal is tobalanceand integrate functions insofar as this ispossible,given theexistenceof thecomplexesanddefenses. Inchapter1, Idiscussedtheegoasthecenterofconsciousnessandthelocusofwill.Ithastheabilitytosay“I”and“Iam,”or“Ithink”or“Iwill.”Atanotherstage,itbecomesaself-consciouspsychicentityandabletosaynotonly“Iam”but“IknowthatIam.”Itmaybethecase,althoughonecannotbecertain,thattheselfalsoknowsthatitis.Doesthearchetypepossessself-awareness?Doesitknow that it is? Jung discovered what he thought to be a kind ofconsciousnessinthearchetypes.Whenarchetypalimagesinvadetheego,forexample,andtakepossessionofit, theyhaveavoice,anidentity,apointofview, a set of values.But is there self-awarenesswithin the archetypal unititself?Onemythstronglypointstosuchawareness.WhenMosesconfrontedGod at the burning bush and asked, “Who are you?” the archetypal voicereplied,“IamthatIam.”Whateverthismaymeantheologically,itseemstodemonstrateself-reflexiveconsciousnessinthearchetype.

Jungbelievedthataprivilegedrelationexistsbetweentheegoandtheself.Itmaybethattheselfhasthehighestformofself-awarenessandsharesthiswith the ego, which in turns shows this property most strongly within themore familiar regions of the psychic world. Because of this intimateconnectionbetweenegoandself,itmightbearguedthattheselfisinfactanimage of the ego, a kind of super-ego or ideal of the ego. Jung, however,wanted to insist that he had discovered something psychoid—psyche—likebutnotstrictlyonlypsychic—thatexistsinarealmbeyondthepsycheitself,somethingthataffectsthepsychicsystemthroughitsimages,mentalcontents,andmythological ideas, and through revelatory experiences such as that ofMosesattheburningbushorreceivingtheLawonMountSinai,butisnotaproductoftheegoorofsocialconstructions.

SymbolsoftheSelf

Althoughtheentirebookisabouttheself,Aionhastwochaptersspecificallyonthissubject.Thefirstofthese,chapter4,whichwehavejustconsidered,isintroductory.The book’s final chapter, on the other hand, is perhaps Jung’smost sophisticated and complete statement on the self. It assumes theinterveningdiscussionofsymbols fromGnosticism,astrology,andalchemy,whichhave threaded throughmanifestationsof culture in theWestover thepasttwomillennia.

Thischapterbeginsbyreferringtotheselfasthearchetypeunderlyingego-consciousness.Ego-consciousness is thepointof individualwill,awareness,and self-assertion. Its function is to look out for the individual and to keephimorheralive.Theego—asIdescribedinchapter1—isacomplexthatisorganizedaroundadualcenter,atraumaandanarchetype(theself).Totalkabouttheself,Jungnowlistsahostofpossibleimagesforit.13Someofthemare images that manifest in dreams or fantasies, and others appear inrelationshipsandinteractionswiththeworld.Geometricalstructures,suchasthe circle, the square, and the star, are ubiquitous and frequent. Thesemayappear in dreams without drawing special attention to themselves: peoplesitting around a round table, four objects arranged in a square space, a cityplan, a home.Numbers, particularly thenumber four andmultiplesof four,indicate quaternity structures. (Jung was not so fond of the number three,which he regards as only a partial expression of the self: three “should beunderstoodasadefectivequaternityorasasteppingstonetowardsit.”14Heismorepositiveaboutthreesandtrinitiesinotherpassages,butmainlyheviewsthem as only a theoretical approximation to wholeness that leaves out theconcretenessandgroundednesswhichwholenessrequires.)

Otherselfimagesaregemstones,likediamondsandsapphires,stonesthatrepresenthighandrarevalue.Yetfurtherselfrepresentationsincludecastles,churches,vesselsandcontainers,andofcoursethewheel,whichhasacenterandspokesradiatingoutwardendinginacircularrim.Humanfiguresthataresuperiortotheegopersonality,suchasparents,uncles,kings,queens,princesandprincesses, are also possible self representations.There are also animalimagesthatsymbolizetheself:theelephant,thehorse,thebull,thebear,thefish, and the snake. These are totem animals that represent one’s clan orpeople.Thecollectiveisgreaterthantheegopersonality.

The self may also be represented by organic images, such as trees and

flowers, and by inorganic images such as mountains and lakes. Jung alsomentionsthephallusasaselfsymbol.“Wherethere isanundervaluationofsexualitytheselfissymbolizedasaphallus.Undervaluationcanconsistinanordinaryrepressionorinovertdevaluation.Incertaindifferentiatedpersonsapurelybiologicalinterpretationandevaluationofsexualitycanalsohavethiseffect.”15 Jung blames Freud’s excessively rationalistic attitude for hisoveremphasisonsexuality.ThisledJungtoadoptamysticalattitudetowardthisinstinct.

The self contains opposites and “has a paradoxical, antinomial [amoral]character. It ismale and female, oldman and child, powerful and helpless,large and small. [He might also have added, good and evil.] It is quitepossible that the seeming paradox is nothing but a reflection of theenantiodromian changes of the conscious attitude which can have afavourable or an unfavourable effect on the whole.”16 In other words, theforminwhichtheselfisrepresentedisinfluencedbytheconsciousattitudeofthepersonregarding it.Changes in theconsciousattitudecouldbringaboutshiftsinthefeaturesoftheselfsymbol.

Ashemovestowardhissummarystatement,Jungbeginstodrawdiagramsoftheselfbywhichhehopestoclarifyhisvision.Thediagramsinparagraphs390and391ofAionareattemptstosummarizeavastamountofmaterial.ItissomewhatunusualforJungtodiagramhisthought,butheisreachingforalevelofcomplexityandintelligibilitythatmaybebeyondhumangrasp.Thefirstdiagramshowswhatmightbecalledacross-sectionalviewoflevelsintheself.

Eachlevelisbuiltofaquaternity,andeachofthemrepresentscomplexityand wholeness at that level. The image of the four quaternities, which arestacked in an order that ascends from material to spiritual poles on acontinuum,expressestotalityandwholeness.

What appear as quaternities fromone viewpoint are, fromanother angle,three-dimensionalsix-pointedfiguresattachedtoeachotherendtoend.

A.TheAnthroposQuaternio

B.TheShadowQuaternio

Eachof these three-dimensionaldoublepyramids shares a commonpointwiththeoneaboveandbelowitself.Asarrangedinastackoffour,thereisalinethatdividestheminhalf—theChristus—Diabolosline—abovewhicharethe Homo and Anthropos quaternities and below which fall the Lapis andRotundumquaternities.Thecircleat theHomoposition locates thepositionof ego-consciousness. Directly above it rises the Anthropos quaternity, anexpressionofidealwholenessatthespirituallevel.ThisissymbolizedbytheGnostic Anthropos or Higher Adam, an ideal figure. Jung states that thepresenthistoricalage,consistingofthelasttwothousandyears,beganwithan

emphasisonthisspiritualquaternity.ManwasregardedasaspiritualbeingintheimageofChristianidealspiritualimageprojectedontoahistoricalfigure,JesusofNazareth.ThemetamorphosisofJesusintotheChristwastheresultof people projecting onto this figure their own spiritual higher (Anthropos)selves.

BelowtheHomocircle(ego-consciousness)liesaquaternitythatrepresentsthe shadow of the one above it. It rests on the circle of the Serpent. This“lower self”mirrors the “higher self” above it, but darkly. Shadow figuresoccupyeachofthefourpointsofthequaternity(thelowerJethroversusthehigherJethro,etc.).JungcallsthistheShadowquaternity.ItcorrespondspointforpointtotheAnthroposquaternityaboveitandrepresentsalessidealizedexpressionofthesamewholeness.FromtheShadowthetrajectorycontinuesdownward:fromspirittoinstinctandondownintomatteritself.TheSerpentpointsignifiesthebaseoftheShadowandconnectsittothematerialworld.

The shadow is the inferior personality, the lowest levels of which areindistinguishable from the instinctualityof animals.This connectsour idealspiritual wholeness to our biological animal nature. A person who is notconnectedinconsciousnesstothisquaternitylivesinthehead,inarealmofintellectualandspiritualidealsthathaslittlerelationtoeverydaylifeortothebiologicalstratumofexistence.Apersonidentifiedwithandlivingprimarilyout of the Shadowquaternity, on the other hand, ismore or less limited toconsciousnessat thelevelofanimalexistence:thesurvivaloftheindividual(nourishment) and of the species (sexuality), a state of spiritual andmoralunderdevelopment.

The serpent symbolizes the self in its strongest and most blatantparadoxicality.On the one hand, it represents everything that is “snaky” inhuman nature: cold-blooded instincts of survival, territoriality, basephysicality.Ontheotherhand,itsymbolizesthewisdomofthebodyandtheinstincts—somatic awareness, gut intuitions and instinctual knowledge.Theserpenthastraditionallybeenaparadoxicalsymbol,referringbothtowisdomandtoevil(orthetemptationtodoevil).Theserpentthereforesymbolizesthemostextremetensionofoppositeswithintheself.

C.TheParadiseQuaternio

Continuingdownward,theParadiseQuaterniorepresentsadescentintothelevel of organicmaterial processes.Humanbeings share this level not onlywithanimalsbutwithplants.Thisreferstothephysicalfactthatorganiclifeisorganizedaroundthenatureofthecarbonatomanditsproperties.Organicchemistryisthescientificdisciplinethatstudiesthislevelofhumanexistencesystematically.AndbelowthatliestheLapisquaternity,whichistheabsolutephysical base of being. At this level, the chemical elements and atomicparticlesmustforgesomekindofunityandorganization,interactinginsuchaway as to produce a stable creature that canmaintain physical equilibriumsufficientforlifeattheorganicandpsychicandspirituallevels.

D.LapisQuaternio

Thislevel,whichunderliesthepsycheandtheorganicbody,passesintotheinorganicrealm,indeedallthewaydowntothemolecularlevel.Bythetimethestructureoftheselfarrivesattheleveloftherotundum,ithasreachedthelevel of pure energy itself, which passes through the atomic level into andpast the subatomic level. The rotundum, Jung says, is an abstract

transcendentalidea:theideaofenergy.

ThepsycheproperisleftbehindattheChristus-Diabolusline,thatisattheSerpentQuaternio. That line is equivalent to the psychoid boundarywherepsyche merges into matter. Although the serpent is somewhat psychic, orquasi-psychic, being cold-blooded it represents an energy that is also verydistant from ego-consciousness and from the personal will. It showsmovement and a type of consciousness, but one very far from human ego-consciousness.Theserpentrepresentstheautonomicnervoussystem.Thereiswisdom in the body, but its consciousness consists only of flickers ofawarenessthatmightbereadandinterpretedbytheego.Ontheotherhand,thebodymaywellberesponsibleforsomedreams.Theserpent’sambiguityas a symbol derives either from the ego’s ambivalence towards it—becauseweareattachedtothehigheranthroposlevel, toourideals,andthereforeinconflictwithourbody’s instincts—orfromitscapacity toarousethefearoflosing contact with the higher levels of consciousness, which would bedestructive. The serpent level is a consciousness-creator, and in this itrepresentsthepsychizationprocess.

Penetrating through the inorganic level leads to the realmofpureenergy,whichmodernphysicshasalsodiscovered.Thiscomesaboutbycontinuingto move ever further into matter until one finally arrives at a point thatdissolvesintopureenergy.Butenergyissointangible.Infact,itisanidea,anabstraction, a concept used to describe something that cannot be observeddirectly,thoughitcanbemeasuredbyitseffects.Psychicenergy,aswesawinchapter3,isforJungthelifeforce,thevitalitywebringtoourprojects,theinterestwetakeinlifeandinothers.Itisapowertoreckonwith,asanyonewhohaseversufferedfromitsabsenceinaclinicaldepressionknowsonlytowell.Itcanmovemountains,butitisnebulousandunfathomable,too.Sothedescentthroughthelayersofpsychefromthehighestlevelsofideaandidealand image through the concreteness of the ego’s existence and the body’sreality into the chemical and molecular composition of our physical beingleads finally to pure energy and back into the realm of ideas,which is theworldofnous,ofmind,ofspirit.Thusthequaternities touchat thepolesoftheirgreatestopposition,attheextremesofspiritandmatter.Jungdrewthisasdynamiccirculation:

Thearrowsmoveinacircle,andeventuallyAnthroposandRotundumcometogetheragainatthetop.

TheSelfasCentralMysteryofthePsyche

It is obvious from Jung’s writings that unity and totality were his highestvalues and that the self formed his personalmyth.But it is amyth that heattemptedtogroundinevidenceandtheory.Morecorrectly,thetheoryoftheself—theconcept that there isa transcendentcenter thatgoverns thepsychefromoutsideof itselfandcircumscribes itsentirety—wasameansthatJungusedtoaccountforbasicpsychologicalphenomenasuchasthespontaneousappearance of circles or mandalas, the self-regulating functioning of thepsyche in what he called “compensation,” the progressive development ofconsciousnessthroughthelifespaninwhathecalled“individuation,”andtheexistence of numerous polarities evident in psychological life that formcoherent structures and generate energy. Jung has been criticized by someconservative theologians for transforming the self into a God-concept andthen worshipping at the shrine which he himself created. He would likelycountersuchanaccusationbyarguingthat,asanempiricalscientist,hewassimplyobservingfactsandtryingtoaccountfortheirexistenceandfortheirrelation to one another. To him the concept of the self offered the bestexplanationhecouldprovideforoneofthecentralmysteriesofthepsyche—its seemingly miraculous creativity, its centering dynamics, and its deepstructuresoforderandcoherence.

The psychic system as a whole consists of many parts. Thoughts and

archetypal images stand at one end of the spectrum, representations of thedrives and instincts at the other end, and in between are a vast amount ofpersonal material such as memories forgotten and recalled and all thecomplexes.Thefactorthatordersthiswholesystemandtiesitalltogetherisaninvisibleagentcalledtheself.Thisiswhatcreatesthebalancesamongthevariousotherfactorsandtiesthemtogetherintoonefunctioningunit.Theselfis the center, and it unifies the pieces. But it does so at a considerabledistance, like the sun influencing the orbits of the planets. Its essence liesbeyond the boundaries of the psyche. It is psychoid, and it extends intoregionsbeyondhumanexperienceandknowing.Inthatsense,Jungwouldsaytheselfisinfinite.Atleastwecannotsayfromempiricalevidencewhereitsedges may lie. This is as far as Jung would go, as he notes in hisautobiography,butitissurelyagooddistance.

8

EmergenceoftheSelf(Individuation)

ThefeaturesofJung’smapofthesoularenowinplace,andwiththatintheforegroundoneisnowpreparedtoconsider thepsychological journeytakeninthisterritoryoverthecourseofaperson’slifetime.Ihavetouchedonthistheme of psychological developmentmany times already, but nowwith thewhole theory in mind it is possible to convey the full range of what Jungcalled the individuation process. People develop in many ways throughouttheir lifetimes,and theyundergomultiplechangesatmany levels.The totalexperienceofwholenessoveranentirelifetime—theemergenceoftheselfinpsychologicalstructureandinconsciousness—isconceptualizedbyJungandcalledindividuation.

Jung’s concept of individuation is based partially on the commonobservationthatpeopledogrowanddevelopinthecourseoftheseventyoreightyyears theynormally livenowinWesternsocieties.Physically,peopleare born as infants, pass after several years into childhood, then enteradolescenceandearlyadulthood.Theapexofphysicaldevelopmentgenerallyoccurs in the period of late adolescence and early adulthood, and physicalgrowthismoreorlesscompletelyachievedbytheageoftwenty.Thehealthybody is now vibrant and fully capable of biological reproduction and theheroic feats of effort and endurance required for coping with the physicalworld.Physicallyoneiscompleteatthispoint,althoughmusclescanbebuiltupfurtherandathleticskillssharpenedandhoned.Afterthemid-thirties,thedecline and decay of bodily function becomes an increasingly importantfactor.Onehastoconserveandprotectone’sbodyandbecomecarefulaboutstressingittoomuchlestitbedamagedbeyondrepair.Asmidlifeandmiddleage set in, the physical changes and developments that occur are oftenunwelcomeandmaycauseconsiderableanxiety.Wrinkles,saggingstomachs

andbreasts,achesandpainsinthejoints—allofthesearedailyremindersofmortality. Adulthood and middle age are inevitably followed by old age,whichcanlastalongtimeoronlyashortwhile.Itisconsideredtobeginintheseventies. In thenextcentury itwillnodoubtbecomecommonplaceforpeopletolivetoahundredoreventoahundredandtwenty.Physicaldeclineacceleratesduring this lateperiod.Thephysicalbodygrows,matures, ages,anddeclinesinthecourseofthefulllifespan.Physicalgrowthanddecayaregoverned importantly by genetic programs, which in Jung’s theory of thepsyche are interfaced with archetypal patterns. Each stage of life isundergirded and supported by a set of archetypal images that shapepsychological attitudes, behavior, andmotivations. The infant, for example,enters theworldprepared toplay its role inconstellatingsuitablemotheringattitudes and behaviors in its caretaker by cooing, smiling, sucking, andgenerallymakingitselflovable.Atthesametime(ifallgoeswell)themotheris prepared to assume the role of nurturing and feeding her infant. Themother-infant pair describe an archetypal pattern of human fantasy andinterpersonal interaction that isprimordialandhas importantsurvivalvalue.Foreachstageoflifetherearesuchconstellationsofinstinctandarchetype,whichresultinpatternsofbehaviorandfeelingandmentation.

ThePsychologicalLifespan

Jung was the first of what have come to be called psychological lifespantheorists.Asopposedtothosewhosupposethatthemostimportant featuresof psychological and character development occur in infancy and earlychildhood and nothing of major import follows after that, Jung sawdevelopment as ongoing and the opportunities for further psychologicaldevelopmentasanoptionforpeopleatanyage,includingmiddleandoldage.Thisisnottosaythatheminimizedearlydevelopment,andcertainlyhepaidgreatattentiontoinheritedfeaturesandtendenciesofthepersonality,butthefullexpressionandmanifestationofthepersonalitytakesanentirelifetimetounfold.Theselfemergesbitbybit throughthemanystagesofdevelopmentdescribedbyJungandothertheoristssuchasErikErikson.

For Jung, psychological development follows the path of physicaldevelopment to a point. It can be divided into the first half of life and thesecond.Inashortbutseminalarticlecalled“TheStagesofLife,”hedescribesthis developmental trajectory by using the image of the sun rising in the

morning, reaching its apex at noon, and descending in the afternoon to setfinally in the evening.1 This correspondsmore or less to the pattern of thephysical,butJungaddsthatthereareimportantdifferences,particularlywithrespecttothesecondhalfoflife.Inthebeginning,consciousnessariseslikethedawnastheinfantegoemergesfromthewatersofunconsciousness,anditsgrowthandexpansionandincreasingcomplexityandpowercoincidewiththe growth and development of physical body that houses it. As the bodygrowsandthebrainmaturesandlearningcapacitiesdevelopandexpand,theegoalsodevelopsitsstrengthandcapacities.Afirststepistodistinguishtheindividualbodyfromobjects in thesurroundingworld.Thisrunsparallel toseparatingfromtheunconsciousmatrixwithin.Theworldbecomesmorerealand concrete and is no longer simply the recipient of gross projections.Distinctionsbegin tobemadeandobserved.Personsbegin tomove rapidlytoward a capacity to function as separate entities. They begin to act asindividuals,withtheabilitytocontrolthemselvesandtheirenvironmentstoareasonabledegree,and tocontainaffectandtheflowof thoughtasrequiredby social standards of behavior. The ego learns, quite naturally andspontaneously, tomanipulate the environment for individual survival in theambientcultureandtoachievepersonalbenefits.Itdevelopsapersona.Thehealthychild’sandyoungperson’segobusilylearnstosetupitsownworldby becoming self-reliant and self-supporting in the terms offered bycircumstanceofbirth.Adaptation,whichisbasedonarchetypalimagessuchasthemother-infantunitandthelaterheropatternofseparationandconquest,takesplace in relation towhatever thecircumstancesmaybe.Eventually, ifall goeswell, people are able to free themselves fromdependency on theirfamilies of origin; they are able to reproducebiologically and to raise theirchildreninanurturingenvironmentcreatedbythemselves;andtheycanplayaroleintheadultworldofthesocietyinwhichtheyexist.Inwardlytheyformanegostructureandapersonawhicharebaseduponarchetypalpotentialsandtypological tendencies.Themajor developmental project in the first half oflife is ego and persona development to the point of individual viability,culturaladaptation,andadultresponsibilityforraisingchildren.

Howthisisachievedandhowitlooksconcretelydependstoalargeextentonthefamily,thesocialstratum,thecultureandhistoricalperiodintowhichapersonisborn.Thesefactorswillinfluenceandshapemanyofthedetailsinthedifferencesbetweendevelopmentinmalesandfemales,intherichandthepoor,inEasternandWesternindividuals.Thesesamefactorsalsosomewhatdictate the details of timing regarding the assumption of roles andresponsibilities.Whatisuniversal,however,andthereforearchetypal, isthat

everycultureexpects anddemandsof theyoungperson theachievementofego development and adaptation. In all cultures, the image of the hero andheroine are held up as ideals. The hero is an ideal image of someonewhoachieves egodevelopment asmenare supposed to emulate and admire; theheroine isan image that supplies thispattern forwomen. In somesocieties,ego development and persona development are completed for all practicalpurposes by the time adolescence is fully attained, in others (like modernsocieties,with seemingly interminable educational requirements) itmaynotbecompleteduntilmiddleageisimmanent.

Individuation

Jung used the term individuation to talk about psychological development,which he defines as becoming a unified but also unique personality, anindividual, anundividedand integratedperson. Individuation includesmorethan the project achieved ideally in the first half of life, namely ego andpersonadevelopment.Whenthatisdone,anothertaskbeginstoemerge,forthe ideal development of ego and persona have left a great deal ofpsychologicalmaterialoutoftheconsciouspicture.Theshadowhasnotbeenintegrated, the anima and animus remain unconscious, and although it hasbeen instrumental behind the scenes, the self has been hardly glimpseddirectly. But now the question becomes, How can a person achievepsychological unity in the larger sense of the term, which entails unitingconsciousandunconsciousaspectsofthepersonality?Itispossibletofailinthe task of individuation. One can remain divided, unintegrated, inwardlymultipleintodeepoldageandstillbeconsideredtohavelivedasociallyandcollectively successful, albeit superficial, life. Deep inner unity on aconscious level is in fact a rare achievement, although it is undoubtedlysupportedby avery strong innate impulse: Jung speaksof an individuationdrive,notprimarily as abiological imperativebut rather as apsychologicalone.Iwillexplainitsmechanisminamoment.

Here Iwant to insert a cautionarynote for readerswhowish to compareJung to other psychological theorists.One should be careful not to confuseJung’sconceptofindividuationwithnotionsthatgounderthisterminotherpsychological theories. This is similar to the problem of comparing Jung’sconceptoftheselfwiththatofotherwriters.InMargaretMahler’swork,forinstance, there is a strong emphasis on a process that she termed

“separation/individuation.”Thechildseparates fromitsmotherbeginningatabout age two by saying “no.” That movement, built into the naturaldevelopmentof thepsychological individual, takesplace spontaneously andfacilitatesegodevelopment.Itisarchetypallybasedandcanberelatedtotheearlyappearanceandthefirstapproximationofthearchetypalpatternofthehero. For Jung this would be one aspect of lifelong individuation, butcertainly it is not the whole story. The purpose of this movement towardseparationistocreateapsychologicalsituationthatcanlaterproceedtowardfurtherstepsofconsciousnessandfinallytointegrationandunificationofthepersonalityasawhole.ForMahler,separationisnotanendinitself,butonlyawaystation.IndividuationforJungisanendinitself.

Thepsychologicalmechanismbywhichindividuationtakesplace,whetherweareconsideringitinthefirstorthesecondhalfoflife,iswhatJungcalledcompensation.Thefundamentalrelationbetweenconsciousandunconsciousiscompensatory.Thegrowthoftheegooutoftheunconscious—drivenbyapowerfulinstincttobecomeseparatedfromthesurroundingworldinordertoadaptmore effectively to the ambient environment—results in a separationbetweenego-consciousnessandtheunconsciousmatrixfromwhichitcomes.Thetendencyoftheegois tobecomeonesided, tobecomeexcessivelyself-reliant.Thisis,aswehaveseen,basedonthearchetypalpatternofthehero.Whenthishappens,theunconsciousbeginstocompensateforthisonesided-ness. Compensations happen classically in dreams. The function ofcompensation is to introduce balance into the psychic system. Thesecompensationsaretunedpreciselytothepresentmoment,andtheirtimingisgoverned strictly by what consciousness is doing or not doing, by theonesided attitudes and developments of ego-consciousness. Over time,however,thesemanysmalldailycompensationsadduptopatterns,andthesepatterns lay down the groundwork for the spiral of development towardwholenessthatJungtermsindividuation.Jungfindsthishappeningespeciallyclearly in long series of dreams: “these apparently separate acts ofcompensation arrange themselves into a kind of plan. They seem to hangtogetherandin thedeepestsense tobesubordinatedtoacommongoal…Ihave called this unconscious process spontaneously expressing itself in thesymbolismofa longdream-series the individuationprocess.”2Onecanalsoapply this same rule to psychological development generally. Theunconsciouscompensatesego-consciousnessoverthewholelifespanandinmanyways—byslipsofthetongue,forgetfulness,ormiraculousrevelations;by arranging accidents, disasters, love affairs, andwindfalls; by generatinginspirationalideasandhairbrainednotionsthatleadtodisaster.Inthelifelong

unfolding that Jungcalls individuation, thedriving force is theself,and themechanism by which it emerges in the conscious life of the individual iscompensation.Thisisequallytrueinthefirsthalfoflifeandinthesecond.

Thesecondhalfof life involvesadifferentkindofmovement fromwhattranspires in the first, however. In this second phase of individuation, thepattern’saccentisnottheseparationoftheegofromitsbackgroundandfromits identifications with the milieu, but rather the unification of the wholepersonality. Jung would sometimes speak of the “return to the mothers,”whichisametaphoricalwayofsayingthatwhenegodevelopmentclimaxesatmidlife there is no furthermeaning in continuing topursue the sameoldgoals.Infact,someofthegoalsalreadyachievedarenowcalledintoquestionasultimatevalues,andthisleadstoreassessmentofwhathasbeenachievedandreassessmentonwherefurthermeaninglies.3There ismore to life thanmaking one’s way in the world with a solid and well-structured ego andpersona. “Been there, done that” sums up the mood of the midlifer. Nowwhat?Meaning lies elsewhere, and psychic energy changes its course. Thetasknowbecomestounifytheegowiththeunconscious,whichcontainstheperson’sunlivedlifeandunrealizedpotential.Thisdevelopmentinthesecondhalfof life is theclassicJungianmeaningof individuation—becomingwhatyoualreadyarepotentially,butnowmoredeeplyandmoreconsciously.Thisrequires the enabling power of symbols which lift up and make availablecontentsof theunconscious thathavebeenobscured fromview.Theego isunabletocarryoutthislargerunificationofthepersonalitybyitsownefforts.Itneedsanangeltoassist.

Jung himself did not spendmuch time considering the issues of the firsthalf of life after his breakwith Freud.Hewasmainly interested in peoplesuchasthefifty-three-year-oldwomandescribedin“AStudyintheProcessof Individuation.”4 Most of his own patients were adults of this type. Notseriouslymentallyill,notinneedofhospitalormedicaltreatment,nolongerin theearlystagesof their lives, thesepeoplecametoJungforwisdomandguidanceinpursuingfurtherinnerdevelopment.Thisisnottosaythatsomewerenot neurotic and inneedof psychological help too, but theywerenottypical psychiatric patients. In fact, Jung preferred working with peoplewhoseego-buildingandchild-bearingyearswerepastandwhosefirsthalfoflife developments had already taken place. Now was the opportunity topursuethesecondgreatphaseoftheindividuationprocess,themoreexplicitemergence of the self into consciousness. The methods Jung used to helpthemwiththiscomplexprojecthavecometobecalledJungiananalysis.

Psychological change and development in adulthood and old age are in

somewaysmoresubtlethandevelopmentinthefirsthalfoflife.Onehastoobserve people very carefully and at deep levels to perceive it. Andsometimesthereisnotmuchtoobservebecausethedevelopmenthasbeensominimal.Forinstance,mybestchildhoodfriend’sfather,ateighty-nine,hadagednoticeablyinthethirtyyearssinceIhadlastseenhim.Clearlyhewasnearing the end of his life. Yet, although his body had altered greatly, hispersona,hissenseofhumor,hispersonalityhadnotseeminglychangedverymuch,andonthisaccounthewasasfamiliarandrecognizableasever.WhenImet him again after all these years, I knew him immediately. Tome, hispersonality,asIcouldseeitandexperienceit,wasutterlyintactandthesame.Whilehisenergymayhavebeenlessthanitoncewas,hecouldstillmusterenough to carry on a lively conversation about the newest models of hisfavorite automobiles.He remainedmore or less the samepersonhe alwayswas,eventhoughhisbodywasshrunkenandweaker.

Had there been any development in his psyche in the course of hisadulthood after the age of 50? Had his attitudes changed?Howwell did Iknowhim?Iknewhimasachildandthennomore,soIhadonlyachild’sview of him. I knew his persona, but that is all. To all appearances, hispersona had remained intact. But aswe know, there is a goodmore to thepsyche than the persona. And yet, if the persona does not change, is theredeeperchangeeither?

Is it so subtlewecan’t see itwithoutdeep interpretive,probing interviews?Perhapshis consciousnesshaddevelopeddramaticallybeyondwhere itwaswhenIknewhimsolongago,butIcouldnotseeit.Jungresistedthenotionthat the psychological trajectory is identical to the physical, which showsmostly onlydecline in old age.Are there psychological compensations thatoutweighthephysicaldecayandshowadifferentpattern?

TheFiveStagesofConsciousness

To get a handle on this question of development of consciousness in thesecond half of life, we can apply some general measuring sticks. Jungdescribed five stages of development of consciousness, 5 which I willsummarize and expand a bit. We can use these to measure and assessdevelopment of consciousness in children and also in adults in their lateryears.

Thefirststageischaracterizedbyparticipationmystique,atermborrowedfromtheFrenchanthropologist,Lévy-Bruhl.Participationmystiquereferstoan identificationbetweenan individual’sconsciousnessand the surroundingworld, without awareness that one is in this state; consciousness and theobjectwithwhichoneisidentifiedaremysteriouslythesamething.Thereisan absence of awareness of a difference between oneself and one’sperceptionsontheonehandandtheobjectinquestionontheother.Tosomeextent,people stay in this stateofparticipationmystiqueall their lives.Forexample,manypeople identify in thiswaywith theircars.Theyexperienceallkindsofselffeelingsabouttheircars.Whenthecardevelopsaproblem,itsowner feels sick, comesdownwith a cold,gets a stomachache.Weareunconsciously united with the world around us. This is what Jung calledparticipationmystique.

Mostpeopleareconnectedtotheirfamilies,atthebeginningoflifeatleast,byparticipationmystique,whichisbasedonidentification, introjection,andprojection.Thesetermsdescribethesamething:aninterminglingofinnerandoutercontents.The infant isat first literallynotable todistinguishwhere itleavesoffandwheremotherbegins.Theinfant’sworldishighlyunified.Inthissensethefirststageofconsciousnessanticipatesthefinalstage:ultimateunification of the parts into a whole. At the beginning, however, it isunconscious wholeness, whereas at the end the sense of wholeness isconscious.

In the secondstageofconsciousness,projectionsbecomemore localized.Afterthehit-or-missprojectionsinthefirststage,someself/otherdistinctionsbegintoappearinconsciousness.Theinfantbecomesawareofcertainplaceswhere its ownphysical being collideswithoutsideobjects, and it begins towatchoutforthingsandtorecognizedifferencesbetweenselfandotherandamongtheobjectsintheworldaroundit.Slowlythisdifferentiationbetweenself and other and between inner and outer increases and sharpens. Whengoodsubject/objectdifferentiationexistsandwhenselfandotheraredistinctandclearlydifferent,projectionandparticipationmystiquechange.Thisdoesnotmeanthatprojectionhasbeenovercome,butonlythatithasbecomemorelocalized, focusing on a few objects rather than on the whole wide world.Some objects in the world are clearly nowmore important and interestingthanothersbecause theycarryprojectionsandare therecipientsof libidinalinvestment.Mother, favorite toys, brightmoving objects, pets, father, otherpeople become special and singled out and distinct. So as consciousdevelopment proceeds, differentiation takes place and projection becomesfixed on specific figures. And since projections fall on the unknown, the

world offers plenty of opportunity to continue the process of projectingthroughoutone’sentirelifetime.

Parentsareearlymajorcarriersofprojection,andchildrenunconsciouslyprojectomnipotenceandomniscienceontothem.ThesearewhatJungcalledarchetypalprojections.Theparentsbecomegods, investedwithpowers thatpeople have attributed to the divine. “Daddy can do anything! He’s thestrongest guy in the whole world!” “Mother knows everything and canperform miracles. She also loves me unconditionally!” The shockingrealization that one’s parents do not know everything and are anything butgodlikeusuallyoccursduring the teenageyears,and thenfora timeparentsdon’tknowanythingatall(anotherkindofprojection).Wealsoprojectontosiblings;thisliesattherootofsiblingrivalryandthekindofcompetitiveandsometimesviciousdynamicsthatgooninfamilies.Teachersandschoolitselfalsoreceivemanyprojections. Infact,numerousfigures inourenvironmentbecomecarriersofprojectioninthesecondstageofconsciousness.Thisgivespeople and institutions the power to form and shape our consciousnesspowerfully, filling it with their knowledge and opinions and graduallyreplacing our ownpersonal experiencewith collective opinions, views, andvalues.Thisistheprocessofacculturationandadaptationthattakesplaceinchildhoodandadolescence.

Falling in loveandgettingmarriedare typicallybasedonmassiveanimaandanimusprojections,and this leadsdirectly intochildbearingandrearingduringwhich the children become carriers of divine child projections.Likethe first stage, the second is one that no one leaves behind completely.Aslongasoneisabletobeenchanted,tofeelthestirofadventureandromance,toriskallforamightyconviction,onecontinuestooperateoutofprojectiononto concrete objects in the world. And for many the development ofconsciousness stops here. Such individuals continue to project positive andnegative features of the psyche massively into the world around and torespond to the psyche’s images and powers as though theywere located inexternalobjectsandpersons.

If conscious development does continue—which can begin when a newphase of cognitive development leads to the ability to reach a level ofabstraction that is relatively free of concretism—one becomes aware thatspecific projection carriers are not identicalwith the projections they carry.Thepersonswhohave carried theprojections can stepout frombehind theprojections,andasaresulttheyoftenbecomede-idealized.Atthisstage,theworld losesmuchof its naive enchantment.The projected psychic contentsbecome abstract, and they now manifest as symbols and ideologies.

Omniscience and omnipotence are no longer granted to human beings, butsuch qualities are projected onto abstract entities such as God, Fate, andTruth.Philosophyandtheologybecomepossible.Supremevaluestakeonthenuminous power once attributed to parents and teachers. The Law or theRevelationortheTeachingsbecomeinvestedwitharchetypalprojections,andtheconcreteeverydayworldbecomesrelativelyfreeofprojectionsandcanbeinteractedwith as neutral. To the extent that this stage of consciousness isattained,apersonbecomeslessvulnerabletofearsofevilenemiesandforces.OneneednotfearthereprisalsofhumanenemiesbecauseGodisincontrol.Or it is assumed that one can manipulate and take control of the worldrationallybecauseitobeysthelawsofnatureandisfreeofspiritsanddemonswhomightnot likeahighwayhereoradwellingplace there.Onedoesnotseemtokeeprunningintooneself,feelingsodirectlythepainofwhatoneisdoingtotheobject.

The spontaneous empathic response to suffering among creatures in theworld and to the destruction of the natural world is decreased to aconsiderableextentwhentheself/objectdichotomyhasreachedthispoint.Tomany this does not seem to be an advance but rather a decline inconsciousness. But it must be recognized that the emotional reactions ofempathymanifestedintheearlierdevelopmentalstagesarelargelybasedonprojection and have little to do with an objective evaluation of what ishappeningtotheobject.Whenprojectionsareremovedfromconcreteobjectsin the world, visionary political leaders and charismatic ideologues createabstractionsintheformofideas,values,orideologiesbytheprojectionsfedintoconceptsthatstatewhatisofhighestvalueandthegreatestgoodintheirperception.Onthebasisofthesevalues,onecandevelopasetofimperativesand “oughts” that stand in place of the natural, spontaneous emotionalrelationships that less conscious people enjoy with the world. In place ofunconsciousempathybasedonparticipationmystiqueorprojection,onehasrulesthatdictateduty.Onedoestherightthingecologically,forinstance,notout of feeling but out of duty, not because one gets sickwith pain for thedestructionofthenaturalworldbutbecauseofamoralimperativetosortthegarbageandburnlessfuel.

In this third stageof consciousness—which is Ibelievewhatmy friend’sfatherreached,forhewasareligiousmaninthetraditionalsense—therearestill projections of unconsciousmaterial. But these projections are investednot so much in persons and things but in principles and symbols andteachings.Ofcourse,theseprojectionsarestillconsidered“real”inanalmostconcrete sense. God really does exist somewhere, He or She is a distinct

personality,andsoon.AslongasonebelievesthatanactualGodwillpunishorrewardoneintheafterlife,thisindicatesaStage3levelofconsciousness.The projection has simply become transferred from the human parent to amoreabstract,mythologicalfigure.

Thefourthstagerepresentstheradicalextinctionofprojections,evenintheformoftheologicalandideologicalabstractions.Thisextinctionleadstothecreationofan“emptycenter,”whichJungidentifieswithmodernity.This isthe “modern man in search of his soul.”6 The sense of soul—of grandmeaningandpurpose in life, immortality,divineorigin,a“Godwithin”—isreplaced by utilitarian and pragmatic values. “Does it work?” becomes theprimaryquestion.Humanscome tosee themselvesascogs inahugesocio-economic machine, and their expectations for meaning are scaled down tobitesizechunks.Onesettlesformomentsofpleasureandthesatisfactionsofmanageabledesires.Oronebecomesdepressed!Godsno longer inhabit theheavens, anddemons are converted into psychological symptoms andbrainchemicalimbalances.Theworldisstrippedofprojectedpsychiccontents.Nomoreheroes,nomoreevilvillains—humansbecomerealistic.Principlesareonlyrelativelyvalid,andvaluesareseenasderivedfromculturalnormsandexpectations. Everything cultural appears to be manufactured and withoutinherentmeaning.Natureandhistoryare regardedas theproductof chanceandtherandomplayofimpersonalforces.Herewearriveattheattitudeandfeeling-tone of the modern person: secular, atheistic, perhaps slightlyhumanistic.Amodernperson’svaluesseemhedgedaboutwithreservations,conditions,“maybe’s,”“notsure’s.”Themodernstanceisrelativistic.

Inthisfourthstageofconsciousness,itseemsasifpsychicprojectionshavedisappeared altogether. Jung points out, however, that this is undoubtedly afalse assumption. In actuality the ego itself has become invested with thecontents previously projected out onto others and objects and abstractions.ThustheegoisradicallyinflatedinthemodernpersonandassumesasecretGod-Almightyposition.Theego,rather thanLawsorTeachings, isnowtherecipientofprojections,goodandbad.Theegobecomes the sole arbiterofright and wrong, true and false, beautiful and ugly. There is no authorityoutside of the ego that exceeds it.Meaningmust be created by the ego; itcannot be discovered elsewhere.God is not “out there” anymore, it’sme!Whilethemodernpersonappearstobereasonableandgrounded,actuallyheismad.Butthisishidden,asortofsecretkeptevenfromoneself.

Jungbelievedthisfourthstagetobeanextremelydangerousstateofaffairsfortheobviousreasonthataninflatedegoisunabletoadaptverywelltotheenvironmentandsois liabletomakecatastrophicerrorsinjudgment.While

thisisanadvanceofconsciousnessinapersonalandevenaculturalsense,itis dangerousbecauseof thepotential formegalomania.Anythinggoes! If Iwant to do it and figure I can get awaywith it, itmust be okay.Not at allimmune to theseductivepersuasionsof theshadow, theego iseasily led toindulgeintheshadow’slustforpoweranditswishestogaintotalcontroloftheworld.ThiswasNietzsche’sSuperman,andthishubrisisreflectedinthevarious social and political catastrophes of the twentieth century. Alreadyprefigured in Dostoevski’s protagonist Raskolnikov in Crime andPunishment, we now witness a human being who will kill an old womansimply to see how it feels. The Stage 4 person is no longer controlled bysocietalconventionsrelatedeithertopeopleorvalues.Consequentlytheegocan consider unlimited possibilities of action. This does not mean that allmodernpeoplearesociopathic,butthedoorsforsuchadevelopmentarewideopen. And the worst cases might be those that look most reasonable—the“best and the brightest” who think they can calculate an answer to allquestionsofpolicyandmorality.

Jung said jokingly that on the street one meets people at all stages ofdevelopment—Neanderthals, medieval people, moderns, people at allconceivablelevelsofconsciousdevelopment.Livinginthetwentiethcenturydoesnotautomaticallyconfer thestatusofmodernityonone’sdevelopmentof consciousness.Not everybody approaches Stage 4. In fact,many peoplecannotbearitsdemands.Othersconsideritevil.ThefundamentalismsoftheworldinsistonclingingtoStages2and3outoffearofthecorrosiveeffectsofStage4andofthedespairandtheemptinessitengenders.Butitisarealpsychological achievement when projections have been removed to thisextentandindividualstakepersonalresponsibilityfortheirdestinies.Thetrapisthatthepsychebecomeshiddenintheego’sshadow.

Thesefirstfourstagesinthedevelopmentofconsciousnesshavetodowithegodevelopmentandthefirsthalfof life.Thepersonwhohasachievedtheself-critical and reflective ego characteristic of Stage 4without falling intomegalomaniacinflationhasdoneextremelywellindevelopingconsciousness,and is highly evolved in Jung’s assessment.But further development in thesecondhalfof life isreservedbyJungforafifthstage,apostmodernstage,which has to do with approaching the re-unification of conscious andunconscious.Inthisstage,thereisconsciousrecognitionofegolimitationandawareness of the powers of the unconscious, and a formof union becomespossible between conscious and unconscious through what Jung called thetranscendentfunctionandtheunifyingsymbol.Thepsychebecomesunifiedbut, unlike Stage 1, the parts remain differentiated and contained within

consciousness. And unlike Stage 4, the ego is not identified with thearchetypes:thearchetypalimagesremain“other,”theyarenothiddenintheego’sshadow.Theyarenowseenas“inthere,”unlikeinStage3wheretheyare“outthere”inmetaphysicalspacesomewhere,concretely,andtheyarenotprojectedontoanythingexternal.

The expression “postmodern” is mine, not Jung’s. His fifth stage ofconsciousnessisnot“postmodern”inthesenseofthewordasusedintheartsand in literary criticism but in the sense of a stage that transcends andsupersedes the “modern.” It goes beyond the modern ego that has seenthrough everything and does not believe in the reality of the psyche. Themodernstanceisa“nothingbut”attitude.Itisconvincedthatprojectionshavebeen eliminated and that theywere nothing but a lot of smoke andmirrorssignifyingnothing.Thepostmodernattitude recognizes that there ispsychicrealityinprojections,butnotintheconcreteormaterialsense.Ifweheardsomuchnoiseinthewoods,maybesomethingwasoutthereafterall.Notwhatwe thought, but something real nevertheless. Can we observe it? Can weintuitit?Canweconceiveofit?Thepsycheitselfthenbecomestheobjectofscrutinyandreflection.Howtocaptureitinourobservations?Howtorelateto it whenwe do? These are the postmodern issues and questions.And soJung’sattemptsatformulatingasuitableepistemologyinPsychologicalTypes(a“criticalpsychology,”ashecalledit)wasanefforttolaythegroundworkfor approaching the psyche as an entity in its own right.His techniques ofactive imagination and dream interpretation lend themselves to interactingwiththepsychedirectlyandformingaconsciousrelationshipwithit.Inthisway,hewasforgingthetoolstorelatetolifeinapostmodern,consciouswayand to takeupa respectfulposition toward thesamecontents thatprimitiveand traditional peoples find in their myths and theologies, that infants andyoung children project into their parents and toys and games, and that thedeeply insane and psychoticmental patients see in their hallucinations andvisions.Thecontentsarecommontoallofus,andtheymakeupthedeepestand most primitive layers of the psyche, the collective unconscious. Toapproach the archetypal images and to relate to them consciously andcreativelybecomesthecenterpieceofindividuationandmakesupthetaskofthefifthstageofconsciousness.Thisstageofconsciousnessproducesanothermovementintheindividuationprocess.Theegoandtheunconsciousbecomejoinedthroughasymbol.

OfficiallyJungstoppedatStage5,althoughinseveralplacesheindicatesthathecontemplatedfurtheradvancesbeyondit.Therearesuggestionsinhiswritings for what could be considered a sixth and perhaps even a seventh

stage. For example, in his Kundalini Yoga Seminar,7 given in 1932, JungclearlyrecognizestheattainmentofstatesofconsciousnessintheEastthatfarsurpasswhatisknownintheWest.WhileheisdubiousabouttheprospectsforWesterners toachieve similar stagesof consciousness in the foreseeablefuture,heneverthelessdoesgrant the theoreticalpossibilityofdoingsoandeven describes some of the features such stages would have. The type ofconsciousnessrevealedinKundalinicouldbeconsideredapotentialStage7.

Backingupabit, there isa typeofconsciousness that ismoreaccessible totheWestandwouldoccupyaplacebetweenStage5andthisputativeStage7.Later in his own life when he explored the structure and function of thearchetypesinthecontextofsynchronicity,Jungsuggestedthatperhapstheseapparently inner structures correspond to structures of being in thenonpsychicworld.Idiscussthisinmoredetailinchapter9,butfornowitissufficienttosuggestthatapossiblesixthstageofconsciousnesswouldbeonethat takes into account the wider ecological relation between psyche andworld.ForWesterners,whoarefundamentallyconditionedbyamaterialisticattitude,thisisapossibledevelopmentaloption.Stage6,then,couldbeseenas a state of consciousness that recognizes the unity of psyche and thematerialworld.Jungmovedcautiouslyinexploringsuchterritories,however,becauseherehewasclearlypassingfrompsychologyaswehaveknownitintheWestintophysics,cosmologyandmetaphysics,areasinwhichhedidnotfeelintellectuallyqualifiedandcompetent.Neverthelesshisthinkingledhimstepbystepinthatdirection,andwehavetograntthatheshowedthecourageto follow his intuitions. His conversations with modern physicists likeWolfgangPauli,withwhomhepublishedabook,8wereanattempt toworkoutsomeof thosecorrelationsandcorrespondencesbetweenthepsycheandthephysicalworld.

The five stages of development of consciousness described above arementioned briefly by Jung in two paragraphs in the essay, “The SpiritMercurius.”9Ihaveexpandeduponthatbyusingseveralothersourcesinhiswork.Thethemeofindividuationappearsthroughouthiswrittenworksfrom1910onwards. It isaconstantpreoccupation thatdeepensashepursueshisinvestigations of the structure and dynamics of the psyche. It is still on hismind in the lateessay“APsychologicalViewofConscience,”10whichwaspublishedin1958somethreeyearsbeforehisdeathattheageof86.Almosteverything he wrote touches in one way or another upon the theme ofindividuation.Thereare twoclassic textson this topic,however, and in theremainder of this chapter I will focus on them. They are “Conscious,Unconscious, and Individuation”11 and “A Study in the Process of

Individuation.”12

In the paper, “Consciousness,Unconsciousness, and Individuation,” Jungoffers a succinct summaryofwhat hemeansby the term individuation.Hebeginsbysayingitistheprocessbywhichapersonbecomesapsychologicalindividual,which is to say, a separate undivided conscious unity, a distinctwhole.Ihaveexplainedsomeoftheimplicationsofthisabove,asaprocessof first unifying ego-consciousness and then the whole psychic system ofconsciousandunconscious,inordertoapproachwhatJungwouldultimatelycallwholeness.Wholeness is themaster term that describes thegoal of theindividuationprocess,anditistheexpressionwithinpsychologicallifeoftheselfarchetype.

The way into the unconscious, Jung points out, lies initially throughemotionandaffect.Anactivecomplexmakesitselfknownthroughdisruptingtheegowithaffect.Thisisacompensationfromtheunconsciousandofferspotentialforgrowth.Eventually,hegoeson,theseaffectivedisturbancescanbetracedtoprimordialrootsininstinct,buttheycanalsoleadtoimagesthatanticipate the future. Jung posits a finalistic point of view, a movementtoward a goal. In order to approach wholeness, the conscious/unconscioussystems must be brought into relationship with one another: “The psycheconsistsoftwoincongruoushalveswhichtogetherformawhole.”13Hethenpresents a practical method that people can use to work on uniting thedisparatehalvesofthepsyche.

HeisaddressingwhatIdescribedaboveasWesternpeopleinStage4who“believe inego-consciousnessand inwhatwecall reality.The realitiesofanorthernclimatearesomehowsoconvincingthatwefeelverymuchbetteroffwhenwedonotforgetthem.Forusitmakessensetoconcernourselveswithreality.OurEuropeanego-consciousness is therefore inclined toswallowuptheunconscious, and if this shouldnotprove feasiblewe try to suppress it.Butifweunderstandanythingoftheunconscious,weknowthatitcannotbeswallowed. We also know that it is dangerous to suppress it, because theunconsciousislifeandthislifeturnsagainstusifsuppressed,ashappensinneurosis.”14 Neurosis is based on an internal conflict that guarantees one-sidedness:Theunconsciousisrepressed,andapersonendsupinanenergicimpasse.Withenergybeingusedforsuchanarrowrangeofactivitiesandfordefenses against the sealed-off unconscious,much of life’s possibilities forwholeness and satisfaction are denied. Often a person becomes extremelyisolated,andlifebecomessterileandmayreachastandstill.“Consciousandunconsciousdonotmakeawholewhenoneofthemissuppressedandinjured

by the other. If theymust contend, let it at least be a fair fightwith equalrightsonbothsides.Bothareaspectsoflife.Consciousnessshoulddefenditsreason and protect itself, and the chaotic life of the unconscious should begiventhechanceofhavingitswaytoo—asmuchofitaswecanstand.Thismeans open conflict and open collaboration at once. That, evidently, is thewayhumanlifeshouldbe.Itistheoldgameofhammerandanvil:betweenthemthepatientironisforgedintoanindestructiblewhole,an‘individual’.”15

Forging an indestructible whole between hammer and anvil! This vividimagespeaksofthenatureoftheindividuationprocessasJungunderstoodit.Not fundamentally a quiet process of incubation andgrowth, it is instead avigorousconflictbetweenopposites.Whatonegainsbytakingupthetaskoffacingtheconflictbetweenpersonaandshadow,forinstance,orbetweenegoand anima, is “mettle,” the knowledge gained through experience of theencounter (Auseinandersetzung, as Jung named it in German) betweenconscious and unconscious. “This, roughly, is what I mean by theindividuation process. As the name shows, it is a process or course ofdevelopmentarisingoutoftheconflictbetweenthetwofundamentalpsychicfacts[consciousandunconscious].”16

ACaseStudyinIndividuation

Inthesecondessay,“AStudyintheProcessofIndividuation,”Jungprovidesmore concrete detail about the individuation process, at least in its earlierstages during the second half of life. In this study, he describes a womanpatientwhoisfifty-fiveyearsoldandcomestoworkwithhimaftermovingbacktoEuropefromabroad.Sheisa“father’sdaughter,”highlyculturedandeducated.Sheisunmarried,“but[she]livedwiththeunconsciousequivalentofahumanpartner,namelytheanimus…inthatcharacteristicliaisonoftenmetwithinwomenwithanacademiceducation.”17Heisspeakinghereaboutamodernwoman.Thiswasobviouslya fascinatingand instructivecase forhim.Shewasnotatraditionalmotherandhousewifewhoneededtodevelopherintellectandspiritualside(animusdevelopment)inthesecondhalfoflife,whichwasthewayhehadusuallythoughtofwomen’sindividuation.Rather,thiswasawomenwithaverystrong intellectualdevelopmentandacareer.But she was male-identified, and she was now on a quest to discoversomethingaboutherScandinavianmotherandhermotherland.Shewantedto

get in touch with the feminine side of her personality, which to her wasunconscious.

Actually many women of this type would continue to come to Jung fortreatmentinthefollowingyears.Thispatientissimilartomanywomentodaywho, having put education ahead of starting a family and having children,pursueacareer,perhapstothepointwherechildbearingbecomesarecedingmirage.In1928,however,thiswasstillaratherunusualwoman.

The patient started drawing pictures and painting. Shewas not a trainedartist, which was an advantage for analysis because this allowed theunconscious to express itself in a more direct and spontaneous way. Thispatientcommentedthathereyeswantedtodoonething,butherheadwantedher to do another, and she let the eyes have their way, indicating that theemergingnewcenterofconsciousnesshadawillofitsown.Itwanteditthisway, not that way, and she could allow that to happen. Geschenlassen(“lettingithappen”)isthewaytocapturetheunconsciousatwork.Jungdidnotactivelyinterpretthepsychologicalmeaningofherdrawingsandpaintingbut rather participated in the process by encouraging the woman to “let ithappen”asherunconsciouswanted.Oftenhedidnotevenunderstandwhatthe pictures wanted to say beyond their manifest content. He simplyencouragedher tostaywith it.Graduallyastorycouldbeseenunfolding,adevelopmenttookplace,andthisshoweditspurposeinduetime.

Picture118 shows thepatient’s initialsituation: itdepicts theconditionofbeing psychologically and developmentally stuck. A woman’s body isembedded in rock and is obviously struggling to become free. This is thecondition of the patient as she begins analysis. Picture 2 shows a bolt oflightningstrikingtherockandseparatingaroundstonefromtheothers.Thisstonerepresentsthewoman’score(theself).Jungcommentsthatthispicturerepresents the releaseof the self from theunconscious: “The lighteninghasreleased the spherical form from the rock and so caused a kind ofliberation.”19 The patient associated the lightning with her analyst. Thetransferencehasbeguntohaveitsprofoundeffectuponherpersonality.Inthedrama,Jungisrepresentedbylightning,whichisalsothemasculineelementof her own personality that strikes and fertilizes. Jung notes the sexualovertonesofthisimagery.

Later in the text, Jung speaks of himself as a projection-carrier for thepatient’s inferior function, intuition: “The ‘inferior’ function … [has] thesignificanceofareleasingor‘redeeming’function.Weknowfromexperiencethattheinferiorfunctionalwayscompensates,complements,andbalancesthe

‘superior’ function. My psychic peculiarity would make me a suitableprojectioncarrierinthisrespect.”20Asthecarrierforherprojections,Jung’swordsandpresencebecamecompensatorytothepatient’sconsciousnessandalsogreatlyexaggeratedintheirpowerandeffectiveness.Shewouldseehimasageniusofintuition,onewhoknowsandunderstandseverything.Thisisthekindofthingastrongtransferencetypicallysaystoapatient.ItisJung’sintuition, then, that hits the patient like a lightning bolt and has such aprofound effect on her.Because it is also the patient’s inferior function, “ithits consciousness unexpectedly, like lightning, and occasionally withdevastating consequences. It thrusts the ego aside, and makes room for asupraordinatefactor,thetotalityofaperson.”21

Thispicture therefore represents theegobeingpushedaside. and the selfmakingitsfirstappearance.Therockthatisbrokenloosedoesnotrepresenther ego but rather the self. The lightning frees her potential forwholeness,which until now had been locked away in the unconscious. “This selfwasalwayspresent,butsleeping.”22Thiswoman’s remarkableegodevelopmenthadlefttheselfbehind,andshehadgottenstuckinpersonaadaptationsandinanidentificationwiththefathercomplexandtheanimus,the“rocks”ofherpainting.Fromtheseidentificationssheneededtobefreed.Thepossibilityforcontactingandbecomingmoreconnectedtotheself,whichliesattheheartoftheindividuationprocess,mustbereleasedfromtheunconscious,andinthiscase ithappens through theactionof therapeutic lightning.ForgoodreasonJungsaidthattransferenceiscriticalforsuccessintherapy.

Beforehiscommentsonthethirdpicture,acrucialoneintheseries,Jungsays in passing that “the third picture … brings a motif that pointsunmistakably to alchemy and actually gave me the definitive incentive tomakeathoroughstudyoftheworksoftheoldadepts.”23ThisisaremarkablestatementinlightofthefactthatJungspentagooddealoftherestofhislifestudyingalchemyingreatdepthand intensity.Picture3depicts“anhourofbirth—not of the dreamer but of the self.”24 The image is of a dark bluesphere floating freely in space, a “planet in the making.”25 This is theappearanceofwhatthepatientcalledher“truepersonality,”andshefeltatthemomentofmakingthispicturethatshehadreachedtheculminatingpointofherlife,amomentofgreatliberation.26Jungassociatesthiswiththebirthofthe self27 and indicates that the patient is here at the point of consciousrealizationoftheselfwhen“theliberationhasbecomeafactthatisintegratedintoconsciousness.”28

InPicture4thereisasignificantchangeinthesphere.Nowthereissome

differentiation:itisdividedinto“anoutermembraneandaninnernucleus.”29The snake that was floating above the sphere in the earlier picture is nowpenetrating the sphere and impregnating it. The fourth picture deals withfecundationandemploysmoreorlessexplicitsexualimagery.Shehasputhermaleidentificationasideandisopeningherbeingtonewpossibilitiesforlife.AsthepatientandJunginterpretthispicture,itcomestoholdanimpersonalmeaningaswell:theegomustexperience“lettinggo”inordertoexpandthehorizon to include positive and negative aspects of the whole personality(shadowintegration).Theunionofsnakeandsphererepresentaunionofthepsychic opposites in the patient’s psyche. Jung avoids the concrete sexualtransference interpretations that could so easily bemade here because theywould lead into sexual reductionism and would fail to advance theindividuation process. The suffering the patient was undergoing here wasprecisely lettinggoof thepersonalistic interpretations,namelyofhersexualwishesforJungtheman,andrealizinginsteadthatshewasnotfallinginlovewithheranalyst,withwhomshehadbecomesopsychologicallyintimate,butthatanarchetypalleveloftheprocessofindividuationhadbeenactivatedandthis was at work beyond their personal relationship. It was the self inoperation,emergingthroughthisimagery.

The picture series now takes up in much greater depth and detail theproblemoftheshadowandtheintegrationofgoodandevil.InPicture5evilis rejected, and the serpent isplacedoutside the sphere.Picture6 showsanattempt to unite the opposites outside and inside, a movement towardsconscious realization.Picture7 indicates somedepression and some furtherconsciousness as a result. Picture 8, which is very important, illustrates amovement toward the earth, the mother, the feminine. This was what thiswoman came to Europe for; she was trying tomake firm contact with thefemininesideofherbeing.Picture9againshowsherstrugglewithunitingtheopposites, good and evil. In Picture 10, the opposites are balanced, but theimage of cancer appears for the first time. (This women, in fact, died ofcancer sixteenyears later.)Picture11suggests that the rising importanceoftheoutsideworldwasbeginningtocloudthevalueofthemandala.Fromhereon the theme of the mandala is repeated in many variants, each oneattemptingfurtherintegrationandexpressionoftheself.Theseriesconcludeswith Picture 19 initially, but then thewoman continues for tenmore yearsafter treatment and eventually endswith Picture 24, a beautifulwhite lotusimagewithayellowcenter,placedinsideagoldencirclethathangsagainstasolidblackbackground.Asinglegoldstarsitsabovethelotus.Thelotusitselfrestsonabedofgreenleaves,andbelowtheleavesarewhatappeartobetwo

goldenserpents.Itisagorgeousimageoftheself,manifestandfullyrealized.Jungdeclines tocommenton the imagesbeyondPicture19,but theyspeakfor themselves of a further deepening and consolidating of the selfhooduncoveredandexperiencedduringandaftertheperiodofanalysis.

Jung’sconcludingstatementaboutthecaseisthatthiswomanwas,duringheranalysis, in theearlystagesofapowerful individuationprocess.Duringthe time he saw her in analysis, she experienced the never-to-be-forgottenemergence of the self into consciousness, and in subsequent weeks andmonths she struggled to unite the oppositeswithin her psychicmatrix. Shewasabletodisidentifywiththeanimusandtoreunitewiththefemininecoreofherself.Hereegobecamerelativizedvis-a-vistheself,andshewasabletoexperience the impersonal archetypal psyche. These are classic features ofwhathewouldcalltheprocessofindividuationinthesecondhalfoflife.

TheMovementsoftheSelf

Just a finalword on the subject of individuation. Jung’s viewof the self isbothstructuralanddynamic.Inthepreviouschapter,Ifocusedmostlyonitsstructuralfeatures.Butwhenoneconsiders theprocessof individuation, thefeaturethatcomestotheforeisitsdynamicquality.Jungthinksoftheselfasundergoingcontinualtransformationduringthecourseofalifetime.Eachofthearchetypalimagesthatappearinthedevelopmentalsequencefrombirthtooldage—thedivineinfant,thehero,thepuerandpuella,thekingandqueen,the crone and the wise old man—are aspects or expressions of this singlearchetype.Over thecourseofdevelopment, theself impacts thepsycheandcreates changes in the individual at all levels: physical, psychological, andspiritual. The individuation process is driven by the self and carried outthroughthemechanismofcompensation.Whiletheegodoesnotgenerateitorcontrolit,itmayparticipateinthisprocessbybecomingawareofit.

AttheendofhislateworkAion,Jungpresentsadiagramtoillustratethedynamicmovementsoftheself.Thediagramlookslikeasortofcarbonatom.

This represents a formula for the transformation of a single entity, the self,within thecontextof thecontinuumofan individual’spsychological life. Inthisdiagram,Jungisattemptingtoportrayamovementwithintheselffrompurepotentialtoactualization:“Theprocessdepictedbyourformulachangestheoriginallyunconscioustotalityintoaconsciousone.”30Sinceitdescribesacontinualprocessof transformationofoneand thesamesubstance, it isaprocess of transformation and renewal as well as a movement towardsconsciousness.

ThemovementstartsinQuaternioA,whichrepresentsthearchetypallevel,thespiritendofthepsychicspectrum.Hereitmanifestsasanidealimage.AsitcirculatesthroughtheAquaternio,theBquaternio,theCquaternio,theDquaternio, and then returns to A to repeat again, a psychic content, anarchetypal image, enters the psychic system at the archetypal end of thespectrumandanintegrationprocessensuesoneachoftheotherthreelevels.First, the image rotates through the four points of the archetypal quaternio,andtheideabecomesclearer.ThentheideashiftstolevelB,enteringthroughthedoorwayofsmallb,byaprocesssimilartoshiftinganenergylevelinanatom.Thisisashifttoanotherlevelofconsciousness.Nowtheideaexistsatthe shadow level, and here it enters into reality and everyday life whereobjectscastshadows.The ideaacquiressubstantiality,andthe ideaofunity,totality,andwholenessnowmustbelivedoutinlife.Theideaworksitswaythrough this psychic level, and itmust nowbe realized concretely in spaceandtime,andthis introduces limitationsandproblems.Jungsays thateveryhumanactcanberegardedeitherpositivelyornegatively31andwhenmovingfrom thought to action one is entering a world of shadow potential. Everyaction leads to a reaction. It has an external impact, and sowhen someoneactually begins individuating, making changes that other people startcomplainingabout, thisperson ismovingwithin the shadowquaternio.Theidea ismaterializing, taking effect in real-life behavior, and reaching down

intotheinstinctuallevel.Archetypesandinstinctsarebecomingconnectedatthislevel,andastheideamovesintotheShadowQuaternio,ittakesonmoreandmoreinstinctualandembodiedattributes.

WhentheideadescendsintolevelC,itreachesthelevelofphysis,whichisextremely deep in the material substrate of the body, and the body itselfbegins to change. The organizing principle that begins with the image andentering the psyche becomes behavior, then touches on and constellatesinstinct, now begins to effect the body in such a way that it actuallyrearranges molecules. This deep physical level lies beyond the psychoidbarrier of the psyche. This is one motive force behind evolution itself.Structurefollowsform.

WithlevelD,theenergylevelitselfisreached.Hereliestheoriginofthecrystallizationenergyintomatter.Itisthesubmolecularandsubatomiclevelofenergyandtheformsthatshapeit.Totouchthislevelistoimplyprofoundchangeindeed,changeatthelevelofenergyitselfanditsorganization.

The formula presents a symbol of the self, for the self is not just astaticquantityorconstantform,butisalsoadynamicprocess.Inthesame way, the ancients saw the imago Dei in man not as a mereimprint,asasortof lifeless,stereotypedimpression,butasanactiveforce…Thefourtransformationsrepresentaprocessofrestorationorrejuvenation takingplace,as itwere, inside theself,andcomparableto the carbon-nitrogen cycle in the sun, when a carbon nucleuscapturesfourprotons…andreleasesthemat theendofthecycleintheformofanalphaparticle.Thecarbonnucleusitselfcomesoutofthereactionunchanged,‘likethePhoenixfromtheashes’.Thesecretofexistence, i.e., theexistenceof theatomand itscomponents,maywellconsistinacontinuallyrepeatedprocessofrejuvenation,andonecomestosimilarconclusionsintryingtoaccountforthenuminosityofthearchetypes.32

Anticipating thenext chapter,wecan thinkof the self as a cosmicentitythatemergesinhumanlifeandrenewsitselfendlesslyinitsrotationsthroughthe psyche. Perhaps it relies on human individuals to become conscious ofitself,toincarnateinthethree-dimensionalworldoftimeandspace,andalsotorejuvenateitselfandextenditsexistence.Itsubsistsintheuniversebeyondthepsyche.Itusesourpsychesandthematerialworld,includingourbodies,foritsownpurposes,anditcontinuesafterwegrowoldanddie.Weprovideahomewhere itcanemergeandreside,yet inourprideandego inflationwetakefartoomuchcreditforitsgeniusandbeauty.

9

OfTimeandEternity(Synchronicity)

From his first attempts to explore the human soul and to map it and itsboundaries,Jungwasfascinatedbywhathappensontheborders.Thiswashistemperament—helovedtopushat theedgesof thealreadyknown.Hisfirstmajor study was a dissertation on mediumistic trances and the wondrousaccounts of long-dead personages by his young cousin, Helene Preiswerk.This was a psychological investigation of the relation between normal andparanormalstatesofconsciousness.1Subsequentworksonwordassociationand the theory of complexes studied the boundaries between conscious andunconscious parts of the psyche. Pressing further into the territory of theunconscious,Jungfoundanotherborderland.Thisone laybetweenpersonaland impersonal contents of the unconscious, between the territory of thecomplexesandthatofthearchetypalimage-and-instinctcombinations.Inhisconsequentinvestigationsoftheself,hefoundapointoftransgressionattheboundary between psyche and nonpsyche. Since the archetype per se ispsychoid and does not strictly belong within the confines of the psyche’sboundaries, it bridgesbetween inner andouterworlds andbreaksdown thesubject-objectdichotomy.

Ultimately this curiosity about boundaries led Jung to state a theory thatattemptstoarticulateasingleunifiedsystemwhichembracesbothmatterandspirit and throws a bridge between time and eternity. This is the theory ofsynchronicity. An extension of the theory of the self into cosmology,synchronicity speaksof theprofoundhiddenorderandunityamongall thatexists.This theoryalsounveilsJung themetaphysician,an identityheoften

denied.

PatternsinChaos

Jung’s few writings about synchronicity explore the meaningful order inseeminglyrandomevents.Henotes—asmanyothershavetoo—thatpsychicimagesandobjectiveeventsaresometimesarrangedindefinitepatterns,andthis arrangement occurs by chance and not by virtue of a causal chain ofprecedingevents.Inotherwords,thereisnocausalreasonforthepatterntoappear.Itcomesaboutpurelybychance.Sothequestionarises:Isthischanceevent of patterning completely random or is it meaningful? Divinationfollowsthisideathatcertainchanceeventshavemeaning.Acertainbirdfliesoverhead,andthesoothsayertellsthekingthatthetimeisrighttosetoutforbattle.Or there is themore complicated case of the ancientChinese oraclecalledIChingorTheBookofChanges.Thisoracleisconsultedbythrowingcoinsoryarrowstalkstodetermineapatternofnumbersthatisthenrelatedtooneofsixty-fourhexagrams.Bystudyingthathexagram,onecandetermineapatternofmeaningineventsofthepresentmomentandanemergentpatternthatwilltakeshapeinthefuture.Fromthisonecantakecounsel.Thisoracleisbasedon theprincipleof synchronicity.Theassumption is that there is ameaningful order behind the chance outcome of coin tossing, a burningquestion, and events in the externalworld. Peoplewho try the IChing areoften surprised by its uncanny accuracy. How can one explain thesemeaningfularrangementsandpatternsthatarenotcreatedbyknowncauses?

Even closer to Jung’s analytic practice and psychological theory is aphenomenon he notes with fascination, namely that psychologicalcompensation occurs not only in dreams but also in nonpsychologicallycontrolledevents.Sometimescompensationarrivesfromtheoutsideworld.ApatientofJung’shadadreamofagoldenscarabbeetle.Whilediscussingthisdreamsymbolinhisstudy,theyheardasoundatthewindowandfoundthatalocalSwissversionofthisbeetle(Cetoniaaurate)wastryingtoget into theroom.2Frominstanceslikethis,oneinfersthattheappearanceofarchetypalimages in dreams may coincide with other events. The compensatoryphenomena cross over the commonly accepted boundaries between subjectandobjectandmanifest intheobjectworld.Again, thepuzzleforJungwashow to account for this in his theory. Strictly speaking such events are notpsychological, and yet they have a deep connection to psychological life.

Archetypes,heconcludes,aretransgressive,3thatistheyarenotlimitedtothepsychic realm. In their transgressivity, they can emerge into consciousnesseither fromwithin thepsychicmatrixor fromtheworldaboutusorbothatonce.Whenbothhappenatthesametime,itiscalledsynchronistic.

References to theunusmundus (theunifiedcosmos)and to thenotion (ifnot the exact term) of synchronicity are scattered throughout theCollectedWorksandinotherlessformalwritingslikeletters,butJungdidnotexpresshisthoughtsfullyonthissubjectuntilfairlylateinlife.In1952,heandtheNobel Prize-winning physicist Wolfgang Pauli jointly publishedNaturerkldrungundPsyche,(translatedintoEnglishasTheInterpretationofNature and the Psyche), which was an attempt to elucidate the possiblerelations between nature and psyche. Itwas significant that Jung publishedthisworkwithaNobelPrize-winningscientistandnotwithaphilosopher,atheologian,oramythologist.OfallofJung’stheoreticalwork, thispieceonsynchronicity is subject to themost gross distortion. Jungwanted to avoidbeing seenas amysticor a crank, and it is clear thatheworriedespeciallyaboutexposingthispartofhisthinkingtotheeyesofthescientific,modernpublic.Pauli’sessay,“TheInfluenceofArchetypalIdeasontheExpressionofScientificTheoriesofKepler,”investigatesthearchetypalpatternsinKepler’sscientific thought and in a sense prepares the way for Jung’s moreadventuresome contribution, the essay “Synchronicity: An AcausalConnecting Principle.”4 This work on synchronicity adds to Jung’spsychological theory the notion that a high degree of continuity existsbetweenpsycheandworld,suchthatpsychicimages(whichalsoincludethekernelsofabstract scientific thoughts, like thoseofKepler)mayalso revealtruths about reality in the reflective mirror of human consciousness. Thepsyche is not something that plays itself out in human beings only and inisolationfromthecosmos.Thereisadimensioninwhichpsycheandworldintimatelyinteractwithandreflectoneanother.ThisisJung’sthesis.

DevelopingtheIdeaofSynchronicity

In a letter to Carl Seelig, the Swiss author and journalist who wrote abiography of Albert Einstein, Jung writes about his first inkling ofsynchronicity:

Professor Einstein was my guest on several occasions at dinner…

These were very early days when Einstein was developing his firsttheoryofrelativity.Hetriedtoinstillintoustheelementsofit,moreor less successfully. As non-mathematicians we psychiatrists haddifficultyinfollowinghisargument.Evenso,Iunderstoodenoughtoformapowerfulimpressionofhim.Itwasaboveallthesimplicityanddirectnessofhisgeniusasa thinker that impressedmemightilyandexerted a lasting influence on my own intellectual work. It wasEinsteinwhofirststartedmeonthinkingaboutapossiblerelativityoftime as well as space, and their psychic conditionality. More thanthirty years later this stimulus led tomy relation with the physicistProfessorW.Pauliandtomythesisofpsychicsynchronicity.5

Einstein’stheoryofrelativitymusthavecapturedJung’simaginationevenifhedidnotunderstandthedetailsofitorthemathematicalproofsforit.It isinterestingtonote,too,thatfamousphysicistsplayedapartinthistheorizingatitsbeginningandtheconclusion.ThisassociationtomodernphysicsgivestheproperhistoricalcontextforJung’stheoryofsynchronicity.

The relationshipbetweenJungand the luminariesofmodernphysics isastorythathasyettobetoldfully.InadditiontoEinsteinandPauli,therewerealsomanyothersignificantfiguresinmodernphysicswhoinhabitedZurichinthe first half of the twentieth century and gave lectures or taught at thePolytechnic University where Jung was a professor of psychology in the1930s.Zurichwasaveritablehotbedofmodernphysicsinthefirsthalfofthiscentury, and itwouldhavebeennearly impossible to ignore the stimulatingfermenttheseintellectscreated.Therewasadefiniteimpressionafootthatthenatureofphysicalrealitywasbeingfundamentallyrethought,andJungearlyon—as indicated by his letter about Einstein—began thinking about thesimilaritiesbetweenmodernphysicsandanalyticalpsychology.Jung’sessayonsynchronicitywasdoubtlesstheresultofcountlessdiscussionswiththesepeople during the thirty or more years preceding its final form andpublication.

Itmust be recognized that the theory of archetypes and the self and thetheoryof synchronicitywerecombined toweavea single fabricof thought.This is Jung’sunifiedvision referred to in the Introductionof thisbook.Tograspthefullscopeofthetheoryoftheself,onemustconsideritwithinthecontext of Jung’s thinking on synchronicity; to grasp his theory ofsynchronicityonemustalsoknowabouthistheoryofarchetypes.ThisisonereasonwhyfewotherpsychologistshavefollowedJung’sleadintothetheoryofarchetypes.Itbecomesmetapsychologicaltothepointofmetaphysics,andfewpsychologists feel comfortable in all the areas required to embrace this

fulltheory—psychology,physics,andmetaphysics.Itisanintellectualrangethatfewmodernthinkerscanhopetomatch.Academicsareespeciallyshyofstepping beyond the confines of their departmental specialty. The theory ofsynchronicity lends to Jung’s view of the self as a feature of radicaltranscendence over consciousness and the psyche as a whole, and itchallenges the common boundarylines drawn to separate the faculties ofpsychology, physics, biology, philosophy, and spirituality. Psychology istraditionallysupposedtolimititselftowhatgoesoninthehumanmind;butwith his theory of the self and synchronicity, Jung’s analytical psychologychallenged this arbitrary segmentation. When Jung was once asked bystudentswheretheselfendsandwhatitsboundariesare,hisreplyissupposedtohavebeenthatithasnoend,itisunbounded.Tounderstandwhathemeantbythisremark,onemustrealize thathewasconsideringtheimplicationsofsynchronicityforthetheoryoftheself.

Jungwasunderstandablyambivalentaboutputtingforwardan ideaof themagnitude that synchronicity entails. Ever the cautious and conservativeSwiss, Jung tried generally to rest his case on purely psychologicalarguments,hisareaofundisputedexpertise.Withthetheoryofsynchronicity,however,hewentoutonalimb.Herethepsychebyitselfwouldnotsupporthim.Neverthelessattheageofseventy-five,hemusthavefelthehadearnedtherighttoindulgehimselfinthiskindofcosmologicalspeculation.Hewasreadytogointoprintwithoneofhiswildestnotions,theunityoftheselfandBeing.IsthissodifferentfromsayingthattheselfandGodareone?Hetooktheriskofsoundinglikeaprophet,orworseyet,acrank.

SynchronicityandCausality

Theessayitselfisdifficultandcertainlydeeplyflawedbyamisguidedeffortatstatisticalanalysisofapieceofresearchcarriedoutonmarriedcouplesbyacolleague.Inmyreviewofthiswork,Iwill limitmyselftothetheoreticalsections.Jungbeginsbycommentingonthenotionofcausalityandthelawsofprobability,andhenotestheuniversalhumantendencytoprojectcausality.Almostinevitablypeopleaskthequestion,Whydidithappen?Oneassumesthat every event is caused by something that preceded it. Often a causalrelationofthissortispresent,yetoccasionallyitmaynotbe.Inpsychology,forinstance,causalityisparticularlydifficulttoascertainbecausenobodycanknow for certain what causes us to do, think, and feel as we do. There is

conscious motivation, and there is unconscious motivation of psychiccontents and impulses.There aremany theories that try to explain emotionandbehaviorcausally,butourprojectionsundoubtedly leadus to findmorecausationintherealmofpsychologicalphenomenathanisreallythere.Orwemay attribute events to the wrong causes, finding out later that we weremistaken.

Wemightjumptotheconclusionthatamanbeatshiswifebecausehewasbeatenasachildorbecausehesawhisfatherbeatinghismotherregularly.Hebehaves thisway because of childhood experiences, or because his parentsinfluencedhim in that direction.He “takes after his father,” or “hismothercomplex” is responsible, we might say with great confidence in ourpsychological acuity. This may be a good first approximation, but suchreductiveanalysessurelydonotexhaustthefullrangeofpossiblecausesandmeanings.Thereisalsoafinalcause,forinstance,whichleadspeopletodosomethinginordertoachieveagoalortogainsomemeasureofadaptationtolife. Perhaps this man is trying to gain power and control over his wife,intendingbythattoachievemoremasteryoverhisownfuture.Psychologicalcausation can lead backwards into history or equallywell forward into thefuture.And then thereare thechanceevents,being in the rightplaceat therighttime.It’shardtoexplainwhysomepeoplearesoluckyorunlucky,andwe often end up praising them for the things they did not do and blamingthem for the things they couldnot avoid.There is almost infinite space forprojectionandspeculation.

Wethinkincause-and-effecttermsbecausewearehuman,notbecausewelive in a scientific age. In every period and every culture, people thinkcausally, even if they assign causes to events that our scientific knowledgecontradicts. Today we might say that someone is a psychopathic monsterbecausehewasseverelyabusedasachild,whileintheMiddleAgestheviewwas that the Devil made him do it. Different reasons are given, but thethinkingisthesame.Tochallengecausalthinkingitself,Jungrecognizes,istogoagainstthegrainofcommonsense.Sowhydoit?Becausethereareeventsthatcannotbecoveredbyallthetheoriesofcausality.

Inquestioningtheultimacyofcause-and-effectreasoning,Jungdiscoveredthatmodernphysicswasanally,forphysicshaddiscoveredsomeeventsandprocesses for which there are no causal explanations, only statisticalprobabilities.Jungmentions,forexample,thedecayofradioactiveelements.Thereisnocausalexplanationforwhyoneoranotherspecificradiumatomdecomposeswhenitdoes.Thedecayofradioactiveelementscanbepredictedandmeasuredstatistically,andtherateofdecayissteadyovertime,butthere

isnoexplanationforwhyithappenswhenandasitdoes.Itjusthappens.It’sa “just so” thing. This discovery of an uncaused event opens a gap in thecausal universe. It is not only that science has not yet figured out howcausalityworkshere,butratherthatinprincipletheruleofcausationdoesnotapply.Ifthereareeventsthatarenotcreatedbyaprecedingcause,howcanwe thinkabout theirorigins?Whydo theyhappen?Whataccounts for theiroccurrence?Aretheseeventsrandomandpurelyaccidental?

Jungrecognizesprobabilityasanimportantfactorinaccountingformanyevents.But thereareseriesofapparentlyrandomevents thatshowapatternbeyond the scales of probability, such as runs of numbers or otherextraordinarycoincidences.Gamblersliveandprayfortheserunsofluckthatcannotbeexplained.Jungwantstostayawayfromhighlyintuitiveoroccultconcepts like elective affinities or correspondences, which have beenproposed by some seers and visionary philosophers such as Schopenhauer.Insteadhepreferstoapproachthisdifficultsubjectscientifically,empirically,andrationally,justasmanyyearsearlierhehadtackledthemysteryofoccultmediumship empirically and scientifically in his doctoral dissertation. Jungwasthoroughlycommittedtoascientificapproachtounderstanding.

It is tempting to read Jung’s work on synchronicity, however, in morebiographicalterms.Inhisviewsaboutindividuationinthesecondhalfoflife,Jungholdsthatpeople(intheWesternworld,atleast)shouldtrytobringtheirrational ego-consciousness into contact with the non-rational collectiveunconscious while not sacrificing the ego’s rational position. Jung alsobelieved that the major psychological task in the second half of life is toformulateaWeltanschauungorworldview,apersonalphilosophyoflife.Andthis should include both rational and irrational elements. In this essay onsynchronicity we can see Jung using his rationalWestern scientific ego toexploretheworldofmagicandtherare,inexplicablephenomenathatoccurinthecollectiveunconscious.Heistryingtoformulateasymbol,intheformofa concept, that can hold the two realms together in a tension of opposites.Whiletheissuesheisdealingwithherearesimilartothoseoftentakenupinreligionandphilosophy,Jungistryingtobringhisscientificrationalmethodandworldviewtobearuponphenomenawhosemystical,religious,andquasi-magicalnatureusuallyexcludesthemfromscientificdiscussion.Forhisownpersonalreasons,butalsoforourscientificcultureasawhole,heistryingtoforgealinkbetweenthetwodominantculturalfocioftheWest,scienceandreligion.Heistryingtoholdthistensionwithoutone-sidedlyfavoringeitherelement.Histheoryofsynchronicityisthesymbolthatwillattempttocontainthispairofopposites.Thisisthepersonalpieceofthiswork.

Jung was fascinated with J. B. Rhine’s experiments in extrasensoryperception (ESP) at Duke University. He was impressed because theydemonstrated,usingprobabilitytheory,thatESPcannotbeexplainedcausally.The experiments showed that humans can cross the seemingly absoluteboundariesthatlimitustoasingletime-spacecontinuum.ThisremindedJungofEinstein’s theoryof relativityandalsoofdreamshehadobservedwheredistant events were imaged during or before they took place. Rhine’sexperiments offered new empirical evidence for what Jung had alreadyconcluded,namelythatthepsycheisnotlimitedabsolutelybytheboundariesof timeand space.Causality,whichassumesanabsolutely sealed time-and-spacecontinuum,cannotexplaintheseevents.JungindicatesthatnoenergyistransmittedinRhine’sESPexperiments; thereisonlya“fallingtogether”intime of thought and event. A card is turned over in one room, an imageappearsinaperson’spsycheinanotherroom,andthesecoincidemoreoftenthanisstatisticallyprobable.Junguses the term“synchronicity” inprint forthefirsttimeinthisessay:“itcannotbeaquestionofcauseandeffect,butofa falling together in time, akindof simultaneity.Becauseof thisqualityofsimultaneity, I have picked the term ‘synchronicity’ to designate ahypotheticalfactorequalinranktocausalityasaprincipleofexplanation.”6

SynchronicityandArchetypalTheory

In 1954, two years after the appearance of the synchronicity essay, Jungpublishedarevisedversionofhisdefinitivetheoreticalpaper“OntheNatureofthePsyche.”Inamajorsupplement,helinksthetheoryofarchetypestotheprincipleofsynchronicity.Thisisimportantbecauseittiesthesetwopiecesofhis thinking together and forms a single unified theoretical statement. Jungusesthephrase“objectivepsyche”todiscusstheviewthattheunconsciousisa realm of “objects” (complexes and archetypal images) as much as thesurrounding world is a realm of persons and things. These inner objectsimpingeonconsciousnessinthesamewaythatexternalobjectsdo.Theyarenotpartoftheego,buttheyaffecttheego,andtheegomustrelateandadaptto them. Thoughts, for instance, occur to us, they “fall into” ourconsciousness (in German, Einfall, literally something that “falls into”consciousness, but also an “inspiration”). For Jung, the intuitions andthoughts that appear from the unconscious and are not the products ofdeliberate efforts to thinkbut are innerobjects,bitsof theunconscious that

landonthesurfaceoftheegooccasionally.(Jungsometimeslikedtosaythatthoughtsarelikebirds:Theycomeandnestinthetreesofconsciousnessforalittlewhile and then they fly away. They are forgotten and disappear.) Thedeeper one goes into the objective psyche,moreover, themore objective itbecomesbecauseitislessandlessrelatedtotheego’ssubjectivity:“Itis,atone and the same time, absolute subjectivity and universal truth, for inprincipleitcanbeshowntobepresenteverywhere,whichcertainlycannotbesaid of conscious contents of a personalistic nature. The elusiveness,capriciousness,haziness,anduniquenessthatthelaymindalwaysassociateswith the idea of the psyche applies only to consciousness and not to theabsolute unconscious.”7 Unlike consciousness, the unconscious is regular,predictable, and collective. “The qualitatively rather than quantitativelydefinable units with which the unconscious works, namely the archetypes,thereforehaveanaturethatcannotwithcertaintybedesignatedaspsychic”8(Jung’sitalics).

InearlierchaptersInotedthatthearchetypesaretobeconsideredpsychoidrather than purely psychic. In this passage Jung states this explicitly:“Although I have been led by purely psychological considerations to doubtthe exclusively psychic nature of the archetypes, psychology sees itselfobliged to revise its ‘only psychic’ assumptions in the light of the physicalfindings too … The relative or partial identity of psyche and physicalcontinuumisofthegreatestimportancetheoretically,becauseitbringswithita tremendous simplification by bridging over the seemingincommensurability between the physical world and the psychic, not ofcourse in any concrete way, but from the physical side by means ofmathematical equations, and from the psychological side by means ofempiricallyderivedpostulates—archetypes—whosecontent,ifany,cannotberepresented to themind.”9 In otherwords, Jung sees large areas of identitybetween the deepest patterns of the psyche (archetypal images) and theprocessesandpatternsevidentinthephysicalworldandstudiedbyphysicists.So, ironically enough, it turns out that the participation mystique of firststage, primitive psychology is not so far from reality after all!The psyche,definedbyJungaswhatevercontentsorperceptionsarecapableinprincipleof becoming conscious and being affected by the will, includes ego-consciousness,complexes,archetypalimages,andrepresentationsofinstincts.But archetype and instinct per se are no longer psychic. They lie on acontinuum with the physical world, which at its depths (as explored bymodernphysics)isasmysteriousand“spiritual”asthepsyche.Bothdissolveinto pure energy. This point is important because it suggests a way to

conceiveofhowthepsycheisrelatedtosomaandtothephysicalworld.Thetworealms,psycheand thematerialworld,canbebridgedbymathematicalequationsandby“empiricallyderivedpostulates—archetypes.”10Neitherthematerialbodynor thepsycheneedbederived from theother.Theyare twoparallelrealities,rather,thataresynchronisticallyrelatedandcoordinated.

MindandMatter

The relation ofmind tomatter intrigued Jung endlessly.He thought it verycuriousforinstancethat,onthebasisofmathematicalthoughtalone,abridgecouldbebuilt thatwouldstanduptotherigorsofnatureandhumantraffic.Mathematicsisapureproductofthemindandappearsnowhereinthenaturalworld, yet people can sit in their studies and generate equations that willaccurately predict and capture physical objects and events. Jung wasimpressedthatapurelypsychicproduct(amathematicalformula)couldbearsucharemarkablerelationshiptothephysicalworld.Ontheotherside,Jungproposesthatthearchetypesalsoserveasdirectlinksbetweenthepsycheandthephysicalworld:“Onlywhenitcomestoexplainingpsychicphenomenaofaminimaldegreeofclarityarewedriventoassumethatarchetypesmusthavea non-psychic aspect. Grounds for such a conclusion are supplied by thephenomena of synchronicity, which are associated with the activity ofunconscious operators and have hitherto been regarded, or repudiated, as‘telepathy’,etc.”11Jungisgenerallycautiousaboutascribingcausalitytothearchetypesinconnectionwithsynchronisticphenomena(otherwisehewouldfall back into amodel of causality,with the archetypes being the causes ofsynchronistic events), but in this passage he does seem to connect them to“operators”thatorganizesynchronicity.

Synchronicityisdefinedasameaningfulcoincidencebetweenpsychicandphysicalevents.Adreamofaplanefallingoutoftheskyismirroredthenextmorning in a radio report.No known causal connection exists between thedream and the plane crash. Jung posits that such coincidences rest onorganizers thatgeneratepsychic imagesonone side andphysical eventsontheother.Thetwooccuratapproximatelythesametime,andthelinkbetweenthem isnotcausal.Anticipatinghiscritics, Jungwrites:“Skepticismshould…be leveledonlyat incorrect theoriesandnotat factswhichexist in theirownright.Nounbiasedobservercandenythem.Resistancetotherecognitionofsuchfactsrestsprincipallyontherepugnancepeoplefeelforanallegedly

supernatural faculty tacked on to the psyche, like ‘clairvoyance’. The verydiverseandconfusingaspectsofthesephenomenaare,sofarasIcanseeatpresent, completely explicable on the assumption of a psychically relativespace-timecontinuum.Assoonasapsychiccontentcrossesthethresholdofconsciousness, the synchronistic marginal phenomena disappear, time andspaceresumetheiraccustomedsway,andconsciousnessisoncemoreisolatedinitssubjectivity.”12

Synchronisticphenomenaappearmostoftenwhenthepsycheisoperatingatalessconsciouslevel,asindreamingormusing.Astateofreverieisideal.Assoonasonebecomesawareandfocusesonthesynchronisticevent,timeandspacecategories resume their sway. Jungconcluded that the subjects intheRhineexperimentsmusthavedimmedtheirconsciousnessastheybecameinterestedandexcitedbytheproject.Hadtheytriedusingtheirrationalegostofigureoutprobabilities,theirESPresultswouldhavedropped,forassoonas cognitive functioning takes over, the door closes to synchronisticphenomena.Jungpointsout,too,thatsynchronicityseemstodependgreatlyonthepresenceofaffectivity,thatis,sensitivitytoemotionalstimuli.

In his writings, Jung offers both a narrow and a broad definition ofsynchronicity. The narrow definition is “the simultaneous occurrence of acertain psychic state with one or more external events which appear asmeaningfulparallelstothemomentarysubjectivestate.”13By“simultaneous”hemeansanoccurrenceinaboutthesametimeframe,withinhoursordays,but not necessarily at exactly the samemoment. There is simply a “fallingtogether in time”of twoevents,onepsychicand theotherphysical.On thepsychic side, it could be a dream image or a thought or intuition. (Thismysterious correlation between psyche and the object world is the morenarrow definition of synchronicity. Therewill be amore general definitionlaterinthisessay.)

Oftensynchronicityoccurs,asnotedabove,whenapersonispsychicallyinanabaissementduniveaumental(alowerlevelofconsciousawareness,asortofdimmingofconsciousness)andthelevelofconsciousnesshasdroppedintowhat is todaycalledanalphastate.Thismeansalso that theunconscious ismore energized than consciousness, and complexes and archetypes arearoused into a more activated state and can push over the threshold intoconsciousness. It is possible that this psychic material corresponds toobjectivedataoutsidethepsyche.

AbsoluteKnowledge

One intuitive leap that Jungmakes,which is nevertheless based on a gooddeal of confirming evidence in his experience, is that the unconsciouspossesseswhathecallsaprioriknowledge:“Howcouldanevent remote inspaceandtimeproduceacorrespondingpsychicimagewhenthetransmissionofenergynecessaryforthisisnoteventhinkable?Howeverincomprehensibleit may appear, we are finally compelled to assume that there is in theunconscious something like an a priori knowledge or an ‘immediacy’ ofeventswhich lacksanycausalbasis.”14Thiswouldallowfor thepossibilitythatintuitivelywecanknowthingsthatwehavenorationalwayofknowing.Deep intuitioncanprovideknowledge that is indeedreally trueandnot justspeculation, guesswork or fantasy. For Jung, the unconscious defies theKantiancategoriesofknowledgeandsurpassesconsciousnessintherangeofpossibleknowing.Inotherwords, in theunconsciousweknowmanythingsthatwedonotknowthatweknow.Thesecouldbecalledunthoughtthoughtsorunconsciousaprioriknowledge. It is thisnotion that takes Jung into thefurthestreachesofhisspeculationsabouttheunityofpsycheandworld.Ifweknow things that are beyond our conscious possibility of knowing, there isalso anunknownknower in us, an aspect of the psyche that transcends thecategories of time and space and is simultaneously present here and there,nowandthen.Thiswouldbetheself.

Jungianssometimescommentthatintheunconscioustherearenosecrets:Everybody knows everything. This is a way of talking about this level ofpsychic reality. Even putting aside for the moment the people who areextraordinarily gifted in intuition—like some medical intuitives who haveprovenan amazing rateof accuracy indiagnosisofpeople theyhaveneverknownorseen—manypeoplehavetheexperienceofdreamingaboutothersin away that gives them information towhich they do not have consciousaccess.Of course theymight not know that a particular dream is accurate.Sometimeswedreamotherpeoples’dreams.Sometimesotherpeopledreamourreality.Asananalystwhohearsalotoftransferencedreams,Icanverifythatsomeofthem(notbyanymeansall)areaccuratefarbeyondtheamountofknowledgemypatientsconsciouslyhaveaboutme.Onceapatient’sdreameventoldmesomethingaboutmyselfthatIdidnotknowconsciouslyatthetime.ShedreamedthatIwasexhaustedandneededarest.Iwasnotawareofthis until I took time to reflect, and then coming down with a case of flushortlythereafter,Irealizedthatherunconscioushadpickedupmyphysical

conditionmoreaccuratelythanevenIcouldreadwithmyownconsciousness.One can compare this unconscious knower in people to the Eye ofGod, anotion that nuns formerly used to scare schoolchildren in their attempt toinducestrictobediencetothechurch’steaching.Itisnotonlywhatyoudobutevenwhatyouthink—infact,itiswhatyouare—thatGodseesandkeepsarunningaccountof.This is aprojectiveversionof the same idea that somekindofabsoluteknowledgeexistsintheunconscious.

Tothinkaboutthisissueofaprioriknowledgefurther,Jungconsidersthepsychologicalmeaningofnumbers.Whatarethey?Supposethatwe“definenumber psychologically as an archetype of order which has becomeconscious.”15 There are, of course, ancient views that cosmic structures ofbeingarebasedonnumbersandontherelationsofnumberstooneanother.Pythagoreandoctrines, for instance, taught suchviews. Jung takesa similarapproach, only with more modern notions of mathematics as fundamentalstructures of psyche and world. When these basic structures of being areimaged in the psyche, they come up as circles (mandalas) and squares(quaternities) typically, towhich the numbers one and four are related.Themovement from one (the beginning), through the intervening numbers twoandthree,tothenumberfour(completion,wholeness)symbolizesapassagefrom primal (but still only potential) unity to a state of actual wholeness.Numberssymbolizethestructureofindividuationinthepsyche,andtheyalsosymbolize the creation of order in the non-psychic world. So humanknowledge of numbers becomes knowledge of cosmic structure. Insofar aspeople have a priori knowledge of numbers, by virtue of their cognitiveabilities and intelligence, they also have a priori knowledge of the cosmos.(Interestingly,ancientGreekslikeEmpedoclesbelievedthatthegodsthinkinmathematical termsand thathumanswhoweremathematicalgeniusesweregodlike, indeed were as good as gods themselves. With this conviction,Empedocles threw himself over the top of Mt. Etna and into the activevolcanobelow.)

Ifnumberrepresentsthearchetypeoforderbecomeconscious,itstilldoesnot answer the question ofwhat is ultimately responsible for this state oforder.Whatunderliesnumberandimagesoforder?Whatisthearchetypeoforderperse?Theremustbeadynamicforceoperatingbehindthescenesthatcreates theorder apparent in synchronisitic phenomena and reveals itself innumber and image. Jung is working his way toward a new cosmology, astatementabouttheprincipleofordernotonlyforthepsychebutalsofortheworld.Itistobeastatementthatisnotprimarilymythologicalinthereligiousorimaginalsense,butratheronethatisbasedonthescientificworldviewof

moderntimes.Thisleadshimtothebroaderdefinitionofsynchronicity.

ANewParadigm

Toward the end of his paper, Jung introduces the far-reaching idea ofincluding synchronicity—along with space, time, and causality—in aparadigmthatcanofferacompleteaccountofrealityasitisexperiencedbyhumansandmeasuredbyscientists.Inonesense,whatJungisdoinghereisinserting the psyche into the full account of reality by saying that “themeaningful coincidence between a psychic event and an objective event”16must be considered. This adds the element of meaning to the scientificparadigm, which otherwise proceeds without reference to humanconsciousness or to the value of meaning. Jung is proposing that a fullaccount of reality must include the presence of the human psyche—theobserver—andtheelementofmeaning.

Wehave already seen in earlier chapters the tremendous importance thatJungassignedtohumanconsciousness.Infact,hesawthemeaningofhumanlifeonthisplanet tobe tied toourcapacityforconsciousness, toaddto theworldamirroringawarenessofthingsandmeaningsthatotherwisewouldrunonthroughendlesseonsof timewithoutbeingseen, thought,orrecognized.For Jung, the raising into consciousness of patterns and images from thedepthsofthecollectivepsychoidunconsciousgiveshumankinditspurposeinthe universe, for we alone (as far as we know) are able to realize thesepatternsandgiveexpressiontowhatwerealize.Putanotherway,Godneedsusinordertobecomeheldinawareness.Humansareinapositiontobecomeawarethatthecosmoshasanorderingprinciple.Wecannoteandregisterthemeaningthatisthere.ButJungalsokeenlywantstoemphasizethatheisnotjust trying todo speculativephilosophyhere.Thatwouldbe traditional andold-fashioned,andwouldbelongtoapremodernlevelofconsciousness.HeisstrivingforStage5andevenStage6consciousness(seechapter8)andsoisworking empirically and scientifically. Synchronicity is not primarily aphilosophicalview,hewantstoargue,butaconceptbasedonempiricalfactandobservation.Itcanbetestedinlaboratories.17Onlyacosmologyofthissortwill be acceptable in the contemporaryworld.Nostalgia for traditionalbeliefsystemsistobefoundinmanyquartersofourworldtoday,butforthepresentandfuture,andforthehighestlevelsofconsciousness,theparadigmcannotbemythological.Itmustbescientific.

As the basis for a newworld view, the concept of synchronicity and itsimplicationsworkbecausetheyareeasyenoughtounderstandintuitivelyandto incorporate into one’s everyday life. Everyone is aware of lucky thingshappening,andofunluckydayswhennothingseemstogoright.Clustersofeventsthatarerelatedthroughmeaningandimagebutunconnectedcausallycan be readily experienced and verified by one and all. But to take thisconceptseriouslyasascientificprincipleisnotatalleasy.Itisrevolutionary.Forone thing, it requires anentirelynewwayof thinkingaboutnatureandhistory. If one is to find meaning in historical events, for example, theimplication is that the underlying archetype of order is arranging history insuchawayas toproducesomefurtheradvanceofconsciousness.Thisdoesnotmeanprogressashumanswouldliketothinkofit,butratheranadvanceinunderstandingreality.Theunderstandingmayamounttorecognitionoftheterriblesideofrealityaswellasthebeautyandthegloryofit.

This was Jung’s driving notion in writing Aion. Western religious andculturalhistoryoverthepasttwothousandyearscanbeseenasapatternofunfoldingconsciousnessaboutanunderlyingarchetypalstructure.Thereareno accidents in the meandering and vicissitudes of historical process. It isgoingsomewhere,producingaspecific imagethatneedstobemirroredandreflectedinhumanconsciousness.Thereisalightsideandadarksidetothisimage. This samemode of reflection can be applied to an individual’s lifehistory aswell as to collective history, and indeed the two can (and indeedshould be) seen in relation to one another and joined in ameaningfulway.Eachofus is thecarrierof abitof theconsciousness that isneededby thetimesinordertoadvanceconsciousnessoftheunderlyingmotifsunfoldinginhistory.Individualdreamsofanarchetypalnature,forinstance,maybeintheserviceof the times,compensating for theone-sidednessofculture,andnotonly of the individual’s consciousness. In this sense, the individual is acocreatorofthereflectionofrealitythathistoryasawholereveals.

The mental leaps required to think of culture and history in terms thatincludesynchronicityareconsiderable,particularlyfornarrowlyrationalisticWesternerswhoarecommittedstrictlytotheprincipleofcausality.TheAgeofEnlightenmentleftalegacyoffacticitywithoutmeaning.Thecosmosandhistory, it is supposed, are arranged by chance and by the causal laws thatgovern matter. Jung recognizes the challenge. He was himself, after all,steepedintheWesternscientificworldview.“Theideaofsynchronicitywithits inherent quality of meaning produces a picture of the world soirrepresentable as to be completely baffling. The advantage, however, ofadding this concept is that it makes possible a view which includes the

psychoid factor in our description and knowledge of nature—that is, an apriorimeaningor‘equivalence’.”18JungpresentsadiagramthatheandthephysicistWolfgangPauliworkedout.

On thevertical axis lies the space-time continuum, andon thehorizontalthere is the continuum between causality and synchronicity. The mostcomplete account of reality, it is claimed here, includes understanding aphenomenonbyconsideringfourfactors:whereandwhentheeventhappened(the space-time continuum), and what led up to it and what it means (thecausality-synchronicity continuum). If these questions can be answered, theeventwillbegraspedinitsfullness.Theremightbedebateonanyandallofthesepoints;certainlyonthequestionofanevent’smeaningthereisboundtobe a great deal of difference and dispute. Interpretations are endlesslygenerated, especially regarding significant events like the explosion of thefirst atomicbomb, for example, not tomentionmuchmorepersonal eventslike the birth or death of someone in the family. There is room forwidelydiverging opinions here. There is also, of course, a large range of opinionabout causality. Jung’s point is that the answer to the question ofmeaningrequiresmorethanonlyanaccountofthecausalsequenceofeventsthatleduptotheeventinquestion.Hearguesthatsynchronicitymustbeconsideredinarrivingatananswertothequestionofmeaning.Fromthepsychologicalandthepsychoidsideofthings,onehastoinvestigatethearchetypalpatternsthatareevidentinaconstellatedsituation,forthesewillprovidethenecessaryparameters for taking up the question of synchronicity and deep structuralmeaning.Withrespecttotheappearanceoftheatomicbombonthestageofworldhistory,forinstance,theexplorationofmeaningwouldhavetoincludetheworldconstellatingfactorof theSecondWorldWarandthepolarizationofoppositeswhich thatwarsoviolentlygenerated.Onewouldalsohave toinclude contemporary humankind’s dreams of the atomic bomb in theanalysis.Whatdoestheatomicbombaddtoone-sidedhumanconsciousnessaboutthestructuresofBeing?

In order to bring the theory of archetypes into play in relation tosynchronisticeventsthattransgresstheboundariesofthepsychicworld,Jungwas forced to expand upon his notion of the nonpsychic nature of the

archetype. On the one hand, it is psychic and psychological, since it isexperiencedwithinthepsycheintheformofimagesandideas.Ontheotherhand,itisirrepresentableinitselfanditsessenceliesoutsideofthepsyche.Inthis essay on synchronicity, Jung introduces the idea of the archetype’sproperty of transgressivity. “Although associated with causal processes, or‘carried’bythem,they[thearchetypes]continuallygobeyondtheirframeofreference,aninfringementtowhichIwouldgivethename‘transgressivity’,because the archetypes arenot found exclusively in thepsychic sphere, butcanoccurjustasmuchincircumstancesthatarenotpsychic(equivalenceofan outward physical process with a psychic one).”19 The archetypetransgressesboththeboundariesofthepsycheandofcausality,althoughitis“carried”byboth.Jungintendstransgressivitytomeanthatthepatternswhichoccur in thepsycheare related topatternsandevents that lieoutsideof thepsyche. The feature common to both is the archetype. In the case of theatomic bomb, the archetype of the self is revealed in history inside andoutsideofthepsychebytheeventofitsexplosion,inandthroughtheworldhistoricalcontext inwhichitappeared,andbymillions(myguess,althoughtherehasbeensomeresearchonthis)ofdreamsthathavefeaturedthebomb.

Thisideaofthearchetype’stransgressivitycutsintwodirections.First,asIhavebeendiscussing,itaffirmsthatthereisunderlyingobjectivemeaninginthe coincidences that fall together in psyche and world and strike us asintuitivelymeaningful.Ontheotherhand,itcreatesthepossibilitythatthereismeaningwherewedonot intuitivelysee it,when, for instance,accidentstakeplacethatstrikeusasmerelyduetopurechance.Inbothcases,thistypeofmeaning goes beyond (transgresses) the chain of linear causality. Is ourbirthintoaparticularfamilyonlyduetochanceandcausality,orcouldtherebe meaning here as well? Or suppose that the psyche is organized andstructured not only causally, as is usually thought of in developmentalpsychology, but also synchronistically. This would mean that personalitydevelopment takes place by moments of meaningful coincidence(synchronicity)aswellasbyapre-ordainedepigeneticsequenceofstages.Itwouldalsoimplythattheinstinctgroupsandthearchetypesbecomeweddedandactivatedbothcausallyandsynchronistically(meaningfully).Aninstinctlike sexuality, for example, might become activated not only because of acausalchainofsequentialevents(geneticfactors,psychologicalfixations,orearly childhood experiences) but also because an archetypal field isconstellated at a particular moment and a chance encounter with a personturnsintoalifelongrelationship.Inthismoment,somethingofthepsychoidworld becomes visible and conscious (the syzygy, the soulmate pair). The

constellated image of the archetype does not create the event, but thecorrespondence between inner psychological preparedness (which may betotally unconscious at the time) and the outer appearance of a person,inexplicablyandunpredictably, issynchronistic.Whysuchconnections takeplaceseemsamysteryifwereflectonlyuponcausality,but ifweintroducethe synchronistic factor and thedimensionofmeaningwecomecloser to amore complete and satisfying answer. In a random universe, this fallingtogether of need and opportunity, or desire and satisfaction, would beimpossible,oratleaststatisticallyimprobable.Theseunforgettablemysteriesthatareembodiedinsynchronisticeventstransformpeople.Livesareturnedinnewdirections,andcontemplationofwhatliesbehindsynchronisticeventsleads consciousness to profound, perhaps even to ultimate levels of reality.When an archetypal field is constellated and the pattern emergessynchronisticallywithinthepsycheandtheobjectivenon-psychicworld,onehas the experience of being in Tao. And what becomes available toconsciousnessthroughsuchexperiencesisfoundational,avisionintoasmuchof ultimate reality as humans are capable of realizing. Falling into thearchetypalworldofsynchronisticeventsfeelslikelivinginthewillofGod.

Cosmology

Theessayon synchronicitybeginswithand indeed focusesmostlyonwhatJung calls the “narrow definition” of synchronicity, that is, themeaningfulcoincidencebetweenapsychiceventsuchasadreamorthoughtandaneventinthenon-psychicworld.ButJungalsoconsidersthebroaderdefinition.Thishastodowithacausalorderednessintheworldwithoutspecialreferencetothehumanpsyche.Thisisa“widerconceptionofsynchronicityasan‘acausalorderedness’”20 in theworld. This becomes Jung’s cosmological statement.Synchronicity,or“acausalorderedness,”isaprincipleunderlyingcosmiclaw.“Into this category come all ‘acts of creation’, a priori factors such as theproperties of natural numbers, the discontinuities of modern physics, etc.Consequently we would have to include constant and experimentallyreproducible phenomenawithin the scope of our expanded concept, thoughthis does not seem to accordwith the nature of the phenomena included insynchronicity narrowly understood.”21 From the viewpoint of the generalprinciple of synchronicity, our human experience of acausal orderedness,through the psychoid factor and the transgressivity of the archetype, is a

specialcaseofmuchbroaderorderednessintheuniverse.

WiththiscosmologicalpictureIplacethefinishingtouchonJung’smapofthesoul.Hisexplorationsofthepsycheanditsbordersledhimintoterritorythatisnormallyoccupiedbycosmologists,philosophers,andtheologians.Hismap of the soul must however be placed within the context of this widerperspective,forthisiswhatprovidesthemostextensivereachofhisunifiedvision. We human beings, he teaches, have a special role to play in theuniverse.Ourconsciousnessiscapableofreflectingthecosmosandbringingitintothemirrorofconsciousness.Wecancometorealizethatweliveinauniverse which can best be described using four principles: indestructibleenergy,thespace-timecontinuum,causality,andsynchronicity.Jungdiagramsthisrelationshipasshownbelow.

Thehumanpsycheandourpersonalpsychologyparticipateintheorderofthisuniversemostprofoundlythroughthepsychoidleveloftheunconscious.Throughtheprocessofpsychization,patternsoforderintheuniversebecomeavailable toconsciousnessandeventuallycanbeunderstoodand integrated.Each person canwitness theCreator and creativeworks fromwithin, so tospeak, bypaying attention to image and synchronicity.For the archetype isnotonlythepatternofthepsyche,butitalsoreflectstheactualbasicstructureoftheuniverse.“Asabove,sobelow,”spaketheancientsages.“Aswithin,sowithout,”respondsthemodernsoulexplorer,CarlGustavJung.

Notes

Introduction

1Jung,CollectedWorks,Vol.6.

2Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.1,pp.3-88.

3Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.3,pp.1-152.

4HenriEllenberger,TheDiscoveryoftheUnconscious,p.687.

5Jung,Memories,Dreams,Reflections,pp.182-83.

1.Surface(Ego-Consciousness)

1Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.4,par.772.

2Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.9/ii,par.1.

3Ibid.

4Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.8,par.382.

5Jung,Memories,Dreams,Reflections,p.32.

6Manyanimalspeciesdoseemtohaveconsiderable,thoughpeculiarandpuzzling,communicationsabilitiesandresources.Toourknowledge,however,thesearebutslightcomparedtoeventhemostreducedhumancapacitytolearnlanguagesandtofunctioninalinguisticuniverse.Nodoubtmanyoftheirnonverbalcommunicationsabilitieshaveyettobediscovered.

7Jung,Memories,Dreams,Reflections,p.45.

8Jung,Coll.Wks.,9/1,par.3.

9Ibid.

10Ibid.

11Ibid.

12Ibid.

13Ibid.

14Jung’sfundamentalidentityasascientistunderlieshisadmissionthatthetheoryofarchetypesisahypothesis.Todootherwisewouldhavebeentoengageinmythmakingandvisionarypronouncement,thebasisforreligionratherthanforscience.Jung’swritingsareoccasionallytreatedasdogma,buttheyshouldnotbe,sincehebaseshimselfonanempiricalmethodandclaimstheroleofscientistratherthanprophet.

15Jung,op.cit.,par.5

16WilliamJames,PrinciplesofPsychology,Vol.1,pp.291-400.

17Jung,op.cit.,par.6.

18Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.6,p.v.

19JungborrowedthisphrasefromtheFrenchanthropologistLevy-Bruhltodescribetheego’smostprimitiverelationtotheworldandtothesurroundinggrouportribe.Participationmystiquereferstoastateofprimitiveidentitybetweenselfandobject,whethertheobjectisathing,aperson,oragroup.CharismaticpoliticalleaderslikeMaoTseTungsoughttocultivatethisstateofconsciousnessamongtheirpeople.“OneChina,onemind”—meaningMao’smind—wastheChinesedictator’ssloganduringthedisastrousculturalrevolution.

20Jung,op.cit.,par.9.

21Ibid.

22Romans7:15-18.

23Jung,op.cit.

2.ThePopulatedInterior(TheComplexes)

1TheWordAssociationExperimentwasatestinventedbyGaltonandrevisedbytheGermanpsychologistWilhelmWundt,whointroduceditintocontinentalexperimentalpsychologyinthelatenineteenthcentury.BeforeJungandBleuleradoptedit,ithadbeenusedmainlyfortheoreticalstudiesonhowthemindassociateswordsandideas(seeColl.Wks.2,par.730).FollowingtheleadofBleulerandtheinspirationofFreud’sworkontheimportanceofunconsciousfactorsinmentallife,Jungtriedtoturnthetesttopracticaluseinthepsychiatricclinicwhilealsocontinuingtousetheresultsfromitfortheorizingaboutthestructureofthepsyche.

2Fordetailsaboutthisresearch,seeEllenberger,TheDiscoveryoftheUnconscious,p.692ff.

3ForafascinatingdiscussionofFreud’suseofthetermscomplexandcorecomplex,seeKerr,AMostDangerousMethod,p.247ff.

4Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.2,par.8.

5Ibid,pars.1015ff.

6Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.8,pars.194-219.

7ThevariousstrandsofopinioninthisdiscussionhavebeenpublishedinLingeringShadows.TheseargumentshavebeenreviewedbyAnthonyStevensinhisbookJung,wherehestronglytakesthepositionthatJungwasnotguiltyofanti-Semiticandpro-Nazibehavior.ThecontraryviewhasbeenpresentedinanumberofpapersbyAndrewSamuels.

8Jung,op.cit.,par.198.

9Ibid.

10Ibid.

11Jung,“NewAspectsofCriminalPsychology,”inColl.Wks.,Vol.2,pars.1316-47.

12JosephHendersonhasbeenthestrongestexponentofthisviewinJungianterms.Foradetaileddiscussionoftheculturalunconsciousanditsvariousaspects,seeHenderson’s“CulturalAttitudesandtheCulturalUnconscious”inShadowandSelf,pp.103-26.

13ThispointhasbeengreatlyelaboratedintheimportantpaperbyHansDieckmann,“FormationofandDealingwithSymbolsinBorderlinePatients.”

14Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.8,par.201.

15Ibid.

16Ibid.

17Ibid.,par.202.

18Ibid.

19Ibid.

20Ibid.

21Ibid.,par.204.

22Ibid.

23Ibid.

3.PsychicEnergy(LibidoTheory)

1WilliamMcGuire(ed.),TheFreud-JungLetters,pp.6-7.

2Jung,Memories,Dreams,Reflections,p.164.

3InJung.Coll.Wks.,Vol.8,pars.1-130.

4McGuire,op.cit.,p.461.

5Jung,PsychologyoftheUnconscious,pp.142-43.

6McGuire,op.cit.,p.460.

7Jung,PsychologyoftheUnconscious,,pp.144-45.

8Ibid.,p.156.

9Jung,Memories,Dreams,Reflections,p.167.

10Jung,PsychologyoftheUnconscious,p.480.

11Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.5.

12Jung’sviewsonthevalueofregularworkareinterestinginthisregard.Theworkethicisactuallyanemancipator,inhisview,fromthebondagetotheincestwish.“Thedestructionofslaverywasthenecessaryconditionofthatsublimation[ofincestuoussexuality],forantiquityhadnotyetrecognizedthedutyofworkandworkasaduty,asasocialneedoffundamentalimportance.Slavelaborwascompulsorywork,thecounterpartoftheequallydisastrouscompulsionofthelibidooftheprivileged.Itwasonlytheobligationoftheindividualtoworkwhichmadepossibleinthelongrunthatregular“drainage”oftheunconscious,whichwasinundatedbythecontinualregressionofthelibido.Indolenceisthebeginningofallvice,becauseinaconditionofslothfuldreamingthelibidohasabundantopportunityforsinkingintoitself,inordertocreatecompulsoryobligationsbymeansofregressivelyreanimatedincestuousbonds.Thebestliberationisthroughregularwork.Work,however,issalvationonlywhenitisafreeact,andhasinitselfnothingofinfantilecompulsion.Inthisrespect,religiousceremonyappearsinahighdegreeasorganizedinactivity,andatthesametimeastheforerunnerofmodernwork”(PsychologyoftheUnconscious,p.455).ThisisaversionofthenotionArbeitmachtfrei,usedsodespicablybytheNazisintheirwork

campswherepreciselyslaverywasinstitutionalized.Itiswhenworkisfreelychosenandacceptedasadutytolifethatthetransformationoflibidocantakeplace.Whenonefreelychoosesavocationandvoluntarilysacrificesagreatdealofpleasureandsensualgratificationforthesakeoflearningandpracticingit,thetransformationoflibidohasbeensuccessful.

13GeorgeHogansondiscussesthisissueofauthorityextensivelyinhisbookJung’sStrugglewithFreud.

14Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.8,pars.6ff.

15Ibid.,par.5.

16Ibid.,par.58.

17Ibid.

18Ibid.

19Atherapistwhotookthisfinalisticenergicviewpointmightjustifiablybeseenasimpersonalandunempathic.Therewouldbelittleattentionpaidtocausativefactorslikechildhoodtraumasorconflictedandabusiverelationshipsinthepast.Thefocuswouldbeontrackingtheflowofenergyfromegotounconscious(regression)tonewadaptation(progression)andonanalyzingawayattitudesandcognitivestructuresthatmightpreventorblocktheflowoflibidofromfindingitsnaturalgradientorpathway.Itisamuchmorecognitiveapproach.Theempathicanalyst,ontheotherhand,wouldlookforpastreasonsforthepresentdifficultyandwouldshowunderstandingforhowthepasthascreatedtheproblemsinthepresent.JungingeneralfeltthattheFreudianapproachwasofthecausal-mechanistic,empathicvarietywhilehisownapproachwasmorethefinalistic-energic,impersonaltype.Theanalystwhodissectsthepsychewithaviewtoanalyzingthemovementofenergyandfacilitatingitsflowtowardthegoalofbalanceandequilibriumisusingtheimpersonalmethod.Extroverts,inJung’stypologicalunderstanding,areusuallymoreattractedtocausaltheories,whileintrovertsfavorafinalisticapproachthatismoreabstract.Manycontemporaryanalyststrytocombinethem.

20ThedifferencebetweenAdlerandFreudwasanimportantelementinJung’sstrugglewithFreud,andhiscontinuingeffortstounderstandtheinterpersonaldynamicsenteredintohistheoryofpsychologicaltypesaswell.OnereasonJungwasdrawntoinvestigatepersonalitydifferencesintermsofpsychologicaltypehadtodowithunderstandingthedifferencebetweenthetheoreticalpositionsofAdlerandFreud.Boththeorieshadalottoofferandbothseemedcorrectinmanyways.YetJung,whodifferedfrombothFreud

andAdler,concludedthatFreud’stheorywasfundamentallyextrovertedinthesenseofassumingdrivesthatseekpleasureandreleaseviaobjects,whileAdler’swasintrovertedbecauseitsawpeopleasbasicallyinsearchofestablishingegocontroloverobjects.JungsawthepowerneeddescribedinAdler’stheoryasbasicallytheneedofintrovertedindividualstocontroltheobjectworldratherthanrelatetoitandderivepleasurefromit.Introvertedpeoplearemoremotivatedbythedriveforpowerandcontroloverthreateningobjectsthanbythesearchforpleasure.Extroverts,ontheotherhand,areorientedbythepleasureprincipleandthesepeopleconformtoFreud’spsychologicalperspective.BothFreud,whoseeshumanbeingsasbasicallyextrovertedanddrivenbythepleasureprinciple,andAdler,whoseesusasintrovertedanddrivenbytheneedforpower,offertrueexplanationsofhumanbehavior,buteachmanapproachedthepsychefromadifferentperspectiveandinasensewasdescribingadifferenttypeofindividual.

21Jung,op.cit.,pars.79-87.

22Ibid.,pars.88-113.

23Jung,Letters,Vol.2,p.624.

24Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.8,pars.818-968.

4.ThePsyche’sBoundaries(Instincts,Archetypes,andtheCollectiveUnconscious)

1Thisarea—thecollectiveunconscious—hascausedacademicpsychologytoshyawayfromJungandtocallhimamystic.Onlyinrecenttimeshavethetoolsbecomeavailable,intheformofbiologicalresearchtechniquesparticularlyonthebrainandontherelationofbrainchemistrytomoodandthought,totacklethefar-reachinghypothesesputforwardbyJungmanydecadesago.MuchrecentresearchonthebiologicalbasesofhumanbehavioristendingtoconfirmJung’sviewsthatweinheritagreatdealofthementalandbehavioralpatterningthathadbeenconsideredlearnedandtheresultofnurture,notnature(seeSatinover,Stevens,Tresan).ForJung,thearchetypesarelikeinstincts,inthattheyaregivenwithourgeneticmakeup,inborn.

2Infact,Junghasbeenseenbysomewriters(forexample,PhilipRieff)asanantiquarianthrowbacktothe18thcentury,whenamateurscholarsandscientistssimplycollectedoddbitsofinformationabouteverythinginthe

worldandcreatedlibrariesandmuseumsthatshowedlittleunderstandingofwhattheywerehousing.Needlesstoadd,RieffisadiehardFreudian.

3Jung,Letters,Vol.1,p.29.

4Ibid.,p.30.

5Ibid.,p.29.

6Jung,CollWks,Vol.4,par.728.

7Jung,Memories,Dreams,Reflections,p.161.

8Ibid.

9Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.8,par.400.

10Ibid.

11Ibid.,par.401.

12Ibid.,par.402.

13Ibid.,par.367.

14Ibid.,par.368,citingBleuler.

15Ibid.,par.376.

16Ibid.,par.377.

17Ibid.

18Ibid.

19Ibid.,par.379.

20Ibid.

21Ibid.

22Ibid.

23Ibid.,par.398.

24Ibid.,par.404.

25Ibid.

26Ibid.,par.405.

27Ibid.,par.406.

28Ibid.

29Ibid.

30Ibid.

31Ibid.,par.407.

32Ibid.,par.408.

33Ibid.,par.415.

34Ibid.

35Ibid.,par.416.

36Ibid.

37Ibid.

5.TheRevealedandtheConcealedinRelationswithOthers(PersonaandShadow)

1ForafullerdiscussionofJung’sviewsonthesubjectofevil,seeJungonEvil,editedandwithanextensiveintroductionbyMurrayStein.

2Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.6,par.799.

3Ibid.

4Ibid.

5Ibid.,par.687.

6Ibid.

7Ibid.,par.798.

8Ibid.

9Ibid.

10Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.13,par.70.

6.TheWaytotheDeepInterior(AnimaandAnimus)

1Jung,Memories,Dreams,Reflections,pp.185-88.

2Ibid.,p.186.

3TakenfromJung’s“VisionsSeminar,”asquotedinMemories,Dreams,Reflections,p.392.

4Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.6,par.801.

5Ibid.

6Ibid.

7Ibid.,par.801.

8Ibid.

9Ibid.,par.802.

10TheviewwasreportedinTheNewYorker,Sept.9,1996,p.34asthepresidentialcandidateswerepreparingforthecomingelection.

11Jung,op.cit.,par.804.

12Ibid.

13Ibid.

14Ibid.

15Ibid.

16Ibid.

17Ibid.

18Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.17,par.338.

19Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.9/2,par.26.

20Ibid.,par.41.

21Ibid.,par.42.

22Ibid.

23Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.16,par.521.

24Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.9/ii,par.29.

7.ThePsyche’sTranscendentCenterandWholeness(TheSelf)

1Jung,Memories,Dreams,Reflections,pp.170-99.

2Ibid.,p.378.

3Ibid.,p.379.

4Jung’saccountofthisremarkableincidentisfoundinMemories,Dreams,Reflections,pp.189-91.

5Op.cit.,pp.195-97.

6Ibid.,p.199.

7Jung,Coll.Wks.,9/2,pars.57-58.

8Ibid.,par.59.

9Ibid.

10Ibid.

11Ibid.,par.60.

12Ibid.

13Ibid.,pars.,351-57.

14Ibid.,par.351.

15Ibid.,par.357.

16Ibid.,par.355.

8.EmergenceoftheSelf(Individuation)

1Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.8,par.778.

2Ibid.,par.550.

3Jung,op.cit.,par.769.

4Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.9/1,pp.290-354.

5Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.13,pp.199-201.

6ModernManinSearchofaSoulwasthetitleofafamousbookpublishedbyJungin1933.

7Jung,ThePsychologyofKundaliniYoga.

8Thevolume,whichappearedin1952,wasentitledNaturerklärungund

Psyche.(StudienausdemC.G.Jung-InstitutZurich,4).

9Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.13,pars.248-49.

10Jung,Coll.Wks,Vol.10,pp.437-55.

11Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.9/1,pp.275-89.

12Ibid.,pp.290-354.

13Ibid.,par.520.

14Ibid.,par.221.

15Ibid.,par.522.

16Ibid.,par.523.

17Ibid.,par.525.

18ThebeautifulcolorplatesofthisseriesareinsertedinColl.Wks.,Vol.9/1,followingp.292.

19Ibid.,par.538.

20Ibid.

21Ibid.

22Ibid.

23Ibid.,par.544.

24Ibid.,par.548.

25Ibid.,par.545.

26Ibid.,par.548.

27Ibid.,par.550.

28Ibid.,par.549.

29Ibid.,par556.

30Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.9/2,par.410.

31Ibid.,par.355.

32Ibid.,par.410.

9.OfTimeandEternity(Synchronicity)

1Hewasalsointerestedinevidencefortheexistenceofghostsandpoltergeists,certainlyborderlinephenomena.Andthentherewasthepeculiarrelationhenotedbetweenpsyche(inner)andobject(outer),asinthe“catalyticexteriorizationphenomenon”heremarkeduponinFreud’spresencewhentheyheardaloudreportfromawoodenbookcaseinFreud’sstudy.HereportsonthisinMemories,Dreams,Reflections,p.155.

2Jung,Coll.Wks.,Vol.8,par.843.

3Ibid.,par.515.

4ThisessayisfoundinColl.Wks.,Vol.8,pp.419-519.

5Jung,Letters,vol.2,pp.108-9.

6Op.cit.,par.840.

7Ibid.,par.439.

8Ibid.

9Ibid.,par.440.

10Ibid.

11Ibid.

12Ibid.

13Ibid.,par.850.

14Ibid.

15Ibid.,par.870.

16Ibid.,par.850

17Ibid.,par.960.

18Ibid.,par.962.

19Ibid.,par.964.

20Ibid.,par.965.

21Ibid.

GlossaryanimaThearchetypalimagesoftheeternalfeminineinaman’sunconsciousthat formsa linkbetweenego-consciousnessand thecollectiveunconsciousandpotentiallyopensawaytotheself.

animus The archetypal images of the eternal masculine in a woman’sunconscious that formsa linkbetweenego-consciousnessand thecollectiveunconsciousandpotentiallyopensawaytotheself.

archetype An innate potential pattern of imagination, thought, or behaviorthatcanbefoundamonghumanbeinginalltimesandplaces.

archetypalimageApsychicpattern,mentalorbehavioral,thatiscommontothehumanspecies.Archetypalimagesarefoundinthedreamsofindividualsandinculturalmaterialssuchasmyths,fairytales,andreligioussymbols.

compensation The self-regulatory dynamic process whereby ego-consciousness and the unconscious seek homeostatic balance, which alsofostersindividuationandtheprogressivemovementtowardwholeness.

complex A feeling toned autonomous content of the personal unconscious,usuallyformedthroughpsychicinjuryortrauma.

egoThecenterofconsciousness,the“I.”

ego-consciousness The portion of the psyche made up of easily accessedthoughts,memories,andfeelingsatwhosecenteristheego,the“I.”

extroversion An habitual attitude of consciousness that prefers activeengagementwithobjectstotheclosescrutinyofthem.

imagoThepsychicrepresentationorimageofanobject,likeaparent,nottobeconfusedwiththeactualobject.

individuationTheprocessofpsychicdevelopmentthatleadstotheconsciousawarenessofwholeness.Nottobeconfusedwithindividualism.

instinctAninnate,physicallybasedsourceofpsychicenergy(orlibido)thatisshapedandstructuredinthepsychebyanarchetypalimage.

introversionAnhabitualattitudeofconsciousnessthatprefersintrospectionandtheclosescrutinyofrelationswithobjects.

libido Interchangeablewith “psychic energy” andhaving affinitieswith thephilosophical concept of “life force.” Libido is quantifiable and can bemeasured.

neurosis An habitual attitude of rigid one-sidedness in ego-consciousness,which defensively and systematically excludes unconscious contents fromconsciousness.

personaThepsychicinterfacebetweentheindividualandsocietythatmakesupaperson’ssocialidentity.

projection The externalization of unconscious psychic contents, sometimesfor defensive purposes (as with the shadow) and sometimes fordevelopmentalandintegrativepurposes(aswiththeanimaandtheself).

psyche An inclusive term covering the areas of consciousness, personalunconscious and collective unconscious. The collective unconscious issometimes referred to as theobjectivepsyche because it is not personal orindividual.

psychoidAnadjectivereferringtotheboundariesofthepsyche,oneofwhichinterfaceswiththebodyandthephysicalworldandtheotherwiththerealmof“spirit.”

psychologicaltypeThecombinationofoneoftwoattitudes(extroversionorintroversion) with one of four functions ( thinking, feeling, sensation, orintuition)toformadistinctivehabitualorientationofego-consciousness.

psychosisAstateofpossessioninwhichego-consciousnessisfloodedbytheunconsciousandoftenseekstodefenditselfbyidentifyingwithanarchetypalimage.

self The center, source of all archetypal images and of innate psychictendenciestowardstructure,order,andintegration.

shadow The rejected and unaccepted aspects of the personality that arerepressedandformacompensatorystructuretotheego’sselfidealsandtothepersona.

synchronicity The meaningful coincidence of two events, one inner andpsychicandtheotherouterandphysical.

transcendentfunctionThepsychic linkcreatedbetweenego-consciousnessand the unconscious as a result of the practice of dream interpretation andactiveimagination,andthereforeessentialforindividuationinthesecondhalfoflife.

unconsciousTheportionofthepsychelyingoutsideofconsciousawareness.The contents of the unconscious are made up of repressed memories andmaterial, such as thoughts and images and emotions, that has never been

conscious.Theunconsciousisdividedintothepersonalunconscious,whichcontainsthecomplexes,andthe

collective unconscious, which houses the archetypal images and instinctgroups.

wholeness The emergent sense of psychic complexity and integrity thatdevelopsoverthecourseofacompletelifetime.

ReferencesBurnham, J.S. and McGuire, W. (eds.). 1983. Jelliffe: AmericanPsychoanalystandPhysician.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress.

Clark,J.J.1992.InSearchofJung.LondonandNewYork:Routledge.

Csikszentmihalyi,M.1990.Flow.NewYork:HarperandRow.

Dieckman,H.1987.Onthetheoryofcomplexes.InArchetypalProcessesinPsychotherapy(eds.N.Schwartz-SalantandM.Stein).Wilmette,IL.:ChironPublications.

————. 1988. Formation of and dealing with symbols in borderlinepatients. InTheBorderlinePersonality inAnalysis (eds.N.Schwartz-SalantandM.Stein).Wilmette,IL.:ChironPublications.

Ellenberger,H. 1970.TheDiscovery of theUnconscious. NewYork: BasicBooks.

Erikson,E.1968.Identity,Youth,andCrisis.NewYork:Norton.

Fordham,F.1953.AnIntroductiontoJung’sPsychology.Baltimore:PenguinBooks.

Fordham,M.1970.ChildrenasIndividuals.NewYork:Putnam.

————.1985.ExplorationsIntotheSelfLondon:AcademicPress.

Hannah,B.1976.Jung,HisLifeandWork.NewYork:G.P.Putnam’sSons.

Henderson, J. 1990. Cultural attitudes and the cultural unconscious. InShadowandSelf.Wilmette,IL.:ChironPublications.

Hogenson, G. 1994. Jung’s Struggle with Freud. Wilmette: ChironPublications

Jacobi, J. 1943. The Psychology of C.G. Jung. New Haven, Conn.: YaleUniversityPress.

James,W. 1902. Varieties of Religious Experience. New York: Longmans,Green,andCo.

————.1950.ThePrinciplesofPsychology.NewYork:Dover.

Jung,C.G.Exceptasbelow, referencesare to theCollectedWorks(CW) byvolumeandparagraphnumber.

————.1961.Memories,Dreams,Reflections.NewYork:RandomHouse.

————.1973.Letters,vol.1.Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress.

————. 1974. The FreudlJung Letters. Princeton: Princeton UniversityPress.

————.1975.Letters,vol.2.Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress.

————.1977.C.G.JungSpeaking.Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress.

————. 1983. The Zofingia Lectures. Princeton: Princeton UniversityPress.

————. 1991. Psychology of the Unconscious. Princeton: PrincetonUniversityPress.

Kerr,J.1993.AMostDangerousMethod.NewYork:Knopf.

Maidenbaum,A. (ed.). 1991.Lingering Shadows: Jungians, Freudians andAnti-Semitism.Boston:Shambhala.

McGuire, W. (ed.) 1974. The Freud/Jung Letters. Princeton: PrincetonUniversityPress.

Noll, R. 1989.Multiple personality, dissociation, and C.G. Jung’s complextheory.InJournalofAnayticalPsychology34:4.

————.1993.Multiplepersonalityandthecomplextheory.InJournalofAnalyticalPsychology38:3.

————.1994.TheJungCult.Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress.

Rieff,P.1968.TriumphoftheTherapeutic.NewYork:HarperandRow.

Samuels, A. 1992. National psychology, National Socialism, and analyticalpsychology:Reflections on Jung and anti-semitism,Pts. I, II. InJournalofAnalyticalPsychology37:1and2.

————. 1993. New material concerning Jung, anti-Semitism, and theNazis.InJournalofAnalyticalPsychology38:4,pp.463-470.

Satinover, J. 1995. Psychopharmacology in Jungian practice. In JungianAnalysis(ed.M.Stein),pp.349-71.LaSalle,IL:OpenCourt.

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Stein,M.(ed.).1995.JungonEvil.Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress.

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Index

Abraham,Karl

Adler,Alfred

AlcoholicsAnonymous

amplification

analyticalpsychology

animaandanimus(anima/us)(seealsoJung:onanimaandanimus)

andgender

inidealpsychologicaldevelopment

andpsyche

andshadow,comparisonbetween

andtheunconscious

Apollo(spacerocket)

archetypes(seealsoJung:onarchetypes)

andculture

Aristotle

Armstrong,Neil

Augustine,Saint

Beethoven,Ludwigvan

behaviorism

Bergman,Ingmar

FannyandAlexander

Bergson,Henri

Binswanger,Ludwig

Blake,William

Bleuler,Eugen

Boehme,Jakob

Carus,C.G.

Christianity

collectiveunconscious

complexpsychology

complexes(seealsoJung:oncomplexes;onconstellation)

collective

constellationof

andego

formationof

andmultiplepersonalitydisorder

personal

andpossession

Confucius

consciousness(seealsoJung:onconsciousness)

developmentof

oppositeof

depthpsychology

Dingansich

Dostoevski,Feodor

CrimeandPunishment

Dr.JekyllandMr.Hyde

dreams,constitutionof

Eckhart,Meister

Eliot,T.S.

ego(ego-consciousness)(seealsoJung:ontheego)

Einstein,Albert

Emerson,RalphWaldo

Empedocles

theEnlightenment

Erikson,Erik

ESP(extrasensoryperception)

Faust

Flournoy,Gustav

Fordham,Frieda

Frazer,SirJamesGeorge

GoldenBough

Freud,Sigmund

onincest

TheInterpretationofDreams

andJung

breakbetween

differencesbetween

influenceon

asmechanistic

reductionismof

onsexuality

TotemandTaboo

ontransference

Froebe-Kapetyn,Olga

Fuentes,Carlos

Glenn,John

Gnostics(seealsoJung:andGnosticism)

Goethe,JohannWolfgangvon

Faust

GreatDepression

Haggard,Rider

She

Hartmann,Eduardvon

Hegel,G.W.F.

Heine,Heinrich

Heraclitus

Hinkle,Beatrice

Hitler,Adolf

IChing(TheBookofChanges)

Iago

identification,psychological

Jacobi,Jolande

Jaffe,Aniela

James,William

VarietiesofReligiousExperience

Janet,Pierre

Jelliffe,SmithEly

Johnson,Lyndon

Jung,CarlGustav

Aion

onanimaandprojection

onego

onself

onunderlyingmotifsinhistory

onanimaandanimus

asarchetypal

andego

asfate

andgenderissues

andindividuality

andinnerdevelopment

andMaya

andpersona,differencebetween

problemsof

andprojection

andpsyche

andrelationships

andsexuality

andtheshadow,differencebetween

andthe“subject”

assyzygy

andtranscendentfigures

astransformative

onarchetypes

asbridgingboundaries

consciousnessin

andculture

andego

thehero

inhistory

andinstincts

mother-infantpair

oforder

andphysicalworld,continuumwith

projectionsof

aspsychic/nonpsychic

aspsychoid

andreligion,theology

andsynchronicity

astransgressive

onattitude

autobiographyof

onbasicdrives

oncausality

inpsychology

aschallengingboundaries

CollectedWorks

oncompensation

oncomplexes

andarchetypes

coreof

creationof

anddisintegration,dissociation

anddreams

andego

andenergy

ashavingconsciousness

andimage

modificationof

aspersonalityfragments

andpoltergeists

andpossession

andpsyche

andpsychogalvanometers

asquasi-instinctive

andrepressedmemories

onconsciousness

disturbancesof

fivestagesof

sixthandseventhstagesof

onconstellation

onculture

asnatural

ondeathwish

developmentof

DiagnostischeAssoziationstudien(StudiesinWordAssociation)

doctoraldissertationof

onego(ego-consciousness)

andautonomy

andbody

andcollisions

andcomplexes

conflictin

andconsciousness

coreof

developmentof

andfreedom

andidentification

andpsyche

andself-consciousness

assettinghumansapart

andtheunconscious

onenantiodromia

onenergicandmechanisticviews

onenergy(seealsoJung:onpsychicenergy)

gradientsof

valuesof

onextraversionandintroversion

onfreewill

andGnosticism

onhumanevolution

ontheimage(imago)

onincest

onindividuation

casestudyof

andcompensation

andconflictofopposites

andfivestagesofconsciousness

insecondhalfoflife

andtheself

andtheshadow

andunity

aswholeness

oninstinct

andarchetypes

andpsyche

KundaliniYogaSeminar

onlibido

desexualizationof

dualnatureof

progressionof

aspsychicenergy

regressionof

andsymbols

transformationof

aswill

onmandalas

onmathematics

Memories,Dreams,Reflections

onmindandbody(matter),relationbetween

onmodernity

NaturerkldrungundPsyche(TheInterpretationofNatureandthePsyche)

andNaziGermany

onnumbers,meaningof

on“objectivepsyche”

ontheparanormal

onthepersona

andadaptation

inadolescence

andbirthorder

andego

andidentification

ofintrovertsandextroverts

andobjects

pitfallsof

andshadow

andshameandguiltcultures

sourcesof

transformationof

andphysics

“postmodern”issuesin

onprojection

andconsciousdevelopment

onpsyche(soul)

andarchetype

andbody

andcollisions

andcomplexes

complexityof

anddissociation

andego

hierarchyin

andimage

andinstinct

limitof

mappingof

asopensystem

partieinferieur

partiesuperieur

andsacrificeofsatisfaction

somatic-spiritualscaleof

andspace-timecontinuum

andthespiritual(geistlich)

andsynchronicity

andtheunconscious

andtheworld

onpsychicenergy

archetypesassource

regressionof

transformationof

psychicexperiencesof

onthepsychoid

aspsychologicallifespantheorist

PsychologicalTypes

onpsychologicaltypes

OnthePsychologyandPathologyofSo-CalledOccultPhenomena

ThePsychologyofDementiaPraecox

PsychologyoftheUnconscious

“RedBook”

scientificempiricismof

ontheself(Self)

andanima/animus

asarchetype

diagramsof

andego

asempirical

asGod-image(imagoDei)

andindividuation

oppositesin

symbolsof

astranscendent

asunknownknower

aswholeness

onsexualmotives,transformationof

ontheshadow

creationof

andego,relationbetween

andevil

andpersona

andprojection

andshame

onthesoul(seeJung:onthepsyche)

sourcesofthought

onsubpersonalities

onsymbols

SymbolsofTransformation

onsynchronicity

asacausal

andarchetypes

andclustersofevents

andcompensation

andcontinuity

definitionofbroadnarrow

andmeaning

andorder

andpsyche

andthepsychoid

andrelativitytheory

andtensionofopposites

themeofuniversality

andtheoryofrelativity

trainingof

TwoEssaysinAnalyticalPsychology

ontheunconscious

aprioriknowledgeof

collective

andcomplexes

andfamilyenvironment

formativeelementsin

andhousedream

modificationof

andneurosis

aspredictable

sourcesof

themesin

andverbalstimuli

unifiedvisionof

ontheunusmundus(unifiedcosmos)

WandlungenundSymbolischederLibido(PSychologyoftheUnconscious)

onwill

WordAssociationExperiment

TheZofingiaLectures

JungInstitute

Kant,Immanuel

Kennedy,JohnF.

Kepler,Johannes

Lao-tsu

Levy-Bruhl,Lucien

libido(seealsoFreud:onlibido;Jung:onlibido)

Lorenz,Konrad

Mahler,Margaret

mandalas(seealsoJung:onmandalas)

MaryMagdalene

Mephistopheles

Mesmer,Anton

Miller,MissFrank

Mithraism

Moses(biblical)

multiplepersonalitydisorder

andcomplexes

andego

andpsyche-somaconnections

Nietzsche,Friedrich

AlsoSprachZarathustra

nous

participationmystique

(seealsoJung:onconsciousness,fivestagesof)

Paul(biblical)

Pauli,Wolfgang

persona(seealsoJung:onthepersona)

Philemon

Picasso,Pablo

ThePictureofDorianGray

Plato

possession

Preiswerk,Helene

psyche(soul)(seealsoJung:onthepsyche)

andbody

andenergy

asuniquelyhuman

psychicenergy(seealsoJung:onpsychicenergy)

Pythagoriandoctrines

Rauschenbach,Emma

Rhine,J.B.

Rilke,RainerMaria

Schiller,Friedrichvon

Schopenhauer,Arthur

Seelig,Carl

Shakespeare,WilliamOthello

Socrates

soul(Seele)andspirit(Geist)

(seealsoJung:onthe

psyche)

Spielrein,Sabina

Sputnik

Stalin,Joseph

synchronicity.SeeJung:onsynchronicity

Talleyrand,CharlesMauricede

Theseus

Tillich,Paul

Tourette’sSyndrome

unconscious(seealsoJung:ontheunconscious)

Wagner,Richard

Watson,JohnBroadus

White,WilliamAlanson

Wilson,WilliamG.

Wolff,Toni

Wundt,Wilhelm

Ziehen,Theodor

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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData

Stein,Murray,1943—

Jung’smapofthesoul:anintroduction/MurrayStein.

p.cm.

Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.

eISBN:978-0-812-69707-0

1.Psychoanalysis.2.Jungianpsychology.3.Jung.C.G.(CarlGustav),1875—1961I.Title

BF173.S1998

150.19’34—dc21

97-51485

CIP