The narrow use of the term ego in analytical psychology: the 'not-I' is also who I am

This paper(1) explores some aspects of the narrowness of Jung's usage of the term ego and the consequences which are understood to follow there from. Jung is understood to see the ego as a surface phenomenon and, essentially, as the focal point of consciousness, not recognizing its potential to function more broadly, deeply, and unconsciously. Furthermore, although he does recognize the ego as 'the total conscious personality' his use of the term frequently does not reflect that definition. Whilst Jung's analysis of the narrowly functioning ego is enlightening and groundbreaking, he treats this narrow functioning as if it is characteristic of the ego itself, ascribing any 'broad functioning' primarily to the Self. This narrow use of the term ego, and the corresponding use of the term Self, are understood to have significant consequences for clinical practice, including leading the analyst into an over-identification with the patient and a loss of the analyst's sense of self. It is also understood to lead to difficulties dealing with more disturbed individuals, to stuck and broken down analyses, to wear and tear on the analyst and, potentially, splits between the different schools of analytical psychology. These concerns all represent difficulties with working in the transference, and Jung's own experience of this is briefly explored.     

The unmourned wound: Reflections on the psychology of Adolf Hitler

Fifty years after his death by suicide, Adolf Hitler continues to arouse profound feelings of revulsion and attraction. This paper is an exploration of Hitler's psyche from the perspective of a depth psychology. After examining analyses of Hilter's personality by Richard Rubenstein and Alice Miller, the argument is made that we need C.G. Jung's concept of psychic inflation to understand more fully Hitler's impact upon the world. Hitler is seen as inflated by the compensating energies of the Self in response to his deeply wounded ego, a wound he could not mourn. Consequently, he became identified with the dark and destructive energies of the Self which inflated and then usurped his ego. Hitler's demonic and destructive career resulted from that inflation, which he was not able to neutralize. The paper concludes with reflections on the role of mourning in protecting us from the experience of psychic inflation, especially by the Self in its dark and destructive aspects.     

Individuation: finding oneself in analysis--taking risks and making sacrifices

This paper looks at some of the processes that are at work in finding oneself in analysis. It explores Jung's unique contribution to our thinking about the self and its dynamic of individuation. The author attempts to show how the Self, in its quest for consciousness, requires the surrendering of ego inflation--the narcissistic delusion that the ego is the self. A case is made for seeing analysis as an individuation process which offers the opportunity for experiences of a more authentic sense of oneself. Jung stated that individuation requires the ego to enter into service of the Self. For this to happen, the author argues that both patient and analyst must be prepared to make sacrifices and take risks. Using clinical examples, he illustrates that, although purposive, the Self can be experienced as violent and destructive if the ego is unable to facilitate its expression. This may result in an individuation crisis for both analyst and patient. The paper demonstrates how impasse in analysis can evoke the transcendent function, which also requires sacrifices to be made and risks to be taken for analysis to proceed.     

The Individuation Process in Post-Modernity

C. G. Jung defined individuation as the process of differentiation from the general collective psychology—from the norms and the values of the society in which the individual is immersed. Accordingly, individuation occurs in relation to the culture of the time and the zeitgeist. During the second half of life, the process, according to Jung, takes the shape of a lifetime dynamic dialogue between the ego and the unconscious contents, aiming to reach psychic completeness. One of the participants in this dialogue is the ego, and since the ego necessarily develops inside a culture, this part of the individuation process also occurs in relation to the culture of the time. We are now fully immersed in post-modernity, and the zeitgeist is represented by the society of technology. In relation to this totally new scenario, do we still deal with the same individuation process described by Jung? How many of our patients confront themselves with the Self and its symbols, stepping toward some kind of psychic totality? This article hints at different forms of individuation reflective of our post-modern technologically dominated times, and it touches upon the concept of the end of meaning and the “death of God.” Considering this epochal passage, we might be compelled to outline a further form of individuation: that of a conscious revolt of the ego toward its basic ingredients (will to power, primary narcissism, and need of identity) and toward the old image of the Self, so similar to that God that should be dead.     

The timeliness and timelessness of the 'archaic': analytical psychology, 'primordial' thought, synchronicity

In 1930 Jung gave a lecture entitled 'Archaic Man' to the Lesezirkel in Hottingen. Following recent work on this text by two commentators, this article uses their interpretations as a springboard for a complementary reading, which emphasizes the fundamental significance of this paper as bridging the earlier and later stages in the development of analytical psychology, and examines closely the opposition between 'archaic'-'modern' in Jung's paper; indeed, in his work as a whole. In contrast to Lévy-Bruhl, Jung rejects the label of 'mysticism' as applied to the 'primitive' point of view, and his anti-mystical stance can be explained in terms of his dialectical conception of the relationship between Self and World. On this account, the subject and the object--the psyche and the external world--are more closely (inter)related than conventional (modern) epistemology and ontology generally believe. This conception of the relation between the subjective and the objective foreshadows his later, and controversial, concept of synchronicity, which is, Jung insists, a way of apprehending the world in terms of its meaning. Concluding with a survey of the status of the 'primordial' in some other texts by Jung, this article aims to foster further debate on one of Jung's most complex and fascinating texts.     

Psychotherapists and the clergy: Fifty years later

Jung's two powerful articles on psychotherapy and the clergy, written in 1928 and 1932. are looked at from the vantage point of fifty years later and the author's experience in conducting analysis with many people from both vocations. He notes that relatively few people achieve the kind of integration of the ego that Jung writes about-an essentially religious experience-wherein the center of their existence now gravitates about the Self. Yet Jung's work and views have had a profound effect on spiritually inclined people of all ages. The predictions of Jung's articles, regarding therapy, the dissemination of pyschology to the masses, and other issues are examined.     

Jungian metapsychology and neurobiological theory

This paper deals with brain research and depth psychology. Because brain research is becoming significantly more sophisticated and increasingly able to assay the neurobiology of subjective (i.e. mental) events in vivo , it is suggested that any school of depth psychology will probably not survive as a mainstream treatment modality if its theory and practice is found to be in frank variance with the findings of the modern neurosciences. Jung's psychology is compared to Freud's and shown to be reasonably consonant with such findings. Historical highlights of Jung's non-reductive way of conceptualizing and working are presented and put in the context of more recent scientifically defensible concepts (emergence, supervenience, complexity theory) from the fields of both philosophy of science and philosophy of mind. These concepts postulate a hierarchical model of reality which permits an exploration of the mind/brain relationship without resorting to reductionism or dualism. A sense of the present struggle is conveyed between the proponents of these and more traditional scientific concepts. Finally, the nature of mind/brain confluence is elucidated by examples from the areas of learning, memory, and the capacity to symbolize in order to illustrate how clinical practices and observations familiar to experienced depth therapists and also in agreement with Jungian theory are compatible with neuroscientific findings. A research suggestion is offered.     

Authentic Humor as an Expression of Spiritual Maturity

SUMMARY

Erikson's understanding of ego integrity and Fowler's depiction of conjunctive faith provide theoretical insights into the holistic nature of spiritual maturity. In order to ground the theory in the actual experience of aging persons, this paper demonstrates, how authentic humor represents an expression of spiritual maturity. Authentic humor can articulate the trust, hope and the faith of elders who maintain a sense of meaning and wholeness despite the changes, losses and suffering which often accompany the aging process. Persons who possess the resource of authentic humor experience the paradoxicalities of aging without yielding to despair.     

Jung in the academy: devotions and resistances

Jung's position in the contemporary mainstream English-speaking university is problematical indeed. For various historical and ideological reasons, Jung is generally not included in the courses in academic psychology, and in the humanities and social sciences his reception is lukewarm to say the least. He has only a marginal place in religious studies. This notorious academic resistance to Jung is compensated, some would say overcompensated, by student interest and enthusiasm, which sometimes seeks to make a religious dogma out of Jung's psychology. In a sense, cynical resistance to Jung and fanatical devotion to Jung can be seen to generate each other in a sort of binary opposition. This situation is unfortunate because neither extreme presents a fair or balanced view of Jung's thought or of his contribution to intellectual history. These and other problems associated with the teaching of Jung in a university setting are briefly outlined in this paper.     

Stern on “Self”

ABSTRACT

Self is a notion of common-sense psychology that several schools of psychoanalysis have built into their theories. Stern explores and expands its meaning, tracing its development back to birth and even earlier, and outlining how the psychological development of the preverbal infant contributes to its evolution. In the process, Stern discusses two perspectives on preverbal infant psychology—that of the observational empiricist developmental psychologist, and that of the reconstructing psychoanalytic clinician working from the subjective experience of adult patients, and what each might contribute to the other. His thinking suggests the importance of nonverbal models of infant (and, eventually, adult) subjective experience.     

Depression: A Discussion of Jung''s Ideas

Depression is differentiated into normal and pathological. Pathological depression is further divided into simple and melancholic. The characteristics of each disordered form are described. Jung's ideas on depression are described in terms of this theoretical standpoint. The concepts used by Jung to explain depression are derived from his libido theory. Through introversion unconscious contents necessary to compensate a one-sided attitude of the ego are made conscious. Introversion depletes the ego of its energy. Depression is the depleted ego's experience of itself. Jung's theory is useful to explain normal depression associated to the process of transformation. It has also been extended to explain disorders of depression via the concept of involuntary or forced introversion in the service of compensation. His therapeutic approach consisted of rectifying the imbalance of psychic energy by helping the ego to integrate unconscious contents. The subsequent accrual of psychic energy redresses the problem of the ego's depletion and depression eases. In the discussion, Jung's contributions to the understanding of depression are recognised, especially his insight into the relationship between normal depression and the process of transformation. The explanatory limitations of Jung's ideas for depressive disorder are also recognised and discussed in relation to aetiology, introversion-extraversion, aggression and psychotherapy. Current clinical information suggests that a theory of depression needs to integrate and also to reformulate some of Jung's ideas.     

Meaning making,self‐determination theory,and the question of wisdom in personality

Self‐determination theory (SDT) has advanced the most comprehensive model of motives for human flourishing in the field of personality psychology and beyond. In this article, we evaluate SDT relative to the process of meaning making, particularly from a narrative perspective, showing what SDT can and cannot explain about the construction of self‐identity and its relation to human flourishing. On the one hand, SDT explains how subjective assessments of need fulfillment drive the process of self‐determined living. The internal motives that follow such fulfillment serve as important themes in people's life stories that predict several markers of hedonic and eudaimonic well‐being. On the other hand, SDT's focus on subjective fulfillment limits what SDT can explain about how wisdom, which is a canonical good of both eudaimonia and meaning making, helps people make sense of life's more difficult or unfulfilling events. SDT may facilitate a facet of wisdom that is more subjective and experiential but not the critical facet of wisdom defined by objectively more complex structures of interpretation.     

Jung's shadow: negation and narcissism of the Self

The cave walls of prehistoric man record two contrasting hand impressions: the one positive - a direct imprint; the other negative - a blank defined by a halo of colour. Jung's disturbed, displaced contact with his mother led to a struggle in establishing an integrated sense of 'I'; instead to create a sense of Self he brilliantly contrived to illuminate the darkness around that blank impress. The resulting lifework, enhanced by Jung's multifarious capacities as artist and philosopher as well as physician, is deeply impressive; yet Winnicott (1964) in his review of Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1963) nevertheless alludes to Jung's 'own need to search for a self with which to know' (p. 450). Passages from the autobiography are considered that appear to corroborate Winnicott's contention that Jung had a 'blank', potentially psychotic, core. Yet it is also argued that the psychoanalytic mainstream has undervalued the subtlety and creativity of Jung's own intuitive response to his shadow and that a sympathetic appreciation of this can still valuably inform our contemporary approaches to narcissistic disorders, especially dissociation.     

Self as the feminine principle

In analytical psychology, ego is associated with consciousness and the masculine principle. Although die feminine principle generally characterizes the unconscious, it was not assigned a psychic structure equivalent to the ego. This paper proposes a model of the psyche where self and ego are the major modes of psychic experience. The self as the 'being' mode represents the feminine principle and functions according to primary process; the ego represents 'doing', the masculine principle and secondary process. Feminine and masculine principles are considered to be of equal significance in both men and women and are not limited to gender.
Jung's concept of the self is related to the Hindu metaphysical concepts of Atman and Brahman, whose source was the older Aryan nature-oriented, pagan religion. The prominence of self in analytical psychology and its predominantly 'feminine' symbolism can be understood as Jung's reaction to the psychoanalytic emphasis on ego and to Freud's 'patriarchal' orientation. In Kabbalah, a similar development took place when the feminine principle of the Shekinah emerged in a central, redemptive role, as a mythic compensation to the overtly patriarchal Judaic religion.
In the proposed model of the psyche neither ego nor self represents the psychic totality. The interplay of both psychic modes/principles constitutes the psyche and the individuation process.     

The self, the psyche and the world: a phenomenological interpretation

Abstract :  This paper takes as its starting point Jung's definition of the self as the totality of the psyche. However, because the term psyche remains conceptually unclear the concept of the self as totality, origin and goal, even centre, remains vague. With reference to Heidegger's analysis of human being as  Dasein , as well as Jung's writings, it is argued that Jung's concept of psyche is not a synonym for mind but is the world in which we live psychologically. An understanding of the psyche as existentially situated requires us to rethink some features of the self. For instance, the self as origin is thus not a pre-existential integrate of pure potentiality but the original gathering of existence in which, and out of which, personal identity is constituted. The ego emerges out of the self as the development and ownership of aspects of an existence that is already situated and gathered. Relations between the ego and the self are about what is known, or admitted, and its relation with what is already being lived within the gathering that is existence. The self as psyche, origin, and centre are discussed, as well as the meaning of interiority. Epistemological assumptions of object relations theory are critically discussed. The paper also includes critical discussions of recent papers on the self.     

Transference, the transcendent function, and transcendence

People in analysis come into direct contact with the transcendent – that which surpasses not only our ego consciousness but the whole psyche – through the transcendent function working in the transference–countertransference field. Reductive and synthetic methods of interpretation of transference, in both objective and subjective levels of meaning, inaugurate moving the ego out of center stage into the process of relating to the Self. The transcendent function is the means of enlarging psychic space in the transference field to make room for coinciding opposites and a 'creative solution' that arises from their conversation. That solution, or set of symbols, addresses us with such compelling authority that Jung likens it to 'the voice of God', A clinical case illustrates the connection of transference, the transcendent function, and the experience of the transcendent which, I believe, we must identify as such in order to go on relating to it.     

Understanding Creativity in the Workplace: An Examination of Individual Styles and Training in Relation to Creative Confidence and Creative Self‐Leadership

Creative Self‐Leadership and Creative Confidence were examined in relation to Creative Style Preference and Training. It was hypothesized that perceptions of Creative Self‐Leadership and Creative Confidence were related to personal Creative Style Preferences and that Training would be associated with higher levels of Creative Self‐Leadership and Creative Confidence. Data were collected from two groups of individuals, one with Creative Self‐ Leadership Training, one without. Results indicated that a Creative Style Preference tending toward Innovator was positively related to Creative Confidence, but at a low level and only in the condition prior to training. Training was related to higher scores on Creative Self‐Leadership.     

Dissociation and the self in the magical pre-Oedipal field

This paper explores the clinical relevance of Jung's idea of the Self in pre-Oedipal and pre-individuation psychology. Incorporating data from neurobiology and recent theories of memory and narrative reconstruction, a post-modern conception of the Self is proposed akin to what Jung called a 'dream of totality'. Such a conception of the Self is distinguished from a reified structure or a deified imago, and is considered to be that aspect of psychological functioning consonant with emerging meanings, and the birth of new psychological ground. Links are made back to Flournoy, William James, and depth psychology's early interest in teleology, the occult, and the creative capacities of the psyche. Updating this mystery tradition, clinical material illustrates how narratives of the Self are present in such pre-Oedipal dynamics as dissociation and projective identification. These dynamics are understood not only as primitive defences but as reconstitutive symbolic metaphors and mythopoetic expressions of an emergent rather than a superordinate Self.     

The emergence of new intentions in subjective experience: A social/personal constructionist and relational understanding

As part of the larger project to revision vocational psychology for a new era, a process referred to as the emergence of new intentions in subjective experience is defined and described. It is proposed that this process is central to the ongoing construction and reconstruction of lives in the changing landscape of the times. Following an elaboration of the meaning of emergence of new intentions in subjective experience through comparison to related constructs and theories, a social/personal constructionist and relational understanding of this process is developed. The article concludes by addressing implications for vocational psychology practice.