The group's search for wholeness: A Jungian perspective

In attempting to address a common group concept from a Jungian perspective, this paper starts by taking competing models as all contributing to laying the foundations of a generally accepted general theory. The theory of the invisible group as elaborated by Agazarian and Peters is taken as one of the most clearly stated models of the group-as-a-whole, and Jung's more obscure concepts of the self, the archetypes, individuation and the collective unconscious are used, not as a competing theory, but as a way of enlarging and enriching what is already known. First an outline of the invisible group theory is given. The theoretical clarity of this model is then contrasted with the richness of the group's fantasies about itself, and it is suggested that these point to a group self which represents the group-as-a-whole. Seen in this way, there are many similarities with Jung's treatment of individuation at an individual level, which are drawn out. Although Jung's model is more difficult to grasp in its paradoxes, it is often nearer to the experience of the group as it continuously and progressively defines itself. Finally, the limitations of models that try to define the group-as-a-whole are examined by looking at the boundaries between the group-as-an-individual and the outside world, which parallels Jung's attempts to view the self as both being the individual and transcending the limits of the individual, so that the group can be seen to develop in its search for wholeness.