Nexus, Colorado's Holistic Health and Spirituality Journal

July/August 2005

Jung and the journey of the soul

By Roz Brown

I have always been partial to the phrase, “I was beside myself.” Not because I like to be in that state-of-mind, but because when used appropriately, it’s so symbolically accurate. When I hear it, I often think of grief, death and funerals. We have all witnessed those situations—when friends and loved ones were in so much pain that in order to get through it, they were almost literally required to be “beside themselves.” In that moment, the timeworn phrase can be fully appreciated.

That sort of symbolic imagery or archetype within the unconscious is at the heart of Jungian psychology, and treatment through Jungian psychotherapy.

It was Sigmund Freud who opened our eyes to modern psychological concepts, but it was Carl Jung who really turned our heads. Freud and Jung were both intensely interested in how the mind works and why some adults develop and exhibit neurotic behaviors. But their ultimate conclusions were not compatible, which eventually led to an uncomfortable split between the two men.

The irreconcilable break might have been painful, but it led Jung on a transformational journey to develop a more metaphysical and spiritual path in treating patients through what is now known as “depth psychology.”

Jung was born in Switzerland in 1875 to a well-educated, if eccentric, family. He wanted to study archeology, but instead took up medicine, eventually settling on psychiatry as his career. He obtained a position at the renowned Burghoeltzli Institute in Zurich and began working with patients suffering from schizophrenia. He eventually decided that the images described by patients were not so much mental illness as a crisis of the soul and needed to be taken seriously. In an attempt to treat the suffering, he began conducting word association research that resulted in a correspondence with Freud.

After moving to Vienna in 1906, Jung began a professional relationship with Freud and appeared to be his natural successor in the psychoanalytic movement. They both understood the profound role the unconscious played in psychiatry and gave credence to a patient’s dreams. Freud, however, related neurosis back to repressed, infantile sexuality—penis envy and all that. Jung eventually could not accept such a dark view. His ideas were more progressive, even optimistic. He believed sexual desire took a back seat to the will to survive, or self-realization. You might say that Jung gave human beings more credit for being complex creatures and paid more attention to current, adult problems than childhood conflicts.

After their split in 1913, Jung began his own journey into the unconscious psyche, a journey that resulted in his theories on archetypes, complexes, the collective unconscious and the individuation process. To better understand the symbolism he encountered working with his patient’s dreams, he studied mythology, religion, fairy tales, alchemical texts, tarot, the I Ching,

astrology and just about anything he could get his hands on.

And hands-on is pretty much what Jungian psychotherapy is about. It’s an experience-based, analytical approach to the psyche, as it concerns the soul—unlike Freud’s traditional psychoanalysis.

“The psyche is like a card dealer,” says one local Jungian therapist. “It deals you the cards, and then you need the knowledge to know what’s been dealt to you and how to play your hand.”

Jung’s approach may be especially useful for people who are in the deepest pain and are thus the most motivated to find a way out of that pain. But there are no limits as to who can benefit. Some Jungian therapists see pain as a call from the psyche, signaling a need for growth. Jung said it still more forcefully more than 50 years ago: “Anyone who wants to know the human psyche will learn next to nothing from experimental psychology,” he said. “He would be better advised to abandon exact science, put away his scholar’s gown, bid farewell to his study, and wander with human heart throughout the world. There in the horrors of prisons, lunatic asylums and hospitals, in drab suburban pubs, in brothels and gambling-hells, in the salons of the elegant, the Stock Exchanges, socialist meetings, churches, revivalist gatherings and ecstatic sects, through love and hate, through the experience of passion in every form in his own body, he would reap richer

stores of knowledge than text-books a foot thick could give him, and he will know how to doctor the sick with a real knowledge of the human soul.”

Jung divided the psyche into three parts: the ego, identified with the conscious mind; the personal unconscious, which includes anything that is not presently conscious but could be; and the collective unconscious. He believed the collective unconscious was a sort of myth-inspiring level of mind shared by the whole human race.

The contents of the collective unconscious are called archetypes. Jung’s major archetypes include:

€ The Anima/Animus: The anima is the feminine aspect present in the collective unconscious of men. Likewise, the animus represents the masculine aspect of the female.

€ The Mother: Symbolized by the primordial mother or “earth mother” of mythology.

€ The Shadow: This dark side of the ego that holds all aspects of your personality that your consciousness can’t tolerate.

€ The Trickster: The Trickster’s function is to defy the rules or make trouble.

There are also the father, family, child, hero and wise elder, to name just a few. Of course, the most important archetype is the self, symbolized by the circle, the cross and Jung’s personal favorite, the mandala. In fact, Jung's discovery of the mandala provided the key to his entire system.

"I had to abandon the idea of the superordinate position of the

ego...” Jung wrote. “I saw that everything, all paths I had been following, all steps I had taken, were leading back to a single point—namely, to the mid-point. It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the center. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the center, to individuation... I knew that in finding the mandala as an expression of the self I had attained what was for me the ultimate."

Jung’s brand of psychoanalysis encourages clients to examine past experiences in order to confront deep-seated personal issues affecting their identity. Transference or projection is a crucial element. Jung suggested that we all have aspects of ourselves that we find unacceptable, and that the “shadow,” which is repressed, has to be integrated if we are to make profound changes or find our true self.

“Projection is a function of the unconscious,” says one practitioner. “I do not do it in consciousness. When I discover it exists, then I can discover for instance that my neighbor is not the bad guy. As you’ll recall, Jesus is attributed with saying, ŒTake the plank out of your own eye before you work on your neighbor’s splinter.’ That was a way of talking about projection before we had the language that we do now.”

With wholeness as the ultimate goal, Jung considered that at each stage of our lives we’re asked to look at different aspects of our development. He classified personalities in two types, introvert and extrovert, and said that in later years cultural and spiritual needs become paramount. Dream-work is, of course, an important aspect of Jungian psychotherapy. It was Jung’s theory that dreams hold the key to various problems experienced in an individual’s life.

So who and why would a person pursue Jungian psychotherapy?

Reasons might include life-altering events, an overwhelming decision to be made, anxiety, depression and other psychological disorders, neurological problems, or stress and stress-related disorders. Or perhaps you have a history of relationship problems and want to understand why. In addition, because the mind-body relationship is so strong, many physical conditions will also respond.

Jungian psychotherapists usually train for four years, but do not necessarily have a degree and may specialize in a variety of techniques. Psychoanalysts train from five to seven years at a recognized institution. Both have typically undergone therapy as part of their training. They pay has much attention to what clients say as to what they don’t say, and offer suggestions between present behavior and past events. Sessions usually last between 50 and 60 minutes, and are held at least once a week. Length of treatment varies widely, from a few months to several years or more. Also, the hourly rate varies from around $90 per hour to $300 per hour. When choosing a practitioner ask about training and qualifications, and whether he or she belongs to a professional body.

One therapist describes Jungian psychotherapy as a practice that is demanding, ruthless and rewarding.

“Dreams are central, and dreams can be ruthless,” she says. She nonetheless quotes Jungian analyst Edward Edinger, founding member of the C.G. Jung Foundation, in understanding their importance. “Edinger believed that dreams were a letter from God, and it was important to at least open the letter,” she says.

If you’re motivated to do the work, Jungian therapy can help you. But it’s not a quick fix; most Jungian work is a lifetime endeavor. And unlike other forms of therapy, Jungian work may employ many different modalities. One therapist tells of a client who would buy rocks, burn sage, and invite the great mother to appear.

“In one meditative state, this great feminine figure advised her to pour her woes into a fire. The great mother then took her hand, led her through the fire and into a beautiful green meadow. This image is so appropriate for our time because the fire represents a way to transform our anxieties while the green meadow suggests hope and renewal. If people have the grace, they can be helped by this at many different levels.”

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