Carl G. Jung: A Brief Introduction to His Ideas

Carl G. Jung: A Brief Introduction to His Ideas

by Donivan Bessinger

* Model of the psyche
* Personality types

Carl G. Jung (1875-1961), a psychiatrist of Zurich, Switzerland, was the founder of analytical psychology. Early in his career, Jung worked closely with Freud, but later went his own way after developing new theories about the deep unconscious.

Freud considered religious expression to arise from neurotic "illusion". By contrast, Jung considered it to arise from the psyche's inner drive toward a healthy balance of individual consciousness and the collective unconscious.

The collective unconscious, or objective psyche, is shared by all humankind. This instinctual heritage includes certain definite patterns, or archetypes, which govern the way symbols and psychic images are processed. Studies of dream and myth show these same patterns from all cultures and all eras of human history. Recognizing these archetypal patterns is the key to understanding dreams and the process of individuation.

The process of fulfillment, taking place over the course of a lifetime, is the striving toward a personal unity of consciousness and unconsciousness, and of the person with the Whole. Though Jung called it individuation, it can also be called the Journey into Wholeness.

Jung's Model of the Psyche

When I think of "myself," I am thinking of the part of me which I am conscious of. That is my ego (Latin for "I"). But there is more to me than that ...

There is also my persona (Greek for "mask") which hides my ego from the outer world. I actively maintain that mask, according to the conventions of family, society, profession, etc.

There is also my personal unconscious, which contains forgotten or never-conscious experiences of various kinds, but which is uniquely my own. And then, there is the collective unconscious which connects me with the whole human experience.

Within this unconscious realm there are several different "structures." Though the Self is the whole person, conscious and unconscious together, it also acts as center, seeking to organize the whole.

Each of us has both masculine and feminine elements in the psyche. Though the appropriate one becomes incorporated into the conscious ego, the other expresses itself as an unconscious focus of creative energy, serving the balance of ego and Self. Jung gave the name anima to the feminine center of a man, and animus to the masculine center of a woman.

But there is also my Shadow. In a sense, the Shadow is all of that which is "dark" (unconscious) to me; but in a more special sense, it can be an activated center ("complex") energized by repressed feelings, anger, old hurts, etc. If not recognized as such (made conscious), its energy can be projected onto others. Then the faults I see in other people are really the mirror image of my own. My first task of individuation is to "own my own shadow."

Personality Type

Jung showed that all humans, regardless of race, culture, etc. fall into certain types or personality patterns, based on these opposing pairs of characteristics:

* Our general attitude toward the world tends to be either introverted or extraverted. The extraverted person tends to be more outer-directed and action-oriented, while an introverted person is more likely to be comfortable with solitude and inner reflection.

* We deal with incoming information by sensing and by intuition . The sensing function deals with incoming information in a strict item-by-item fashion ("just the facts" and "just give me the evidence"); while the intuition function works to "get it all together". Since these are more or less automatic, not requiring rational process, they are called the "nonrational" functions.

* We process information by thinking and by valuing (or "feeling"). Both of these involve rational process, but the thinking function is more direct, logical, and linear, while the valuing function "weighs" information in nonlinear ways.

We all have the capacity for all of the functions, but one or the other in each of these pairs is naturally easier. We habitually rely on that preferred function.

These personality types are tested by the Meyers-Briggs Personality Inventory, which also scores whether the "rational" set ( judging type) or the "nonrational" set ( perceiving type) is the stronger. These types are designated by initials, such as INTJ or ESFP. There are sixteen possible combinations.

Jung taught that the process of healing and wholeness requires balancing each of these functions. The weaker function of each pair is usually unconscious. I must become conscious of it if I am to make a balanced life.

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