I must begin by disclosing that I am not a fan of Sigmund Freud. Although the man had a tremendous impact on contemporary culture, his almost puerile obsession with sex as the cause of ALL psychological difficulty is almost laughable if it didn't have such a negative impact on women. For example, in Freud’s paper "The Psychical Consequences of the Anatomic Distinction Between the Sexes," Freud wrote, "Women oppose change, receive passively, and add nothing of their own." Don't even get me started on his penis envy argument… But I digress.
So I was interested to hear how Jung described their relationship and how he finally broke his connection with Freud. It appeared that Jung was initially drawn to Freud after he wrote "The Interpretation of Dreams." Jung had already begun his work on the aspect of repression as it becomes unveiled through dreams. However, even from the beginning, Jung did not agree with Freud as to the cause of the repression which Freud viewed as solely sexual trauma. Nevertheless, the two eventually met and had an instant liking. At the first meeting they talked for 13 hours. I envision Jung, who was much younger than Freud, enamored by Freud's confidence and intellect. Freud probably equally liked Jung’s intellect, but more importantly his attention and admiration. Jung writes, "Freud was the first man of real importance I had encountered; in my experience up to that time, no one else could compare with him." He was an enigma and Jung liked to unravel puzzles. You will see that he succeeds yet again to unravel Freud.
Throughout this relationship Jung continued to have reservations about the sexual theme in Freud's work, but Freud “pooh-poohed” his reservation as due to inexperience. In addition (and not surprisingly), Jung was equally concerned about Freud's views regarding spirituality. In discussing Freud, Jung said, " whenever, in a person or in a work of art, an expression of spirituality (in the intellectual, not in the supernatural sense) came to light, he suspected it, and insinuated that it was repressed sexuality." Freud was emotionally involved in his sexual theory in an extreme way desiring Jung to stand firm making a "dogma of it, an unshakable bulwark...against the black tide of mud of occultism." [Really, Sigmund?] Jung identified this fervor as Freud's identification of sexuality as a "sort of numinosum." Jung viewed Freud's obsession as equally occult, by which he meant that is an unproven hypothesis. It was Freud’s bitter obsession that kept him from the other side of his personality which was more mystical. Jung believed that unless Freud embraced his mystical side, he would remain bitter and unreconciled.
Jung describes an paranormal experience he had with Freud. There was a sound in a bookcase that Jung identified as a "catalytic exteriorisation phenomenon." Freud, of course was incredulous. Jung then predicted with certainty that another loud sound would occur which it precipitously did. Then on another occasion when Jung and Freud were dining together, Jung began to discuss some "peat-bog corpses" that were found mummified in Germany. [I know, I know...but the man was fascinated by nature.] Freud was upset by the topic of conversation and fainted. Freud interpreted the fainting as the result of Jung's death wish for Freud as based on the corpse conversation. He later fainted at another event when the conversation was about Amenophis IV and whether he had murdered his father. Obviously, the “death wish” issue was a reoccurring theme for Freud. Freud expressed his desire for Jung to be his intellectual heir, a desire that was difficult for Jung who wished to blaze his own trail. However, the final breach for Jung came when they were at a conference together and agreed to interpret each others dreams. Freud was unable to provide any insight into Jung's dreams which were highly symbolic of a collective nature. When Jung attempted to analyze Freud's dream he commented to him that it would help if he knew more about Freud's personal history. To this, Freud exclaimed, "But I can not risk my authority." Bad choice of words. Jung believed Freud was placing "personal authority above truth.”
It was during this time that Jung had a dream which ultimately lead him to his idea of the "collective unconscious." The dream contained two skulls which Jung viewed as a representation of a primitive culture. Freud, yet again, felt that it was a death wish for two unnamed individuals. He would not let this ideas go until Jung gave two people's names who he “wished” dead. Jung felt badly telling Freud a lie but made the disclaimer just to get him off his back." It would have been impossible for me to afford him any insight into my mental world. The gulf between it and his was too great." Freud was contented with the disclosure and no longer discussed it. Freud believed the meaning of dreams was hidden and beyond the understanding of the conscious mind. By contrast, Jung believed that dreams were a symbolic language to bring awareness from the unconscious to the conscious mind.
Soon Jung began to study archeology and mythology which lead him to writing the "Psychology of the Unconscious." He had a dream which had a significant personal impact and foretold the ultimate breakup of his relationship with Freud. Jung pondered the dream carefully for quite some time and realized that he had given Freud an authority over him that could not continue. From the dream he discovered that "my whole being was seeking for something still unknown which might confer meaning upon the banality of life." Jung’s unraveling of Freud described him as suffering from a neurosis, something Freud himself believed was part of all humanity. Jung was not contented with that assertion and was more interested in learning how to assist patients in escaping their neurosis rather than simply identifying it.
During this time period the ultimate break occurred when Jung expressed in writing a contradiction to Freud’s views. Jung’s book dealt with incest in which he wrote about the “significance of incest as a symbol.” “But my main concern,” he wrote has been to investigate, over and about its [that is sexuality] personal significance and biological function, its spiritual aspect and its numinous meaning.” With that he was ostracized by the community of Freudians and off again on his independent and highly individual journey.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Chapter IV: Psychiatric Activities
I really enjoyed this chapter. It illuminates Jung's working style and his approach to therapy as determined during his years at Burgholzli. The question he began asking as "What actually takes place inside the mentally ill?" This was not a question that was given much thought during this time. The treatment options were limited and primitive by today's standard. The patient as an individual was not given much concern. Jung believed that a patient comes into therapy with a story that needs to be told. "To my mind, therapy only really begins after the investigation of that wholly personal story. It is the patient's secret, the rock against which he is shattered. If I know his secret story, I have a key to the treatment."
In the early 1900's, Jung became a lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Zurich. He started to teach courses on hypnosis in addition to other topics. Interestingly enough, he used hypnosis to acquire the personal history of his patients, not as a tool to uncover the unconscious, myth, archetypes or personal symbols. He had a very interesting experience with a woman who identified with Jung in a very specific way. So much so that any time he even talked about hypnosis, she entered into a deep trance. She was highly suggestible to him. She appeared to describe her dreams and unconscious state, but at this time he did not yet understand her disclosure. He had difficulty awakening her from the trance, but when he finally did he spoke authoritatively that he was the doctor and that everything was alright. In response, the woman cried out that she was cured! He didn't understand what had happened and shortly afterwards abandoned hypnosis. I think that is regrettable, for it might have been of major importance in his uncovering the unconscious mind. However, Jung gave it up because he could not quantify the results – experiential analysis was of great importance to him. He did not like to work with uncertainty. The woman came back at another time and a similar experience occurred. Later Jung uncovered that the woman identified him as her desired son (her son was mentally ill). He explained this to her and she no longer suffered any relapse. The story of Jung’s success soon got around his community and consequently his private practice became very large.
Jung was willing to stretch the boundaries of what was considered standard medical treatment, if he believed it was in the patient's best interest. In one situation an alcoholic patient had a domineering mother. He discharged the patient with a medical certificate stating that he could no longer work with his mother. The patient was then able to finally separate from his mother and experience a new and successful career.
Jung contended that while a clinical diagnosis was helpful to the physician, it did not assist the patient. To Jung, the most important factor was the patient's story which detailed the human element of suffering. A personality and life history lies behind any clinical diagnosis. His approach was to work with each patient as one human being to another understanding their motivations.
In 1909 Jung began to understand that he "could not treat latent psychoses if [he] did not understand their symbolism." These discoveries lead to his study of mythology. Jung said that the therapist must first understand him/herself. "The patient's treatment begins with the doctor, so to speak. Only if the doctor knows how to cope with himself and his own problems will he be able to teach the patient to do the same." The therapist, therefore, must keep track of himself - observing his reactions, dreams and unconscious behavior toward the patient. The therapist must look at what the patient brings to him. "The doctor is effective only when he himself is affected."
Jung was an intuitive (hence the "N" component in his INFJ personality type). He tells a story of a patient who committed suicide and how he awoke with a pain in his head at the very time of the occurrence. His dreams also proved to be instructive in the way he tailored his therapy towards individual patients. For example, one woman had a great deal of neurosis. In this instance Jung shared a dream he had of her being a goddess and within a week she was cured. He writes, "She knew only the intellect and lived a meaningless life. In reality she was a child of God whose destiny was to fulfill His secret will. I had to awaken mythological and religious ideas in her, for she belonged to that class of human beings of whom spiritual activity is demanded. Thus her life took on a meaning, and no trace of the neurosis was left." Many of his patients were people who had lost their faith. They were missing the symbolic life. I wonder how many of us are missing that very component in our lives today.
Jung writes that many neurotics would not have been neurotic in another age, because man today is not part of myth and nature. This causes a division of self. "I am speaking of those who cannot tolerate the loss of myth and she can neither find a way to a merely exterior world, to the world as seen by science, not rest satisfied with an intellectual juggling with words, which has nothing whatsoever to do with wisdom." Further he talks about how people with neurosis may achieve success and position in their lives but still remain neurotic. "Such people are usually confined within too narrow a spiritual horizon. Their life has not sufficient content, sufficient meaning. If they are enabled to develop into more spacious personalities, the neurosis generally disappears. For that reason the idea of development was always of the highest importance to me." Although Jung was working within an environment of pathology, his words remain relevant to all of us who are on the journey to individuation through personal and spiritual growth.
And finally, it is during this time period that Jung became interested in the writings of Freud, especially his research into dreams and hysteria. But that is food for another chapter…
In the early 1900's, Jung became a lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Zurich. He started to teach courses on hypnosis in addition to other topics. Interestingly enough, he used hypnosis to acquire the personal history of his patients, not as a tool to uncover the unconscious, myth, archetypes or personal symbols. He had a very interesting experience with a woman who identified with Jung in a very specific way. So much so that any time he even talked about hypnosis, she entered into a deep trance. She was highly suggestible to him. She appeared to describe her dreams and unconscious state, but at this time he did not yet understand her disclosure. He had difficulty awakening her from the trance, but when he finally did he spoke authoritatively that he was the doctor and that everything was alright. In response, the woman cried out that she was cured! He didn't understand what had happened and shortly afterwards abandoned hypnosis. I think that is regrettable, for it might have been of major importance in his uncovering the unconscious mind. However, Jung gave it up because he could not quantify the results – experiential analysis was of great importance to him. He did not like to work with uncertainty. The woman came back at another time and a similar experience occurred. Later Jung uncovered that the woman identified him as her desired son (her son was mentally ill). He explained this to her and she no longer suffered any relapse. The story of Jung’s success soon got around his community and consequently his private practice became very large.
Jung was willing to stretch the boundaries of what was considered standard medical treatment, if he believed it was in the patient's best interest. In one situation an alcoholic patient had a domineering mother. He discharged the patient with a medical certificate stating that he could no longer work with his mother. The patient was then able to finally separate from his mother and experience a new and successful career.
Jung contended that while a clinical diagnosis was helpful to the physician, it did not assist the patient. To Jung, the most important factor was the patient's story which detailed the human element of suffering. A personality and life history lies behind any clinical diagnosis. His approach was to work with each patient as one human being to another understanding their motivations.
In 1909 Jung began to understand that he "could not treat latent psychoses if [he] did not understand their symbolism." These discoveries lead to his study of mythology. Jung said that the therapist must first understand him/herself. "The patient's treatment begins with the doctor, so to speak. Only if the doctor knows how to cope with himself and his own problems will he be able to teach the patient to do the same." The therapist, therefore, must keep track of himself - observing his reactions, dreams and unconscious behavior toward the patient. The therapist must look at what the patient brings to him. "The doctor is effective only when he himself is affected."
Jung was an intuitive (hence the "N" component in his INFJ personality type). He tells a story of a patient who committed suicide and how he awoke with a pain in his head at the very time of the occurrence. His dreams also proved to be instructive in the way he tailored his therapy towards individual patients. For example, one woman had a great deal of neurosis. In this instance Jung shared a dream he had of her being a goddess and within a week she was cured. He writes, "She knew only the intellect and lived a meaningless life. In reality she was a child of God whose destiny was to fulfill His secret will. I had to awaken mythological and religious ideas in her, for she belonged to that class of human beings of whom spiritual activity is demanded. Thus her life took on a meaning, and no trace of the neurosis was left." Many of his patients were people who had lost their faith. They were missing the symbolic life. I wonder how many of us are missing that very component in our lives today.
Jung writes that many neurotics would not have been neurotic in another age, because man today is not part of myth and nature. This causes a division of self. "I am speaking of those who cannot tolerate the loss of myth and she can neither find a way to a merely exterior world, to the world as seen by science, not rest satisfied with an intellectual juggling with words, which has nothing whatsoever to do with wisdom." Further he talks about how people with neurosis may achieve success and position in their lives but still remain neurotic. "Such people are usually confined within too narrow a spiritual horizon. Their life has not sufficient content, sufficient meaning. If they are enabled to develop into more spacious personalities, the neurosis generally disappears. For that reason the idea of development was always of the highest importance to me." Although Jung was working within an environment of pathology, his words remain relevant to all of us who are on the journey to individuation through personal and spiritual growth.
And finally, it is during this time period that Jung became interested in the writings of Freud, especially his research into dreams and hysteria. But that is food for another chapter…
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Jung's Student Years - Chapter III
This chapter concerns Jung's student years from teen to early adulthood. Like many his age, he struggled with discovering his identity and career path. (Heck, I know many middle age folks with that dilemma.) Young C.G. had an academic bent and was interested in many subjects especially history, philosophy and science. His path was ultimately determined after he had a significant dream which concerned nature. The dream clarified his decision to study science at the college level. From there Jung debated what area of science to study, finally settling on medicine. What is interesting is that even before Jung wrote about dreams and the importance of the subconscious mind, he intuitively knew, understood and acted upon that knowledge when received. Dreams continued to be of major concern to Jung, and some were the fore bringer of theories and concepts to come (for example, one dream in which he held a tiny light and saw a large black figure he describes as "his own shadow on the swirling mists, brought into being by the little light I was carrying. Though infinitely small and fragile in comparison with the powers of darkness, it is still a light, my only light.") Dreams were the light that clarified Jung's inner darkness.
It was also at this time, that Jung identified his "number one" personality as his primary self. Although he left "number two" behind in this integration, he did not deny it or declared it invalid. Jung believed his "number two" was the origin of his dreams and superior intelligent. The "number two" can "hold his own in the world of darkness."
Jung continued to be interested in philosophy and spirituality. His "knowing" was based on his actual spiritual experience. His father, however, became discontented with his faith, which to Jung was fairly rote and hallow. Jung pitied his father for never having had a direct experience of God and for limiting his pursuit to the realm of intellect. He tried to discuss these issues with his father but was never successful. It appeared that Jung was frustrated by his father's rote answers to his questions. Jung described it this way, "God would assuredly have sent him by way of an answer one of those magical, infinitely profound dreams which He had sent to me without being asked, and which had sealed my fate." To Jung, experience was the only thing that mattered. His father in turn appeared to be empty and tired by any such discussion.
Once in school his father visited him at a frat outing. Jung had a realization about his father's life and identified his own early love of learning. Jung sadly wondered what had happened to his father over his life time. He saw that "everything was blighted for him, had turned to sourness and bitterness." Eventually, his father's condition worsened and he died. The primarily impact of his father's death was financial. Although financing his studies was then more difficult, Jung learned the value of simplicity during his time of poverty.
At the end of what I think was his second semester in college, Jung came upon a library book on spiritualistic phenomena. He took quite an interest in this area and began his dissertation on the topic. His mother's "number 2" personality encouraged his interest, but his colleagues and friends were skeptical and unsupportive. Jung was open to psychic phenomena and believed there "might be events which overstepped the limited categories of space, time and causality." Some mysterious and unexpected events occurred in the Jung household the summer of 1898. Two objects broke with a loud crash. One was a large and substantial solid walnut table which split from rim to center. Weeks later, a bread knife blade snapped off into several pieces. No one was around and the events were never explained. He actually took the knife blade to a cutler who told him it could not have exploded and would have had to been deliberately broken. Jung kept a part of the knife blade with him throughout his life. (I wonder how he would have described the symbolism of that piece to him). He also met a young medium through a family member. Over time, Jung uncovered some fraudulent activity in regards to her “events” but continued to look for verification of her predictions.
His medical studies were good but he had difficulty with the animal dissections. "I could never free myself from the feeling that warm-blooded creatures were akin to us and not just cerebral automata."
This was a good time in Jung's life. He loved the study of stimulating topics and also had developed friendships, so he no longer wrote about feeling isolated. Earlier Goethe's Faust was extremely influential to Jung's thinking. At this time, he was also enthusiastic about Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra. Jung felt that Nietzsche only discovered his "number two" personality later in life and "did not understand himself when he fell head first into the unutterable mystery." Nietzsche, Jung said was trying to capture the attention of the world "which had sold its soul for a mass of disconnected fact." (Ain't that the truth today? The more information is thrown at us almost instantaneously through digital and other formats, the more disconnected the facts become and the more fractured and jarred we become.)
Although Jung was invited to become an assistant to a doctor in internal medicine. This was an envious appointment, but Jung turned it down to study psychiatry. In 1900, Jung began working as an assistant at the Burgholzli Mental Hospital in Zurich. He continued his study by reading through the 50 volumes of the major psychiatry text of the time. (The profession was far from being what it is today. The fact that the field was so open and mysterious may have held a special interest to Jung.) He found his colleges as interesting psychologically as his patients. Jung described his decision this way, "I saw that once again, I had obviously got myself into a side alley where no one could or would follow me. But I knew - and nothing and nobody could have deflected me from my purpose - that my decision stood, and that it was fate."
It was also at this time, that Jung identified his "number one" personality as his primary self. Although he left "number two" behind in this integration, he did not deny it or declared it invalid. Jung believed his "number two" was the origin of his dreams and superior intelligent. The "number two" can "hold his own in the world of darkness."
Jung continued to be interested in philosophy and spirituality. His "knowing" was based on his actual spiritual experience. His father, however, became discontented with his faith, which to Jung was fairly rote and hallow. Jung pitied his father for never having had a direct experience of God and for limiting his pursuit to the realm of intellect. He tried to discuss these issues with his father but was never successful. It appeared that Jung was frustrated by his father's rote answers to his questions. Jung described it this way, "God would assuredly have sent him by way of an answer one of those magical, infinitely profound dreams which He had sent to me without being asked, and which had sealed my fate." To Jung, experience was the only thing that mattered. His father in turn appeared to be empty and tired by any such discussion.
Once in school his father visited him at a frat outing. Jung had a realization about his father's life and identified his own early love of learning. Jung sadly wondered what had happened to his father over his life time. He saw that "everything was blighted for him, had turned to sourness and bitterness." Eventually, his father's condition worsened and he died. The primarily impact of his father's death was financial. Although financing his studies was then more difficult, Jung learned the value of simplicity during his time of poverty.
At the end of what I think was his second semester in college, Jung came upon a library book on spiritualistic phenomena. He took quite an interest in this area and began his dissertation on the topic. His mother's "number 2" personality encouraged his interest, but his colleagues and friends were skeptical and unsupportive. Jung was open to psychic phenomena and believed there "might be events which overstepped the limited categories of space, time and causality." Some mysterious and unexpected events occurred in the Jung household the summer of 1898. Two objects broke with a loud crash. One was a large and substantial solid walnut table which split from rim to center. Weeks later, a bread knife blade snapped off into several pieces. No one was around and the events were never explained. He actually took the knife blade to a cutler who told him it could not have exploded and would have had to been deliberately broken. Jung kept a part of the knife blade with him throughout his life. (I wonder how he would have described the symbolism of that piece to him). He also met a young medium through a family member. Over time, Jung uncovered some fraudulent activity in regards to her “events” but continued to look for verification of her predictions.
His medical studies were good but he had difficulty with the animal dissections. "I could never free myself from the feeling that warm-blooded creatures were akin to us and not just cerebral automata."
This was a good time in Jung's life. He loved the study of stimulating topics and also had developed friendships, so he no longer wrote about feeling isolated. Earlier Goethe's Faust was extremely influential to Jung's thinking. At this time, he was also enthusiastic about Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra. Jung felt that Nietzsche only discovered his "number two" personality later in life and "did not understand himself when he fell head first into the unutterable mystery." Nietzsche, Jung said was trying to capture the attention of the world "which had sold its soul for a mass of disconnected fact." (Ain't that the truth today? The more information is thrown at us almost instantaneously through digital and other formats, the more disconnected the facts become and the more fractured and jarred we become.)
Although Jung was invited to become an assistant to a doctor in internal medicine. This was an envious appointment, but Jung turned it down to study psychiatry. In 1900, Jung began working as an assistant at the Burgholzli Mental Hospital in Zurich. He continued his study by reading through the 50 volumes of the major psychiatry text of the time. (The profession was far from being what it is today. The fact that the field was so open and mysterious may have held a special interest to Jung.) He found his colleges as interesting psychologically as his patients. Jung described his decision this way, "I saw that once again, I had obviously got myself into a side alley where no one could or would follow me. But I knew - and nothing and nobody could have deflected me from my purpose - that my decision stood, and that it was fate."
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Memories, Dreams, Reflections: School Years
I’ve been reading Chapter 2 for some time but my work with SoulCollage® has gotten in the way of putting my thoughts to paper until now. In Chapter 2, we find ourselves in C.G.’s school years. All of this is very interesting to me. Under the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, I am an INFJ, the same personality type as Carl Jung. While I have found the description of this type to be uncannily accurate, I had no idea how similar in tone two people with the same personality type could be. We will see if that continues as the book covers his later years.
Jung appeared to be a fairly timid, lonely child, obviously (on hindsight) brilliant, and struggling to find his way to live with his uniqueness. Jung began to recognize different parts within him very early. One was the school boy and one a rather staid adult archetype. He also identified a personality that I would classify as his subconscious intuitive nature. The fact that he could even identify these parts so distinctly at such a young age shows the beginnings of his life work. His imagination was vivid and visual; accordingly, the parts were described and identified clearly within his mind.
Jung’s father was a parson who had an elementary faith-based belief, theology. The boy, C.G., was consumed with thinking about God. Through his internal dialogue and imagery, he viewed God as encompassing both "good and bad." However, he had difficulty with the Christian duality and the idea of the devil. During a trance state, he experienced an event that allowed him to view God in a way that would be blasphemous to his community (actually to me it sounded more like a pre-adolescent boy’s daydream). Through that experience, however, Jung identified grace. At this time he believed that following the will of God would result in things turning out for the best. He knew from experience (for faith was not part of his equation) that grace was given only to those who “fulfilled the will of God without reservation.”
Questions of faith continued to plague C.G. throughout his childhood. He found God in nature more than with man, although he felt that all sentient beings contained a spark of God. At times he felt alone with God. When that occurred he “was outside time; I belonged to the centuries; and He who then gave the answer was He who had always is, was there.” These mystical experiences were significant events in Jung’s life. He struggled with the idea of a personified God, yet “I understood that God was, for me at least, one of the most certain and immediate of experiences.” The "Other" side of him (which I will identify in hypnosis terms as the subconscious) was able to have a personal experience with God. "Here nothing separated man from God; indeed, it was as though the human mind looked down upon Creation simultaneously with God." He often found himself moved beyond the events of his daily life and into the "boundlessness of God's world."
I think Jung would not have felt so much internal struggle with theology if he had the knowledge of other religions (something he was interested in but his parents disallowed). The Hindu Vedantic idea of God as being both the one and the many may have resonated with him at this time. He said, "The stone has no uncertainties, no urge to communicate, and is eternally the same for thousands of years...I was the sum of my emotions, and the "Other” in me was the timeless, imperishable stone."
Not surprisingly, Jung felt a connection to Meister Eckhart who once said: “If you seek the kernel, then you must break the shell. And likewise, if you would know the reality of Nature, you must destroy the appearance, and the farther you go beyond the appearance, the nearer you will be to the essence." Jung's inner world was large and filled with nature images. He especially loved trees and the forest (like me), and he found them both "mysterious" and the "direct embodiments of the incomprehensible meaning of life." This is where he felt close to the deepest meaning. Reading this, I wondered if Jung would have had the same mystical, reverent experience I did before the 1,200 year old tree in the rain forest of Mears Island, British Columbia.
Church, however, was problematic for Jung. And he was disappointed when his communion resulted in no discernible internal change. The relatively orthodox faith he experienced seemed to him a masquerade and he felt like an outsider. “ C.G. found school equally as boring. He had some difficulty with boys bulling. Several times when he was interested in the topic, he wrote papers far above his years and was publicly accused by the teacher of plagiarism. Although untrue, this had an effect on his relationship with his peers. It was also at this time that he decided being best in school was no longer the goal and he strove to not be conspicuous. Being number two was an easier position with his peer group.
As a teenager, his father took Jung to a mountain and allowed him to go alone on a train ride to the top. The view of the expansive vista had a profound impact on Jung. For many years afterward, he would bring into his mind the memory of this place whenever he was overworked or weary (a good bit of self-hypnosis even if he didn't recognize it as such).
More to come in Chapter 3…
Jung appeared to be a fairly timid, lonely child, obviously (on hindsight) brilliant, and struggling to find his way to live with his uniqueness. Jung began to recognize different parts within him very early. One was the school boy and one a rather staid adult archetype. He also identified a personality that I would classify as his subconscious intuitive nature. The fact that he could even identify these parts so distinctly at such a young age shows the beginnings of his life work. His imagination was vivid and visual; accordingly, the parts were described and identified clearly within his mind.
Jung’s father was a parson who had an elementary faith-based belief, theology. The boy, C.G., was consumed with thinking about God. Through his internal dialogue and imagery, he viewed God as encompassing both "good and bad." However, he had difficulty with the Christian duality and the idea of the devil. During a trance state, he experienced an event that allowed him to view God in a way that would be blasphemous to his community (actually to me it sounded more like a pre-adolescent boy’s daydream). Through that experience, however, Jung identified grace. At this time he believed that following the will of God would result in things turning out for the best. He knew from experience (for faith was not part of his equation) that grace was given only to those who “fulfilled the will of God without reservation.”
Questions of faith continued to plague C.G. throughout his childhood. He found God in nature more than with man, although he felt that all sentient beings contained a spark of God. At times he felt alone with God. When that occurred he “was outside time; I belonged to the centuries; and He who then gave the answer was He who had always is, was there.” These mystical experiences were significant events in Jung’s life. He struggled with the idea of a personified God, yet “I understood that God was, for me at least, one of the most certain and immediate of experiences.” The "Other" side of him (which I will identify in hypnosis terms as the subconscious) was able to have a personal experience with God. "Here nothing separated man from God; indeed, it was as though the human mind looked down upon Creation simultaneously with God." He often found himself moved beyond the events of his daily life and into the "boundlessness of God's world."
I think Jung would not have felt so much internal struggle with theology if he had the knowledge of other religions (something he was interested in but his parents disallowed). The Hindu Vedantic idea of God as being both the one and the many may have resonated with him at this time. He said, "The stone has no uncertainties, no urge to communicate, and is eternally the same for thousands of years...I was the sum of my emotions, and the "Other” in me was the timeless, imperishable stone."
Not surprisingly, Jung felt a connection to Meister Eckhart who once said: “If you seek the kernel, then you must break the shell. And likewise, if you would know the reality of Nature, you must destroy the appearance, and the farther you go beyond the appearance, the nearer you will be to the essence." Jung's inner world was large and filled with nature images. He especially loved trees and the forest (like me), and he found them both "mysterious" and the "direct embodiments of the incomprehensible meaning of life." This is where he felt close to the deepest meaning. Reading this, I wondered if Jung would have had the same mystical, reverent experience I did before the 1,200 year old tree in the rain forest of Mears Island, British Columbia.
Church, however, was problematic for Jung. And he was disappointed when his communion resulted in no discernible internal change. The relatively orthodox faith he experienced seemed to him a masquerade and he felt like an outsider. “ C.G. found school equally as boring. He had some difficulty with boys bulling. Several times when he was interested in the topic, he wrote papers far above his years and was publicly accused by the teacher of plagiarism. Although untrue, this had an effect on his relationship with his peers. It was also at this time that he decided being best in school was no longer the goal and he strove to not be conspicuous. Being number two was an easier position with his peer group.
As a teenager, his father took Jung to a mountain and allowed him to go alone on a train ride to the top. The view of the expansive vista had a profound impact on Jung. For many years afterward, he would bring into his mind the memory of this place whenever he was overworked or weary (a good bit of self-hypnosis even if he didn't recognize it as such).
More to come in Chapter 3…
Thursday, January 14, 2010
C.G. Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections
Thoughts on "Early Years"... The autobiography of C.G. Jung is not so much about the external events of his life, but rather is an exploration of his inner work. We all have memories and images of events in our life. Events that are pretty insignificant from the standpoint of life achievements or importance. I can dreg up childhood memories of embarrassment, humiliation, guilt, anger, and fear at the drop of a hat. Situations where I felt belittled or "less than." Situation that occur probably daily in the life of children, but for some reason these particular memories are significant and remain readily accessible to us. These are the memories that C.G. gives us. As he writes in the Prologue, "In the end the only events in my life worth telling are those when the imperishable world erupted into this transitory one. That is why I speak chiefly of inner experiences, amongst which I include my dreams and visions....All other memories of travels, people and my surroundings have paled beside these interior happenings." How contrary this thought is to the Western ideal, where people are judged by what they have achieved and how much money they make. What would we be like as individuals if we made the study of our inner life a priority? How would the world change?
Many of Jung's early memories focused on his mother. There was much disappointment there. She appeared to have had significant emotional or physical issues...being absent from the home - at a hospital or remaining in her room. The relationship between his parents was also not good. He discloses that "the feeling I associated with 'woman' was for a long time that of innate unreliability" (a feeling he says was later resolved). Yet, I wonder if this handicap influenced some of his later life decisions.
I found humorous C.G.'s description of several near death experiences as a very young child, which he describes as a "unconscious suicidal urge" or a "fatal resistance to life." To me this statement was a reflection of two things. First, if Jung was a mother, rather than a father, he would know for certain the absurdity of that explanation. Children have a present focused existence - filled with curiosity and the desire to explore new things. This was more likely the cause of his falls and dangerous climbing around bridges. And certainly we know today that the brain's frontal lobes are not available to preschoolers. When I was five I rode a tricycle off a front porch and broke my arm. Probably more the desire for a fun leap than a death wish (and the fall kept me from wanting to become Evil Knievel). My second thought was that we are all subject to the skewed perceptions of our profession. It's something we all have to look out for. If we are lawyers we see the world and all in it as contracts to be broken and bad actors. Jung as the ultimate psychologist saw life in such a way...as neurosis and pathology. Hence his attributing to a 2 year old a suicidal urge.
Jung was a lonely child, growing up as an only child. He had an active imagination and quite a vivid dream life at an early age, with images that haunted him throughout his life. Even if these images were modified in some fashion over time, as a hypnotherapist, I can say those images would be ripe for working with the subconscious - whether for behavioral change or in a more transpersonal way for personal and spiritual growth and development. Jung obviously understood the importance of these images at a very early age and this awareness lead to his study of them. He also saw an image of a headless apparition outside his mother's room at night. (I wonder what he would attribute that to...illusion? ghost? psychosis? And would any of us classify that differently today? Was Jung an intuitive? a mystic? energy reader?) He was certainly creative, very artistic (as we will see in the Red Book) and spent a good deal of his time drawing battle scenes (as do many boys), and interpreting his ink blots (alright, a bit less common). His parents had a painting he loved that he would sit gazing at for hours. He said it was "the only beautiful thing he knew." Now, that is the soul of the artist.
C.G. liked to play with fire (I hope that was cultural). And most interestingly he created a little manikin which he made clothes for and kept in a pencil box with a colored stone. This was hidden and kept a secret. The idea of it gave him great comfort throughout his childhood. At times he would bring the manikin messages written in a made up ancient language. As an adult he discovered the manikin and stone to be very similar to those in ancient Australia of which he had no conscious knowledge. He describes his rituals with the manikin as being the same as he saw the natives in Africa doing. "They act first and do not know what they are doing. Only long afterwords do they reflect on what they have done."
Many of Jung's early memories focused on his mother. There was much disappointment there. She appeared to have had significant emotional or physical issues...being absent from the home - at a hospital or remaining in her room. The relationship between his parents was also not good. He discloses that "the feeling I associated with 'woman' was for a long time that of innate unreliability" (a feeling he says was later resolved). Yet, I wonder if this handicap influenced some of his later life decisions.
I found humorous C.G.'s description of several near death experiences as a very young child, which he describes as a "unconscious suicidal urge" or a "fatal resistance to life." To me this statement was a reflection of two things. First, if Jung was a mother, rather than a father, he would know for certain the absurdity of that explanation. Children have a present focused existence - filled with curiosity and the desire to explore new things. This was more likely the cause of his falls and dangerous climbing around bridges. And certainly we know today that the brain's frontal lobes are not available to preschoolers. When I was five I rode a tricycle off a front porch and broke my arm. Probably more the desire for a fun leap than a death wish (and the fall kept me from wanting to become Evil Knievel). My second thought was that we are all subject to the skewed perceptions of our profession. It's something we all have to look out for. If we are lawyers we see the world and all in it as contracts to be broken and bad actors. Jung as the ultimate psychologist saw life in such a way...as neurosis and pathology. Hence his attributing to a 2 year old a suicidal urge.
Jung was a lonely child, growing up as an only child. He had an active imagination and quite a vivid dream life at an early age, with images that haunted him throughout his life. Even if these images were modified in some fashion over time, as a hypnotherapist, I can say those images would be ripe for working with the subconscious - whether for behavioral change or in a more transpersonal way for personal and spiritual growth and development. Jung obviously understood the importance of these images at a very early age and this awareness lead to his study of them. He also saw an image of a headless apparition outside his mother's room at night. (I wonder what he would attribute that to...illusion? ghost? psychosis? And would any of us classify that differently today? Was Jung an intuitive? a mystic? energy reader?) He was certainly creative, very artistic (as we will see in the Red Book) and spent a good deal of his time drawing battle scenes (as do many boys), and interpreting his ink blots (alright, a bit less common). His parents had a painting he loved that he would sit gazing at for hours. He said it was "the only beautiful thing he knew." Now, that is the soul of the artist.
C.G. liked to play with fire (I hope that was cultural). And most interestingly he created a little manikin which he made clothes for and kept in a pencil box with a colored stone. This was hidden and kept a secret. The idea of it gave him great comfort throughout his childhood. At times he would bring the manikin messages written in a made up ancient language. As an adult he discovered the manikin and stone to be very similar to those in ancient Australia of which he had no conscious knowledge. He describes his rituals with the manikin as being the same as he saw the natives in Africa doing. "They act first and do not know what they are doing. Only long afterwords do they reflect on what they have done."
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
And So We Begin..."2010 The Great C.G. Jung Project"
Over the past few days I've been reading the Red Book and Jung's autobiography of sorts, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Let's start with the Red Book. It is a large, bigger than standard coffee table tome, with copies of Jung's journal. I know that sounds pretty boring and it probably would be if it was my journal but it is not. This is the journal of the genius mind of C.G. Jung. The journal that contained his inner work at a time when he was having what I might think of as a psycho/spiritual crisis. The psychologist call it psychosis - but we'll quibble about that later (come on now, the man was a mystic). The images in this journal appear to be written in a script like an ancient manuscript. When you open it, you find it illuminated throughout with Jung's paintings or symbolic images that appear both mythic and primitive at the same time, and yet are so imaginative that you can only hope he will share the story that goes with it. When I opened it to the first page, I started screaming, "He's doing 'active imagination!' He's doing 'active imagination!'" (You can see how easy it is to excite me.)
Active imagination, for those who don't know, is a technique of Jung's where he imagines conversing with different parts of himself or archetypes. I can tell he's doing it in the first page because it's written in German but I can see it's like dialogue. Hence, my excitement.
My main criticism with the book is that it is difficult to use. The English translation is in the back and it would really be desirable to have it next to the German images so you can actually "follow" it. I'm sure someone will come up with a paperback translation of the text to use with the big Red Book. But until then, I guess I will move gently back and forth throughout the book.
That's all for tonight, except to say that I strongly recommend you read the NY Times story about the publication of the Red Book, "The Holy Grail of the Unconscious," and equally as fascinating is the YouTube video "The Making of the Red Book." Alternatively, listen to Professor Sonu Shamdasani as he Introduces The Red Book. In this video clip you are able to see many of Jung's illustrations. Happy reading!
Active imagination, for those who don't know, is a technique of Jung's where he imagines conversing with different parts of himself or archetypes. I can tell he's doing it in the first page because it's written in German but I can see it's like dialogue. Hence, my excitement.
My main criticism with the book is that it is difficult to use. The English translation is in the back and it would really be desirable to have it next to the German images so you can actually "follow" it. I'm sure someone will come up with a paperback translation of the text to use with the big Red Book. But until then, I guess I will move gently back and forth throughout the book.
That's all for tonight, except to say that I strongly recommend you read the NY Times story about the publication of the Red Book, "The Holy Grail of the Unconscious," and equally as fascinating is the YouTube video "The Making of the Red Book." Alternatively, listen to Professor Sonu Shamdasani as he Introduces The Red Book. In this video clip you are able to see many of Jung's illustrations. Happy reading!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Getting Ready for the Great Project
I've been searching the web for Jung bibliographies to assist me in selecting the books I'm going to read. I finally settled on the Wikipedia listing. It may not be comprehensive but it appears to contain the major works. I found that out of the 47 books included, I have 7 - all unread. Unfortunately, this does not include the 18 volume Collected Works of C.G. Jung, which now appears to be out of print and selling for over $1,000. Yikes! This is going to be an expensive proposition. Later, I found I can locate most of these volumes used and in paperback so that will be my strategy whenever possible.
I decided to start with the Red Book which I do have and has been calling to me for about a month now after it arrived. I'm also going to order Vol. 1 of the Collective Works. You might ask why I don't get these at the public library. However, if you saw what I do to books I am studying - the multicolor, stickies, highlighting and border notes you would understand that at least for this project, library books at not an option.
This volume (as described at Barnes & Noble) opens with Jung's desertion for the medical degree: 'On the Psychology and Pathology of So-called Occult Phenomena, ' a study that foreshadows much of his later work and as such is indispensable to all serious students of his work."
Looks like as good of a place to start as any. And we are off...2 days and counting.
I decided to start with the Red Book which I do have and has been calling to me for about a month now after it arrived. I'm also going to order Vol. 1 of the Collective Works. You might ask why I don't get these at the public library. However, if you saw what I do to books I am studying - the multicolor, stickies, highlighting and border notes you would understand that at least for this project, library books at not an option.
This volume (as described at Barnes & Noble) opens with Jung's desertion for the medical degree: 'On the Psychology and Pathology of So-called Occult Phenomena, ' a study that foreshadows much of his later work and as such is indispensable to all serious students of his work."
Looks like as good of a place to start as any. And we are off...2 days and counting.
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