This is a summary of some of the works of Carl Jung. I read his book Man and His Symbols and four of his compiled works in an attempt to better understand his ideas: Psychology and Religion: West and East, Psychology and Alchemy, The Archetypes and the Collective Subconscious, and Psychological Types. I also read a book by one of his protégés, Erich Neumann who wrote The Origins and History of Consciousness.
Carl Jung was a smart dude. He was one of the main founders of modern psychology, his focus of expertise being the subconscious and symbology. He coined the terms "extrovert" and "introvert" and created the foundational theory of personality used in the Myers-Briggs Personality Test. He is credited with coming up with the idea that humanity shares a type of consciousness which he called the collective unconscious and he coined the spiritual term "synchronicity." His works still influence modern psychology, philosophy, and spirituality.
We will start with his most famous contribution to philosophy which is that of the collective unconscious. Jung's theory was that humans have base instincts, but unlike the instincts of animals that serve some type of survival function, our instincts are instinctive knowledge of symbols which he calls archetypes. Archetypes are unconscious so they manifest themselves internally in dreams, visions, and feelings or externally in culture, art, religion, and other shared symbols. These archetypes are universally used and understood by peoples throughout time and history. For example, the ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail, is found in Greek, Roman, Hindu, Siberian, Norse, African, and South American mythologies. Unlike theories which ascribe the mutual symbolism to the origination of humanity as a whole and its subsequent diaspora, Jung theorized that humans are born with archetypal knowledge. Nearly all of his books explore this hypothesis and expound upon a profuse array (seriously, this guy must've read a ton it's ridiculous) of mythology, alchemical traditions, and religious motifs to highlight symbolic patterns. One pattern emerged as the ultimate point of contention to Jung, that archetypes are a symbol of the progression of consciousness in man.
In his book Psychology and Alchemy, Jung goes over the myths of alchemy, the attempted science of turning substances into gold by use of the philosopher's stone, describing the symbology of the movement. He posited that the philosopher's stone was not a mythical object with the power to turn any substance into gold like Midas' touch, but instead represented the ultimate goal of religions across time as well as modern psychology, the achievement of internal peace and moral development. His other books share a similar message.
His protege, Erich Neumann, expanded on his work to incorporate the idea of balance, often found in Eastern philosophy such as yin and yang, and gender, the divine masculine and feminine, in understanding mythology and human developmental evolution. The idea of our reality being one of duality, a pairing of opposites also referred to as a syzygy (divine opposites), underscores the presumption of balance. Love vs hate, hot vs cold, dark vs light, good vs evil, male vs female, etc. are all examples of this dualism. Gender and the divine masculine and feminine is a theory that gender has inherent symbology although both the masculine and feminine are present in both genders and really has nothing to do with gender at all.
I'm going to briefly explain the general symbolic meanings of the masculine and feminine:
Masculine: Individuation, independence, logic, creativity, structure, accountability. Fire symbol and action. Sun symbol. Consciousness.
Feminine: Collective, oneness, flow, nothingness, chaos, intuition, feelings. Water symbol and going with the current of life. Moon symbol. The unconscious.
I am going to reiterate that these symbols have nothing to do with actual gender, they are merely symbols of duality. Any given person may be more masculine or feminine leaning in any given trait or idea, but both are always present. This will be further addressed in the discussion of personality traits.
The Great Mother is the ultimate feminine archetype and the Great Father the ultimate masculine archetype. Both have positive and negative aspects representative of humanity's duality.
The Great Mother:
Positive side: The positive side is nurturing and can see past oneself to the good of the collective. Like a loving mother, it views everyone equally by merit of our shared humanity. It uses intuition to expand into new ideas beyond the bounds of what is known. It is calm and loving.
Negative side: The negative side is characterized by a refusal to allow others to live independently and instead relishes in codependency. It is chaotic and indulges in madness by allowing intuition to reign unchecked by logic.
The Great Father:
Positive side: The positive side is a driving force for innovation and brings cataclysmic change to the old order of being. It leads changes in consciousness, champions new paradigms, and encourages differentiation. It uses logic to test new ideas to assess utility. It is independent and creative.
Negative side: The negative side is rigid adherence to the old law or way of being. It stifles individual growth, is arrogant in its presumption that it knows best, and seeks to homogenize order like a dystopian society. It preemptively rejects intuitive ideas that fall outside of the prevailing logical paradigm.
Erich Neumann used the dual nature of gender symbolism in myths to pattern the archetypal message of the progression of consciousness. Here is my analysis of the stages in his book which I will describe in terms of the hero's journey:
Consciousness as being shared with the Great Mother: From birth up to some point in childhood we see ourselves as an extension of our parents. In myth this is shown by a figure who is overly tied to his mother or to his mundane life. Example - In the movie Barbie when Barbie wanted to go back to living in Dreamland instead of embarking on her personal quest.
Individuation begins: The hero starts the beginning stages of independent development. The first step away from the Great Mother is generally met by the archetype of the negative Great Mother who resists the hero's budding independence. In myth this is often seen as the Great Mother being jealous with madness or something along those lines.
Individuation solidifies: The hero becomes increasingly independent from the Great Mother. This is often shown in tasks that were accomplished, feats of strength, and changes in personality. The challenges increase in intensity and the hero increasingly becomes seen as heroic and atypical. This represents an individual becoming more differentiated. Sometimes twins with opposite traits are used in myth as a symbol of the dual sides of the hero as he seeks to overcome his destructive nature.
Individuation is accomplished: The hero completes the ultimate quest, slaying his personal dragon, a symbol that the hero's consciousness has developed past the primal need to be a part of the collective and indicating the full acceptance of self. The negative aspects of self have been conquered.
Crowning or conflict: In some myths the crowning of the hero is the end of the story, but not in all. Some myths describe the hero as fighting the negative side of the Great Father after the conquering the Great Mother. In other words, now that the hero is fully independent from outside influences (in a good way), he takes down the establishment whose dictatorial beliefs prevent further moral development of the collective.
The new Great Father: Having beaten the negative aspects of the Great Father, the new standards of morality and consciousness allow the collective to expand to new levels and the hero is seen as the new Great Father. One day the new Great Father will return to the pool of symbology and become the negative Great Father for the next hero's journey.
Re-identification with the Great Mother: Having mastered himself, the new Great Father turns outward, as was the goal in his victory over the old Great Father, and reunites with the positive aspects of the Great Mother, restoring balance in duality by embracing and nurturing the collective.
So that's the general idea of archetypes as a symbol of the progression of human consciousness. For the sake of brevity I made this explanation as simple as possible so hopefully anyone who reads this can see how this applies in mythology. If not, read the books.
Jung's works on personality also incorporated the idea of inherent duality. He theorized that personality was a result of how a person interacted between the internal and external worlds. His categories for personality included introversion vs extroversion, intuition vs sensing, thinking vs feeling, and judging vs perceiving. No category is objectively better or worse, each orientation comes with its pros and cons.
Introversion vs extroversion:
We colloquially know introversion and extroversion to mean how a person recharges, with people or by oneself. That is not what they mean, at least not by Jung who created the terms. Introversion and extroversion are ways of interacting and engaging with the world, where we focus our attention in order to learn. Extroversion is an orientation to the physical and external world. An extroverted person learns from outside of themselves or by direct personal experience. Introversion is an orientation to the internal world, a world that taps into the archetypes of the collective unconscious in order to learn. Introversion is immersion in theoretical possibility.
Intuition vs sensing:
Sensing refers to people who use the external world, primarily the five senses, to gather information. They are more literal and focus on facts, details, and experiences as their preferred methodology. The intuitive type refers to people that rely on their internal instincts and insights. They live in the theoretical, identifying overall patterns and possibilities as their preferred way of gathering information.
Thinking vs Feeling:
Thinking is an orientation towards the use of logic, reason, and analysis as the determinant of action. Judging is an orientation that emphasizes values, empathy, and subjective experiences as the determinants of action.
Judging vs Perceiving:
Judging refers to individuals who tend to make a plan and stick to it. They value structure, order, and decisiveness. Perceiving refers to individuals who tend to keep options open. They value openness to new information, improvisation, and adaptability.
Each pairing is present in each person, just to differing degrees. Jung called the primary orientation the dominant function and the secondary type the auxiliary function. Just as the Great Mother and Great Father have their respective positive and negative attributes, so do each of the personality types. The stronger the preference for one type over its pair, the more likely a person will exhibit the negative aspects of that orientation. Jung theorized that healthy personality development leads to a balance between each pair although one type will always be more dominant than the other.
To sum all of this up, Jung believed that humans share an instinct towards personal growth and development as evidenced by subconscious shared symbology. His analysis of personality types emphasizes balance between opposing traits as the means for the progression of consciousness.
While none of his writings explicitly state his relationship with the supranatural, the fact that he coined the term "synchronicity," his use of astrology as a diagnostic tool, as well as implicit allusions in his writings lead me to theorize that Jung's personal beliefs bordered on the spiritual. Should Jung's theories be correct, why would humanity have an innate shared symbology based around the progression of consciousness? From a purely evolution-based standpoint, cooperation is generally regarded as more advantageous for the longevity of a species. Could be that. Or it could be that the progression of consciousness is important for other, spiritual reason. Who knows. Either way, his theories urge humanity to become differentiated, a subject I elaborate on in my post "Differentiation."
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