Autor: Doran, Robert; Tyrrell, Bernard

Buch: Trinification of the Word

Titel: Doran, Robert - Christ and the Psyche

Stichwort: C.G. Jung: das personale und kollektive Unbewusstsein; die "zweite" Autorität; Individuation - Schatz (Drache); Jungs Traum

Kurzinhalt: Thus, "the aim of individuation is nothing less than to divest the self of the false wrappings of the persona on the one hand, and of the suggestive power of primordial images on the other."

Textausschnitt: The Personal and the Collective Unconscious

114a Unconscious complexes can be either personal or impersonal. Personal complexes include material of which I know but am not at the moment thinking; material of which I was at one time conscious but which I have forgotten; everything which, without attending to it, I feel, think, remember, want, and do; and the repressed memories made so much of by Freud.1 They are "those ideas which either belonged to the ego-complex or were split off from the ego and ignored. All personal contents, thus, were reminiscences of events which had occurred during life."2 Impersonal complexes, on the other hand, are independent of the ego and of personal memory. They originate from a more primordial base and they have a meaning common to all men. The domain of personal complexes is called the personal unconscious, that of impersonal complexes, the collective unconscious. The latter is a superpersonal level of the psyche whose contents concern humanity as such. The discovery of this universal layer of psychic life opened for Jung and his followers prospects of psychotherapy which extend beyond the confines of personal psychopathology. The impersonal complexes are "the fertile ground of creative processes,"3 permitting the process of individuation to be a distinctly creative one, and giving rise to the judgment that Jung's psychology is essentially one of creativity.4 Thus the "second authority" of the unconscious background is not disruptive but creative of individuated life when complexes come from or can be related to the impersonal or collective layer, and when the contents of this deeper dimension can be harmoniously integrated into one's conscious development. This integration, however, is not to take place by way of identification with the impersonal complexes, for then one's conscious individuality is inundated by a primordial image which inflates the ego to the dimensions of some kind of Übermensch, or on the contrary destroys the ego completely on account of its power. In the first case, one becomes "the fortunate possessor of the great truth which was only waiting to be discovered, of the eschatological knowledge which spells the healing of the nations."5 Regarding the second case, Jung tells us in his autobiographical reflections of a dream he had dealing with his intimation of a second authority at the base and source of the conscious mind. (Fs)

It was night in some unknown place, and I was making slow and painful headway against a mighty wind. Dense fog was flying along everywhere. I had my hands cupped around a tiny light which threatened to go out at any moment. Everything depended on my keeping this little light alive. Suddenly I had the feeling that something was coming up behind me. I looked back, and saw a gigantic black figure following me. But at the same moment I was conscious, in spite of my terror, that I must keep my little light going through night and wind, regardless of all dangers.6 (Fs)

115a The little light was consciousness, understanding, "the only light I have."7 The darkness was the second authority, Personality No. 2, "with whom ... I could no longer feel myself identical."8 The storm "sought to thrust me back into the immeasurable darkness of a world where one is aware of nothing except the surfaces of things in the background."9 The darkness of this background had to be recognized and negotiated, but not identified with. Identification would seem to be the shortest route to continual contact with the renewing power of the primordial layer of the psyche, but when one identifies with this layer, it becomes storm, wind, and darkness, not life, renewal, and transformation. (Fs) (notabene)

If a man is a hero, he is a hero precisely because, in the final reckoning, he did not let the monster devour him, but subdued it, not once but many times. Victory over the collective psyche alone yields the true value - the capture of the hoard, the invincible weapon, the magic talisman. ... Anyone who identifies with the collective psyche - or, in mythological terms, lets himself be devoured by the monster - and vanishes in it, attains the treasure that the dragon guards, but he does so in spite of himself and to his own greatest harm.10 (Fs) (notabene)

116a Individuation, then, is dependent upon an attitude which finds in feeling-toned complexes, whether personal or impersonal, occasions for deepening one's self-understanding, for becoming more conscious, for expanding one's personality. Everything seems to depend on the delicacy of one's conscious attitude toward the unconscious complexes. There are places where Jung suggests that individuation is a matter of the detachment from inner states and outer objects that constitutes the mystical via negativa. Thus, "the aim of individuation is nothing less than to divest the self of the false wrappings of the persona on the one hand, and of the suggestive power of primordial images on the other."11 Or: (Fs)

By understanding the unconscious we free ourselves from its domination .... The pupil is taught to concentrate on the light of the innermost region and, at the same time, to free himself from all outer and inner entanglements. His vital impulses are guided towards a consciousness void of content, which nevertheless permits all contents to exist .... Consciousness is at the same time empty and not empty. It is no longer preoccupied with the images of things but merely contains them. The fullness of the world which hitherto pressed upon it has lost none of its richness and beauty, but it no longer dominates. The magical claim of things has ceased because the interweaving of consciousness with the world has come to an end. The unconscious is not projected any more, and so the primordial participation mystique with things is abolished. Consciousness is no longer preoccupied with compulsive plans but dissolves in contemplative vision. (Fs) (notabene)

... This effect ... is the therapeutic effect par excellence, for which I labour with my students and patients.12