Psychology
for Lawyers
understanding ourselves
jung's theory of individuation
Preface
a prelude to individuation
"How can we reconcile the person we are with the person we could
be?"
--Robin Robertson, Beginner's Guide to Jungian Psychology 196
(Lake Worth, Florida: Nicolas-Hays, 1992)
"[B]e human, seek understanding, seek insight, and make your hypothesis,
your philosophy of life."
--C.G. Jung, "Is Analytical Psychology a Religion?" in
William McGuire & R.F.C. Hull (eds.), C.G. Jung Speaking:
Interviews and Encounters 94-98, at 96 (Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press, 1977)
a problem in life (an ego concern) | the psyche &
more profound objectives
"A patient seeks therapy because something unpleasant has arisen
in his or her life, and the patient's first thought is how to get rid
of the burden and assume a normal life. However, Jung believes that
the psyche has another perspective, and a different objective. The psyche
rarely shares the ego's point of view, but asks for an altogether different
outlook, a higher expectation and a more profound goal. The psyche's
objective is not normality or social adjustment, but individuation,
namely, encouraging the ego to embark on an adventure, to take part
in a quest, and to make an effort to understand the breath and depth
of life.
* * * *
A general rule of individuation is that psychic life that
is not being lived 'coagulates' into various oppositional form, and
confronts us as a hostile opponent. . . .
The whole of Jung's theory of individuation can be seen
as a management of conflict and opposition. Whether we refer to the
shadow . . . or any other archetype, all greet the ego as formations
of psychic energy that at first seem opposed to the ego's directions.
Through psychological awareness, the ego realizes that these strangers
are parts of its larger personality, and that they must be welcomed
to the banquet of life--or accommodated on the island of consciousness."
--David Tacey, How To Read Jung 76-77, 80 (New York: W.W.
Norton & Co., First American ed., 2007)
transcendent function
"The transcendent function is the core of Carl Jung's theory of
psychological growth and the heart of what he called 'individuation,'
the process by which one is guided . . . toward the person he or she
is meant to be.
* * * *
Jung believed that psychological growth and individuation were only
possible through an ongoing conversation between consciousness and the
unconscious. He felt that every idea, attitude, or image in consciousness
was opposed or compensated [or complementary] for by another in the
unconscious and that the two struggled with each other in a kind of
polarized dance. If these opposites were held in swaying tension, he
posited, a new, third thing would emerge that was not a mixture of the
two but qualitatively different. This mechanism he called the 'transcendent
function." It was key to his thinking because only through a process
of engaging in the transcendent function can a person foster the psychological
growth that leads to individuation.
* * * *
At the heart of the transcendent function is transformation,
a shift in consciousness."
--Jeffrey C. Miller, The Transcendent Function: Jung's Model of
Psychological Growth through Dialogue with the Unconscious xi,
4 (Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 2004)
the Self
"[Our] undiscovered self, this 'isness,' is always, even in childhood,
trying to make itself manifest through the life of the individual in
a process of growing self-realization. To discover and live out the
meaning of the self through choice of awareness of the hidden movement
of non-ego forces is the journey into wholeness. . . . This self, Jung
says, is 'as it were a virtual point midway between conscious and unconscious,'
between ego and non-ego. It acts as a center of gravity that holds the
fragmentary parts together.
* * * *
[T]he journey must be taken into the Self to find he self, into the
unconscious to find new consciousness, into the darkness to find the
light . . . ."
--Frances G. Wickes, The Inner World of Choice 272, 273 (Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1976)
"Healing is the capacity for reimagine our relationship to the
Self. Underneath the sense of self is the Self itself. It is always
there, our nature naturing, seeking to become itself, and it is always
expressing its holistic intent. The purpose of therapy, whether in company
with a therapist or in dialogue with ourselves, is to attend the teleological
voice of the Self when it speaks through the venue of the body, through
replicative patterns, through compensatory dream image, through the
analysis of complexes, or through the grace of insight and renewing
vision.
The source of the self-disorder is not the Self; it is the power of
the wounding world. The source of renewal is the still, quiet voice
of the Self which may be heard by those who wish to hear, who retain
the capacity to hear, or who are driven to hear. As Jung has noted,
the encounter with the Self is often experienced as a defeat for the
ego. So it is in the experience of defeat that renewal will be found,
through a 'terrible grace' in which other images may present themselves
to consciousness and through the yearning for meaning which leads us
through pain to plenitude.
None of us escapes life unscathed, or evades imprisonment by our reactions
and misreadings of life's traumata."
--James Hollis, The Archetypal Imagination 116-117 (College
Station, Texas: Texas A&M Press, 2000)
"The Self, according to Jung, was the sum total of the psyche,
with all its potential included. This is the part of the psyche that
looks forward, that contains the drive toward fulfillment and wholeness.
In this, the Self was said to drive the process of individuation, the
quest of the individual to reach his or her fullest potential."
--"The Jungian Model of the Psyche," Journal Psyche [online
text]
"Jung's term ego is virtually identical to Freud's; it
is the centre of our conscious identity and selfhood. However, for Jung,
the task of the ego is to transform itself by integrating as many contents
of the unconscious as possible, in which case it begins to function
as an ancillary organ of the Self.
* * * *
The Self is an archetype which expresses the totality of the psyche
and includes the ego and the unconscious . . . .
* * * *
Jung postulated a transcendental element that facilitates our journey
towards wholeness. This element, or archetype, Jung calls the Self
. . . . For Jung, the ego is the centre of consciousness, the focus
of our personal identity, whereas the Self is the centre of the entire
psyche, conscious and unconscious, and thus the focus of our transpersonal
identity. . . .
[The Self] has no equivalent in the Freudian system . . . .
The Self is virtually a transcendental concept, and it cannot be known
directly by the ego, but only indirectly through symbol, dream and myth."
--David Tacey, How To Read Jung 17, 25, 47, 48 (New York:
W.W. Norton & Co., First American ed., 2007)
Readings
"Neurosis, Therapy, and Individuation," in David Tacey, How
to Read Jung 74-83 (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2007)
Martin Schmidt, Individuation [online
text]
Class Videos
Class Viewing 1: What
is the Individuation Process? [11:03
mins.] [Academy of Ideas] [end presentation at 5:14 mins.] [for a more
comprehensive viewing, watch the entire video] [a review of what we
have been trying to do in the course] [interesting commentary on dreams,
begins at 6:17 mins., relating dreams to archetypes and the collective
unconscious; linking dreams to individuation ("the conscious path
of individuation"); accepting the idea that the persona is a limited
part of the self]
The Self
Class Viewing 2: What
is the Self [1:55 mins.] [Jan
Mojsa] [pronounced, I assume--"mo-a-sa"] ["I want to
talk about the journey to the self." The Self suggests an "individuated
human being."]
Class Viewing 3: Individuation
[2:59 mins.] [Jan Mojsa is a transpersonal
psychotherapist] ["embracing all the parts of the self"; "becoming
more of who we really are"]
Class Viewing 4: Serving
the Deep Self [3:27 mins.]
[Michael Meade]
Class Viewing 5: Thom
F. Cavalli on "the Self" [4:48 mins.] [Jungian analyst]
[end presentation at 4:43 mins.]
Class Viewing 6: The
'Self' in Jungian Psychology [3:47 mins.] [Jordan
Peterson] [end presentation at 2:08 mins.] [comment at 3:21 mins.: Jung
is difficult] [Peterson's commentary on the Self is taken from
2015 Personality Lecture 07: Depth Psychology: Carl Jung (Part 02)
[1:13:47 mins.] [Peterson's reference to
the Jungian concept of Self as being a reflection of our "potential"
self is related to the preface quotes:
1) "How can we reconcile the person we are with
the person we could be?" --Robin Robertson, Beginner's Guide
to Jungian Psychology 196 (Lake Worth, Florida: Nicolas-Hays,
1992)
2) Jeffrey Miller's observation that, "[t]he
transcendent function is the core of Carl Jung's theory of psychological
growth and the heart of what he called 'individuation,' the process
by which one is guided . . . toward the person he or she is meant
to be." --Jeffrey C. Miller, The Transcendent Function: Jung's
Model of Psychological Growth through Dialogue with the Unconscious
(Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 2004)]
Class Viewing 7: What
is the Self? Buddhism, Jung & Freud on the Self
[8:44 mins.] [end presentation at 8:09 mins.] [John
Vervaeke, Tony Toneatto & Jordan Peterson] [University of Toronto Jungian
Society] [Tony Toneatto is the Director of the Buddhism, Psychology
and Mental Health undergraduate program at the University of Toronto.
Toneatto in his commentary mentions individuation and Jung's psychological
types] [Peterson uses the term "transmutation."] [Tony Toneatto,
after Peterson's remarks, talks about the "ego ideal"] [begin
presentation at 2:12 mins., end at 8:09 mins.]
Individuation: A Broader Context
Class Viewing 8: What
is a Divided Life? [5:58 mins.] [Parker Palmer]
[Parker J. Palmer is an American author, educator, and activist who
focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality
and social change] [end video at 6:10 mins.]
Alternative: Journey
Toward an Undivided Life [6:45
mins.] [Parker J. Palmer] [using a distinction between inner and outer,
onstage and offstage] [Palmer puts individuation into a broader context
(making no reference to the Jungian idea of individuation); looking
for a "model of adult wholeness"; linking the inner life
with the outer life]
Class Viewing 9: Beyond
the Small Life: A Letter to Young People [4:24
mins.] [Roberto Mangabeira Unger] [end presentation at 3:14 mins.]
Optional: Individuation and a Review of the Jungian Structure of
the Psyche
Ken James: On
the Transcendent Function [6:54
mins.] [comments on ego & self (and the ego-self axis); complexes
and their relationship to archetypes] [a brief survey of the basics
of the Jungian perspective]
Corollary Jungian Concepts
Transcendent
Function | Self and
Self Archetype
Relating Maslow's Self-Actualization to Jung's Individuation
"Maslow's conclusions [about self-actualization]
fit closely with Jung's concepts of the individuation process, and the
relationship between the ego and the Self. Perhaps Maslow over-emphasized
the light and forgot the dark, perhaps he failed to sufficiently appreciate
the difficulties of self-actualization. . . .
Maslow failed to realize that the wholeness which drew
him to self-actualized people had its source in the darkness."
--Robin Robertson, Beginner's Guide to Jungian Psychology
198 (Lake Worth, Florida: Nicolas-Hays, 1992)
"Despite the widespread popularity of the concept of 'self-acutalization'
among the general public and many mental health practitioners, the concept
has fallen out of favor with the clinical research community."
--Kennon M. Sheldon, Thomas E. Joiner, Jr., Jeremy W. Pettit &
Geoffrey Williams, Reconciling Humanistic Ideals and Scientific Clinical
Practice, 10 Clinical Psychol. Sci. Prac. 302 (2003)
Reference (Academy of Ideas)
Individuation,
Persona, and Shadow
[13:09 mins.] [presentation, if used in-class, begin
at 9:44 mins., end at 13:09 mins. (at the end of the video)]
The
Psychology of Self-Transformation
[10:38 mins.]
Carl
Jung and the Achievement of Personality
[6:31 mins.]
Reference (Jordan Peterson)
Understanding
Your Shadow
[5:45 mins.] [Jordan Peterson] ["pathway to completion" (being
a complete human being), according to Jung, means discovering the shadow
("embodiment of the monster"); it is terrifying to recognize
the shadow]
Methods For 'Shadow
Integration' In Your Life
[12:52 mins.]
Reference (Roberto Unger)
Roberto Mangabeira
Unger (featuring Steve Jobs): Beyond False Necessity
[8:16 mins.] [possible end of presentation at 4:43 mins.]]
Spirit and Structure
[9:27 mins.] [possible end of presentation at 2:40 mins.]
Flaws in the
Human Condition
[8:04 mins.]
Reference (Murray Stein)
Individuation
[9:34 mins.] [presenting individuation as a map of development
("level of psychological development")] [presentation can
end at 3:18 mins.]
Symbolic
Meaning on the Path to Individuation
[11:45 mins.] [Murray Stein's presentation ends at 3:36
mins.] [Stein's presentation continues at 6:13 mins. and continues to
8:56 mins.]
Reference (Individuation)
Eccentricity
& Individuation
[1:05 mins.] [James Hillman] [audio]
Seth Isaiah
Rubin: Four Psychological Capacities Essential for Individuation
[1:30:00 mins.] [Rubin presentation beings at 5:30
mins., commentary on individuation begins at 15:52 mins,, ends at
20:20 mins.]
Carl Jung
& the Variations of Self
[28:04 mins.] [Alan Watts] [Alan Wilson Watts was
a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter
and populariser of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience] [begin
presentation at 7:54 mins., end at 18:20 mins.]
C.G. Jung
and Individuation
[3:48 mins.] [audio]
Individuation:
The Function of the Unconscious
[31:12 mins.] [a reading from Jung's work]
Jung on Mandalas
and the Self in "The World Within: C.G. Jung in His Own Words"
[1:02:19 mins.] [Jung's comments begin at 31:50
mins., end at 35:50 mins.]
A Reading
from Jung's Man and His Symbols
[5:38 mins.]
Jung Singer:
Boundaries of the Soul
[7:30 mins.] [commenting on individuation] [Thinking Allowed with
Jeffrey Mishlove] [class presentation of the video can end at 4:02
mins.]
Stephen Farah
on Carl Jung
[43:54 mins.] [commentary on individuation
begins at 15:48 mins.; end at 18:54 mins.]
Stress, Individuation
and Developing Inferiors
[13:00 mins.]
Alchemy: A
Path to Individuation
[16:16 mins.] [Thom F. Cavalli] [commenting
on Jung's concept of individuation; relating individuation to alchemy]
Individuation
and Buddhism
[4:33 mins.]
The Authentic
Self and the Ego
[9:29 mins.] [Andrew Cohen]
Jung Individuation
[42:46 mins.] [Martha Beck] [reference to "transformation
of the complexes"]
John
Betts Podcast on Individuation
[41:35 mins.] Pt2
[41:12 mins.] Pt3
[38:58 mins.]
Jung, Individuation,
and Buddhism
[4:33 mins.] [Buddhist teacher and former
monk, Stephen Batchelor]
Jung for
Laymen Lecture: Individuation
[41:03 mins.]
Introduction
to Carl Jung: Individuation, the Persona, the Shadow, and the
Self
[13:09 mins.] [audio with slides; sounds
like someone reading from a written text]
Consciousness in Jungian
Psychology
[19:29 mins.] [using the film The Matrix
to illustrate Jung's concept of "individuation"]
Freud on
Sublimation
[9:00 mins.] [School of Life]
How to
Work with Your Shadow Self
[4:21 mins.]
Reference (Edward Edinger)
Reference (Liminal Space and Self-Transformation)
(Abdul Saad, clinical psychologist, Sydney, Australia)
The
Start of Self-Transformation (Understanding Liminal Space)
[13:42 mins.]
What Is
Self-Transformation And Why You Need It
[19:11 mins.]
Self-Transformation
Through Insight (Instead of Suffering)
[14:19 mins.]
What Blocks
Self-Transformation?
[18:52 mins.]
Self-Transformation
Through Confronting Your Shadow
[18:41 mins.]
Reference (The Self in Jungian Psychology)
"The Self, according to Jung, was the sum total of the psyche,
with all its potential included. This is the part of the psyche
that looks forward, that contains the drive toward fulfillment
and wholeness. In this, the Self was said to drive the process
of individuation, the quest of the individual to reach his or
her fullest potential."
--"The Jungian Model of the Psyche," Journal Psyche
[online
text]
"Jung's term ego is virtually identical to Freud's;
it is the centre of our conscious identity and selfhood. However,
for Jung, the task of the ego is to transform itself by integrating
as many contents of the unconscious as possible, in which case
it begins to function as an ancillary organ of the Self.
* * * *
The Self is an archetype which expresses the totality of the
psyche and includes the ego and the unconscious . . . .
* * * *
Jung postulated a transcendental element that facilitates our
journey towards wholeness. This element, or archetype, Jung calls
the Self, and it acts as an invisible guarantor of the
ego as it makes its journey through life. . . . For Jung, the
ego is the centre of consciousness, the focus of our personal
identity, whereas the Self is the centre of the entire psyche,
conscious and unconscious, and thus the focus of our transpersonal
identity. . . .
[The Self] has no equivalent in the Freudian system . . . .
The Self is virtually a transcendental concept, and it cannot
be known directly by the ego, but only indirectly through symbol,
dream and myth."
--David Tacey, How To Read Jung 17, 25, 47, 48 (New
York: W.W. Norton & Co., First American ed., 2007)
| Course
Assigment: Archetype of the Self |
C.G. Jung,
Self
[5:38 mins.] [a reading from
C.G. Jung's Man and His Symbols]
Self
in Jungian Psychology
[Wikipedia]
Carl
Jung Letter: Ego and Self
Carl
Jung: Taking Inner Life Seriously
[Mark Vernon, The Guardian]
["Achieving the right balance between what Jung called the
ego and self is central to his theory of personality development."]
A Note on the Transcendent Function
"In contrast [to Freud], Jung believed the unconscious to
be not only the territory of repression but also a mysterious
landscape of autonomous, teleological intelligence that compensates
for, supplements, even opposes consciousness. . . . Jung's idea
was that the unconscious guides us in a purposeful way. This theoretical
leap required Jung to enunciate a psychic mechanism through which
such guidance takes place. He called the core of that mechanism
the transcendent function, a dialogue between the unconscious
and consciousness through which a new direction emerges. The concept
of the purposive unconscious operating through the transcendent
function became the hub of Jung's psychology and represented an
irreparable break from Freud. Jung eventually came to believe
that one cannot individuate, that is, cannot become the person
he or she is truly meant to be, without conversing with and coming
to terms with the unconscious. The transcendent function is the
primary means thorugh which that reconciliation is accomplished.
Conceived and explored quite early in the development of Jung's
psychology, the transcendent function is implicated in many of
his other kep concepts (e.g., the role of symbol and fantasy,
individuation, the archetypes, the Self), indeed may be the wellspring
from whence they flow.
* * * *
The transcendent function has to do with opening
a dialogue between the conscious and unconscious to allow a living,
third thing to emerge that is neither a combination of nor a reject
of the two. It has a central role in the self-regulating nature
of the psyche, individuation, and the Self's drive toward wholeness."
--Jeffrey C. Miller, The Transcendent Function: Jung's
Model of Psychological Growth through Dialogue with the Unconscious
2-3, 5 (Albany, New York: State University of New York Press,
2004)
"Jung's solution to the problem of one-sideness involves
a fifth function . . . . Jung called it the transcendent function
because it transcends and unites the opposites.
* * * *
The fifth function can unite not only opposite typological
functions, but also . . . consciousness and the unconscious. The
united of any of the . . . opposites always involves integrating
a part of the unconscious with consciousness.
The goal of individuation is to develop [the] transcendent
function and make it the dominant function of consciousness .
. . ."
--Steve Myers, Cany Psychological Type be a Barrfier
to Individuation? [first published in TypeFace, v.25 (4),
pp. 14-18
Reference (Perspectives | Michael Meade)
Soul: Light
and Darkness
[3:01 mins.] [Michael [Meade tells the Sufi story
about Nasruddin and his lost keys] [The Sufi master Mullah Nasruddin
was on his hands and knees searching for something under a street
lamp. A friend who visits Nasruddin sees what is going on and
asks Nasruddin, "What are you looking for?" "My house key," Nasruddin
replied. "I lost it." The friend joined Nasruddin to look for
the key, and after considerable fruitless searching, the friend
asks, "Are you sure you lost the key here?" Nasruddin replied,
"Oh, I didn't lose it here. I lost it over there, by my house."
"Then why," the friend asked, "are you looking for it over here?"
"Because," Nasruddin said, "The light is so much better over here."]
Living
Philosophy
[14:30 mins.] [audio]
Contact Professor Elkins
|