Part 1 – Approaching the unconscious – Carl G. Jung
The sign is always less than the concept it represents, while the symbol always stands for something more than its obvious and immediate meaning. p.41
There are many symbols, however (among them the most important), that are not individual but collective in their nature and origin. p.41
I gave up hypnotic treatment for this very reason, because I did not want to impose my will on other. p45
The individual is the only reality. p45
One can, for instance, make a relatively simple distinction between individuals who have “extraverted” personalities and others who are “introverted.” p47
These four functional types correspond to the obvious means by which consciousness obtains its orientation to experience. Sensation (i.e. sense perception) tells you that something exists; thinking tells you what it is; feeling tells you whether it is agreeable or not; and intuition tells you whence it comes and where it is going. p49
In our efforts to interpret the dream symbols of another person, we are almost invariably hampered by our tendency to fill in the unavoidable gaps in our understanding by projection–that is, by the assumption that what the analyst perceives or things is equally perceived or thought by the dreamer. p50
Thus, a dream cannot produce a definite thought. If it begins to do so, it ceases to be a dream becasue it crosses the threshold of consciousness. p53
There is no difference in principle between organic and psychic growth. As a plant produces its flower, so the psyche creates its symbol. Every dream is evidence of this process. p53
I have already said that dreams serve the purpose of compensation… But when it is a matter of obsessive dreaming or of highly emotional dreams, the personal associations produced by the dreamer do not usually suffice for a satisfactory interpretation. p56
Just as the biologist needs the science of comparative anatomy, however, the psychologist cannot do without a “comparative anatomy of the psyche.” In practice, to put it differently, the psychologist must not only have a sufficient experience of dreams and other products of the unconscious activity, but also of mythology in its widest sense. Without this equipment, nobody can spot the important analogies; for instance, to see the analogy between a case of compulsion neurosis and that of a classic demonic possession without a working knowledge of both. p57
The archetype is a tendency to form such representations of a motif–representations that can very a great deal in detail without losing their basic pattern. p58
Here I must clarify the relation between instincts and archetypes: what we are properly calling instincts are psychological urges, and are perceived by the senses. But at the same time, they are also manifestations themselves in fantasies and often reveal their presence only by symbolic images. These manifestations are what I call the archetypes. p58
The general idea of Christ the Redeemer belongs to the world-wide and pre-Christ theme of the hero and rescuer who, although he has been devoured by a monster, appears again in a miraculous way, having overcome whatever monster it was that swallowed him…. The hero figure is an archetype, which has existed since time immemorial. p.61
Emotional manifestations, to which such thought patterns belong, are recognizably the same all over the earth. p64
These unconscious factors owe their existence to the autonomy of the archetypes. Modern man protects himself against seeing his own split by a system of compartments. Certain areas of the outer life and of his won behavior are kept, as it were, in separate drawers and are never confronted with one another. p.72
If we could see our shadow (the dark side of our nature), we should be immune to any moral and mental infection and insinuations. p73
A sense of a wider meaning to one’s existence is what raises a man beyond mere getting and spending. If he lacks this sense, he is lost and miserable. p.78
The interpretation of dreams and symbols demands intelligence. It cannot be turned into a mechanical system and then crammed into unimaginative brains. p.81
Intuition is almost indispensable in the interpretation of the symbols, and it can often ensure that they are immediately understood by the dreamer. p82
This argument illustrates the way in which archetypes appear in practical experiences: They are, at the same time, both images and emotions. One can speak of an archetype only when these two aspects are simultaneous. p87
They (words) gain life and meaning only when you try to take into account their numinosity–i.e., their relationship to the living individual. p.88
It is this psychic energy that gives them (unconscious matters) such vital importance. p89
For the symbols are natural attempts to reconcile and reunite opposites within the psyche. p90
Psychology is often accused of not being scientific on this account; but its critics fail to understand the scientific and practical necessity to giving due consideration to feeling. p90
Part 3 – The Process of Individuation – M.-L. von Franz
He found that, on the whole, they (dreams) seem to follow an arrangement or pattern. This pattern Jung called “the process of individuation.” p.159
Since this psychic growth cannot be brought about by a conscious effort of will power, but happens involuntarily and naturally, it is in dreams frequently symbolized by the tree, whose slow, powerful, involuntary growth fulfills a definite pattern. p161
The organizing center from whitch the regulatory effect stems seems to be a soft of “nucular atom” in our psychic system… Jung called this center the “Self” and described it as the totality of the whole psyche, in order to distinguish if rom the ‘ego,’ which constitutes only a small part of the total psyche. p.162
The Self can be defined as an inner guiding factor that is different from the conscious personality and that can be grasped only through the investigation of one’s own dreams. p163
Again, the realization of this uniqueness in the individual man is the goal of the process of individuation. p163
Strictly speaking, however, the process of individuation is real only if the individual is aware of it and consciously makes a living connection with it.
The individuation process is more than a coming to terms between the inborn germ of wholeness and the outer acts of fate. Its subjective experience conveys the feeling that some supra-personal force is actively interfering in a creative way.
The ego must be able to listen attentively and to give itself, without any further design or purpose, to that inner urge toward growth. p.164
Carpenter tree dream, p165
Like the tree we should give into this almost imperceptible, yet powerful dominating, impulse–an impulse that comes from the urge toward unique, creative self-realization. And this is a process in which one must repeatedly seek out and find something that is not yet known to anyone. The guiding hints or impulses come from, not from the ego, but from the totality of the psyche: the Self. p167
If the development of consciousness is disturbed in its normal unfolding, children frequently retire from outer or inner difficulties into an inner “fortress”; and when that happens, their dreams and symbolic drawings of unconscious material often revel to an unusual degree a type of circular, quadrangular, and “nuclear” motif.
The actual process of individuation– the conscious coming-to-terms with one’s own inner center (psychic nucleus) or Self–generally begins with a wounding of the personality and the suffering the accompanies it. – p169
Thus is seems as if the initial encounter with the Self casts a dark shadow ahead of time, or as if the “inner friend” comes at first like a trapper to catch the helplessly struggling ego in her snare.
There is only one thing that seems to work; and that is to turn directly toward the approaching darkness without prejudice and totally naively, and to try to find out what its secret aim is and what it want from you. p170
It (shadow) represents unknown or little-known attributes and qualities of the ego–aspects that mostly belong to the personal sphere and that could just as well be conscious. In some aspects, the shadow can also consist of the collective factors that stem from a source outside the individual’s personal life. p.174
The shadow usually contains values that are needed by consciousness, but that exist in a form that makes if difficult to integrate them into one’s life. p178
If people observe their own unconscious tendencies in other people, this is called a ‘Projection.” p181
The shadow becomes hostile only when it is ignored or misunderstood.
So, whatever form it takes, the function of the shadow is to represent the opposite side of the ego and to embody just those qualities that one dislikes most in other people. p182
If the shadow figure contains valuable, vital forces, they ought to be assimilate into actual experience and not repressed. It is up to the ego to give up its pride and priggishness and to live out something that seems to be dark, but actually may not be. p183
Divining in advance whether our dark partner symbolizes a shortcoming that we should overcome or a meaningful bit of life that we should accept–this is one of the most difficult problems that we encounter of the way to individuation. p184
When it comes to such difficult ethical problems, no one can truly judge the deeds of others. p185
The anima is the personification of all feminine psychological tendencies in a man’s psyche, such as vague feelings and moods, prophetic hunches, receptiveness to the irrational, capacity for personal love, feeling for nature, and – last but not least–his relation to the unconscious. p186
The anima can be an inner guide. p193
..(the Self) normally expresses itself in some kind of fourfold structure. The number four is also connected with the anima becasue, as Jung noted, there are four stages in tis development. (Eve-Helen-Mary-Sapientia) p195
The male personification of the unconscious in woman–the animus–exhibits both good and bad aspects, as does the anima in man. p198
Just as the character of a man’s anima is shaped by his mother, so the animus is basically shaped by a woman’s father. p199
He (animus) personifies a cocoon of dreamy thoughts, filled with desire and judgements about how things “ought to be,” which cut a woman off from the reality of life. p202
He (animus) too has a very positive and valuable side: he too can build a bridge to the Self through his creative activity. p203
.. the Self can appear as a supernaturally gifted girl. p209
The whole inner psychic reality of each individual is ultimately oriented toward this architypal symbol of the Self. p215
(dream) When the stone is polished, it will begin to shine like a mirror so that the bear can see herself in it; this means that only by accepting earthly contact and suffering can the human soul be transformed into a mirror which the divine powers can perceive themselves. p217
A round stone is the symbol of the Self. p218
In fact, passion that goes beyond the natural measure of love ultimately aims at the mystery of becoming whole, and this is why one feels, when one had fallen passionately in love, that becoming one with the other person in the only worthwhile goal of one’s life. p219
The Self also appears as a crystal. p221
But some profound inner experience of the Self does occur to most people at least once in a lifetime.
Dr.Jung put forward a new concept that he called sychronicity. This term means a “meaningful coincidence” of outer and inner events that are not themselves casually connected. p226
The classical Chinese tests did not ask what causes what, but rather what “likes” to occur with what.
Synchronistic events, moreover, almost invariably accompany the crucial phases of the process of individuation. p227
… the obligation attached to the process of individuation is often felt to be a burden rather than an immediate blessing.
This miraculous child is a symbol of the Self that literally “depresses” the ordinary human being, even though it is the only thing that can redeem him” p237
Through the unconscious ties those who belong together come together. That is one of the reasons why attempts to influence people by advertisements and political propaganda are destructive, even when inspired by idealistic motives.
if a man who want to influence public opinion misuses symbols for this purpose, they will naturally impress the masses in so far as they are true symbols, but whether of that the mass unconscious will be emotionally gripped by them is something that cannot be calculated in advance, something that remains completely irrational. p240
As far as we at present understand the process of individuation, the Self apparently tends to produce such small groups by creating at the same time sharply defined ties of feeling between certain individuals and feelings of relatedness to all people. p241
Only if he can use his freedom to create something meaningful is it relevant that he should be free. That is why finding the inner meaning of life is more important to the individual than anything else, and why the process of individuation must be given priority.
But is a single individual devotes himself to individuation, he frequently has a positive contagious effect of the people around him. It as as if a spark leaps from one to another.And this usually occurs when one had no intention of influencing other and often when one uses no words. p245
The mandala serves a conservative purpose–namely, to restore a previously existing order. But it also serves the creative purpose of giving expression and form to something that does not yet exist, something new and unique. The second aspect is perhaps even more important than the first, but does not contradict it. For in most cases, what restores the old order simultaneously involved some element of new creation. The process is that of the ascending spiral, which grows upward while simultaneously returning again and again to the same point. p247
