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--- omnipoetics:jung [2025/03/05 21:11] – [Trickster Figure] adriana
+++ omnipoetics:jung [2025/03/05 23:25] (current) – [Works Cited] mahrukh
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 ====== Carl G. Jung ======
-Carl G. Jung (1875-1961) was a swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who is most well known as founder of analytical psychology, and his concepts/theories of the introverted/extroverted personality, archetypes, the collective unconscious, and individualization. Jung believed that the human psyche consists of the conscious and unconscious, with the collective unconscious containing universal symbols and memories shared by humans. He believed that these universal symbols and patterns fall into archetypes that are manifested in the collective unconscious through myths and dreams. The process of individualization refers to the personal journey of integrating the conscious and the unconscious parts of the psyche to achieve wholeness. In order to achieve this, the individual has to confront and embrace the shadow-self, or the parts of oneself that are hidden or repressed. This is often done through exploration into alchemical symbols and archetypes. He famously disagreed with Freud's ideas of the unconscious, which led to them ending their close collaboration that lasted from 1907-1912.
+Carl G. Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who is most well known as founder of analytical psychology, and his concepts/theories of the introverted/extroverted personality, archetypes, the collective unconscious, and individuation. Jung believed that the human psyche consists of the conscious and unconscious, with the collective unconscious containing universal symbols and memories shared by humans. He believed that these universal symbols and patterns fall into archetypes that are manifested in the collective unconscious through myths and dreams. The process of individuation refers to the personal journey of integrating the conscious and the unconscious parts of the psyche to achieve wholeness. In order to achieve this, the individual has to confront and embrace the shadow-self, or the parts of oneself that are hidden or repressed. This is often done through exploration into alchemical symbols and archetypes. He famously disagreed with Freud's ideas of the unconscious, which led to them ending their close collaboration that lasted from 1907-1912.
+Jung's critical role in the formation of modern psychology, psychotherapy, and psychiatry aligned with the experimental cultural movement in literature, visual arts, and psychology during the early twentieth century. From earlier education in medical studies, he intensively pursued other reading and research, particularly those of Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Swendenborg (Swedish scientist and Christian mystic), and writers on spiritualism.((Taken from Introduction of //The Red Book// by Sonu Shamdasani p.6)) He was incredibly fascinated by occult or paranormal phenomena from his early years in university and realized his passion lay in psychiatry, as it suggested a merge between his two key interests - science and spiritualism.((p.7)) He regarded Bleuler, Pierre Janet, and Theodore Flournoy to be the teachers who influenced him most.((p.11)) Unlike Freud, who remained adamant on understanding the unconscious through an individualistic and rational lens, Jung explored the deeper, more elusive, collective level of the unconscious. He did not discard spirituality in this effort, in fact, integrated it in his works while studying mythology, folklore, and religion - locating their importance in the human psyche.
+<blockquote>
+He used the comparative method of anthropology to draw together a vast panoply of myths, and then subjected them to analytic interpretation. [Termed the comparative method 'amplification']. He claimed that there had to be typical myths, which corresponded to the ethnopsychological development of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_(psychology)#:~:text=Jung%20described%20a%20complex%20as,or%20hard%20to%20account%20for.|complexes]]. Following Jacob Burckhardt, Jung termed such typical myths 'primordial images' (//Urbilder//). One particular myth was given a central role: that of the hero. For Jung, this represented the life of the individual, attempting to become independent and free himself from the mother... [He said] One without a myth "is like one uprooted, having no true link either with past, or with the ancestral life which continues within him, or yet with contemporary human society." [...] The study of myth had revealed to Jung his mythlessness. He then undertook to get to know his myth, his "personal equation."((p.13-15))
+</blockquote>
 ===== Collective Unconscious =====
-The collective unconscious refers to the collective universal patterns, symbols, and archetypes that shared across all of humanity. The universal archetypes present in the collective unconscious manifest themselves through dreams, myths, legends, and storytelling. These manifestations reflect the deeper universal unconscious that connects humans together, regardless of personal experience. In the process of individualization, the individual has to integrate all aspects of the unconscious, including the collective, in order to find harmony with the self.
+{{ :omnipoetics:60340dccee636d21de261859_jung_map.jpg?400|Image taken from carolspearson.com captioned Jung's map of the psyche}}
+The collective unconscious refers to the collective universal patterns, symbols, and archetypes that shared across all of humanity. The universal archetypes present in the collective unconscious manifest themselves through dreams, myths, legends, and storytelling. These manifestations reflect the deeper universal unconscious that connects humans together, regardless of personal experience. In the process of individuation, the individual has to integrate all aspects of the unconscious, including the collective, in order to find harmony with the self.
+<blockquote>
+"...there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals. This collective unconscious does not develop individually but is inherited. It consistent of pre-existent forms, the archetypes, which can only become conscious secondarily and which give definite form to certain psychic contents...there is good reason for supposing that the archetypes are the unconscious images of the instincts themselves, in other words, that they are patterns of instinctual behaviors. The hypothesis of the collective unconscious is, therefore, no more daring than to assume there are instincts" (Jung 43-44).
+</blockquote>
+This theory of collective unconscious emerged through an extended process of self-experimentation, which resulted in //Liber Novus//, a work of psychology in a literary form.((//The Red Book//p.3)) On the journey of individuation, i.e. the conscious effort to integrate with the unconscious parts of self, individuals go through different levels in the psyche (roughly mapped on the right) to reach the core self. This leads to encounters with archetypes that can at once be both personal and/or collective.
 ===== Individuation =====
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 In Jung's own exploration of Individuation and the realization of the Self, he utilized the mandala to reach psychic wholeness. The realization of the self typically follows these steps: assimilation of the shadow (dark side of ego that is repressed and rejected by the ego) to acknowledge the deficiencies in our personality, confrontation of with the anima/animus (the unconscious feminine and masculine aspects of a person's psyche), encounter with the Wise Old Man archetype (universal and timeless wisdom), and psychic wholeness which could be signaled through visions of the mandala.
-===== Trickster Figure  =====
+==== Shadow ====
+Upon entering the inner reality or subconscious level of the individuation path, one encounters the shadow. But the dilemma is, the shadow does not reveal itself unless it has gone through the cycle of understanding. For instance, if one says that 'I am selfish and that is my shadow' then it is not because the individual is aware of it without going through the whole process of unveiling. On a personal level it can be seen projected onto others, in traits a person finds annoying or irksome in others. It may also result in conflicts. Similarly, on a collective level, it can be seen projected as racism or authoritarianism etc.
+==== Anima/Animus ====
+Jung believed that the Anima/Animus figures are crucial for understanding the self with the archetype linking the conscious ego to the unconscious. The Anima/Animus archetype represents the counterparts for gender, with the feminine, Anima, for men, and the masculine, Animus, for women. Anima is typically the emotional, empathic, and sensitive, while is usually the Animus is usually intellectual/rational. Jung believed that through individuation the individual can achieve balance and wholeness of self.
+===== On the Psychology of the Trickster Figure  =====
 Jung's Trickster archetype represents the contradictory forces present within the psyche, and embodies the destructive and creative sides of human nature. As a symbol of the unconscious, the trickster reflects the shadow self,
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 </blockquote>
 In order to become whole, one must learn how to accept the trickster, the shadow self that lies within the individual's unconscious, represented through the collective unconscious.
+In his article, Jung traces the trickster archetype emerging in different medieval carnivals and festivals - at times allowed and other times banned - by religious or governing authorities. Yet, he argues, that the trickster cycle (proposed by Radin) is recurrent. By cycle, he compares it to different figures in myths such as spirit Mercurius, who goes through a process of foolish mistakes and becomes a laughing stock, then realization dawns on him, he learns, and becomes wiser. Repeatedly, Jung relates the trickster figure to that of the shadow archetype in psychology, which has most similarities (unconsciousness) but also a few differences ("vanishing level of consciousness" p. 212).
+==== Jung's Critique ====
+In Paul Radin's //Primitve Man as Philosopher//, he challenges Jung's idea of the primitive. He says that the generally accepted view is one of "an emotionally unintegrated personality," and that Jung approvingly quotes a story about a Bushman that had a son and killed him in a fit of rage after not getting any fish that day,
+<blockquote>
+"...No greater distortion of the actual facts could possibly be imagined. And yet Dr. Jung obtained this example from what purported to be a first-hand account, and similar examples often fill reputable descriptions of a tribe. They all illustrate the unconscious bias that lies at the bottom of our judgement of primitive mentality, the unconscious assumption of the lack of differentiation and of integration to be found there. We know that this lack of stability and integration is a basic assumption in all evolutionary theories of cultural development. This is, however, emphatically not the case with Jung and others who take his attitude toward primitive mentality. Some other explanation must be sought. What makes for error in our interpretation is a certain mistiness of vision due to that sentimentality from which the northern European finds it so difficult to free himself" (Radin 39-40)
+</blockquote>
+Radin later ties Jung to the laymen viewpoint again,
+<blockquote>
+"The prevalent view to-day among laymen is that they are at all times the plaything of their passions, and that self-control and poise are utterly alien to their character, if not, indeed, quite beyond their reach. We have seen in fact that even so open-minded and sympathetic a scholar as Jung apparently still accepts this view (cf. page 39)" (63).
+</blockquote>
 In Rothenberg's //Revolution of the Word//, he connects trickster figure to Avant-Garde poetry through E.E. Cummings, "In his introduction to his work, below, he reminds us also of the poet as sacred trickster (juggler/jongleur/shaman)-a role forever public" (Rothenberg 15). He goes on to quote the same quote used in SaF 344.
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 ==== Works Cited ====
-C. G. Jung, and Joan Chodorow. Jung on Active Imagination. Princeton University Press, 1997. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=bd928fbc-55e2-3b95-b5b0-34917f90ac3d.
+Jung, C.G. and Joan Chodorow. Jung on Active Imagination. Princeton University Press, 1997. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=bd928fbc-55e2-3b95-b5b0-34917f90ac3d.
+Jung, C.G. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Second ed., Princeton University Press, 1969.
+Jung, Carl Gustav (2009). Shamdasani, Sonu (ed.). The Red Book: Liber Novus. Translated by Kyburz, Mark; Peck, John; Shamdasani, Sonu.
 Fordham, Frieda, and Michael S.M. Fordham. “Character of His Psychotherapy.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 7 Feb. 2025, www.britannica.com/biography/Carl-Jung/Character-of-his-psychotherapy.
+“International Association for Analytical Psychology.” International Association of Analytical Psychology IAAP, iaap.org/jung-analytical-psychology/short-articles-on-analytical-psychology/anima-and-animus-2/.
+Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.
+Radin, Paul. Primitive Man as Philosopher. D. Appleton and Company, 1927.
 Rothenberg, Jerome. Revolution of the Word; a New Gathering of American Avant Garde Poetry, 1914-1945. Seabury Press, 2000.
 “Steps of the Individuation Process.” Steps of the Individuation Process, CarlJung.net, www.carl-jung.net/individuation_steps.html. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.

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