Carl Jung

Personal Forward

On my eighteenth birthday, my great aunt Teresa West gifted me a copy of Jung’s biography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. This was the beginning of my quest to understand the unconscious and spiritual things unseen.

Tess was a Jungian and artist. I loved visiting her cottage by the marsh at Fenwick Point in Old Saybrook. In her small bedroom, she had brown hand-drying paper unrolled and taped up on all four walls encircling her bed. She’d wake from her dreams and immediately capture images, using water paints and short-hand stick figures to depict her memories.

Later she gave me her painting of a dream in which she awoke from unconscious depths into a beautiful garden. It hung in the highest place of honor on the mantle above my fireplace.

Years later I would study Depth Psychology: Jungian and Archetypal Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Now Jung’s writings and groundbreaking theories inform my life and help me every day make sense of worlds inside and around me. I have the highest regard for Jung’s genius, depth and breadth of knowledge, and personal courage to explore his own unconscious in service to others.

I believe it was Einstein who said, “The most important things cannot be seen or measured.”

— Ann West

8 Philosophical Commitments of Depth Psychology

Jung believed inner growth and focus on raising consciousness becomes a priority in the second half of life, after external tasks of choosing a career, finding a mate, and having a family are put in order. He posited that people with more life experience learn to accept that life can be messy, and that human behavior, including our own, can be complex and contradictory. I post the 8 Philosophical Commitments of Depth Psychology in my kitchen to remind myself daily of the following:

8 Philosophical Commitments of Depth Psychology

Psyche is real
Psyche is a perspective
Psyche is both personal and more than personal
Psyche is fluid and protean
Psyche is symptomatic
Psyche is multiple and relational
Psyche is complex and contradictory
Psyche is dialectical

The Art of Inquiry by Coppin and Nelson

Not only is “the” psyche this, but your psyche is this, and all others’ psyches are this. Make room for everything and everyone at the table.

Early Life

Carl Gustav Jung was born in Kesswil, Switzerland in 1875 to Emilie Preiswerk and Paul Jung, a pastor. The only son of a Protestant clergyman, Jung was a quiet, observant child who packed a certain loneliness in his single-child status. However, perhaps as a result of that isolation, he spent hours observing the roles of the adults around him, something that no doubt shaped his later career and work.

Jung's childhood was further influenced by the complexities of his parents. His father, Paul, developed a failing belief in the power of religion as he grew older. Jung's mother, Emilie, was haunted by mental illness and, when her boy was just three, left the family to live temporarily in a psychiatric hospital.

As was the case with his father and many other male relatives, it was expected that Jung would enter the clergy. Instead, Jung, who began reading philosophy extensively in his teens, bucked tradition and attended the University of Basel. There, he was exposed to numerous fields of study, including biology, paleontology, religion and archaeology, before finally settling on medicine. Jung graduated the University of Basel in 1900 and obtained his M.D. two years later from the University of Zurich.

After he completed his medical degree, Jung joined the staff at Burghoelzli Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland as an intern to Eugen Bleuler, where he explored the unconscious mind and its related complexes. He also traveled to Paris to study under Pierre Janet in 1902. In 1905, Jung was appointed to the faculty at the University of Zurich where he worked until 1913.

Jung married Emma Rauschenbach in 1903. The couple had five children and remained married until Emma's death in 1955. Jung died in Switzerland in 1961.

Professional Life

Jung sent a copy of his book Studies in Word Association to Sigmund Freud in 1906, and Freud reciprocated by inviting Jung to visit Vienna. Their friendship lasted until 1913, at which time they parted ways due to a difference in academic opinion. Jung agreed with Freud’s theory of the unconscious, but Jung also believed in the existence of a deeper collective unconscious and representative archetypes. Freud openly criticized Jung's theories, and this fundamental difference caused their friendship and psychological views to diverge. Jung published many books and traveled throughout the world to teach and influence others with his psychoanalytical theories. Jung’s work embodied his belief that each person has a life purpose that is based in a spiritual self.

Jung developed a theory of transformation called “Individuation.” Informed by eastern, western, and mythological studies, Jung described Individuation as a “Journey towards Wholeness” which typically occurs in the Second Half of Life.

Contributions to Depth Psychology

Jung’s Key Contributions Include:

• The Collective Unconscious: A universal cultural repository of Archetypes and human experiences.

• Dream Analysis and the interpretation of Symbols from the collective unconscious that show up in dreams and mandalas.

• Extroversion and introversion: Jung was the first to identify these two personality traits. His work in psychological typology continues to be used in the theory of personality and is the basis for Myers-Briggs personality testing.

• Psychological Complexes: A cluster of behaviors, memories, and emotions grouped around a common theme. For example, a child who was deprived of food might grow into an adult smoker, nail biter, and compulsive eater, focusing on the theme of oral satiation.

• An emphasis on Spirituality: Jung argued that spirituality and a sense of the connectedness of life could play a profound role in emotional health.

• Individuation: The integration and balancing of dual aspects of personality to achieve psychic wholeness, such as thinking and feeling, introversion and extroversion, or the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. Jung argued that people who have individuated are happier, more ethical, and more responsible.

• The Persona and the Shadow: The persona is the public version of the self that serves as a mask for the ego, and the shadow is a set of suppressed behaviors and attitudes that make us uncomfortable, but can also be a source of creativity.

• Synchronicity: A phenomenon that occurs when two seemingly unrelated events occur close to one another, and the person experiencing the events interprets this correlation as meaningful.

Development of Jungian Psychology

In Jung’s theory, there are three levels to consciousness:

• The “Conscious Mind” refers to all the events and memories that we are aware of.

• The “Personal Unconscious” refers to events and experiences from our own past that we are not fully conscious of.

• The “Collective Unconscious” refers to symbols and cultural knowledge from the “Zeitgeist” or Spirit of the Times, that we may not experience directly, but still affect us. Although we are typically unaware of the collective unconscious, Jung believed that we could become aware of it through remembering our dreams and drawing Mandalas.

Note: “Archetypes” also reside in the collective unconscious. Jung defined archetypes as universally shared trans-cultural concepts, symbols, and images passed down from ancient ancestors. Jung used masculinity, femininity, and mothers as examples of archetypes, but he believed the archetype of the Self to be most important.

Note: Some of Jung's patients helped to found Alcoholics Anonymous, inspired by Jung's belief in an evangelic cure for alcoholism.

Quotes by Carl Jung

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakes.”

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”

“The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.”

“The greater the light, the darker the shadow.”

“Synchronicity is an ever present reality for those who have eyes to see it.”

“In each of us there is another we do not know.”

“Until the unconscious becomes conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own souls.”

“The right way to wholeness is made up of fateful detours and wrong turnings. “

“Thinking is difficult, that’s why most people judge.”

“In all chaos there is cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.”

“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”

“Life Really Does Begin at Forty. Up until then, you’re just doing research.”

“What did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes? Therein lies the key to your earthly pursuits.”

“The sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.”

“Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.”

“You should always ask yourself what you desire, since all too many do not know what they want.”

Selected Works of Carl Jung

• Psychology of the Unconscious (1912)

• Psychological Types (1921)

• Essays on Contemporary Events (1947)

• Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle (1952)

• The Undiscovered Self (1957)

• Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1961)

• Man and His Symbols (1964)

• The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious (2nd ed. with R. Hull, 1981)

• The Red Book (with Sonu Shamdasani, 2009)

The above synopsis of Jung’s life was compiled and edited by Ann West from GoodTherapy.org, Biography.com, and Britannica.com.

Mandalas

C. G. Jung | Depth Psychologist, Analytic Psychology

The Red Book

The years of which I have spoken to you, when I pursued the inner images, were the most important time of my life. Everything is to be derived from this. It began at that time, and the later details hardly matter anymore. My entire life consisted in elaborating what had burst forth from the unconscious and flooded me like an enigmatic stream and threatened to break me. That was the stuff and material for more than only one life. Everything later was merely the outer classification, the scientific elaboration, and the integration into life. But the numinous beginning, which contained everything was then.

These are the words of the psychologist C. G. Jung in 1957, referring to the decades he worked on The Red Book from 1914 to 1930. Although its existence had been known for more than 80 years, The Red Book was never published or made available to the wide audience of Jung’s students and followers [until 2009].

Mandalas

In his autobiography Jung wrote about his descent into the depths and confrontation with the unconscious:

The Ouroboros or Uroboros is an Ancient Symbol Depicting a Serpent or Dragon Eating Its Own Tail

In Alchemy, the Ouroboros is a sigil image having some mysterious power.

Swiss psychologist Carl Jung saw the Ouroboros as an archetype and the basic mandala of alchemy. The alchemists, who in their own way knew more about the nature of the individuation process than we moderns do, expressed this paradox through the symbol of the Ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail.

The Ouroboros has been said to have a meaning of infinity or wholeness. In the age-old image of the Ouroboros lies the thought of devouring oneself and turning oneself into a circulatory process, for it was clear to the more astute alchemists that the prima materia of the art was man himself.

The Ouroboros is a dramatic symbol for the integration and assimilation of the opposite, i.e. of the Shadow. This 'feed-back' process is at the same time a symbol of immortality, since it is said of the Ouroboros that he slays himself and brings himself to life, fertilizes himself and gives birth to himself. He symbolizes the One, who proceeds from the clash of opposites, and he therefore constitutes the secret of the prima materia which unquestionably stems from man's unconscious.

The Ouroboros often symbolize self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things such as the phoenix which operate in cycles that begin anew as soon as they end. It can also represent the idea of primordial unity related to something existing in or persisting from the beginning with such force or qualities it cannot be extinguished. While first emerging in Ancient Egypt, the Ouroboros has been important in religious and mythological symbolism, but has also been frequently used in alchemical illustrations, where it symbolizes the circular nature of the alchemist's opus.

In Greece, Plato described a self-eating, circular being as the first living thing in the universe—an immortal, mythologically-constructed entity. The living being had no need of eyes because there was nothing outside of him to be seen; nor of ears because there was nothing to be heard; and there was no surrounding atmosphere to be breathed; nor would there have been any use of organs by the help of which he might receive his food or get rid of what he had already digested, since there was nothing which went from him or came into him: for there was nothing beside him. Of design he created thus; his own waste providing his own food, and all that he did or suffered taking place in and by himself. For the Creator conceived that a being which was self-sufficient would be far more excellent than one which lacked anything; and, as he had no need to take anything or defend himself against anyone, the Creator did not think it necessary to bestow upon him hands: nor had he any need of feet, nor of the whole apparatus of walking; but the movement suited to his spherical form which was designed by him, being of all the seven that which is most appropriate to mind and intelligence; and he was made to move in the same manner and on the same spot, within his own limits revolving in a circle. All the other six motions were taken away from him, and he was made not to partake of their deviations. And as this circular movement required no feet, the universe was created without legs and without feet.

In Gnosticism, this serpent symbolized eternity and the soul of the world. The Gnostic text Pistis Sophia describes the disc of the sun as a 12-part dragon with his tail in his mouth.

Joan Kellogg, Art therapist & Author of Mandala: Path of Beauty

Introduction to Mandala

• Ancient roots: “Mandala in Sanskrit means “circle”

• Used to assist meditation in Tibetan Buddhism

• Symbol of wholeness

• Records oneself at different stages of being

• Reflects a personal present picture of consciousness

• A vehicle for self-discovery

• Brings unconscious material into conscious awareness

• Jung felt that the mandala was the ultimate tool for exploring the psyche.

There comes a time that one becomes aware that one is not making the mandala, but the mandala is making you. The mandala can be considered as a chalice for receiving all the contents of consciousness. Another appropriate analogy is to liken the mandala to a blood sample, taken to reflect treatment process and changes at specific intervals.

The Cyclical Nature of Life’s Journey

The MARI reflects the cyclical nature of the journey in thirteen different stages.

• No single stage is the whole journey

• Each stage anticipates the next

• Each stage prepares for and informs the next

The Urge to Wholeness impels us to go to the next stage:

• The Life Force impels us to move

• The healthy Psyche prefers movement

Each stage has its own:

• Subtle and different qualities

• Challenges and rewards

• Requirements for growth

• Verbal and non-verbal elements

Insightful Art Therapy Intervention: Mandala Drawing

It's the circle game that soothes and illuminates the Self

We humans have always had a fascination with the circle. We experience it throughout nature-- in the spiral of the Milky Way, the orbiting planets, and the cycles of life itself. As children, we also discover that we can use a crayon to make circular forms on paper; it's a universal stage of artistic development that every normal child throughout the world experiences. In fact, it is the first major milestone in image-making and for that reason, a child's circle drawing may be one the earliest representations of the self.

Circular forms in art are often referred to as mandalas, the Sanskrit word for "sacred circle." For thousands of years the creation of circular, often geometric designs has been part of spiritual practices around the world and almost every culture has revered the power of the circle. Eastern cultures have used specific mandalas for visual meditation for many centuries; the Tibetan Buddhist Kalachakra, also known as the Wheel of Time, is probably one of the most famous mandalas and symbolically illustrates the entire structure of the universe. Circular forms are found at the prehistoric Stonehenge monument in England and the 13th century labyrinth at the base of Chartres Cathedral in France. Spiritual seekers have consistently created mandalas to bring forth the sacred through images and have evoked the circle in ritual and art making for the purpose of transcendence, mindfulness, and wellness.

Carl Gustav Jung is credited with introducing the Eastern concept of the mandala to Western thought and believed this symbol represented the total personality-- aka the Self. Jung noted that when a mandala image suddenly turned up in dreams or art, it was usually an indication of movement toward a new self-knowledge. He observed that his patients often spontaneously created circle drawings and had his own profound personal experience with mandala images. From 1916 through 1920, Jung created mandala paintings and sketches that he felt corresponded to his inner situation at the time. He believed that mandalas denoted a unification of opposites, served as expressions of the self, and represented the sum of who we are.

Art therapist Joan Kellogg spent much of her life developing a system of understanding the wisdom of the mandala, which she called the "Great Round." In her theory about patterns, forms, and colors in mandalas, Kellogg integrates parts of Jung's discoveries and her own research that spanned several decades. In particular, she posited that our attraction to certain shapes and configurations found in mandalas conveys our current physical, emotional, and spiritual condition in the moment. Kellogg also developed a series of cards, each with a different mandala design representing character traits, interpersonal relationships, aspirations, and the unconscious, ever-changing within the life cycle of the Great Round of the Mandala.

An entire system for analyzing mandala art evolved from Kellogg's concepts, assessing everything from an individual's personality to physical health. As a research psychologist, I can't say that there's enough research to substantiate interpretation through using such a formula. The idea of interpreting symbols found in mandalas intrigues many art therapists and Jungian analysts who seek meaning in images. But to me, the evocative and health-giving power of the mandala is much more than just symbol-finding. It is really the creative process of making mandalas that helps us revisit the universal experience of the circle and, as Jung found, helps us to experience and reflect on the essence of who we are in the here and now.

According to Jung, mandalas symbolize "a safe refuge of inner reconciliation and wholeness." They have the potential to call forth something universal within, perhaps even the proverbial archetypal Self. And at the same time, they give us an experience of wholeness amid the chaos of everyday life, making the "sacred circle" one of the most effective art therapy interventions for both soothing the soul and meeting oneself.

© 2010 Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPAT, LPCC