CARL JUNG

Forwarded from "Multiple recipients of list newsscan " ,
a post from "NewsScan" , dated Wed, 12 May 1999 07:36:46 -0700,
with the subject "NewsScan Daily, 12 May 1999 ("Above The Fold")":

~~~

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: CARL JUNG
Today's Honorary Subscriber is Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), the great
Swiss psychiatrist whose work was grounded in myth, religion, art, history,
economics and philosophy; he was a disciple of Sigmund Freud until the two
men quarreled over Freud's insistence that sexuality was at the root of all
psychological problems, in contrast to Jung's view that what he called the
"collective unconscious" played a more important role.
And what is the collective unconscious? It's a level of awareness
below that of one's personal unconscious, and is unknowingly shared by
people across different traditions and cultures. At this level Jung saw
"archetypes" of demons, sages, dreams, etc. common to all humankind and all
human history.
In rejecting the approach of Freud's "Vienna School" of psychiatry,
Jung's "Zurich School" developed ideas about basic "personality types" (are
you an introvert or an extrovert?), "persona" (what face do you show to the
world?), and "personal unconsciousness" (the self you've tucked away and
forgotten about). Jung also came up with the technique of "free
association," in which a subject is encouraged to say the first thought that
comes to mind on hearing a long stream of unrelated words. The idea is that
these "free associations" will mark a trail to the person's unconscious
feelings, which are repressed because they are so powerful and potentially
threatening to the person's ordinary, business-as-usual life.
We'll close with a sample of Jung's style; here's a brief excerpt from
his 1933 book, "Modern Man In Search Of A Soul":

"The spirit of the age cannot be compassed by the processes of human
reason. It is an inclination, an emotional tendency that works upon weaker
minds, through the unconscious, with an overwhelming force of suggestion
that carries them along with it. To think otherwise than our contemporaries
think is somehow illegitimate and disturbing; it is even indecent, morbid
or blasphemous, and therefore socially dangerous for the individual. He is
stupidly swimming against the social current. Just as formerly the
assumption was unquestionable that everything that exists takes its rise
from the creative will of a God who is spirit, so the nineteenth century
discovered the equally unquestionable truth that everything arises from
material causes. Today the psyche does not build itself a body, but on the
contrary, matter, by chemical action, produces the psyche. This reversal of
outlook would be ludicrous if it were not one of the outstanding features of
the spirit of the age. It is the popular way of thinking, and therefore it
is decent, reasonable, scientific and normal. Mind must be thought to be an
epiphenomenon of matter. The same conclusion is reached even if we say not
"mind" but "psyche," and in place of matter speak of brain, hormones,
instincts or drives. To grant the substantiality of the soul or psyche is
repugnant to the spirit of the age, for to do so would be heresy."

Note: Our "Honorary Subscriber" feature runs every other issue, alternating
with "Worth Thinking About"