The Shadow

The Wise Old Man

The Anima

The Animus

The Mother Figure

The Trickster

The Screwtape Letters

Ego

Myth

Dogma

I became curious about Carl Jung after reading Scott Peck’s references to him in A Road Less Traveled This particular work of Jung’s may be organized into five essential categories, which address: (1) the conscious mind, (2) the personal unconscious, (3) the collective unconscious, (4) archetypes and (5) the process of individualization.There can be no consciousness when there is no one to say: ‘’. After hundreds of years, someone came to realize that this wonderful world of mountains, oceans, suns, moons, galaxies, plants, animals and ourselves actually “exists”. In the moment that we came to “know”, the world sprang into our perception and, for us, it came into being, arising from the bestial regions.Jung relates this coming of consciousness to the Genesis account, wherein God said: “” and so there followed the separation of consciousness and unconsciousness. Later, through Christ, God brought an even more expanded consciousness into the world.Jung points out that things must be perceived in order to be experienced. This is very distinct from mere instinctual living. Every advance along the path of conscious realization adds to the world, as we know it.Jung paints an image of the consciousness as springing forth like an infant from the unconsciousness, which constantly threatens to swallow it up again. Like a child, the consciousness cannot grow without separating from its unconscious origins. Thus, the consciousness grows out of and away from the unconsciousness, which it comes to see as evil.There is then, a polarity between consciousness and unconsciousness. Our conscious intentions are continually disturbed and thwarted by unconscious intrusions, contradictory impulses, and inhibitions. And conversely, the enlargement of the consciousness continues to occur as new and vital contents find their way into our perception. This is the Logos , which continues to extricate itself from the primal darkness and the animality of unconsciousness.Jung sees the role of the consciousness as a controller for the unconsciousness and asserts that pathological problems emerge when such control is lost. Jung regards the mental supremacy of consciousness as the reason for human success and offers repetitive warnings to those who would seek to explore their subconscious selves: “”.Jung suggests that the consciousness was absurdly small in primitive man, but has expanded over time. Over history, we see that Reason (the Logos, Righteousness) has become active in the world, residing in the psyche of mankind. Heralded by Jesus, the Logos has arrived into the world and grows within our active consciousness. It seeks to overcome and replace the blinder instinctive demands of unconsciousness.We must choose to dwell within Reason, amidst that which causes us to flourish, standing apart from primitive animality. This is no less than the struggle to transcendence from the animal state, from the state of being God’s pet animal to the state of being a volitional proponent for God.Things that subvert or weaken the consciousness, such as substance abuse, meditation to blank out the mind, hypnosis, etc., tend to make way for the emergence of resistant demonic entities that Jung labels “archetypes”.Jung suggests that the personal unconscious is made up essentially of contents which have at one time been conscious but which have disappeared from consciousness through having been forgotten or repressed. Because such weaknesses are repressed into the unconscious, the consciousness can believe itself to be its own master.Conflict tends to result when the consciousness chooses to recognize the unconsciousness. This is because the subconsciousness doesn’t flatter us with a lovely mask of persona like the ego in our consciousness produces. This confrontation is sufficient enough to frighten most people away from venturing too far into the unconscious realm.Conversely, for those who are able to look at this part of themselves, there open possibilities for spiritual growth and for transcending into someone that is more in accord with reality.In contrast to the “personal unconsciousness”, Jung defines the “collective unconsciousness” as comprised of things that have never been in consciousness, but which owe their existence exclusively to heredity. Jung remarks that: “For Jung, the collective unconsciousness dates from a time when the consciousness did not think but only perceived and operated by instinct. Jung recognizes that we have moved out of this time but we still harbor pre-existent thinking. We are still ascending out of unreasoned, instinctual living.Jung points out that we are obliged to convert physical events into psychic processes as soon as we want to say anything about knowledge. This translates physical events into psychic events. Thus, communicative and transmittable bits of nonphysical consciousness are being accumulated, which coalesce into what Jung calls the collective unconsciousness.We explain by heredity certain talents which can be traced back through entire generations. We similarly explain unlearned, yet complicated, instinctive actions in animals. In the same way, man possesses a “preformed psyche” that contains distinct features, which are traceable to family antecedents. No man is born totally new, but contains unconsciously a psychic structure developed by his ancestors over time. Thus, consciousness grows out of an unconscious psyche which is older than it.From within this “collective unconscious”, there hails certain instinctual manifestations, which Jung refers to as “archetypes”. Jung suggests that these archetypes are “”. In other words, Jung’s archetypes are personifications of patterns of instinctual behavior that lay ready to spring into projection whenever they find an opportunity to subvert the consciousness. Because of their primitive, uncivilized origins for lust, power and dominance, most of us would typically refer to these archetypes as demons.The label that Jung gives to the demons from the unconsciousness is very misleading. The term “archetype” refers to a typical example of something and these entities that Jung describes are anything but “typical”. In fact, Jung admits that they can cause a devastating change of personality, generally in the form of megalomania or its opposite. Jung says:In fact, Jung informs us that the archetypes can only gain form by projecting themselves upon the consciousness. Jung admits this is possession, writing as follows:Anyone who is honest with themselves must admit that there is a psychic life which is not subject to the caprices of our will. Fears, moods, obsessions, plans, and hopes come to us, often with no visible causation.Jung has very limited success in describing the various entities that he, as a psychiatrist, has observed deep within peoples unconsciousness. Following are brief explanations for some of the archetypes identified by Jung:: Jung names the first archetype that one will meet as they descend into the unconsciousness “The Shadow”. The Shadow consists essentially of the suppressed self. The Shadow is that part of us that we’ve suppressed or failed to accept for whatever reason. When we encounter the shadow, we discover with terror certain unseen factors about ourselves. Getting past the Shadow (getting to know the suppressed self) is a narrow door, beyond which, Jung contends, even scarier entities await. The Shadow personifies the inferior character traits that the subject refuses to acknowledge about himself.: Another archetype Jung identifies is “The Wise Old Man”. In referring to his “Wise Old Man” archetype, Jung remarks as follows: “. This “Wise Old Man” archetype immediately made me think of the Papa Legba Lwa prominent in Haitian Vodou : - The Anima emerges in males and bears feminine traits. It manifests as a mischievous, shape-shifting feminine being with numerous transformations and disguises.: - The Animus emerges in females and bears masculine traits.: - The Mother Figure can take the form of a witch or a goddess. Because the mother is the precondition of every child, she symbolizes the unconsciousness from which the consciousness must detach itself. Thus, the consciousness ultimately begins to enter into opposition to her.- The trickster deploys malicious pranks and exhibits powers as a shape-shifter, often appearing as half animal. Those possessed by The Trickster are very unpredictable and often play malicious jokes on other people only to ultimately fall victim to vengeance. Jung describes the Trickster as possessing a psyche that has hardly left the animal level.Jung identifies these archetypes as the causes of neurotic and psychotic disorders. In fact, I’d venture to say, that if the reader doesn’t already suffer psychotic issues, the same could potentially be aroused just by reading Jung, with his outlandish fetish for these mysterious archetypes. Certainly, humanity is abysmally unconscious of the demonism that clings to it.Such demons have reality only to the extent that they can affect the conscious mind, either by luring the conscious into being their accomplice or by subjugating the consciousness by fear. Jung sees the task of psychotherapy as dissolving the projections of the archetypes in order to restore the authority of the consciousness.I’m reminded of this warning issued by C.S. Lewis in his book: “Jung defines “Individuation” as the process by which the consciousness comes to know and relate to the unconsciousness. However, Jung repeatedly warns of the dangers involved in this process, which are manifested in neurosis, psychosis, and schizophrenia, all of which Jung sees as situations whereby the unconsciousness has overthrown the consciousness to some degree.But Jung also sees the necessity for descending into the dark depths of the unconsciousness as a prerequisite for growth. Jung says that the cautious man who avoids the danger lurking in the unconscious depths throws away the opportunity to change into something more complete. But then, in contradiction, Jung writes: “” So what does Jung mean by individuation?Clearly Jung does not mean that one should emulate the archetypes of the unconsciousness. Instead one must subject the unconsciousness to the consciousness of the Logos, which is that will to righteousness that bears against our wanton and unruly animalistic instincts. When we do this we choose to favor something much grander, which is attained through the sacrifice of instinctual urges.However, the price that we pay for uplifting the Logos is to be set upon by the unconscious animals. Jung cites the crucifixion as an example of the sort of punishment awaiting one brave enough to venture like a Prometheus into the orbit of the unconscious masses. And yet, the conscious person has come to understand that the Logos is a special gift for mankind, present in us by shear grace, and capable of successfully combating the vilest of creatures that may still linger in the unconsciousness or elsewhere.Thus, the whole process of life is about nurturing the consciousness, growing it, and getting it to stand firm against the assailants from the unconsciousness that manifest in the form of urges, instincts, and drives; not necessarily to eliminate these urges all together, but clearly to domesticate them under the firm control of the consciousness.Yet, even after defeating the archetypes, there remain three constructs of consciousness that work against our journey into individuation: ego, myth, and dogma.Jung identifies the ego, not as an archetype, but as a segment of the consciousness. The ego is sort of like the consciousness trying to form its own entity to contradict the Logos. Jung warns of great psychic dangers connected with the domination of the ego-consciousness.The ego consists of all the things we preserve in consciousness that we admire about ourselves. The ego consists of the consciously active persona that we’ve developed for ourselves. The ego is resisted and defeated in the same way the archetypes are defeated: by following the Logos.Our conscious minds require explanations for what we do not know or understand. The archetypes from our unconsciousness are all too quick to offer us explanations when we are confounded.Myths are like primitive scientific hypothesis. Essentially, all of our explanations are myths because our conscious perception is so infantile. If we discover something strange and unexplainable, we make up a story, a projection, a hypothesis to explain it. For example, if a strange object drops from the sky, we must immediately hypothesize about its nature and origin. It is the same with any unexplainable event. Our minds require that we speculate and we most often do so by telling stories, which can eventually become belief systems.Everything that man should be but yet cannot be lives as mythology. We are called to be “as Christ” but we cannot be, just as we cannot fly, bear superhuman strength, slay dragons, or carry the earth upon our shoulders. Because we cannot, our consciousness is afflicted by an inexorable quest that is only appeased by myth, by hypothesizing stories about how it was done by a certain hero human.It is in much the same way that we hypothesize in science. Until we solve the dilemma, the hypothesis stands as adapted myth, as a salve upon the festering quest yet to be resolved, healed, and closed. What man says but cannot do is but myth. To become real it must become manifest in his actions.The danger for us is getting trapped within the mythology, failing to look beyond it, or snuggling into the comfort it provides as an excuse for not finding the next solution. Mythological stories are and should be adjusted as our knowledge grows. Just as Galileo should have been praised, instead of excommunicated, for illuminating the truth of a heliocentric solar system, so we must alter our explanations when necessary, as we attain more and more scientific knowledge.Others become content with simple moral conduct; that is to say, with adherence to the law. For such ones, behavior prescribed by rule becomes a substitute for spiritual transformation. Rituals become accepted by such people without question or reflection, much as everyone decorates Christmas trees or hides Easter eggs without ever knowing what these customs mean.However, dogma can eventually become dubious and no better example exists than extreme fundamentalism. Dogma is a necessity for us if we don’t know the Logos, for without either, we’ll confront the void; we’ll confront the horror of the blank barrenness of the world and this will send us scurrying back to the old myths. Jung writes of this as follows:We use dogma to squelch the struggles of our reason against the unknown but this brings us nearer to the bleakness of indoctrination. Dogma is a deceptive light that illuminates only what we think we already know and spreads darkness over those things that we still need to learn. When we put doctrine in the place of reality, we sacrifice reason. Dogma can thus become a retarding ideal.If the conscious mind is able to free itself from the fascination of evil and become no longer obliged to live compulsively, then the darkness and evil will withdraw due to a loss of energy and remain unconscious. Otherwise such evil will feed upon our fears, stress, and worry; or manifest in response to our purposeful conjuring.In all his ravings over the archetypes, the question that Jung hasn’t addressed is the personification of that which our consciousness really wants to grow into. That is, our perception of the most beautiful and worthy form, which is our true God, the only One that is truly a proponent for us to flourish and grow. We find this God, this Logos, in our conscious reason, where we seek it, uplift it, and assimilate it. It is our salvation.