Carl Gustav Jung

A detailed Summary of Carl Gustav Jung

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was a son of a minister in Switzerland. He was born on July 26, in the small village of Kesswil on Lake Constance. He was named after his grandfather, a professor of medicine at the University of Basel. He was the oldest child and only surviving son of a Swiss Reform pastor. Two brothers died in infancy before Jung was born. Jung's mother was a neurotic and often fought with his father. Father was usually lonely and very irritable. When the child could not take his mother's depressions and his parents' fights, he sought refuge in the attic, where he played with a wooden mannequin. Carl was exposed to death early in life, since his father was a minister and attended many funerals, taking his son with him. Also, Jung saw many fishermen get killed in the waterfalls and also many pigs get slaughtered. When he was eleven, he went to a school in Basel, met many rich people and realized that he was poor, compared to them. He liked to read very much outside of class and detested math and physical education classes. Actually, gym class used to give him fainting spells (neurosis) and his father worried that Jung wouldn't make a good living because of his spells. After Carl found out about his fa

This taming is accomplished by suppressing manifestations of the shadow and by developing a strong persona which counteracts the power of the shadow. For example, if a person suppresses the animal side of his nature, he may become civilized, but he does so at the expense of decreasing the motive power for spontaneity, creativity, strong emotions, and deep insights. A shadowless life tends to become shallow and spiritless. The shadow is extremely persistent and does not yield easily to suppression. There are three ways how your psyche works together. One structure may compensate for the weakness of another structure, one component may oppose another component, and two or more structures may unite to form a synthesis. Compensation may be illustrated by the contrasting attitudes of extraversion and introversion. If extraversion is the dominant or superior attitude of the conscious ego, then the unconscious will compensate by developing the repressed attitude of introversion. Compensation also occurs between function, which I briefly mentioned earlier. A person who stresses thinking or feeling in his conscious mind will be an intuitive, sensation type unconsciously. As we studied in class, this balance, which compensation provides us with, is healthy. It prevents our psyches from becoming neurotically unbalanced. We need to have a little Peter and Jack in all of us. Opposition exists everywhere in the personality: between the persona and the shadow, between the persona and the anima, and between the shadow and the anima. The contest between the rational and irrational forces of the psyche never ceases either. One's integrity of "self" can actually determine whether or not this opposition will cause a shattering of a personality. Must personality always by a house divided against itself, though? Jung thought not. There can always be a union of opposites, a theme that looms very large in Jung's writings.DYNAMICSThe psyche is a relatively closed system that has only a fixed amount of energy also called Values, which is the amount of energy devoted to a component of the mind. There are some channels into the psyche through which ene rgy can enter in form of experiences. If the psyche were a totally closed systems, it could reach a state of perfect balance, for it would not be subjected to interference from the outside. The slightest stimulus may have far-reaching consequences on one's mental stability. This shows that it is not the amount of energy that is added, but the disruptive effects that the added energy produces within the psyche. These disruptive effects are caused by massive redistributions of energy within the system. It takes only the slightest pressure on the trigger of a loaded gun to cause a great disaster. Similarly, it may take only the slightest addition of energy to an unstable psyche to produce large effects in a person's behavior. Psychic energy is also called Libido. It is not to be confused with Freud's definition of libido. Jung did not restrict libido to sexual energy as Freud did. In fact, this is one of the essential differences in the theories of the two men. It can be classified as actual or potential forces that perform psychological work. It is often expressed in desires and wants for objects. The values for things are hidden in complexes.The psyche is always active, yet it is still very difficult for people to accept this view of a continuously active psyche, because there is a strong tendency to equate psychic activity with conscious activity. Jung, as well as Freud, hammered away at this misconception, but it persists even today. The source of psychic energy is derived from one's instincts and diverted into other uses. Like a waterfall is used to create energy, you have to use your instincts to turn into energy as well. Otherwise, just like the waterfall, your instincts are completely fruitless. For example, if you think that to get a beautiful wife, you have to be rich, so you direct your sexual driv

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Approximate Word count = 2742
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History