Analytical psychology of Jung. The theory of Jung's complexes Jung complexes

Chapter 2. Psychological concepts

6. Analytical psychology of K. Jung

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) is a renowned Swiss psychologist, psychiatrist and philosopher. In 1909-1913. collaborated with 3. Freud, played a leading role in the psychoanalytic movement: he was the first president of the International Psychoanalytic Society, editor of a psychoanalytic journal, lectured on introduction to psychoanalysis.

Along with Z. Freud, A. Adler and others, Jung is one of the founders of depth psychology, which studies the so-called deep levels of the personality psyche. They are made up of drives and other motivational tendencies, among which the main role is played by unconscious motives, generally unconscious, opposed to mental processes that function on the upper "floors" of the human psyche. In his theory of the unconscious, Jung continues the line of Freud.

First of all, he shares and develops a general Freudian approach to the psyche as an energetic contradictory system - multilevel and multipolar. At the same time, he does not agree with the pansexual interpretation of the libido, arguing - contrary to Freud - that the basis of the personality and the source of its conflicts is not sexual desire, but psychic energy as such, that is, any need, not only directly related to the somatic, bodily sphere ... Such a very broad, desexualized concept of libido could not be accepted by Freud. Between him and Jung in 1913. there was a break.

Later, Jung moved away from Freudianism and developed his own theory, which he called "analytical psychology." With his ideas, he had a significant impact not only on psychiatry and psychology, but also on anthropology, ethnology, comparative history of religion, pedagogy, and literature.

The structure of the human psyche in the concept of C. Jung

Jung viewed structure as having three components:

1. consciousness - EGO - I;
2. individual unconscious - "IT";
3. "Collective unconscious", consisting of mental prototypes, or "archetypes."

1. information from the outside world of low intensity, which has not reached the level of consciousness
2. Content that has lost intensity and forgotten
3. Inborn biological instincts and impulses
4. Displaced from consciousness, repressed desires, thoughts, experiences that form "unconscious complexes"

Archetypes determine:

1. A predisposition to a particular type of behavior
2. Collective ideas of humanity in a certain era, "spirit of the era"
3. Affect the external physical world, nature, space

Jung noted that the following contents, or components, can be presented in the human mind:

It is necessary to correct the complexes as a whole, in order to correct the "complex", it is necessary to extract the emotionally charged "complex" from the unconscious, to re-comprehend it and change its emotional sign, to change the direction of the affect, that is, the goal is to eliminate not the symptom, but the affect that underlies " complex ".

Jung discovered the law of "the unity of being in a common unconsciousness": if two people at the same time showed the same complex, then an emotional projection arises that causes attraction or repulsion between them, that is, you begin to relate to this person the way you would treat this complex if you were aware of it.

Jung notes that such an unconscious projection, a connection exists between parents and children: “a well-known example is a mother-in-law who identifies herself with her daughter and thus marries her son-in-law; or a father who believes that he cares about his son, naively forcing him to fulfill his paternal desires, for example, in choosing a profession or when getting married; or the son identifies himself with the father, or the presence of a close unconscious connection between mother and daughter. "

Jung argues that any mental reaction disproportionate to the cause that caused it must be investigated as to whether it was caused at the same time by the archetype.

Jung introduced the concept the acasual binding principle of synchronicity- which denotes meaningful coincidences of events separated in time and space.

By his definition, synchronicity takes effect when "a certain mental state occurs simultaneously with one or more external events that arise as significant parallels to the current subjective state." Synchronously related events are clearly related thematically, although there is no linear causal relationship between them. For example, you thought of a person whom you have not seen for a long time, and he unexpectedly appears in front of you or calls you from afar, or suddenly you have an alarming state of fear and you soon become a witness or participant in an accident, etc.

A possible explanation for the phenomena of "synchronicity" is the presence of a person's unconscious connection with other people, with the archetypes of the collective unconscious, with the physical world and the information field of mankind and space, with past, present and future events.

Jung's innovative ideas about the collective unconscious, about the unconscious unity of man with all of humanity, the world, the cosmos, are further developed and confirmed in modern studies of transpersonal psychology.

The universe is an integral and unified network of interconnected, interpenetrating worlds, therefore it is possible that under certain circumstances a person can restore his identity with the cosmic network and consciously experience any aspect of its existence (telepathy, psychodiagnostics, vision at a distance, foresight of the future, penetration into the distant the past manifests itself in some people, and the question is no longer whether such phenomena are possible, but how to describe the barrier that does not allow them to occur at any time). Experimental modern research by S. Grof confirms the correctness of C. Jung's concept, the inextricable connection of human consciousness with the unconscious phenomena of the personal and collective unconscious, with archetypes, the possibility of a person's access to the global information field of collective unconscious and cosmic consciousness in transpersonal experiences.

Complex (lat.Complex - connection, combination)- in psychology (primarily in psychoanalysis) the concept denoting "an emotionally colored set of ideas, motives and attitudes that is formed in the unconscious (or displaced into it), which has a significant impact on the development and functioning of the psyche, personality and human behavior." Introduced by Carl Gustav Jung.

With his concept of the complex, Jung approaches the concept of archetypes. "A complex is feelings, images, memories, grouped around a single concept, for example, the concept of" mother ", so that they are perceived by the mind as a single whole." Jung said that "archetypes are largely an unconscious content that changes through awareness and perception - and precisely in the spirit of the individual consciousness in which it manifests itself." So, “archetype (from the Greek. Archetipos - prototype) is a term of analytical psychology, its central concept. It denotes the essence, form and method of communication of inherited unconscious prototypes and structures of the psyche, passing from generation to generation. " The unconscious structural units discovered by the author of the analytical idea contain complexes or collections of mental elements (ideas, opinions, attitudes, beliefs, mother complex, power complex), which tend to unite around a thematic core and are associated with certain feelings. Complexes can at times take control of the mind, ego or personality and control its behavior. The significance of the personal unconscious is specific, because "it includes all the impressions of our life, regardless of whether they fell into our consciousness or not." Therefore, the unconscious is not immediately recognized and seems to be something unknown. It should be added to this thought that the unconscious in the individual is rather “all that I know, but what I don’t think about in this moment, everything that was perceived by my senses, but was not fixed in my consciousness, everything that I feel, think, remember, want and do unintentionally and inattentively, that is, unconsciously, everything that lies ahead that is prepared in me and only later reaches consciousness - all this is the content of the unconscious. "

Coming so close to studying personality psychology, Jung discovered some principles and laws. One law that requires our attention is the law of “the unity of being in common unconsciousness,” which says: “if two people manifest the same complex at the same time, then an emotional projection arises, causing attraction or repulsion between them. those. you begin to treat this person as you would treat this complex if you were aware of it. " Jung noted a vivid expression of the presence of this law in the relationship between children and parents, when parents identify themselves with children. For example, when a mother-in-law identifies herself with her daughter and thus marries her son-in-law.

Gerhard Adler about the complex:

"A complex is mental content charged with emotional energy. It is important to remember that mental content is not always identical with suppressed or unconscious content. In one case, we can talk about the center of the conscious, thinking, ego, as a mental complex, since it represents emotional energy located around a certain nucleus, which acts as a center of attraction.In another case, they talk about the existence of complexes that, although unconscious, are not suppressed, but simply not realized, i.e. represent the future potentials of a given personality that have not yet reached the threshold consciousness.

Thus, "having complexes" does not necessarily mean that you are sick. Everyone has complexes, since having one is nothing more than owning some dynamic and emotionally charged mental centers of attraction, which, due to their emotional power, attract and act as focusing for the rest of mental experience. We only start talking about neurosis when some of these emotionally charged mental factors or complexes are not or do not seem to be comparable, compatible with the general orientation of the personality, therefore, cause a more or less deep cleft, or dissociation, in the integrity of the personality. The main feature of each complex is the absorption of psychic energy. If the complex is placed in the unconscious, then it attracts the energy that the conscious person must have at his disposal. This leads to inadequate adaptation, and subsequently to the appearance of neurotic disorders, whether they are symptoms of a psychological or physical nature. The analyst's task is to build a bridge over this dissociation, i.e. integration or reintegration of different parts of the personality.

If the complex is not suppressed, rather, if it is still, as it were, subconscious, then behind neurotic manifestations it will be possible to find hidden progressive potentials of the personality. This means, as already indicated, that neurosis is: but so far only an unsuccessful attempt to reorient it. Therefore, an absolutely necessary task of paramount importance is to find the positive meaning hidden behind the symptom or complex. The complex is like a fragmented personality; the patient himself must also be taught to see the ego in the right light. The idea that a complex is something like a separate person may seem strange at first. "

Freud's works, despite their controversial nature, prompted a group of leading scientists of the time to work with him in Vienna. Some of these scientists eventually moved away from psychoanalysis in order to seek new approaches to understanding the person. Carl Gustav Jung was the most prominent defector from the Freudian camp.

Like Freud, K. Jung devoted himself to the teaching of dynamic unconscious drives for human behavior and experience. However, in contrast to the first, Jung argued that the content of the unconscious is more than repressed sexual and aggressive urges. According to Jung's theory of personality known as analytical psychology, individuals are motivated by intrapsychic forces by images that have their origins in evolutionary history. This innate unconscious contains deep-rooted spiritual material that explains the inherent desire of all of humanity for creative self-expression and physical perfection.

Another source of controversy between Freud and Jung is the relationship to sexuality as the dominant force in the structure of personality. Freud interpreted libido mainly as sexual energy, while Jung saw it as a diffuse creative life force, manifesting itself in a variety of ways, such as in religion or the desire for power. That is, in Jung's understanding, libido energy is concentrated in various needs - biological or spiritual - as they arise.

Jung argued that soul (in Jung's theory, a term analogous to personality) consists of three separate but interacting structures: the ego, the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious.

Ego

Ego is the center of the sphere of consciousness. It is a psyche component that includes all those thoughts, feelings, memories and sensations, thanks to which we feel our integrity, constancy and perceive ourselves as people. This serves as the basis of our self-awareness, and thanks to it we are able to see the results of our normal conscious activities.

Personal unconscious

Personal unconscious contains conflicts and memories that were once realized, but now suppressed or forgotten. It also includes those sensory impressions that lack brightness in order to be noted in consciousness. Thus, Jung's concept of the personal unconscious is somewhat similar to Freud's. However, Jung went further than Freud, emphasizing that the personal unconscious contains complexes, or an accumulation of emotionally charged thoughts, feelings and memories taken by an individual from his past personal experience or from ancestral, hereditary experience. According to Jung, these complexes, arranged around the most common topics, can have a fairly strong influence on the behavior of an individual. For example, a person with a power complex can expend a significant amount of psychic energy on activities directly or symbolically related to the topic of power. The same may be true of a person who is under the strong influence of a mother, father, or money, sex, or some other kind of complexes. Once formed, the complex begins to influence the behavior of a person and his attitude. Jung argued that the material of the personal unconscious in each of us is unique and, as a rule, available for awareness. As a result, the components of the complex, or even the entire complex, can be realized and exert an excessively strong influence on the life of the individual.

Collective unconscious

And, finally, Jung expressed the idea of \u200b\u200bthe existence of a deeper layer in the structure of the personality, which he called collective unconscious... The collective unconscious is a repository of latent traces of the memory of humanity and even our humanoid ancestors. It reflects thoughts and feelings common to all human beings and are the result of our shared emotional past. As Jung himself said, "the collective unconscious contains all the spiritual heritage of human evolution, reborn in the structure of the brain of each individual." Thus, the content of the collective unconscious is formed due to heredity and is the same for all mankind. It is important to note that the concept of the collective unconscious was the main reason for the divergence between Jung and Freud.

Archetypes

Jung hypothesized that the collective unconscious consists of powerful primary mental images, the so-called archetypes (literally, “primary models”). Archetypes are innate ideas or memories that predispose people to perceive, experience and respond to events in a certain way. In reality, these are not memories or images as such, but rather, it is the predisposing factors under the influence of which people implement in their behavior universal models of perception, thinking and actions in response to any object or event. Inherent here is precisely the tendency to react emotionally, cognitively and behaviorally to specific situations - for example, in an unexpected encounter with a parent, a loved one, a stranger, a snake, or death.

Among the many archetypes described by Jung are mother, child, hero, sage, sun deity, rogue, God and death.

Jung believed that each archetype is associated with a tendency to express a certain type of feeling and thought in relation to the corresponding object or situation. For example, in the child's perception of his mother, there are aspects of her actual characteristics, colored by unconscious ideas about such archetypal maternal attributes as upbringing, fertility and dependence.

Further, Jung assumed that archetypal images and ideas are often reflected in dreams, and are also often found in culture in the form of symbols used in painting, literature, and religion. In particular, he emphasized that symbols characteristic of different cultures often show striking similarities, because they go back to the archetypes common to all mankind. For example, in many cultures he has seen images mandalas, which are symbolic embodiments of the unity and integrity of the "I". Jung believed that understanding archetypal symbols aided him in analyzing the patient's dreams.

The number of archetypes in the collective unconscious can be unlimited. However, Jung's theoretical system focuses on the person, anime and animus, shadow and self.

A person

A person (from the Latin word “persona”, meaning “mask”) is our public face, that is, how we manifest ourselves in relations with other people. The persona denotes the many roles that we play in accordance with social requirements. In Jung's understanding, a persona serves the purpose of impressing others or concealing his true identity from others. We need a persona as an archetype to get along with other people in everyday life... However, Jung warned that if this archetype acquires great importance, then a person may become shallow, superficial, reduced to only one role and alienated from true emotional experience.

Shadow

In contrast to the role that the person plays in our adaptation to the world around us, the archetype shadow represents the suppressed dark, evil and animal side of the personality. The shadow contains our socially unacceptable sexual and aggressive impulses, immoral thoughts and passions. But the shadow also has positive aspects. Jung viewed the shadow as a source of vitality, spontaneity, and creativity in an individual's life. According to Jung, the function of this is to channel the energy of the shadow in the right direction, to curb the harmful side of our nature to such an extent that we can live in harmony with others, but at the same time openly express our impulses and enjoy a healthy and creative life.

Anima and Animus

The anima and animus archetypes express Jung's recognition of the innate androgynous nature of humans. Anima represents the inner image of a woman in a man, his unconscious feminine side; while animus - the inner image of a man in a woman, her unconscious masculine side. These archetypes are based, at least in part, on the biological fact that both male and female hormones are produced in the body of a man and a woman. This archetype, Jung believed, evolved over the centuries in the collective unconscious as a result of the experience of interaction with the opposite sex. Many men have, to some extent, “feminized” as a result of years of living with women, and the opposite is true for women. Jung insisted that anima and animus, like all other archetypes, should be expressed harmoniously, without upsetting the overall balance, so as not to hinder the development of the personality in the direction of self-realization. In other words, a man should express his feminine qualities along with masculine ones, and a woman should show her masculine qualities, as well as feminine ones. If these necessary attributes remain undeveloped, the result will be one-sided growth and personality functioning.

Self

Self Is the most important archetype in Jung's theory. The self is the core of the personality around which all other elements are organized.

When the integration of all aspects of the soul is achieved, a person feels unity, harmony and integrity. Thus, in Jung's understanding, the development of the self is the main goal of human life. The main symbol of the archetype of self is the mandala and its many varieties (abstract circle, saint's halo, rosette window). According to Jung, the integrity and unity of the “I”, symbolically expressed in the completeness of figures, like a mandala, can be found in dreams, fantasies, myths, in religious and mystical experience. Jung believed that religion is a great force contributing to a person's striving for integrity and completeness. At the same time, the harmonization of all parts of the soul is a complex process. True balance of personality structures, as he believed, is impossible to achieve, at least, this can be achieved not earlier than middle age. Moreover, the archetype of the Self is not realized until the integration and harmony of all aspects of the soul, conscious and unconscious, occurs. Therefore, reaching a mature “I” requires constancy, perseverance, intelligence and great life experience.

Introverts and extroverts

Jung's most famous contribution to psychology is considered to be the two main directions, or attitudes described by him: extraversion and introversion.

According to Jung's theory, both orientations coexist in a person at the same time, but one of them becomes dominant. In the extraverted attitude, the focus of interest in the outside world - other people and objects, is manifested. The extrovert is mobile, talkative, quickly establishes relationships and attachments, external factors are the driving force for him. An introvert, on the other hand, is immersed in the inner world of his thoughts, feelings and experiences. He is contemplative, restrained, seeks solitude, tends to move away from objects, his interest is focused on himself. According to Jung, there is no extroverted or introverted attitude in isolation. Usually they are both present and are in opposition to each other: if one appears as a leader, the other acts as an auxiliary. The combination of leading and auxiliary ego orientations results in individuals whose behavior patterns are defined and predictable.

Soon after Jung formulated the concept of extraversion and introversion, he concluded that it was impossible to fully explain all the differences in people's attitudes towards the world with the help of these opposing orientations. Therefore, he expanded his typology to include psychological functions. Four main functionsallocated by him is thinking, feeling, feeling and intuition.

Thinking and feeling

Jung referred to thinking and feeling to the category of rational functions, since they allow one to form judgments about life experience. The thinking type judges the value of certain things using logic and arguments. The opposite function of thinking - feeling - informs us about reality in the language of positive or negative emotions. The feeling type focuses on the emotional side of life experience and judges the values \u200b\u200bof things in terms of “good or bad,” “pleasant or unpleasant,” “prompts something, or cries out boredom.” According to Jung, when thinking acts as a leading function, the person is focused on building rational judgments, the purpose of which is to determine whether the evaluated experience is true or false. And when the leading function is feeling, the personality is focused on making judgments about whether the experience is, above all, pleasant or unpleasant.

Feeling and intuition

The second pair of opposite functions - sensation and intuition - Jung called irrational, because they simply passively “grasp”, register events in the external or internal world, without evaluating them and explaining their meaning. Feeling is a direct, non-judgmental realistic perception of the world. The sensing type is especially perceptive about taste, smell, and other sensations from stimuli from the outside world. On the contrary, intuition is characterized by a subliminal and unconscious perception of current experience. The intuitive type relies on premonitions and guesses, grasping the essence of life events. Jung argued that when sensation is the leading function, a person comprehends reality in the language of phenomena, as if he were photographing it. On the other hand, when the leading function is intuition, a person reacts to unconscious images, symbols and the hidden meaning of the experience.

Each person is endowed with all four psychological functions. However, as soon as one personality orientation is usually dominant, likewise, only one function from a rational or irrational pair is usually dominant and recognized. Other functions are immersed in the unconscious and play an auxiliary role in the regulation of human behavior. Any function can be leading. Accordingly, the thinking, feeling, sensing and intuitive types of individuals are observed. According to Jung's theory, the integrated personality uses all opposite functions to cope with life situations.

The two ego orientations and the four psychological functions interact to form eight different personality types. For example, the extraverted thinking type focuses on objective, practical facts of the surrounding world. He usually comes across as a cold and dogmatic person who lives by established rules.

It is possible that the prototype of the extraverted thinking type was Z. Freud... The introverted intuitive type, on the contrary, focuses on the reality of his own inner world. This type is usually eccentric, keeping aloof from others. In this case, Jung probably had himself in mind as a prototype.

Unlike Freud, who gave special attention to the early years of life as a decisive stage in the formation of personality patterns, Jung considered personality development as a dynamic process, as evolution throughout life. He spoke almost nothing about socialization in childhood and did not share Freud's views that only past events (especially psychosexual conflicts) are determining for human behavior.

From Jung's point of view, a person is constantly acquiring new skills, achieving new goals, realizing himself more and more fully. He attached great importance to such a life goal of the individual as “gaining selfhood”, which is the result of the striving of all components of the personality for unity. This theme of the desire for integration, harmony and integrity was later repeated in the existential and humanistic theories of personality.

According to Jung, ultimate life goal - this is a complete realization of the “I”, that is, the formation of a single, unique and integral individual. The development of each person in this direction is unique, it continues throughout life and includes a process called individuation. Simply put, individuation is a dynamic and evolving process of integrating many opposing intrapersonal forces and tendencies. In its final expression, individuation presupposes the conscious realization by a person of his unique psychic reality, the full development and expression of all elements of the personality. The archetype of the self becomes the center of the personality and balances many opposing qualities that make up the personality as a single main whole. Thanks to this, the energy necessary for continued personal growth is released. The result of the realization of individuation, which is very difficult to achieve, Jung called self-realization. He believed that this final stage of personality development is available only to capable and highly educated people who have sufficient leisure for this. Because of these limitations, self-realization is not available to the vast majority of people.

Last time we talked about the unbound consciousness, which is the unconscious, and about the center to which the consciousness is attached. This center is usually considered "I", but it is not recommended to discuss what the "I" itself is, because it is possible to discuss before losing oneself. We will have to do this, however, since we want to understand Jung's psychology (which, incidentally, he sometimes called complex).

In the commentary to The Secret of the Golden Flower there is a chapter entitled “Dissolution of Consciousness”, which begins like this: “The meeting of a narrowly limited, but intensely clear individual consciousness with a monstrous extension of the collective unconscious is a danger, because the unconscious has an openly dissolving effect on consciousness. This action is even, according to Hui Ming Jing, one of the characteristic features of Chinese yoga practice. " Further Jung draws attention to one of the pictures attached to this treatise.

On it, from the head of a meditating Taoist, “five human figures emerge, which, in turn, are divided into twenty-five smaller ones. It would be a schizophrenic process if we viewed it as a condition. " But Jung does not consider it that way, he sees it as a process of the formation of complexes: “These are, undoubtedly, cognizable mental contents that have the same undeniable autonomy, for they are mental subsystems. They either manifest themselves spontaneously in ecstatic states and, on occasion, cause strong impressions and effects, or, in case of mental disorders, they are fixed in the form of delusional ideas and hallucinations, thereby destroying the unity of the personality.

Jung discovered the phenomenon of the autonomous complex (auto in Greek - self, and nomos - order, law) at the very beginning of his career when he experimented with the word association test. Subsequently, he more than once described autonomous formations, including - in a commentary to the "Secret of the Golden Flower": "Actually, this autonomy can be studied in everyday life on affects that willfully break through against our will and our convulsive attempts to force them out and, by flooding "I", they subordinate it to their will. Therefore, it is not surprising that the savage sees in this phenomenon an obsession or the exit of the soul from the body - but after all, our language still adheres to this custom: “I don’t understand what has rolled over him today”, “A demon has possessed him”, “Again on something has found him "," He loses his temper "," He works like an obsessive "... Therefore, autonomous psychic contents for us are quite a familiar experience."

We observed this with an example and his. And while interpreting, they discovered autonomous formations that operated in the psyche of Jung himself: Lecturer, Patient, Analyst. About this kind of subjects, he writes: “These are rather complex mental subsystems, which have a personal character, the more complex they are. They are the components of the psychic personality and therefore must have a personal character. "

In his lecture "A Review of the Theory of Complexes" (1934), Jung noted: "Everyone now knows that people" have complexes. " Not so well known, although much more theoretically important, is the fact that complexes can possess us. The existence of complexes casts a shadow of serious doubt on the naive assumption about the unity of consciousness, which is identified with "psyche", and on the supremacy of the will. Any constellation of complexes postulates a disturbance of consciousness. The unity of consciousness is undermined and the direction of will is difficult or even impossible ... The complex, therefore, is a psychic factor, in the energetic sense, having a weight that often exceeds the size of conscious intentions, otherwise such violations in the organization of consciousness would be impossible.

About energy next time, now about how the autonomous complex behaves. Take the example of writing that Jung analyzed in his lecture On the Attitude of Analytical Psychology to Poetic Creativity (1921): An unborn work in the artist's soul is an elemental force that makes its way either tyrannically and violently, or with that inimitable cunning, with which nature knows how to achieve its goals ... Creative lives and grows in man, like a tree in the soil, from which it takes the juices it needs. Therefore, it would be nice for us to imagine the process of creative creation like some living creature growing in the human soul ”.

That is, the one who produces the text in me is not myself at all, but a certain being who uses me to produce it. It obviously does not have the necessary organs for this, but wants to express itself. And he found himself a literary negro for this. The Negro, let’s say, is interested in what it wants to say, so he sits there writing. And even though I'm tired of it for a long time, but you can't leave, because - you never know what ... Vaughn Akhmatova reports: "And how many poems I have not written, and their secret chorus wanders around me and, perhaps, will strangle me someday."

What is the relationship between the author and the autonomous complex? About the author, Jung says: “All he has to do is obey and follow a seemingly alien impulse, feeling that his work is superior to him and therefore has a power over him that he cannot contradict. It is not identical with the process of image creation; he realizes that he is below his work, or, at most, next to him - like a subordinate person who has fallen into the field of attraction of someone else's will. "

So, the author is the soil. And an autonomous complex is like an escape: “A work of art should be viewed as image creation, freely disposing of all its initial conditions. Its meaning, its specific nature rests in itself, and not in external conditions; one could perhaps even say that it is a self-essence that uses a person and his personal circumstances simply as a breeding ground, disposes of his forces in accordance with his own laws and makes himself what he wants to become. "

This is the action of "someone else's will" in the process of the birth of a text. And in this regard, Jung defines the autonomous complex as follows: “This term simply denotes all kinds of mental formations that initially develop completely unconsciously and invade consciousness only when they gain enough strength to cross its threshold. The connection they enter with consciousness makes sense not of assimilation, but of perception, and this means that although the autonomous complex is perceived, it cannot be subordinated to conscious control - be it restraint or arbitrary reproduction.

Perception is simply perception, in contrast to apperception, which Jung describes in his Psychological Tapas (1921) as "the process by which a new content is so attached to existing content that it is designated as understood, comprehended or clear." What is assimilation? In the same place we read: "In essence, assimilation is a process of apperception, which, however, differs in the element of assimilating the new content to subjective material." In this, Jung follows Wundt, but adds: “I use the term 'assimilation' in a somewhat expanded sense, namely in the sense of assimilating the adaptation of an object to a subject in general, and opposing this dissimilation as an assimilation of a subject to an object and alienation of the subject from himself in favor an object, whether it be an external object or a "psychological" object, such as an idea. "

Simply put, the question of assimilation and dissimilation boils down to who eats whom (assimilates). If I eat, then I assimilate, and if they eat me, then I am food, I assimilate, and they dissimilate me. Or do I dissimilate, and they assimilate me? There is ambiguity here, but the Russian language reveals the paradox of this process. We take a translation of some book by Jung and read: "Consciousness assimilates the unconscious." The question immediately arises: who (what) who (what) assimilates? Consciousness - unconscious or - vice versa? Dont clear. But this is precisely the essence of the matter. Consciousness and unconsciousness are intertwined in such a way that it is usually impossible to establish exactly who is assimilating whom there, “adapting” to himself. In his report "The Practical Use of Dream Analysis" (1934), Jung formulated this in all lapidary terms: "In assimilation, it is never about" either - or ", but always about" and - and "."

Here it must be borne in mind that the autonomous complex and the "I" interact in a person, who at the same time remains the same, at least bodily. And mentally? Before answering this question, it is necessary to see the difference between the subject (which was discussed in) and "I", which from a psychological point of view is only one of the autonomous complexes (Jung noted this more than once). So, the subject is what Kant says: "It should be possible that" I think "accompanies all my ideas." Such a subject ("I think") is by no means a mental formation (not a complex "I"). Such a subject is something like a tribune, or a chariot driver's seat (), or a captain's bridge, on which various autonomous complexes can become. Usually there is a complex "I", but if he leaves the bridge (subject), then some other complex may appear there. This is exactly like in the parable of the upper room (the Gospel of Luke), from which they drive out the evil spirit and leave it empty, and as a result other spirits come into it.

The "I" complex is formed from childhood to adapt to life in certain conditions, it grows into the subject, therefore the person considers this complex to be his "I", therefore he confuses the complex with the subject (which is not a personal being, but a structure similar to an organ body, but not bodily). The “I” complex will literally panic if it starts to be pushed out of the subject. At the same time, a person can think: I and my consciousness are what I am, everything that I have, and the aliens (from there) want to take it away from me and thereby destroy me. I (the complex "I") do not care that there, beyond the limits of consciousness (correlation with the "I"), there can dwell some genuine "I" (what Jung calls the Self), repressed into the unconscious by way of education, forming a socially conditioned "I" (complex), which does not want to know anything about ... And so on.

Let's go back to assimilation. From general considerations, three options can be presented: consciousness assimilates unconscious contents, the unconscious absorbs the contents of consciousness, consciousness and the unconscious interact harmoniously. Jung has considered each of these options many times throughout his career. In general, his understanding of the process of assimilation remained unchanged, although the methods of description were refined over time. To show a more or less final formulation, I will cite the book "Aion" (1950), which deals with the case of the interaction of the "I" and the Self (but it is the same with the interaction of the "I" with any other figure from the unconscious):

“A real mental catastrophe should be considered the case when "I" is assimilated by the self... The image of integrity then remains in the unconscious, so that, on the one hand, it shares the archaic nature of the unconscious, and on the other, it falls into the psychically relativized space-time continuum characteristic of the unconscious as such. Both of these qualities have the property of numinosity, and therefore have an unlimited effect on the self-consciousness. " But the opposite case: “The accentuation of the self-personality and the world of consciousness, however, can easily acquire such dimensions that the figures of the unconscious are psychologized and, as a result, the self becomes the assimilated self... Although this process is exactly the opposite of the one just described, the result will be the same: inflation. Now the world of consciousness is subject to demolition for the sake of the reality of the unconscious. In the first case, reality must be protected from the archaic, "eternal" and "omnipresent" state of sleep; in the second, sleep wins its place at the expense of the world of consciousness. "

These are the first two options for interaction. As for the third, this is just a case of individuation, the acquisition of integrity. And there is no complete clarity here. In Aion, Jung says that "unity and integrity are at the highest level of the scale of objective values, since their symbols are already practically indistinguishable from the Image of God." Such an experience can be experienced, but - how to describe it? Jung folds: “Unfortunately, I am unable to convey this experience to the public. In numerous publications, I have tried to demonstrate the nature of the experience in question, as well as the method of obtaining it, using specific clinical material.

One of the attempts to talk about such an experience is contained in the commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower. True, one has to speak almost in Chinese (the terms are worth it). But this is even good, since it allows one to abstract from Western subjector-centrism and focus directly on the process of synthesis of opposites of Sin and Min. “Bringing opposites together at a higher level,” Jung comments, “is a process mental developmentexpressing himself in symbols ”. And here is how it proceeds: “The products of spontaneous fantasies… intensify and gradually concentrate around abstract paintings, which are obviously“ beginnings ”, real Gnostic“ arche ”. Where fantasies are expressed mainly in a mental form, intuitive formulations for vaguely perceived laws or principles appear ... If fantasies are depicted in the form of drawings, then symbols appear, relating mainly to the so-called type of mandala. "

"Arche" - component Jung's most famous term. But, always talking about archetypes, it seems that only in this single place he points to the arche as the beginning (or seed) from which meaning unfolds. And he connects the arche with the mandala: “The Golden Flower is light, and the light of heaven is Tao. The Golden Flower is a symbol of the mandala. " What does arche have to do with it? And here: “The beginning, in which all that exists is still in unity and which is therefore the highest goal, remains at the bottom of the sea, in the darkness of the unconscious. In this embryonic bubble, consciousness and life (or "essence" and "life" - sin-min) still form a unity.

"Sea" is a symbol of the unconscious. As for the "germ bubble", it is a symbol of something that implies growth and development. Jung says: “Darkness generates light, noble gold grows from the“ lead of a watery area, ”the unconscious becomes conscious as a process of life and growth. (The Indian Kundalini Yoga is a complete analogy.) Thus, the unification of consciousness and life takes place. "

It turns out that the mandala is an image of the “germinal bubble, in which the synthesis of sin and min (consciousness and the unconscious) occurs, as a result of which the growth of the“ immortal body ”(Self) begins. Mandala is an external object that reflects internal processes. But she is also a magical artifact that can influence the inner: “The mandala symbol is not only an expression, but also acts itself. He has an opposite effect on his creator. It contains an ancient magical power, since it originally comes from the "reserved circle", from the "vicious circle", the magic of which has been preserved in countless folk customs. This image has a clear purpose - to draw a "sulcus primigenius", a magical furrow, around the center - the templum, or temenos (sacred area) of the innermost depths of the personality, in order to prevent the "outpouring" or apotropically prevent sliding towards the outside world. "

In fact, temenos is a fenced area dedicated to the gods (). And in internal projection, this is a special area of \u200b\u200bthe psyche (see), which must be isolated from assimilating influences - both from the side of consciousness and from the unconscious. Everyone knows from experience how difficult it can be to hold on to a new thought. After all, she strives to slip back into the depths of the unconscious, to forget. And consciousness, for its part, immediately begins to bring this thought under already known categories, to drive it into a template, and as a result, the banality remains, but disappears again. But this is just a case of the manifestation of thought, and we are now talking about the birth of something that cannot be captured or described until it develops into something. Into some non-trivial ability, for example. In order for such an embryo of the new to survive, it must be protected from assimilating influences, placed in the very “embryonic vesicle” where the “immortal body” matures.

According to Taoist ideas, the shell of this bubble is created by the method of twisting the qi energy, for which special breathing exercises... There are other ways to create a protective cocoon, but all of them, one way or another, boil down to rotation. Jung calls this circumambulation and explains: “Circulation is not a simple movement in a circle, but one that carries, on the one hand, the meaning of setting aside a sacred region, and on the other, the meaning of fixation and concentration; the wheel of the sun begins to run ... the Tao begins to act and takes the lead. " The psychological meaning of this is the same in all cultures: “Such magical customs are nothing more than projections of a mental event, which find here their reverse application to the soul as a kind of bewitching one's own personality. This is a return of attention, supported and mediated by imaginative action, or, better to say, participation in the inner sacred circle - the source and purpose of the soul, containing in itself that very once existing, but then lost and regained unity of life and consciousness ”.

Here, for example, a picture: a man sits in a room where everything is artificial and shabby: a plaster sky, a light bulb instead of the sun ... This is the beginning of the "Ballad" from Khodasevich's book "Heavy Lyre". Pay attention: the room is "round", and things are "round". It's a circle "Hopeless life"due to place and time: "A watch with a metallic noise in a vest pocket is running."... But time is not so much a mechanical rhythm as cycles of respiration, heart, nature: "And I begin to swing, embracing my knees"... And also - the rhythm of meaning: "And suddenly I begin to speak with myself in verse in oblivion"... Conversation with oneself is already a split, and forgetting is a loss of self-awareness, an exit to the border of the unconscious, where rationality loses its meaning, and delirium begins: “Incoherent, passionate speeches! It is impossible to understand anything in them, but the sounds are truer than the meaning, and the word is stronger than anything "... But only this is not a conventional word, not a sign indicating the known, but a symbol expressing the unknown (see). These "Sounds are truer than meaning", because they carry information that cannot be in a sign (conditioned word). These sounds are "music" that "Woven into my singing".

And right there "The narrow blade pierces me"... dismemberment at initiation into shamans. What happens next is actually what is depicted in the illustrations for "Hui Ming Jing": "I grow over myself, rise over the dead being"... This is the growth of an "immortal body", an individual shamanic tree (about which, dedicating Jung): "With your feet into the underground flame, into the flowing stars with your brow"... At the same time, a new vision opens (at the initiation, "prophetic apples" are inserted): "And I see with big eyes - with eyes, perhaps, snakes - as my unfortunate things hear the wild singing"... It's time to shut ourselves off from them, here's the circumambulation: "And the whole room moves in a smooth, rotating dance".

Obviously, this “round” room with things “around” is a symbol of consciousness. Which - - is the correlation of contents ("things") with "I" (center). This is how the “I” complex should look. But now this "room" is also rotating, which creates another circle (other than the circle of the complex "I"), a mandala, in the center of which is who? We look further: "And someone gives a heavy lyre in my hands through the wind"... This "someone" is certainly not the one who is inside the circle. They are separated by a border, the wind, through which the one who is inside receives a heavy lyre (a thing from the other side). This lyre connects the one who is outside and the one who is inside; it is a symbol of the identity of these two non-identical figures (typical). But on this side, everything is paradoxical: a man with a watch in his waistcoat pocket is not at all the same as with a lyre in his hands. Yes, each of them is Khodasevich, but the first is sitting in the round room of his empirical "I", and the second is standing where "No plaster sky and sixteen candles sun"... And this second is seen by the first from the side: "Orpheus rests his feet on smooth black rocks."

It is not difficult to recognize in these “black rocks” that “stone of rest”, which Philemon stepped on after leaving the “revolving circle” (see). It is not difficult to see in this stone the center of the mandala, from which the mana personality grows (the archetype of the sage or the complex of the poet, call it according to the circumstances). It is not difficult to distinguish this mandala from the round "I" room (even if these two circles formally coincide). It is not hard to understand that the "I" complex and the Orpheus complex can fight to rule the human "chariot". But how can they harmonize?

To answer this question, it will be necessary to deal with the energy of the psyche. But that's another time.

The founder of the new direction "Analytical Psychology" Carl Gustav Jung was born in 1875 in the Swiss town of Keswil into a pastor's family. After graduating from the University of Basel, the young doctor worked for about 6 years in the Zurich psychiatric hospital as an assistant to the famous psychiatrist Eigen Bleuler, and since 1910 Jung has been one of the students of the founder of the psychoanalytic direction, Sigmund Freud.
Pretty soon, Jung became one of Freud's most promising students and took leading positions in the psychoanalytic movement.
Between 1909 and 1913, Jung became president of the Psychoanalytic Society and editor of the corresponding journal.

Departure on the classical psychoanalysis of Freud.

In 1914, a break occurs between Freud and Jung.
And although, in general, Jung remains in the position of psychoanalysis, his views on one of the most basic provisions of Freud - about the dominant role of sexual drives in the motivation of the human personality, differ significantly from the views of the teacher, which leads to irreconcilable contradictions that are extremely painful for himself. Freud.

There were two reasons for the fundamental divergence, this is Jung's new approach to the ideas of libido and the unconscious.

The emergence of analytical psychology.

Let us recall what the basic idea of \u200b\u200bpsychoanalysis was.
According to Freud, personality behavior is determined by unconscious motives, which are based on sexual attraction, and the cause of internal conflicts - neuroses and depression - is nothing more than inevitable contradictions that arise between the conscious part of the personality and unconscious impulsive desires due to the animal nature of man, which is invariably suppressed social and ethical attitudes.

And this idea may seem strange only at first glance, because in his reasoning Sigmund Freud proceeded from a completely rational understanding of the facts and reasons for the neurotic behavior of his patients and a scientific hypothesis about the contradiction between natural animal impulses of man and the requirements of society.
In Freud's teachings, man - animal and man - social being were in a state of natural contradiction.

Carl Jung's ideas regarding libido and the unconscious were similar to Freud's only at first glance, and some of them, especially his views on the unconscious, rested on very exotic views for that time.

In general, by accepting the very idea of \u200b\u200blibido, Jung deprived it of its main function - sexual. In his understanding, the initial source of the conflict was not only sexual energy, but some psychic energy as such. Sexual energy was nothing more than a part of it and came to the fore (like any other need) only in those moments when it became relevant to the personality.

In such a system of coordinates, any human need, being unfulfilled, could serve as a source of psychological problems, and the list of such needs expanded very far beyond purely bodily impulses. More precisely, the nature of the basic (animal) energy, according to Jung, remained the same, but manifested itself not only in the sphere of animal needs, but also in the activities inherent only to humans.

Jung put completely different meanings into understanding the motives of personality development. Thus, Freud's famous idea of \u200b\u200bthe Oedipus complex in Jung's understanding takes on a slightly different context. Now, Jung explains the child's attachment to the mother in large part by the fact that the mother is the source of satisfaction of the individual's current needs, for example, basic needs for food and warmth. And as for sexual energy, according to Jung's logic, it became much more relevant during puberty, and therefore much later. At the same time, Jung did not at all deny the phenomenon of sexual impulses at an early age, but they were reduced only to fragmentary manifestations, on a par with other mental needs.

Proceeding from the difference in views on the dominant psychic energy, there followed a much more far-reaching difference regarding the main paradigm of views on a person's personality, or rather, on what this personality is defined at a given moment in time.
So, according to Freud's views, the basis of the human personality, its motives and impulses in the present were largely determined by the past, namely the childhood period of development. Jung, on the other hand, argued that personality development does not end at all in childhood.
A person can change significantly at any age, and his motives are equally determined not only by his childhood traumas, but also by the current motives and tasks that are currently defined and determined in the present.

Thus, using Freud's psychoanalysis as a basis, Jung, in fact, very radically dealt with the theory of his teacher.

But at the same time, without any doubt, Jung's truly revolutionary view was his interpretation of the unconscious, which became one of the foundations of the new theory of personality.

Personality structure according to Jung.

Structurally, Jung's personality is almost identical to Freud's, but this is only at first glance.
According to Jung, personality - the soul (psyche), consists of three components - the Ego, the Personal unconscious and the Collective unconscious.

Ego - the central part of consciousness which includes thoughts, feelings, sensations, information (memories). It is this part of our consciousness that is responsible for identifying us as a separately existing personality, for the rational perception of the world and for conscious activity (perceived behavior).

Personal unconscious - a repository of information that was previously realized, however, for certain reasons, repressed and forgotten. Such a concept of the unconscious would be similar to that of Freud, if Jung did not go much further, suggesting that this same sphere contains the so-called complexes or emotionally colored (charged) parts of the psyche that have acquired the properties of an autonomous existence as some independent entities capable of significantly influencing a person, his state and behavior.
The reason for the emergence of such mental structures is traumatic situations from the past, which, among other things, were in opposition to the ego, that is, they could not, for some reason, be accepted by it, and therefore, found themselves locked in the subconscious in the form of images of these situations.

In fact, Jung asserted the existence of alien independent elements in the sphere of personality consciousness.
The complexes are suppressed by the volitional conscious efforts of the ego, but without any problems continue to exist again and again making themselves felt in situations similar to those in which they arose.
The problem is that thanks to these components of the psyche, a person's free will is largely violated and the individual begins to behave not in accordance with the requirements of the real situation, but under the influence of internal reasons from the past.
Complexes affect not only human behavior, but also his attitude.

According to Jung, information that is in the sphere of the personal unconscious can be realized by a person.

The third part of personality according to Jung is collective unconscious, which is a repository of the universal memory of mankind for hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. It is, as it were, a collective heritage of our ancestors that exists in a hidden figurative form in the subconscious of each individual and, under certain conditions, is available for comprehension in the form of images.

The bearers of this collective heritage were especially significant and energetically powerful images - archetypes (primary modules), which were responsible for the instinctive behavior of people, for the perception of the world in a certain way through basic ideas that are the same in different cultures but often not causally related.
This meant that people react to certain situations in approximately the same way, this concerns, for example, attitudes towards father and mother, child, death, etc.
In fact, each archetype is responsible for a certain typical life situation and defines (is a template) a model of human behavior under given circumstances.

Examples of significant Jungian archetypes are mother, child, death, sage, god, self.

Jung believed that the perception of archetypes is available in a figurative form during dreams.
These archetypes are also found in different cultures in the form of symbols, religious, artistic, literary, philosophical.

The most important archetypes of Jung.

It is believed that the number of archetypes in general should be equal to the number of typical situations in our life, which means an unlimited number. However, Jung singled out a number of the most important of them, these are the mask, anima, animus, shadow and self.

Mask (person). One of the most important archetypes for a person whose name speaks for itself.
The mask is that part of our consciousness that is addressed to society. It is through her that interaction with society takes place.
For each social situation, each person has their own kind of mask.
The function of the mask is to imitate a socially acceptable image of ourselves, and also, to hide what we really are.
The mask is a very important part of our personality, which is responsible for a successful social life, but, like any useful thing, it carries both good and evil. Often, the mask begins to play such a big role for most of us that we completely forget who we really are, which means that we fall under the power of a skillful instrument that imperceptibly enslaves us.

Shadow. What is responsible for the “primitive” animal part of our personality, the shadow, is our natural impulses (selfish, sexual, aggressive), which, for various reasons, are not accepted either by society or by ourselves. Accordingly, we tend to suppress its natural manifestations. However, Jung himself considered the Shadow to be twofold.
On the one hand, it presents obvious problems for the individual, on the other hand, it is a powerful source of universal energy that can be used for “peaceful purposes”, for example, directed into a creative direction.

According to Jung, both the Shadow and the Person are special archetypes and are a kind of basic structure (core) in the collective unconscious. The reason for this view is probably that these archetypes, unlike the others, are responsible for the self-consciousness of the individual, and therefore, both one and the other are manifested both in the personal unconscious and directly in consciousness.
The role of the Ego is precisely to create a certain semblance of harmony between the Shadow and the Person.
This means channeling the enormous energy of the Shadow in the right direction.
On the other hand, this means the use of the Person, precisely as a practical tool for life in society, without identification with her.

Anima and Animus. These two archetypes are associated with the images of Father and Mother, man and woman.
For a man, the Anima image is an ideal associated on the one hand with the mother, on the other, carrying the unconscious feminine side of male nature, as well as ideas about ideal woman, which greatly influence the search for a partner.
Typical manifestations of Anima in a male character are excessive emotionality, sensuality, irrational impulsivity.
Ignoring the feminine side of one's nature leads to a certain disharmony in the development of a man's personality and the loss of certain opportunities.

For the Animus woman, this is the image ideal man, partner, father, and also the male part of her personality. Manifestations of the Animus in a woman's character are aggressiveness in society and family, striving for domination, independence, logic.
As in the case of a man, ignoring or rejecting the masculine part of the personality leads to one-sided development.

Self archetype (I, as it is). Unmanifest under ordinary conditions, this archetype becomes the center of the entire personality structure after a special act that Jung called individuation.
Individuation of a personality occurs when all its internal structures, which are in antagonism in normal conditions, come into equilibrium and unite in one holistic harmony.
Only then does the Self become the defining archetype of personality.
Jung believed that self-actualization of the Self is very rare, nevertheless, it is the main goal of human existence. According to Jung, the Self is the embodiment of our natural religiosity and subconsciously pushes a person to develop inner harmony.