Jung's analytical psychology. Theory of Young's complexes Young's complexes

Chapter 2 Psychological Concepts

6. Analytical psychology of C. Jung

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) - famous Swiss psychologist, psychiatrist and philosopher. In 1909-1913. collaborated with Z. 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 an 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 leading role unconscious motives play, the unconscious in general, opposed to mental processes functioning on the upper "floors" of the human psyche. In his theory of the unconscious, Jung continues Freud's line in many ways.

First of all, he shares and develops the general Freudian approach to the psyche as an energy contradictory system - multilevel and multipolar. At the same time, he does not agree with the pansexual interpretation of libido, arguing - contrary to Freud - that the basis of the personality and the source of its conflicts is not sexual desire, but mental energy as such, that is, any need, and not just 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. a break has occurred.

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 structulities as consisting of three components:

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

1. information from outside world low intensity, which has not reached the level of consciousness
2. Contents that have lost intensity and are forgotten
3. Innate biological instincts and urges
4. Displaced from consciousness, suppressed desires, thoughts, experiences, forming "unconscious complexes"

Archetypes determine:

1. Predisposition to a certain type of behavior
2. Collective ideas of mankind in a certain era, "the spirit of the era"
3. Influence the external physical world, nature, space

Jung noted that the following contents or components can be represented 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, re-realize it and change its emotional sign, 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 have the same complex at the same time, then an emotional projection arises that causes attraction or repulsion between them, i.e. you begin to treat this person as 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 the mother-in-law who identifies herself with her daughter and thus, as it were, marries her son-in-law; or a father who thinks he is taking care of his son by naively forcing him to fulfill his paternal desires, such as in choosing a profession or getting married; either the son identifies himself with the father, or the presence of a close unconscious bond between mother and daughter.

Jung argues that any psychic reaction that is disproportionate to the cause that caused it must be examined to see if it was not also conditioned by the archetype at the same time.

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

According to him, synchronicity takes effect when "a certain mental state occurs simultaneously with one or more external events that occur as meaningful parallels to the current subjective state". Synchronically related events are clearly related thematically, although there is no linear causal relationship between them. For example, you think about a person whom you haven’t seen for a long time, and he suddenly appears in front of you or calls you from afar, or suddenly you have an anxious state of fear and you soon find yourself witnessing or participating in an accident, etc.

A possible explanation for the phenomena of "synchronism" is the presence of an unconscious connection of a person with other people, with the archetypes of the collective unconscious, with the physical world and the information field of humanity 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, and 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 prevents them from happening at any time). Experimental modern research by S. Grof confirms the correctness of the concept of C. Jung, the inextricable connection of human consciousness with unconscious phenomena of the personal and collective unconscious, with archetypes, the possibility of human access to the global information field collective unconscious and cosmic consciousness in transpersonal experiences.

Complex (lat. Complex - connection, combination)- in psychology (primarily in psychoanalysis), a concept denoting "an emotionally colored set of ideas, motives and attitudes that is formed in the unconscious (or forced 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. "The 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 whole" . Jung said that "archetypes are largely unconscious contents that change through awareness and perception - and precisely in the spirit of the individual consciousness in which it manifests." So, “archetype (from the Greek archetipos - prototype) is a term of analytical psychology, its central concept. 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 sets of mental elements (ideas, opinions, attitudes, beliefs, the mother complex, the power complex), which tend to unite around a thematic core and are associated with certain feelings. Complexes at times can take control of consciousness, 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 entered our consciousness or not." Therefore, the unconscious is not immediately realized and seems to be something unknown. To this thought it should be added that the unconscious in the individual is rather “everything that I know, but do not think about in this moment, everything that was perceived by my senses, but was not fixed in my mind, everything that I feel, think, remember, want and do unintentionally and inattentively, that is, unconsciously, everything that is forthcoming that is prepared in me and only later reaches consciousness , - all this is the content of the unconscious ".

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

Gerhard Adler about the complex:

"A complex is psychic content charged with emotional energy. It is important to remember that psychic content is not always identical with repressed or unconscious content. In one case, one can speak of the center of conscious, thinking, ego, as a psychic complex, since it represents emotional energy , located around a certain core, which acts as a center of attraction.In another case, they speak of the existence of complexes, which, 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, because having them is nothing more than owning some dynamic and emotionally charged psychic centers of attraction, which, due to their emotional power, attract and act as focal points for the rest of the psychic experience. We only begin to speak of 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, and therefore cause a more or less deep cleft, or dissociation, in the wholeness 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 insufficient adaptation, and subsequently to the appearance of neurotic disorders, whether they are symptoms of a psychological or physical nature. The task of the analyst is to bridge this dissociation; in the 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 hidden progressive potentials of the personality can be found behind the neurotic manifestations. This means, as has already been pointed out, that neurosis is but so far only an unsuccessful attempt to reorient it. Therefore, an absolutely necessary task of paramount importance is to find positive value hidden behind a symptom or complex. The complex is like a fragmented personality; the patient himself also needs to be taught to see the ego in the right light. The idea that a complex is anything like a separate person may seem strange at first."

Freud's work, despite its controversial nature, aroused the desire of a group of leading scientists of the time to work with him in Vienna. Some of these scientists moved away from psychoanalysis over time to seek new approaches to understanding the human being. Carl Gustav Jung was the most prominent among the defectors from Freud's camp.

Like Freud, K. Jung devoted himself to the teaching of dynamic unconscious drives on human behavior and experience. However, unlike the first, Jung argued that the content of the unconscious is something 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 whose origin goes back into the history of evolution. This innate unconscious contains deeply rooted spiritual material that explains the inherent desire for creative self-expression and physical perfection in all mankind.

Another source of disagreement between Freud and Jung is the attitude towards sexuality as the dominant force in the structure of personality. Freud treated the libido mainly as sexual energy, while Jung saw it as a diffuse creative life force that manifests itself in a variety of ways - as, for example, in religion or the desire for power. That is, in Jung's understanding, the energy of the libido is concentrated in various needs - biological or spiritual - as they arise.

Jung claimed 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 component of the psyche, which includes all those thoughts, feelings, memories and sensations, thanks to which we feel our integrity, constancy and perceive ourselves as people. This is the basis of our self-consciousness, and thanks to it we are able to see the results of our ordinary conscious activities.

Personal unconscious

Personal unconscious contains conflicts and memories that were once conscious but are now repressed 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 accumulation of emotionally charged thoughts, feelings and memories carried 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 the individual. For example, a person with a power complex can expend a significant amount of psychic energy on activities that are directly or symbolically related to the theme of power. The same may be true of a person who is under the strong influence of his mother, father, or under the power of 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, accessible to awareness. As a result, the components of the complex, or even the entire complex, can become conscious and have an excessively strong influence on the life of the individual.

collective unconscious

And, finally, Jung suggested the existence of a deeper layer in the structure of personality, which he called collective unconscious. The collective unconscious is a repository of latent memory traces of humanity and even our anthropoid ancestors. It reflects the thoughts and feelings that are common to all human beings and are the result of our common emotional past. As Jung himself said, “the collective unconscious contains the entire 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 particular way. In reality, these are not memories or images as such, but rather predisposing factors, under the influence of which people implement in their behavior universal models of perception, thinking and action in response to some object or event. What is innate here is precisely the tendency to respond emotionally, cognitively, and behaviorally to specific situations—for example, in an unexpected encounter with parents, a loved one, a stranger, a snake, or death.

Among the many archetypes described by Jung are the mother, the child, the hero, the sage, the sun deity, the 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 a 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 suggested that archetypal images and ideas are often reflected in dreams, and also often found in culture in the form of symbols used in painting, literature, religion. In particular, he emphasized that the symbols characteristic of different cultures often show a striking similarity, because they go back to archetypes common to all mankind. For example, in many cultures he met images mandalas, which are symbolic embodiments of the unity and integrity of the “I”. Jung believed that understanding the archetypal symbols helped him in the analysis of a patient's dreams.

The number of archetypes in the collective unconscious can be unlimited. However, special attention in Jung's theoretical system is given to 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 relationships with other people. The persona refers to the many roles that we play in accordance with social requirements. In Jung's understanding, a persona serves the purpose of impressing others, or hiding one's true identity from others. The persona as an archetype is necessary for us to get along with other people in Everyday life. However, Jung warned that if this archetype becomes of great importance, then the person can become shallow, superficial, reduced to a single role, and alienated from true emotional experience.

Shadow

In contrast to the role played in our adaptation to the world around us, the persona, the archetype shadow represents the repressed 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 its positive sides. Jung viewed the shadow as a source of vitality, spontaneity and creativity in the life of the individual. According to Jung, the function of this is to channel the energy of the shadow in the right direction, to curb the evil 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 an internal image of a woman in a man, his unconscious female side; while animus- the inner image of a man in a woman, her unconscious male side. These archetypes are based, at least in part, on the biological fact that both men and women produce both male and female hormones. This archetype, according to Jung, evolved over many centuries in the collective unconscious as a result of experience of interaction with the opposite sex. Many men have been "feminized" to some extent as a result of years of living together with women, but for women the opposite is true. Jung insisted that the anima and animus, like all other archetypes, must be expressed harmoniously, without disturbing the overall balance, so that the development of the personality in the direction of self-realization is not hampered. In other words, a man must express his feminine qualities along with his masculine ones, and a woman must show her masculine qualities as well as her feminine ones. If these necessary attributes remain undeveloped, the result will be one-sided growth and functioning of the personality.

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 the self is the mandala and its many varieties (abstract circle, saint's halo, rose window). According to Jung, the integrity and unity of the "I", symbolically expressed in the completeness of figures, such as a mandala, can be found in dreams, fantasies, myths, in religious and mystical experience. Jung believed that religion is a great force that contributes to the human desire for wholeness and completeness. At the same time, the harmonization of all parts of the soul is a complex process. The true balance of personality structures, as he believed, is impossible to achieve, at least, this can be achieved no earlier than middle age. Moreover, the archetype of the Self is not realized until there is an integration and harmony of all aspects of the soul, conscious and unconscious. Therefore, the achievement of a mature "I" requires constancy, perseverance, intelligence and a lot of life experience.

Introverts and extroverts

Jung's most famous contribution to psychology is considered to be the two main directions he described, or life attitudes: 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 an extraverted attitude, the direction of interest in the outside world is manifested - other people and objects. The extrovert is mobile, talkative, quickly establishes relationships and attachments, external factors are the driving force for him. An introvert, on the contrary, is immersed in the inner world of his thoughts, feelings and experiences. He is contemplative, reserved, seeks solitude, tends to move away from objects, his interest is focused on himself. According to Jung, the extraverted and introverted attitudes do not exist 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-orientation results in individuals whose behavior patterns are defined and predictable.

Shortly after Jung formulated the concept of extraversion and introversion, he came to the conclusion that these opposite orientations cannot fully explain all the differences in people's attitudes to the world. Therefore, he expanded his typology to include psychological functions. Four main functions highlighted by them are thinking, feeling, feeling and intuition.

Thinking and Feeling

Thinking and feeling Jung referred to the category of rational functions, since they allow the formation of 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 value of things in terms of “good or bad”, “pleasant or unpleasant”, “encourages or calls for boredom”. According to Jung, when thinking acts as a leading function, a person is focused on building rational judgments, the purpose of which is to determine whether the experience being evaluated is true or false. And when the leading function is feeling, the personality is oriented towards making judgments about whether the experience is primarily 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 otherwise explaining their meaning. Sensation is a direct, nonjudgmental realistic perception of the world. The sensing type is particularly perceptive to taste, smell, and other sensations from environmental stimuli. On the contrary, intuition is characterized by 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 the leading function is sensation, a person comprehends reality in the language of phenomena, as if he were photographing it. On the other hand, when intuition is the leading function, a person reacts to unconscious images, symbols, and the hidden meaning of what is being experienced.

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

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

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

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

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

According to Jung, ultimate life goal- this is the complete realization of the "I", that is, the formation of a single, unique and holistic 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 implies the conscious realization by a person of his unique psychic reality, the full development and expression of all elements of personality. The archetype of the self becomes the center of the personality and balances the many opposite qualities that make up the personality as a single main whole. Thanks to this, the energy necessary for ongoing 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 spoke about the detached consciousness, which is the unconscious, and about the center to which the consciousness is attached. This center is usually considered to be “I”, but it is not recommended to discuss what the “I” itself is, because you can continue to discuss until you lose yourself. We, however, will have to do this if we want to understand Jung's psychology (which, by the way, he sometimes called complex).

In the commentary to The Secret of the Golden Flower, there is a chapter entitled “Dissolution of Consciousness,” which begins as follows: “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 a frankly dissolving effect on consciousness. This action is even, according to the Hui Ming Ching, one of the characteristic features practice of Chinese yoga. Next, Jung draws attention to one of the pictures attached to this treatise.

On it, five human figures protrude from the head of a meditating Taoist, which, in turn, are divided into twenty-five smaller ones. It would be a schizophrenic process if we saw it as a state." But Jung does not see it that way, he sees it as a process of formation of complexes: “These are undoubtedly knowable mental contents, which have equally undoubted autonomy, for they are mental subsystems. They either spontaneously appear in ecstatic states and, on occasion, cause strong impressions and effects, or, in mental disorders, 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 (“autos” in Greek is “self”, and “nomos” is “order, law”) at the very beginning of his career, when he experimented with a test of word associations. Subsequently, he described autonomous formations more than once, including in a commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower: “In fact, this autonomy can be studied in everyday life on affects that willfully break through against our will and our convulsive attempts to displace them and, flooding "I", subject 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 clings to this custom: “I don’t understand what has come over him today,” something has found him”, “He loses his temper”, “He works like a man possessed”… Therefore, autonomous mental contents are quite a familiar experience for us.”

We observed this in the 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 that have a personal character, the more they are more complex. They are the components of the mental personality and therefore must have a personal character.

In his lecture "Review of the Theory of Complexes" (1934), Jung noted: "Now everyone knows that people 'have complexes'. Less well known, though far more theoretically important, is the fact that complexes can possess us. The existence of complexes casts a serious doubt on the naive assumption of the unity of consciousness, which is identified with the "psyche", and on the supremacy of the will. Any constellation of complexes postulates a disturbance of consciousness. The unity of consciousness is undermined and volitional direction is difficult or impossible at all ... The complex, therefore, is a mental factor, in the energetic sense, having a weight that often exceeds conscious intentions in magnitude, 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, which Jung analyzed in his lecture On the Relationship of Analytical Psychology to Poetic Creation (1921): “The unborn work in the soul of the artist is an elemental force that works its way either tyrannically and forcibly, or with that inimitable cunning with which nature knows how to achieve its goals... The creative lives and grows in a person, like a tree in the soil, from which it takes the juices it needs. Therefore, it would not be bad for us to imagine the process of creative creation like a living being growing in the soul of a person.

That is, the one who produces the text in me is not at all myself, but is a certain being who uses me to produce it. It obviously does not have the organs necessary for this, but it wants to speak out. And found himself for this literary Negro. The Negro, let's say, is most interested in what he wants to say, so he sits and writes. And even though I got tired of it for a long time, I can’t quit, because - you never know what ... Von Akhmatova says: “And how many poems I have not written, and a secret choir of them wanders around me and, maybe, someday it will strangle me.”

What is the relationship between the author and the autonomous complex? Of the author, Jung says: “All he had to do was obey and follow a seemingly alien impulse, feeling that his work was superior to him and therefore had a power over him that he could not resist. It is not identical to the process of image creation; he is aware that he stands below his work, or, at most, next to it - 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 similar to an escape: “A work of art should be considered 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 nutrient medium, disposes of his forces in accordance with its own laws and makes itself what it wants to become.

Such is the action of "alien will" in the process of the birth of the text. And in this regard, Jung defines the autonomous complex as follows: “This term simply refers to all sorts of mental formations that initially develop completely unconsciously and invade consciousness only when they gain enough strength to cross its threshold. The connection that they enter into with consciousness has the meaning not of assimilation, but of perception, and this means that although an autonomous complex is perceived, it cannot be subject to conscious control - whether it be restraint or arbitrary reproduction.

Perception is simply perception, in contrast to apperception, which Jung describes in Psychological Tapes (1921) as "the process by which 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 differs, however, in the element of assimilation of the new content to subjective material.” In this, Jung follows Wundt, but adds: "I use the term 'assimilation' in a somewhat extended sense, namely, in the sense of the assimilation of the object to the subject in general, and contrast this with dissimilation as the assimilation of the subject to the object and the alienation of the subject from itself in favor of object, whether it be an external object or a "psychological" object, such as an idea.

Simply put, the question of assimilation and dissimilation comes down to who eats (assimilates) whom. If I eat, then I assimilate, and if they eat me, then I am food, I assimilate, and I am dissimilated. Or do I still dissimilate and be assimilated? There is an ambiguity here, but the Russian language reveals the paradoxical nature of this process. We take a translation of some book by Jung and read: "Consciousness assimilates the unconscious." The question immediately arises: who (what) assimilates whom (what)? Consciousness - unconscious or vice versa? Dont clear. But that is precisely the crux of the matter. Consciousness and the unconscious are intertwined in such a way that it is usually impossible to establish exactly who assimilates whom there, "adapts likewise" to himself. In his report "The Practical Use of Dream Analysis" (1934), Jung formulated this with all lapidarity: "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 man, who at the same time remains one and 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 the "I", which from a psychological point of view is only one of the autonomous complexes (Jung noted this more than once). Now, the subject is what Kant says: "It must be possible for 'I think' to accompany all my representations." Such a subject (“I think”) is by no means a mental formation (not an “I” complex). Such a subject is something like a tribune, or a place for a charioteer on a chariot (), or a captain's bridge, on which various autonomous complexes can stand. Usually the “I” complex is there, but if it 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 the evil spirit is cast out and left 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 a person considers this complex to be his “I”, and therefore he confuses the complex with the subject (which is not a personal being, but a structure similar to an organ body, but not corporal). The “I” complex will literally panic if it starts to be forced 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 “I” complex) do not care that there, beyond consciousness (correlation with “I”), some kind of genuine “I” (what Jung calls the Self), forced into the unconscious by education, can dwell, forming a socially conditioned "I" (complex), which does not want to know anything about ... And so on.

Let's get back to assimilation. From general considerations, three options can be imagined: consciousness assimilates unconscious contents, the unconscious absorbs the contents of consciousness, consciousness and the unconscious interact harmoniously. Throughout his career, Jung considered each of these options many times. 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 quote the book "Aion" (1950), which deals with the case of the interaction of the "I" and the Self (but the case is exactly the same with the interaction of the "I" with any other figure from the unconscious):

“A true psychic 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 I-consciousness. And here is the opposite case: “The emphasis on the I-personality and the world of consciousness, however, can easily acquire such dimensions that the figures of the unconscious become psychologized and, as a result, the self becomes assimilated "I". Although such a 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 in favor 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. And as for the third, this is just a case of individuation, gaining integrity. And here there is no complete clarity. In Aion, Jung says that "unity and wholeness stand at the highest rung of the scale of objective values, since their symbols are almost indistinguishable from the Image of God." Such an experience can be experienced, but how to describe it? Jung relents: “Unfortunately, I am unable to convey this experience to the public. In numerous published works, I have tried to demonstrate on concrete clinical material the nature of the experience about which in question, as well as the method of obtaining it.

One attempt to speak of such an experience is contained in the commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower. True, one has to speak almost in Chinese (there are terms). But this is even good, because it allows you to digress from Western subject-centrism and focus directly on the process of synthesizing the opposites of xing and min. “Unification of opposites on a higher level,” Jung comments, “is a process mental development expressing itself in symbols. And here is how it proceeds: “The products of spontaneous fantasies ... intensify and gradually concentrate around abstract pictures, obviously representing the “beginnings”, the real Gnostic “arche”. Where fantasies are expressed mainly in mental form, intuitive formulations appear for vaguely felt laws or principles ... If fantasies are depicted in the form of drawings, then symbols appear that belong mainly to the so-called mandala type.

"Arche" - component Jung's most famous term. But, always talking about archetypes, it seems that only in this single place does he point 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 the symbol of the mandala. What's with the arche? And here: “The beginning, in which all that exists is still in unity and which is therefore also the highest goal, resides at the bottom of the sea, in the darkness of the unconscious. In this germinal vesicle, consciousness and life (or "essence" and "life" - shin-min) still form a unity.

"Sea" is a symbol of the unconscious. And as for the “embryonic vesicle”, this is a symbol of something that implies growth and development. Jung says: “Darkness gives birth to light, noble gold grows from the “lead of the watery area”, the unconscious becomes conscious as a process of life and growth. (Indian kundalini yoga is the complete analogy.) Thus, consciousness and life are united.”

It turns out that the mandala is an image of the “embryonic vesicle, in which the synthesis of xing and min (consciousness and the unconscious) takes place, as a result of which the growth of the “immortal body” (Self) begins. A mandala is an external object that reflects internal processes. But it is also a magical artifact that can influence the inner: “The symbol of the mandala is not only an expression, but also acts on its own. It has the opposite effect on its creator. It contains an ancient magical power, since it originally comes from the "reserved circle", from the "enchanted circle", the magic of which has been preserved in countless folk customs. This image has the express purpose of drawing a "sulcus primigenius", a magical furrow, around the center - templum, or sacred district - of the innermost depths of the personality, in order to prevent the "outpouring" or apotropaically to prevent slipping towards the outside world.

In fact, a temenos is a fenced area dedicated to the gods (). And in the 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 is to hold on to a new thought. After all, she strives to slip back into the depths of the unconscious, to forget herself. 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, banality remains, and again disappears. But this is just a case of the appearance of thought, and we are now talking about the birth of something that can neither be caught nor described until it develops into something. In 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 twisting qi energy, for which special breathing exercises. There are other ways to create a protective cocoon, but they all come down to rotation in one way or another. Jung calls this circummbulation and explains: “Circuitation is not a simple movement in a circle, but one that carries, on the one hand, the meaning of highlighting the sacred district, and on the other, the meaning of fixation and concentration; the wheel of the sun begins its run... the dao begins to act and takes the lead.” The psychological meaning of this is the same in all cultures: “Such magical practices are nothing but projections of a mental event, which here find 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 a figurative action, or, to put it better, participation in the inner sacred district - the source and goal of the soul, which contains the very unity of life and consciousness that was once present, but then lost and regained.

For example, here is a picture: a person is sitting in a room where everything is artificial and miserable: a stucco sky, a light bulb instead of the sun ... This is the beginning of the "Ballad" from the book "Heavy Lyre" by Khodasevich. Let's pay attention: the room is "round", and things are "around". It's a circle "desperate life" depending on place and time: "Watch with metallic noise in the vest pocket is running". But time is not so much a mechanical rhythm as cycles of breath, heart, nature: "And I begin to swing, hugging my knees". And also - the rhythm of meaning: “And suddenly I begin to speak with myself in verses in oblivion”. Talking to yourself is already a split, and forgetfulness is a loss of self-consciousness, 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 more truthful than the meaning, and the word is stronger than anything.. But only this is not a conventional word, not a sign pointing to the known, but a symbol expressing the unknown (see). These "sounds are truer than meaning", since they carry information that cannot be in a sign (conditioned word). These sounds are "music" which "weaves into my song".

And right there "the narrow blade pierces me". dismemberment during initiation into shamans. What happens next is actually what is shown in the illustrations for "Hui Ming Jing": “I grow above myself, I rise above the dead being”. This is the growth of the "immortal body", the individual shamanic tree (about which, dedicating Jung): "Footsteps in the underground flame, in the flowing stars of the forehead". At the same time, a new vision opens up (during the initiation, “prophetic apples” are inserted): "And I see with big eyes - eyes, perhaps, snakes - how my unfortunate things listen to wild singing". It's time to fence off from them, here is the circumambulation: “And the whole room goes into a smooth, rotational dance”.

Obviously, this "round" room with things "around" is a symbol of consciousness. Which - - is the correlation of contents ("things") with the "I" (center). This is what the “I” complex should look like. But now this “room” is also rotating, which creates another circle (other than the circle of the “I” complex), a mandala, in the center of which is who? Let's look further: "And someone gives me a heavy lyre in my hands through the wind". This "someone" is certainly not the one inside the circle. They are separated by a border, a wind through which 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 even on this side, everything is paradoxical: a man with a watch in his vest pocket is not at all the same as with a lyre in his hands. Yes, each of them Khodasevich, but the first is sitting in the round room of his empirical "I", and the second is standing where "no stucco sky and sixteen-candle 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", on which, having left the "revolving circle", Philemon entered (see). It is not difficult to see in this stone the center of the mandala, from which a mana-personality grows (the archetype of a sage or a complex of a poet, call according to circumstances). It is not difficult to distinguish this mandala from the round room "I" (even if these two circles formally coincide). It is not difficult to understand that the "I" complex and the Orpheus complex may struggle 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 for another time.

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

A departure from classical Freud's psychoanalysis.

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

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

The emergence of analytical psychology.

Let us recall what was the main idea of ​​psychoanalysis.
According to Freud, personality behavior is determined by unconscious motives based on sexual desire, and the cause of internal conflicts - neurosis and depression is nothing more than the 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 causes of the neurotic behavior of his patients and a scientific hypothesis about the contradiction between the natural animal impulses of man and the requirements of society.
In Freud's teaching, man-animal and man-social being were in a state of natural contradiction.

Carl Jung's ideas about the 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 views that were very exotic for that time.

By and large, by accepting the very idea of ​​libido, Jung deprived it of its main function - sexual. In his understanding, the initial source of conflict was not only sexual energy, but some kind of 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 for the individual.

In such a coordinate system, any human need, if not realized, could serve as a source of psychological problems, and the list of such needs expanded far beyond purely bodily impulses. To be more precise, 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 types of activity inherent only to man.

Jung also invested completely different meanings in understanding the motives for personality development. Thus, Freud's famous idea of ​​the Oedipal complex, as understood by Jung, 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. 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 desires at an early age, but they were reduced only to fragmentary manifestations, along with other mental needs.

Proceeding from the difference in views on the dominant psychic energy, a much more far-reaching difference followed regarding the main paradigm of views on the personality of a person, or rather, on how this personality is defined at a given moment in time.
Thus, 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 argued that personality development does not end 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 current motives and tasks that exist now and are determined in the present.

Thus, by using Freud's psychoanalysis as a basis, Jung in fact treated the theory of his teacher quite radically.

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

Jung's personality structure.

Structurally, Jung's personality is almost the same as Freud's, but this is only at first glance.
According to Jung, the 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 person, for the rational perception of the world and for conscious activity (conscious behavior).

Personal unconscious- a receptacle of information previously realized, however, for certain reasons, repressed and forgotten. Such a conception of the unconscious would be similar to Freud's if Jung had not gone much further, assuming that this same realm contains the so-called complexes or emotionally colored (charged) parts of the psyche that have acquired the properties of autonomous existence as some independent entities capable of exerting a significant influence on 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, for some reason could not be accepted by it, and therefore, turned out to be 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 consciousness of the individual.
The complexes are suppressed by the willful conscious efforts of the ego, but without problems they continue to exist again and again making themselves felt in situations similar to those in which they arose.
The problem is that due to these components of the psyche, the free will of a person 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 causes from the past.
Complexes affect not only the behavior of a person, but also his attitude.

According to Jung, information located in the sphere of the personal unconscious can be realized by the individual.

Jung's third part of personality 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, the collective heritage of our ancestors, which exists in a hidden figurative form in the subconscious of each individual and, under certain conditions, is available for awareness 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 applies, for example, to their relationship with their father and mother, a child, death, and so on.
In fact, each archetype is responsible for a specific type 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 the personality, the name of which speaks for itself.
A mask is that part of our consciousness that is turned into society. It is through it that interaction with society occurs.
For each social situation, each person has his own kind of mask.
The function of the mask is to imitate a socially acceptable image of ourselves, as well as 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 bad. Oftentimes, the mask begins to play such a big role for most of us that we forget who we really are, which means that we fall under the power of a skillful tool 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 essentially 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 also be used for “peaceful purposes”, for example, channeled 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 appear 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 directing the huge energy of the Shadow in the right direction.
On the other hand, this means using the Persona as a practical tool for life in society, without identifying with it.

Anima and Animus. These two archetypes are associated with the images of Father and Mother, male and female.
For the male Anima, the image is an ideal, connected on the one hand with the mother, on the other, carrying the unconscious feminine side of male nature, as well as ideas about perfect woman, which to a large extent have an impact in finding a partner.
Typical manifestations of anima in male character, this is excessive emotionality, sensuality, irrational impulsiveness.
Ignoring the feminine side of one's nature leads to a certain disharmony in the development of the male personality and the loss of certain opportunities.

For an Animus woman, this is an image perfect man, partner, father, as well as the male part of her personality. The manifestations of the Animus in the female character are aggressiveness in society and the family, the desire for dominance, independence, logic.
Just as in the case of a man, ignoring or rejecting the male part of the personality leads to one-sided development.

Archetype Self(I, as there is). Unmanifested under normal conditions, this archetype becomes the center of the entire personality structure after a special act that Jung called individuation.
The individuation of a personality occurs when all its internal structures, which are normally in antagonism, come into balance and unite in one integral harmony.
Only then does the Self become the defining archetype of the personality.
Jung believed that the self-actualization of the Self is a very rare phenomenon, however, 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.