Psychology of the Unconscious

by Jung, Carl Gustav

• ISBN13: 9780691090252
• ISBN10: 0691090254
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-29
• Publisher: Bollingen Foundation

Summary

"This book became a landmark, set up on the spot where two ways divided. Because of its imperfections and its incompleteness it laid down the program to be followed for the next few decades of my life." Thus wrote C. G. Jung about his most famous and influential work, the one that marked the beginning of his divergence from the psychoanalytic school of Freud. In this book Jung explores the fantasy system of Frank Miller, the young American woman whose account of her poetic and vivid mental images helped lead him to his redefinition of libido while encouraging his explorations in mythology. Published in 1912 asWandlungen und Symbole der Libido, this is a key text for the study of the formation of Jung's ideas and for understanding his personal and psychological condition during this crucial time. Miller's fantasies, with their mythological implications, supported Jung's notion that libido is not primarily sexual energy, as Freud had described it, but rather psychic energy in general, which springs from the unconscious and appears in consciousness as symbols. Jung shows how libido organizes itself as a metaphorical "hero," who first battles for deliverance from the "mother," the symbol of the unconscious, in order to become conscious, then returns to the unconscious for renewal. Jung's analytical commentary on these fantasies is a complex study of symbolic parallels derived from mythology, religion, ethnology, art, literature, and psychiatry, and foreshadows his fundamental concept of the collective unconscious and its contents, the archetypes.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xv
Foreword	xvii
Eugene Taylor
Introduction	xxvii
William McGuire
Translator's Note	xliii
Author's Note	xlv
PART I
Introduction	5	(4)
Relation of the Incest Phantasy to the Oedipus Legend
Moral revulsion over such a discovery
The unity of the antique and modern psychology
Followers of Freud in this field
The need of analyzing historical material in relation to individual analysis
Concerning the Two Kinds of Thinking	9	(28)
Antiquity of the belief in dreams
Dream-meanings psychological not literal
They concern wish-fulfilments
A typical dream: the sexual assault
What is symbolic in out everyday thinking?
One kind of thinking: intensive and deliberate, or directed
Directed thinking and thinking in words
Origin of speech in primitive nature sounds
The evolution of speech
Directed thinking a modern acquisition
Thinking, not directed, a thinking in images: akin to dreaming
Two kinds of thinking: directed and dream or phantasy thinking
Science an expression of directed thinking
The discipline of scholasticism as a forerunner
Antique spirit created not science but mythology
Their world of subjective phantasies similar to that we find in the child-mind of today; or in the savage
The dream shows a similar type
Infantile thinking and dreams a re-echo of the prehistoric and the ancient
The myths a mass-dream of the people: the dream the myth of the individual
phantastic thinking concerns wishes
Typical cases, showing kinship with ancient myths
Psychology of man changes but slowly
Phantastic thinking tells us of mythical or other material of undeveloped and no longer recognized wish tendencies in the soul
The sexual base
The wish, because of its disturbing nature, expressed not directly, but symbolically
The Miller Phantasies	37	(6)
Miss Miller's unusual suggestibility
Identifying herself with others
Examples of her autosuggestibility and suggestive effect
Not striking in themselves, but from analytic viewpoint they afford a glance into the soul of the writer
Her phantasies really tell of the history of her love
The Hymn of Creation	43	(33)
Miss Miller's description of a sea-journey
Really a description of ``introversion''
A retreat from reality into herself
The return to the real world with erotic impression of officer singing in the night-watch
The undervaluing of such erotic impressions
Their often deep effect
The succeeding dream, and poem
The denied erotic impression usurps an earlier transference: it expresses itself through the Father-Imago
Analysis of the poem
Relation to Cyrano, Milton and Job
The attempt to escape the problem by a religious and ethical pose
Contrast with real religion
Escape from erotic by transference to a God or Christ
This made effective by mutual transference: ``Love one another''
The erotic spiritualized, however
The inner conflict kept conscious by this method
The modern, however, represses the conflict and so becomes neurotic
The function of Christianity
Its biologic purpose fulfilled
Its forms of thought and wisdom still available
The Song of the Moth	76	(39)
The double role of Faust: creator and destroyer
``I came not to send peace, but a sword''
The modern problem of choice between Scylla of world-renunciation and Charybdis of world-acceptance
The ethical pose of The Hymn of Creation having failed, the unconscious projects a new attempt in the Moth-Song
The choice, as in Faust
The longing for the sun (or God) the same as that for the ship's officer
Not the object, however: the longing is important
God is our own longing to which we pay divine honors
The failure to replace by a real compensation the libido-object which is surrendered produces regression to an earlier and discarded object
A return to the infantile
The use of the parent image
It becomes synonymous with God, Sun, Fire
Sun, and snake
Symbols of the libido gathered into the sunsymbol
The tendency toward unity and toward multiplicity
One God with many attributes: or many gods that are attributes of one
Phallus and sun
The sun-hero, the well-beloved
Christ as sun-god
``Moth and sun''
then brings us to historic depths of the soul
The sun-hero creative and destructive
Hence: Moth and Flame: burning one's wings
The destructiveness of being fruitful
Wherefore the neurotic withdraws from the conflict, committing a sort of self-murder
Comparison with Byron's Heaven and Earth
PART II
Aspects of the Libido	115	(10)
A backward glance
The sun the natural god
Comparison with libido
Libido, ``sun-energy''
The sun-image as seen by the mystic in introversion
The phallic symbol of the libido
Faust's key
Mythical heroes with phallic attributes
These heroes personifications of the human libido and its typical fates
A definition of the word ``libido''
Its etymological context
The Conception and the Genetic Theory of Libido	125	(14)
A widening of the conception of libido
New light from the study of paranoia
The impossibility of restricting the conception of libido to the sexual
A genetic definition
The function of reality only partly sexual
Yet this, and other functions, originally derivations from procreative impulse
The process of transformation
Libido, and the conception of will in general
Examples in mythology
The stages of the libido: its desexualized derivative and differentiations
Sublimation vs. repression
Splittings off of the primal libido
Application of genetic theory of libido to introversion psychoses
Replacing reality by archaic surrogates
Desexualizing libido by means of phantastic analogy formations
Possibly human consciousness brought to present state in this manner
The importance of the little phrase: ``Even as.''
The Transformation of the Libido. A Possible Source of Primitive Human Discoveries	139	(29)
An example of transition of the libido
Act of boring with forefinger: an infantile presexual activity
Similar activities in patient's early childhood
Outcome in dementia praecox
Its phantasies related to mythological products: a reproduction of the creations of antiquity
The freeing of libido from the nutritive to enter the sexual function
The epoch of suckling and the epoch of displaced rhythmic activity
These followed by the beginnings of onanistic attempts
An obstacle in the sexual zone produces regression to a previous mode
These regressions easier in earlier stages of humanity than now
The ethnological phantasy of boring
Examples
The production of fire
Its sexual significance
A substitute for coitus
The invention of fire-making then due to the need of supplying a symbol for the sexual act
The psychological compulsion for such transitions of the libido based on an original division of the will
Regression to incestuous
Prohibition here sends incestuous component of libido back to presexual
Character of its application here
The substitution of Mother-earth for the parent
Also of infantile boring
Leading then to discovery of fire
An example in Hindoo literature
The sexual significance of the mouth
Its other function: the mating call
The regression which produced fire through boring also elaborated the mating call
The beginnings of speech
Example from the Hindoo
Speech and fire the first fruits of transformation of libido
The fire-preparation regarded as forbidden, as robbery
The forbidden thing: onanism
Onanism a cheating of sexuality of its purpose
The ceremonial fire-production a substitute for the possibility of onanistic regression
Thus a transformation of libido ensues
The Unconscious Origin of the Hero	168	(34)
The cause of introversion
The forward and backward flow of the libido
The abnormal third
The conflict rooted in the incest problem
The ``terrible mother''
Miss Miller's introversion
An internal conflict
Its product of hypnagogic vision and poem
The uniformity of the unconscious in all men
The unconscious the object of a true psychology
The individual tendency with its production of the hero cult
The love for the hero or god a love for the unconscious
A turning back to the mother of humanity
Such regressions act favourably within limits
Miss Miller's mention of the Sphinx
Theriomorphic representations of the libido
Their tendency to represent father and mother
The Sphinx represents the fear of the mother
Miss Miller's mention of the Aztec
Analysis of this figure
The significance of the hand symbolically
The Aztec a substitute for the Sphinx
The name Chi-wan-topel
The connection of the anal region with veneration
Chiwantopel and Ahasver, the Wandering Jew
The parallel with Chidher
Heroes generating themselves through their own mothers
Analogy with the Sun
Setting and rising sun: Mithra and Helios, Christ and Peter, Dhulqarnein and Chidher
The fish symbol
The two Dadophores: the two thieves
The mortal and immortal parts of man
The Trinity taken from phallic symbolism
Comparison of libido with phallus
Analysis of libido symbolism always leads back to the mother incest
The hero myth the myth of our own suffering unconscious
Faust
Symbolism of the Mother and of Rebirth	202	(64)
The crowd as symbol of mystery
The city as symbol of the mother
The motive of continuous ``union''
The typical journey of the sun-hero
Examples
Alonging for rebirth through the mother
The compulsion to symbolize the mother as City, Sea, Source, etc.
The city as terrible mother and as holy mother
The relation of the water-motive to rebirth
Of the tree-motive
Tree of life a mother-image
The bisexual character of trees
Such symbols to be understood psychologically, not anatomically
The incestuous desire aims at becoming a child again, not at incest
It evades incest by creating myths of symbolic rebirth
The libido spiritualized through this use of symbols
To be born of the spirit
This compulsion toward symbolism brings a release of forces bound up in incest
This process in Christianity
Christianity with its repression of the manifest sexual the negative of the ancient sexual cult
The unconscious transformation of the incest wish into religious exercise does not meet the modern need
A conscious method necessary, involving moral autonomy
Replacing belief by understanding
The history of the symbolism of trees
The rise of the idea of the terrible mother a mask of the incest wish
The myth of Osiris
Related examples
The motive of ``devouring''
The Cross of Christ: tree of death and tree of life
Lilith: the devouring mother
The Lamias
The conquering of the mother
Snake and dragon: the resistance against incest
The father represents the active repulse of the incest wish of the son
He frequently becomes the monster to be overcome by the hero
The Mithraic sacrificing of the incest wish an overpowering of the mother
A replacing of archaic overpowering by sacrifice of the wish
The crucified Christ an expression of this renunciation
Other cross sacrifices
Cross symbol possesses significance of ``union''
Child in mother's womb: or man and mother in union
Conception of the soul a derivative of mother imago
The power of incest prohibition created the self-conscious individual
It was the coercion to domestication
The further visions of Miss Miller
The Battle for Deliverance from the Mother	266	(28)
The appearance of the hero Chiwantopel on horseback
Hero and horse equivalent of humanity and its repressed libido
Horse a libido symbol, partly phallic, partly maternal, like the tree
It represents the libido repressed through the incest prohibition
The scene of Chiwantopel and the Indian
Recalling Cassius and Brutus: also delirium of Cyrano
Identification of Cassius with his mother
His infantile disposition
Miss Miller's hero also infantile
Her visions arise from an infantile mother transference
Her hero to die from an arrow wound
The symbolism of the arrow
The onslaught of unconscious desires
The deadly arrows strike the hero from within
It means the state of introversion
A sinking back into the world of the child
The danger of this regression
It may mean annihilation or new life
Examples of introversion
The clash between the retrogressive tendency in the individual unconscious and the conscious forward striving
Willed introversion
The unfulfilled sacrifice in the Miller phantasy means an attempt to renounce the mother: the conquest of a new life through the death of the old
The hero Miss Miller herself
The Dual Mother Role	294	(75)
Chiwantopel's monologue
His quest for the ``one who understands''
A quest for the mother
Also for the life-companion
The sexual element in the wish
The battle for independence from the mother
Its peril
Miss Miller's use of Longfellow's Hiawatha
An analysis of Hiawatha
A typical hero of the libido
The miraculous birth
The hero's birth symbolic because it is really a rebirth from the mother-spouse
The twofold mother which in Christian mythology becomes twofold birth
The hero his own procreator
Virgin conception a mask for incestuous impregnation
Haiwath's early life
The identification of mother-nature with the mother
The killing of a roebuck a conquering of the parents
He takes on their strength
He goes forth to slay the father in order to possess the mother
Minnehaha, the mother
Hiawatha's introversion
Hiding in the lap of nature really a return to the mother's womb
The regression to the presexual revives the importance of nutrition
The inner struggle with the mother, to overpower and impregnate her
This fight against the longing for the mother brings new strength
The Mondamin motive in other myths
The Savior-hero the fruit of the entrance of the libido into the personal maternal depths
This is to die, and be born again
Hiawatha's struggle with the fish-monster
A new deliverance from the mother
And so again with Megissogwon, the Magician
The hero must again and again conquer the mother
Then follows his marriage with Minnehaha
Other incidents, his death: the sinking of the sun in the west
Miss Miller also reminded by Chiwantopel's longing of Wagner's Siegfried
Analysis of the Siegfried myth
The treasure-guarding dragon
The dragon the son's repressed longing for the mother
Symbolism of the cave
The separation from the mother, the hero's conquering of the dragon
The symbolism of the cup
Drinking from the Mother
Cup of the blood of Christ
The resultant mysterious union of man
Profane interpretations of this mystery
The phallic significance of the serpent
The snake as representing the introverting libido
Self-procreation: or creation of the world through introversion
The world thus an emanation of the libido
The hero himself a serpent
The hidden libido touched upon causes a struggle: that is, the hero fights the fight with the treasure-guarding dragon
The awaking of Brunhilda
Siegfried finding his mother: a symbol of his own libido
The conquest of the terrible mother brings the love and life-giving mother
The Sacrifice	369	(46)
Miss Miller's vision again
The paradoxical striving of the libido away from the mother toward the mother
The destroying mother becomes beneficent on being conquered
Chiwantopel a hero of words, not deeds
He has not that will to live which breaks the magic circle of the incestuous
His identification with the author, and her wish for the parents
The end is the devouring of the daughter's libido by the mother
Sexuality of the unconscious merely a symbol
Idle dreaming the mother of the fear of death
This downward path in the poetry of Holderlin
The estrangement from reality, the introversion leading to death
The necessity of freeing libido for a complete devotion to life
Otherwise bound by unconscious compulsion: Fate
Sublimation through voluntary work
Creation of the world through cosmic sacrifice
Man discovers the world when he sacrifices the mother
The incest barrier as the producer of thought
Budding sexuality drawing the individual from the family
The mind dawns at the moment the child begins to be free of the mother
He seeks to win the world, and leave the mother
Childish regression to the presexual brings archaic phantasies
The incest problem not physical, but psychological
Sacrifice of the horse: sacrifice of the animal nature
The sacrifice of the ``mother libido'': of the son to the mother
Superiority of Christian symbol: the sacrifice, not only of lower nature, but the whole personality
Miss Miller's phantasy passes from sacrifice of the sexual, to sacrifice of the infantile personality
Problem of psychoanalysis, expressed mythologically, the sacrifice and rebirth of the infantile hero
The libido wills the destruction of its creation: horse and serpent
The end of the hero by means of earthquake
The one who understands him is the mother
Index	415