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Old 05-19-2008, 08:27 PM
  # 13 (permalink)  
ZombieWife
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Fellow Jungian here. I got a minor in religious studies (focus: Jungian analysis.) I'm also working on getting certified for dream interpretation through the Jungian institute here.

I'm all about Jung, as you can already tell. If you look at his archetype concept, you have the Self (Freud's "ego", ration, logic, your waking persona.) This is the person who knows 2+2=4, that you pay your bills on time, that you listen to your head, not your heart.

Then you have the shadow: The unconscious, the emotional, the feeling and sensing, the animal urges, the animal instincts, the desires, the lust.

Individuation is the key. You have to be whole. Your Self and Shadow have to be in balance (yin/yang.) You repress the shadow too much and it becomes sick, unhealthy, often inflated. The best way I can describe this is to use the Catholic priests who molest as an example. I truly believe that because they are forced to take a vow of celibacy, that masturbation is a sin, that homosexuality is a sin, their "shadow" selves can become so repressed that they seek unhealthy and deviant ways to manifest (molestation.)

Or, you can emerge yourself too much into Shadow, embrace it too much, too quickly, lose sight of the light, of reason. This is where I believe most addicts exist. They've written off the logical world. They realize it's there, but they are ignoring it and feeding the shadow (which becomes bigger and bigger and more distorted, hungrier, needing to be fed more and more.)

The militant suggestion could be Jung stating that people who are prone to addictions need more Self in their lives, more ration, more discipline, more logic. But, I am only guessing.

I do think Jung is a little harder on addicts than we are today, and I think "choice" is definitely a piece of it (though not the whole.) I also think Freud's addiction to cocaine probably influenced Jung's writings a bit, especially after the falling out the two had.

His autobiography is a fascinating read. It definitely gives some insight into the world of archetypes and his success in treating schizophrenics and psychotics using his own method.

I could go on, but I won't nerd out too hardcore on you guys. =)

I plan to teach a class on "How to write the Hero," using Jung's archetypes as well as Campbell's Monomyth. The two are closely intertwined. I'm currently reading a book about alchemy that has a lot of Jung influence. Very fascinating stuff!

ZW
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