Carl Gustav Jung

1. Childhood Trauma Shaped Jung's Psyche

From then on he always felt mistrustful when the word ‘love’ was spoken and associated ‘woman’ with innate unreliability.

Early instability. Carl Jung's childhood was marked by parental discord and his mother's mental illness, leading to a profound sense of insecurity and mistrust, particularly towards women. His mother's temporary hospitalization when he was three deeply affected him, fostering a fear of abandonment and associating 'woman' with unreliability.

Dual parental images. He perceived his mother as having two personalities – one normal and loving, the other uncanny and terrifying – which contributed to his later concept of split personalities and his fear of schizophrenia. His father, a gentle but ineffectual pastor struggling with faith, represented reliability but also powerlessness, leaving Jung without a strong male figure to rely on.

Morbid fascinations. These early experiences manifested in morbid childhood fascinations with death, corpses, and accidents, which some interpreted as expressions of rage or unconscious suicidal urges. His famous early dream of the phallus in an underground chamber, coupled with his mother's warning "That is the maneater!", is seen as reflecting deep-seated sexual anxiety and religious confusion stemming from his troubled home life.

2. Early Occult Experiences Revealed the Unconscious

It is not surprising that in 1902 Jung said that it was Hélène who had rst revealed to him the existence of the unconscious...

Mediumistic cousin. Jung's early interest in the occult was fueled by séances with his cousin, Hélène Preiswerk, a young medium who exhibited trance states and secondary personalities. These amateur experiments, though later revealed to involve some conscious fabrication by Hélène, provided Jung with compelling evidence for the existence of a hidden psychic realm.

Split personalities. Hélène's ability to manifest distinct personalities, particularly 'Ivenes', who possessed knowledge and characteristics beyond Hélène's conscious awareness, strongly suggested the presence of dissociated psychic contents. This phenomenon, along with bizarre physical events like the splitting table and shattering knife, convinced Jung that the unconscious was a dynamic entity capable of independent action.

Seed of theories. These experiences were foundational for Jung's later work, influencing his decision to pursue psychiatry and shaping his understanding of:

• Dissociation and complexes
• The concept of the unconscious
• Transference phenomena (Hélène's infatuation with him)
• The link between psychological states and seemingly external events (synchronicity).

3. Word Association Validated Psychological Complexes

What Jung and Riklin found time and again was that emotionally charged material had been banished from consciousness and that thoughts, feelings and memories associated with the trigger words grouped themselves into dynamic clusters, which functioned like sub-personalities or Janet’s ‘ xed ideas’.

Empirical method. Working at the Burghölzli Mental Hospital, Jung sought to empirically demonstrate the existence of unconscious processes. He adapted the word association test, timing patients' responses to stimulus words to identify areas of emotional disturbance.

Feeling-toned complexes. Hesitations, unusual responses, or physical signs of agitation during the test indicated that the stimulus word had touched a "feeling-toned complex" – a cluster of emotionally charged ideas and memories repressed from conscious awareness. These complexes acted like autonomous sub-personalities influencing behavior.

Confirming repression. The word association experiments provided scientific validation for Freud's concept of repression, showing that unconscious material could be objectively detected. This work was a major contribution to early psychology and helped bridge the gap between experimental psychology and psychoanalysis, bringing Jung to Freud's attention.

4. The Tumultuous Relationship with Sigmund Freud

At that moment he lost it altogether. That sentence burned itself into my memory; and in it the end of our relationship was already foreshadowed.

Father-son dynamic. The initial relationship between Jung and Freud was marked by mutual admiration and a clear father-son dynamic, with Freud seeing Jung as his successor and the gentile apostle who would spread psychoanalysis beyond its Jewish origins. Their first meeting involved a marathon thirteen-hour conversation, highlighting their intense intellectual connection.

Theoretical divergence. Despite the personal bond, fundamental theoretical differences emerged, particularly regarding the centrality of sexuality. Jung sought to broaden the concept of libido beyond mere sexual energy and questioned the exclusive focus on infantile sexual trauma as the root of neurosis, which Freud saw as a betrayal of the core doctrine.

Personal tensions and the break. Personal issues exacerbated the theoretical rift:

• Jung's discomfort with Freud's emphasis on sexuality, possibly linked to his own childhood experiences and seduction.
• Jung's affair with Sabina Spielrein, a patient, which became entangled in their correspondence and psychoanalytic politics.
• Freud's fainting spells in Jung's presence, interpreted by Freud as reflecting Jung's unconscious death wishes.
• Jung's growing interest in the occult and mythology, which Freud viewed with suspicion as a retreat from scientific rigor.

The relationship, strained by these factors and culminating in angry exchanges over theoretical disagreements and perceived slights (like the "Kreuzlingen gesture"), ended in a bitter break in 1913, profoundly impacting both men and the future of depth psychology.

5. Jung's Theory of Psychological Types

For him the fundamental division was between extraverts and introverts, terms that have now become household words.

Beyond Freud and Adler. Jung developed his theory of psychological types partly to differentiate his approach from Freud's focus on pleasure and Adler's on power. He proposed that individuals have innate preferences in how they orient themselves to the world and process information.

Extraversion vs. Introversion. The primary distinction is between:

• Extraverts: Oriented towards the outer world of objects and people, energized by external stimuli.
• Introverts: Oriented towards the inner world of thoughts and feelings, energized by internal reflection.

Four Functions. Jung combined this attitude distinction with four basic psychological functions:

• Thinking: Logical, analytical processing.
• Feeling: Valuing, emotional processing.
• Sensation: Perceiving through the five senses.
• Intuition: Perceiving through unconscious insights.

Eight Types. The combination of the two attitudes and four functions results in eight distinct psychological types (e.g., Extraverted Thinking, Introverted Feeling). Jung believed understanding one's dominant type and inferior function was crucial for psychological development and navigating relationships.

6. The Descent into the Collective Unconscious

He decided to carry the ght over into the enemy’s territory by plunging into the ‘dark continent’ of the unconscious.

Crisis and exploration. Following his break with Freud and the ensuing personal turmoil (1913-1918), Jung embarked on a deliberate exploration of his own unconscious through active imagination, dreams, and visions. This period, which he termed a "descent into the underworld," brought him close to psychosis but ultimately led to profound insights.

Visions and figures. He encountered archetypal figures and symbols in his visions, such as:

• Mummi ed dwarfs and corpses (reflecting death and the past)
• A monstrous flood engulfing Europe (a premonition of WWI)
• Elijah and Salome (representing Logos and Eros)
• Philemon (a wise old man, spirit guide, and symbol of the Self)

The Red Book. Jung meticulously recorded these experiences in notebooks, later compiled into the elaborate "Red Book," filled with calligraphic text and symbolic paintings. This process helped him contain the overwhelming unconscious material and prevent a complete psychotic break.

Source of theories. This intense personal journey was the crucible for many of Jung's most original theories, including the reality of the collective unconscious, the nature of archetypes, and the process of individuation, which he saw as a necessary confrontation with the deepest layers of the psyche.

7. Archetypes as Universal Psychic Patterns

These archetypes manifested themselves in images and symbols, found in dreams, fantasies and myths.

Inherited predispositions. Jung proposed the existence of archetypes, universal, archaic patterns and images that derive from the collective unconscious and are inherited, not learned. They are like psychic molds that shape how humans experience and respond to the world.

Manifestations. Archetypes appear in various forms:

• Recurring motifs in myths, fairy tales, and legends across cultures
• Symbols and figures in dreams and fantasies
• Patterns of behavior and emotional responses

Examples. Common archetypes include:

• The Great Mother (nurturing, devouring)
• The Wise Old Man (guide, spirit)
• The Shadow (dark, repressed aspects of the self)
• The Trickster (ambivalent, chaotic figure)
• The Hero (quest, struggle)

Beyond personal experience. Jung argued that the universality of these patterns, even in individuals with no direct cultural exposure to them, provided evidence for a collective unconscious shared by all humanity, distinct from the personal unconscious formed by individual experience.

8. The Anima and Animus as Inner Counterparts

Jung explained that every man carried within him an unconscious archetypal image of woman, which was then unconsciously projected onto the person of esh-and-blood women, producing either passionate attraction or revulsion.

Contrasexual archetypes. Jung posited that within the collective unconscious, individuals carry an archetypal image of the opposite sex: the Anima in men and the Animus in women. These inner figures represent the feminine aspect in a man and the masculine aspect in a woman.

Projection and relationships. These archetypes are often projected onto real people, influencing attraction, relationships, and perceptions of the opposite sex. Understanding and integrating the Anima or Animus is crucial for psychological wholeness and navigating interpersonal dynamics beyond mere projection.

Integration for wholeness. The Anima and Animus are seen as bridges to the deeper layers of the collective unconscious and are vital for the process of individuation. Integrating these inner counterparts helps individuals understand and accept their own contrasexual qualities, leading to a more balanced and complete personality.

9. Alchemy as a Metaphor for Transformation

Jung’s idea was that the ‘philosopher’s stone’, understood psychologically, was the individuation process.

Symbolic process. Jung saw alchemy not merely as a primitive form of chemistry, but as a symbolic representation of psychological transformation. He believed the alchemists were unconsciously projecting the process of individuation onto their chemical experiments.

Stages of transformation. The alchemical stages mirrored the journey of the psyche:

• Nigredo (blackening): Initial state of chaos, depression, and confronting the shadow.
• Albedo (whitening): Purification, integration, and gaining insight.
• Rubedo (reddening): Union of opposites, the sacred marriage, and achieving wholeness.

Philosopher's Stone. The ultimate goal of alchemy, the creation of the philosopher's stone (lapis), was interpreted by Jung as the psychological realization of the Self – the integrated, whole personality. The union of opposites (coniunctio oppositorum) in alchemy symbolized the integration of conscious and unconscious, masculine and feminine, and other polarities within the psyche.

Transference analogy. Jung found striking parallels between the alchemical process and the dynamics of transference in psychotherapy, seeing the therapeutic relationship as a vessel where the patient's projected material (prima materia) undergoes transformation, guided by the analyst (the catalytic agent).

10. Synchronicity: Meaningful Coincidences

A synchronicity exists between the life of Christ and the objective astronomical event, the entrance of the Spring equinox into the sign of Pisces.

Acausal connection. Jung proposed synchronicity as a principle of acausal connection, a meaningful coincidence between a psychic state and a seemingly unrelated external event that cannot be explained by cause and effect. He saw it as a fundamental ordering principle in the universe, alongside causality.

Manifestations. Synchronistic events can take various forms:

• Premonitory dreams or visions that later correspond to real events.
• Meaningful coincidences between internal thoughts and external occurrences (like the scarab beetle incident).
• Statistical anomalies that defy chance probability (as in his astrological experiments).

Archetypal link. Jung believed that synchronicity was often triggered by the activation of an archetype in the collective unconscious, creating a bridge between the inner psychic world and the outer physical world. These events were seen as expressions of the unus mundus, the underlying unity of mind and matter.

Beyond causality. Synchronicity challenged the purely causal worldview of traditional science and psychology, suggesting that there are other ways in which events are connected. Jung saw it as evidence for the objective reality of the psyche and its ability to interact with the physical world in non-causal ways.

11. Views on Religion and the God-Image

For Jung it was as absurd to question the idea of God as to question the idea that human beings had sexual instincts.

Innate religious impulse. Jung believed that the religious impulse was a fundamental, innate drive in the human psyche, as deeply rooted as sexuality or aggression. He saw the idea of God not primarily as a transcendental being, but as an archetype – the "God-image" – residing within the collective unconscious.

Psychological reality. For Jung, the psychological reality of the God-image was undeniable, regardless of whether a transcendental God existed "out there." He argued that atheism was a form of repression, denying a vital aspect of the human psyche, and that religious symbols and rituals were expressions of archetypal patterns.

Critique of Christianity. While valuing the psychological function of religion, Jung was critical of traditional Christianity, particularly its emphasis on a purely good, transcendental God, which he felt neglected the problem of evil and the dark side of the divine (represented by Satan). He saw Christianity as a "partial" truth compared to the more complete symbolism found in alchemy or some Eastern religions.

God and the Self. Jung often equated the God-image with the archetype of the Self, seeing both as symbols of psychic wholeness and the ultimate goal of individuation. He believed that the Incarnation represented God's need to become conscious through humanity, and that the "Christ within" (the Holy Ghost) was a manifestation of the Self.

12. Controversial Political and Racial Views

I want to emphasise that I despise politics wholeheartedly: thus I am neither a Bolshevik, nor a National Socialist, nor an anti-Semite.

Right-wing conservative. Jung held deeply conservative political views, distrusting the State, mass movements, and egalitarianism. He believed in natural aristocracy, social inequality, and the importance of the individual against the collective, seeing communism as a particularly destructive force.

Ambivalence towards Fascism. His attitude towards Nazi Germany was complex and highly controversial:

• He saw Nazism as an expression of the "Wotan" archetype, a resurgence of primitive Germanic paganism from the unconscious.
• He admired Hitler as a "medicine man" figure who tapped into the German collective unconscious.
• He believed Nazism, despite its horrors, was a bulwark against communism.

Collaboration and anti-Semitism. Jung's decision to take over the presidency and editorship of the International Society for Psychotherapy under the Nazi regime, and his subsequent remarks on "Jewish psychology" as distinct from "Aryan psychology," led to widespread accusations of collaboration and anti-Semitism. Critics argued that his theoretical distinctions were used to justify Nazi ideology and that his personal animosity towards Freud fueled his public statements.

Post-war reflections. After the war, Jung expressed remorse for his "slip-up" but maintained that his intention was to protect psychotherapy in Germany and help Jewish colleagues. He continued to believe in distinct national psychologies and saw the post-war world as grappling with the unintegrated "shadows" of both East and West.

Last updated: June 22, 2025