Thursday, November 24, 2016

Jungianism: The eternal theory?

Jungian psychology is another such ship. Jung made a ship by creating certain hypotheses to which one can cling when one doesn't know up from down. When one is in danger of drowning in the unconscious, of having a huge inflation or something of the kind, falling into a possession or being overwhelmed by an affect, then such psychological concepts as Jung's can help.
- Marie Louise von Franz, The Cat: A Tale of Feminine Redemption


If every "ship," every religion/theory of the unconscious wears out, will Jungian psychology not also wear out and have to be replaced?

Maybe... maybe not? The ideas in the unconscious live for a long, long time. We're still finding riches in alchemy, and Greek and Egyptian myths. Maybe it's not the specific ideas which need to be replaced but the emphasis on the one side or the other, as originally we needed to get out of the Mother, and now we need to move back to Her. Certainly, as we collectively integrate more and more of our projections, and are able to see more of the world as it is, our understanding of things, including the unconscious, will change.

However, one thing won't change; the technique. The theory may evolve or even be completely replaced, but the technique of listening to the unconscious, and of the importance of relationship in overcoming psychological problems, will always be true.



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