collective unconscious
From Carl Gustav Jung’s archetypes of the collective unconscious to individual archetypical patterns
From Carl Gustav Jung’s archetypes of the collective unconscious to individual archetypical patterns.
(By Davidov A.N. and Skorbatiuk O.V.)
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It’s a well known fact that neither Sigmund Freud nor his student Carl Gustav Jung were the first scientists to start their quest in the field of the unconscious. Prior to them Carl Gustav Karus and Eduard Von Hartmann had worked on the philosophy of the unconscious, though the very idea, was once ousted by the fashionable empiricism and materialism of the time – the concept being naturally scientific in psychology. But despite the greatest discoveries in this area, the soul, as the basis for human psyche, was not only failed to be found but its very existence was denied. The results of this fact might be well observed nowadays in psychology, philosophy and medicine: no soul – no foundation, no foundation – no house, no pivot – nothing to put the rest on. And possibly not knowing the modern human being is the very cause of massive fragmentation or splitting of the conscience regardless of the diagnosis.
Psychology and Alchemy (Collected Works of C.G. Jung)
Alchemy is central to Jung’s hypothesis of the collective unconscious. In this volume he begins with an outline of the process and aims of psychotherapy, and then moves on to work out the analogies between alchemy, Christian dogma and symbolism and his own understanding of the analytic process.
Introducing the basic concepts of alchemy, Jung reminds us of the dual nature of alchemy, comprising both the chemical process and a parallel mystical component. He also discusses the seemingly deliberate mystification of the alchemists. Finally, in using the alchemical process as providing insights into individuation, Jung emphasises the importance of alchemy in relating to us the transcendent nature of the psyche.