8. The nature of the Self
“The concept of the Self is probably Jung’s most important psychological discovery and represents the culmination of his intensive studies of archetypes” (Hall & Lindsey, 1978, p. 125). Jung believed that the purpose of existence is for each person to achieve his or her individual integration of conscious with unconscious experience, understanding, and knowledge. Jung posited the existence of the archetype of the Self that helps the ego do this.
What is the Self? The Self is an archetype that represents a person’s striving for unity and balance, equilibrium and stability, cohesion, and integration of all the various portions of the personality. This inner Self possesses extraordinary creativity and organization whose goal is the integration, balance, and equilibrium of the multiple and diverse yet related systems that composed the totality of the personality or psyche.
Actualization of the Self is life’s goal. The actualization of the Self is life’s goal as the center of identity moves away from the ego along the ego-Self axis to become more fully situated in the Self of which the ego is but one of its expressions. The journey to Self is a process of discovery that is without end; the more you discover of yourself, the more you are creating, and the more there is to discover.
We are motivated by values we live by. Jung recognized that we are motivated by moral and religious values even more than by sexual or aggressive “instincts.”
Like all archetypes, [the Self] motivates human behavior and causes one to search for wholeness especially through the avenues provided by religion. True religious experiences are about as close to selfhood as most humans will ever come, and the figures of Christ and Buddha are as highly differentiated expressions of the self archetype as one will find in the modern world. (Hall & Lindsey, 1978, p. 124)
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The Self is the epicenter of the total personality around which all other components of the personality revolve, like planets constellated around the sun. The main symbol of the Self is the circle or mandala, which expresses the perfect unity and oneness of the psyche.
9. The role of symbols in psychic life
Symbols are the language of the psyche. Symbols are the language of the Self; symbols are the language of the subconscious. Symbols are as natural to the mind as leaves are to trees, and as vital and alive. For Jung, symbols form the essence of our knowledge of the subconscious that point beyond themselves to something else and “stand for” something. Symbols both mean something in and of themselves and “participate” in the thing it points to.
Symbols simultaneously transmit an image, an idea, and a feeling that powerfully motivates behavior. Individually, symbols not only have a core image and represent meaning and an idea, but also contain an affective dimension that, taken together (image, idea, and feeling), powerfully motivate behavior (e.g., a recycling logo). Collectively, the myths of a culture are elaborated symbols – symbolic stories - not deliberately invented, but unconsciously created, like dream symbols, and herein lies their power to motivate behavior (Campbell, 1970; Jung, 1964).
One source of our tendency to interpret symbols in literal terms. Unfortunately, we are so use to interpreting all information in literal terms if we are to consider it true at all, that we have lost the ability to see look behind the symbolism for the greater meanings beneath. After all, science has taught us that information must be literally true if it is to be considered fact. What is imaginary or symbolic is not real, we have been taught this as children. Only literal fact is true and if what I perceive is true, then it must be true in a literal sense, otherwise it is false. This is one origin of our tendency to interpret symbols in literal terms, and thus feel deceived when they don’t match physical fact.
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