When it comes to reaching out to our suppressed emotions, feelings and desires from growing up as Jehovah Witnesses, the information below helps to understand about personal unconsciousness. In order to deal with confronting the repressed feelings and emotions that we may not realize exist because our 'ego' (consciousness) neglects our 'shadow' (unconsciousness).
Sometimes we do things without realizing why, well this helps to understand what happens to our mind.
Carl Young and Sigmund Freud provide interesting information to explore our behaviors.
Note: this is only an oversimplified summary of points that I found relevant to the topic of discussion.
The way to Individuation
Jung identified five primary functions of the psyche that are themselves archetypes, or universal patterns of experience:
1. The Persona is an identity we hold and which we present to the outside world. We may hold several of such: our career role; our role as mother father, son, etc; our political identity, and so on.
2. The Ego is our center of consciousness, our conscious sense of self. Therefore it excludes (although remains influenced by) all of our make-up that is unconscious. Jung says: "So far as we know, consciousness is always Ego-consciousness. In order to be conscious of myself, I must be able to distinguish myself from others. Relationship can only take place where this distinction exists."
3. The Shadow is an unconscious part of the Ego, and receptacle for that which we have for one reason or another disowned or wish to remain out of sight and those qualities that one would rather not see in oneself, as well as unrealized potentials. The Shadow is intimately connected to the Id and its structures, Thanatos and Eros that contain the animal instincts. It's the part of the personality that's forced out of mental awareness by the Ego's defense mechanisms.
4. The Anima is a node of unconscious beliefs and feelings in a man's psyche relating to the opposite gender, the Animus is the corresponding complex in a woman's psyche. As part of the Ego unconscious, these complexes can rise into consciousness when activated by appropriate circumstances.
5. The Self is simply the totality of the entire psyche. It is the function which contains all the other functions and around which they orbit. It may be difficult for the conscious Ego to accept that there may be more to the psyche than that of which it is currently aware.
The above diagram incorporates the Freudian concepts of Id and Superego, which I feel are needed to complete an accurate picture. The mind is an immensely complex structure, which has been described with great insight by Jung, Freud, Adler, Assagioli and other eminent psychologists, up to the present day. Each concentrate on different aspects but one does not invalidate the other; taken together they provide a complete understanding.
According to Jung, the Ego - the "I" or self-conscious faculty - has four inseparable functions, four fundamental ways of perceiving and interpreting reality: Thinking, Feeling, Sensation, and Intuition. Generally, we tend to favor our most developed function, which becomes dominant, while we can broaden our personality by developing the others. Jung noted that the unconscious often tends to reveal itself most easily through a person's least developed, or "inferior" function. The encounter with the unconscious and development of the underdeveloped function(s) thus tend to progress together.
Jung understood and acknowledged the enormous importance of sexuality in the development of the personality, but he perceived the unconscious as encompassing much more. In addition he saw in unconscious material, especially dreams and fantasies, an unfolding of a process. This process was uniquely expressed in each person, but it had nevertheless a common structure. Jung called it the "individuation process" in which the potential of a person's psyche is seeking fulfillment. The concept of Individuation is considered by many to be his major contribution. It is a process which generally takes place in the last half of life - a time in the life cycle neglected by many other psychologists. While the first half of life is devoted to making one's way and establishing oneself in the world, the last half can be a time of psychological development, of moving toward awareness, integration, wholeness.
The barriers to individuation which we must seek to explore and resolve are contained in our 'Shadow' personality: those qualities that one would rather not see in oneself, as well as unrealized potentials. The Shadow of beauty is the beast. Because they're repressed such beliefs and feelings are typically unconscious; they influence our entire lives, tell us what we can and can not do, and drive our behaviors. Even when we're conscious of them, we tend to hide them because we're ashamed or embarrassed. We don't want anyone to know that we feel unworthy of love or that we're not good enough so we try to suppress such beliefs and deny them.
Being opposite the Persona, the Shadow is not generally acknowledged or accepted by the Ego, but when integrated (rather than repressed) it can be very useful to the individual in seeing or realizing the full aspect of the inner self. This energy can be re-directed positively into waking life. For example, a positive side of the Shadow is to provide strength to an intimidated person.
The major goal of Jungian therapy is Individuation through the integration of the Ego and the Shadow. By this means a person becomes a psychological 'in-dividual,' that is, a separate indivisible unity or 'whole'.
According to the concept of Equifinality, there is more than one route to integrating the Ego and the Shadow and achieving Individuation
Personal Unconscious
The personal unconscious contains all the beliefs, values, feelings and memories which one is not currently conscious of. It contains material that can be made conscious by simple act of will, which can be termed 'Preconscious'; material that requires some effort or external stimulus to retrieve, both cognitive and affective, which can be termed 'subconscious'; as well as material that may never be recalled to consciousness ever again. It is made up of the things you've experienced every day of your life. The personal unconscious is also a dumping ground for things we aren't comfortable with and which we'd really rather not have in consciousness very often.
In analytical psychology, the "personal unconscious" is Carl Jung's term for the Freudian "unconscious," as contrasted with the "collective unconscious." Jung made the significant step of defining the unconsciousness of a person as comprised of both a personal unconscious (proceeding from the experiences of the individual) and a second, far deeper form of the unconscious underlying the personal one, the collective unconscious (issuing from the inherited structure of the brain, and common to humanity)...
The collective unconscious contains instinctive drives and patterns of behavior that we all share, as human beings. It includes the overall cellular memory of past ancestors, that is located inside of the body and is passed on genetically. But Jung also perceived the collective unconscious as something we tap into by psychic means, as a current 'over-mind' of our race.
In Jung's theory, complexes may be related to environmental traumatic experience, or they may be caused by internal conflicts. There are many kinds of complex, but at the core of any complex is a universal pattern of experience, or archetype. He postulated that the complexes originate in the archetypal depths of the psyche - deep structures, patterns and ways of living that represent an inherited memory of the history of human culture.
Repressed feelings and emotions
Carl Jung, and those who built upon his efforts, gathered empirical data to form a groundwork for a philosophy of ethics. It is a system based on a psychological understanding of the power and influence of archetypal patterns. Depth psychology aims to bring to light unconscious motivations that, if left on their own, result in destructive and harmful behavior. These tendencies can usually be traced to repressed feelings and emotions that make up the part of the unconscious which Jung called the Shadow. Jung writes, "Moral principles that seem clear and unequivocal from the standpoint of Ego-consciousness lose their power of conviction, and therefore their applicability, when we consider the compensatory significance of the shadow in the light of ethical responsibility." Responsibility connotes a system of ethics.
Repressed qualities are relocated feelings and emotions that were thrown into the depths of the unconscious, condemned to be projected in a shadow-play. To help keep repressed feelings safely tucked away, the Ego dons a mask (persona), a societal role that gives an impression of identity with the community. This simultaneously hides the repressed qualities, which are, instead, cast onto others (projection or scapegoating). The persona is a psychological construct designed to help one fit in with the local culture by covering the individual's uniqueness.
To comport oneself without egotism is not a way of being that will happen of its own. This starts after one has begun to deal with one's unconscious and its shadows. Highlighting the imperative of coming to terms with the unconscious, Jung writes, "Confrontation with an archetype or an instinct is an ethical problem of the first magnitude, the urgency of which is felt only by people who find themselves faced with the need to assimilate the unconscious and integrate their personalities." Such persons have made a commitment to the path of individuation, which calls for the merging of conscious and unconscious. That union, according to Jung, is "the core of the ethical problem."
Jung's Stages of Development
Jung who foresaw the development of the human mind reaching a crescendo in the late middle age, when many chances in life have been taken or ignored and the person starts to wonder if their life is truly what it should have been. Here are the four Jungian Stages of Development:
1. Childhood
The 'archaic stage' of infancy has sporadic consciousness; then during the 'monarchic stage' of the small child there is the beginning of logical and abstract thinking, and the ego starts to develop.
2. Youth & Early Years
From puberty until 35 - 40 there is maturing sexuality, growing consciousness, and then a realization that the carefree days of childhood are gone forever. People strive to gain independence, find a mate, and raise a family.
3. Middle Life
The realization that you will not live forever creates tension. If you desperately try to cling to your youth, you will fail in the process of self-realization. At this stage, you experience what Jung calls a 'metanoia' (change of mind) and there is a tendency to more introverted and philosophical thinking. People often become religious during this period or acquire a personal philosophy of life.
4. Old Age
Consciousness is reduced in the last years, at the same time there is there acquisition of wisdom. Jung thought that death is the ultimate goal of life. By realizing this, people will not face death with fear but with the feeling of a "job well done" and perhaps the hope for rebirth.
Source: http://www.trans4mind.com/mind-development/jung.html
Repressed Feelings and Unconsciousness based on Analytical Psychology
by TastingFreedom 5 Replies latest jw friends
-
TastingFreedom
-
Sayswho
OK
Sw
-
caliber
interesting.... to understand self and how we have the three basic layers of thought, memory and moral codes
-
Satanus
"Jung thought that death is the ultimate goal of life."
Contrary to egotistical thought, death is part of the natural process. I wonder sometimes, if the natural way of passing would be to pass in a similar state to how we came onto this planet, ie, egoless, knowing (i mean REALLY knowing) little, focused on the present. Just a thought. I like jung's ideas, at least the ones that i have read.
S
-
doofdaddy
Me too Satanus.
When Jung's teachings came my way (by synchronicity) I felt I had met a long lost brother, or maybe father. All I read answered so many questions and relieved the tension of " have I made the correct decisions in my life?" My view of death is slowly changing to acceptance and possibly a little curiosity...
When my grandchildren were born, I realised why I needed to die. To give them the freedom and space to grow tobe complete individuals.
As to the original point of the post, I agree that in my case, I kept so much pushed deep under as a jw. It caused illness and emotional distress. Once I freed myself, I was truly born again, to be the complete person, faults and all. What a revelation!
-
TastingFreedom
Many JWs and ex-JWs don't realize about this. But this unexpected events or actions will eventually show up in some shape or form that make the person wonder why it's happening. Jung definitely gives us insight as to who we are and to embrace them and find healthy outlets to cope with those parts of our identity that we may not realize exist.