Who is Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was one of the pioneers of modern depth psychology and psychoanalysis. born near basel and working primarily in zurich, switzerland, he first became a physician and then entered the emerging field of psychoanalytic psychiatry. Through his personal experience, his work with patients, and extensive research, Jung developed ideas and research methods that have deepened and broadened our understanding of personality, psychodynamics, and the shaping energies of social history.
Over time, his ideas and research methods have profoundly influenced the humanities, arts, psychotherapy, religious studies, and many other fields. Many of Jung’s concepts have entered the mainstream of our language and culture: complex, archetype, persona, shadow, introvert, extrovert, typology, collective unconscious, and others.
Jung believed that most of our questions, most of our sufferings, arise from the anxieties of the human “soul”, which is the original meaning of the Greek word psyche. His work invites a new form of dialogue between ego consciousness and the “soul”, the latter accessible only through our effort to understand our symptoms, our inexplicable life patterns, our compensatory dreams, etc. this dialogue serves as a form of psycho-spiritual enlargement in which one can contain more opposites instead of being divided by them.
Jungian analytic work does not remove one from the world, but rather brings a more differentiated consciousness to engage in intimacy, parenting, social relationships, and creative responses to life’s challenges. Jungian psychology compels a continued discernment of personal authority amid the cacophony of claims about our lives, and a reality-based movement to live out that authority in a respectful but more authentic relationship with others.
Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious describes how the timeless realm of the human psyche links us to our ancestors and shapes our culture and personal responses to the demands of daily life. His work is a call to personal responsibility in the face of life’s complexities. While fully compatible with a secular culture, Jung also points out that our choices and their consequences constitute a working spiritual outlook, a way of life that can increasingly lead to a more meaningful journey. Jungian psychology invites a deeper dialogue: with oneself, with others, with the collective society, with history and with all the transcendental energies that move us and move history.
main terms and concepts
Jung Lexicon: A Primer of Terms & Concepts by Daryl Sharp, M.A. Jungian Analyst
c. gram. Jung died in 1961, never having presented a systematic summary of his psychology. Over the past thirty years, thousands of people have explained, explored, and expanded his ideas, with varying results.
jung lexicon takes the reader to the source. It was designed for those seeking an understanding of relevant terms and concepts as used by Jung himself. There are select excerpts from Jung’s complete works, but no references to other writers.
The Jung Lexicon is not a critique or defense of Jung’s thought, but a guide to its richness and an illustration of the wide scope and interrelatedness of their interests. Informed by a close reading of Jung’s major writings, the Jung Lexicon contains a comprehensive description of the basic tenets of Jungian psychology. The implications and practical application of Jung’s ideas are well covered in other volumes of this series.
