Psyche in the Red

(Thanks for coming by. I would like to issue two apologies:
1. For the late date of this post. I am back on my feet and in fighting shape, thankfully.
2. Blogger is having difficulties with photos and formatting, so this blog appears more stripped than normal. This won't happen again.)


Few fields are as perplexing or intriguing as the study of the human mind. It could be argued that Psychology continues it’s grasp on the world for the fact that the actual function of thought and personality cannot be physically grasped. Yet the study of the mind and it’s functions could be one most important fields since the psyche and it’s “inner workings” are the very root of the human experience.


Sigmund Freud is often considered to be the “father” of Modern Psychology. His process of psychoanalysis and subsequent division of the psyche would pave the way for countless theorists, proving to infuriate and compel every college student who has taken part in a PSY-101 course world-wide. Of his many well-know concepts, Freud’s theory that the Unconscious Mind resonated strongly enough that 100 years later, people still struggle to make headway into the murky waters of what lies beneath waking perception.



In 1906, Freud began correspondence with an enthusiastic young Swiss doctor named Carl Gustav Jung. Freud received a copy of "Studies in Word Association" from Jung, which precipitated a meeting of these two minds in Vienna a year later. If the stories are true, Freud and Jung spent a near-solid thirteen hours in discussion during this initial meeting and would remain in close contact until 1913, when they had a falling-out over interpretation of Psychoanalytic Theory.


The dissolution of his relationship with Freud did not deter Jung; until his death in the 1950’s Carl Jung would continue to push the boundaries of psychology into new, esoteric territory. Jungian Analysis, as it is often called, blends Freud’s Psychoanalysis with theories on the origin of mankind’s inner nature. Jung believed that man shared a hereditary link to a rich encyclopedia of symbols that are universal, regardless of a person’s cultural origins.



One of the largest divisions between “traditional” Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis is the symbolic description of the function of the mind. Freud first presented his theory of the Id, Ego, and Super-Ego in a 1920 article called "Beyond The Pleasure Principle." In Freud’s view, these three segments were combined with the Unconscious Mind, representing the vast unseen repositiory of long-forgotten memories and repressed desires would influence (and sometimes wreak havoc) on the Conscious Mind and World. Jung on the other hand argued that the mind was broken into multiple symbolic segments: The "Persona," a sort of face shown to the world which serves to conceal and protect a person’s core nature; The "Anima" (for men) or "Animus" (for women) which is a sort of opposite-gender unconscious counterpart to the individual that represents a form of unification of a person’s rational and irrational personality traits; The "Shadow," a form given to the repressed or denied desires and elements of a person. Though Jungian Analysts warn that a person’s Shadow might be frightening, that it is also a source of powerful creative energy; and finally the "Self," which represents the whole of a human by unifying all of these elements of the Unconscious and Conscious mind together. Jung argues in his book "Modern Man In Search of a Soul" that the only possible way to live Life successfully is when we confront and integrate these elements, or in his own words, “It is only possible to live the fullest life when we are in harmony with these symbols; wisdom is a return to them.”


In 1938, a 38 year old Dr. Carl Jung began to experience a profound change in his own psyche, which he called like “Doing a schizophrenia,” or in his memoirs Memories, Dreams, Reflections, he would describe as a flow of symbols in his mind that he must “…let myself plummet down into them.” Between 1914 and 1930, Jung would record these incidents and transcribe them into a piece called "Liber Novum" (Latin for “New Book,”) or as it would later come to be known, "The Red Book," for the crimson coloring of its bindings and covers. For the sixteen years Jung would labor through this journal, loaded to the covers with internal and inter-personal symbols, illustrated by and hand and written in flowing calligraphy. Much of the book is filled with conversations with mythological and historical figures, or anthropomorphized psychological constructs in an attempt to control the “incessant stream” or realization in his psyche.


Amongst adherents of Jungian Psychology and Analysis, "Liber Novum/The Red Book" represents a pure look into the psychological framework of a man whose work inspires a near-religious devotion. But the family of Carl Jung, who held "Liber Novum/The Red Book" away from publishers since Dr. Jung’s death in 1961, feeling that it might not have ever been intended for mass-consumption. In 2009, Sonu Shamdasani and Stephen Martin (a pair of Jung historians and adherents) convinced the Jung Estate to allow "Liber Novum" to be digitally scanned, edited, translated, and published. As well, the book has been on display at the Rubin Art Museum of New York and The United States Library of Congress.


Carl Jung and his theories have had an impact on the modern world. The pop-culutre love of “dream interpretation” is rooted in Jung’s use of dream analysis to help diagnosis psychological disorders. He is often credited for being one of the cornerstones of Alcoholics Anonymous, in that he once told a seemingly-incurable alcoholic patient that he believed that religious devotion could offer him redemption from addiction. Allegedly, this patient began to seek religious education and conversion which allowed him to abandon his need to drink. Jung is credited with popularizing the terms “Introvert and Extrovert,” and is thereby, at least in part, responsible for the ever-popular Myer-Briggs Personality Test. In many ways, the sheer size of Carl Jung’s creative output is impressive, but with the inclusion of "Liber Novum" he and his theories stand ready to inspire and confound countless future Analysts who intend to plumb the depths of the mind.