Psychology-Carl Jung

Running head: Carl Jung

Modern Man In Search Of A Soul: Carl Jung
Marsheila D. Nash
Grand Canyon University: PSY 255
29 July 2012

Modern Man In Search Of A Soul: Carl Jung Chapter 1 is titled: Dream-Analysis in Its Practical Application. The use of dream-analysis according to Jung in psychotherapy is still a debated topic/question. Some practitioners find using dream-analysis to be necessary in treating neuroses while others find that it is simply part of the psyche. If dream-analysis is to be treated then recognizing the unconscious is a must. It is a method for discovering the unconscious psychic contents that are related to neuroses. Jung says that the analysis and interpretation of dreams can be justified scientifically due to the fact that the unconscious plays a part in neurosis and because dreams are expressing directly from the unconscious activity. Dreams give a correct picture of the subjective state although the conscious mind denies this exists. According to Jung, dreams are to be on the same level as physiology. He gave the example that if sugar is seen in urine, then urine contains sugar. He used that because he believes dreams are facts which are valuable for diagnosis. It allows an insight for the cause of neuroses as well as a prognosis. It can show at what point the treatment should begin. Jung states that the Freudian view believes it necessary for the patient to be conscious of his/her disturbances (surviving the trauma). Jung doesn’t deny that some neuroses have a traumatic origin but he does not believe that all neuroses are of this origin. In order for the dream or neurosis to have true significance, a causalistic approach only will not suffice. Shortly after the beginning of treatment, dreams seem to become less transparent. There can start to become a difficulty in interpretation due to the doctor being unable to understand the whole situation. Jung states that unintelligible dreams are a result of the doctor’s subjective opinion being reflected. It is essential for the analyst to admit a lack of understanding when it occurs in therapy. By stretching the truth, the analyst appeals to the patient’s brain, however, helping him/her grow into their truth reaches the heart. There are secrets of the inner life that dreams give information about as well letting the dreamer know some things about their personality.
Chapter 3 is titled: The Aims of Psychotherapy. The formation of neurosis and basic principles of therapy are not agreed upon by psychochologists/psychoanalysists. According to Jung, many people find that explaining their troubles give them an urge to power that comes from a sense of inferiority. The psychotherapist’s successes teach him little or nothing. His/her failures are priceless in that they force him/her to change their views and/or methods. Jung states that it makes no sense to teach from the Freudian viewpoint to a patient to whom the Adlerian theory applies. The doctor is not really in a better position than the patient’s psyche to know what is wanted, although it unconscious to the patient. When it comes to psychic constitution, some people have a spiritual attitude and some a materialistic one. These attitudes show ingrained passions. Jung lets his experience be the decision making tool in terms of therapy. Great choices of life have more to do with instincts than conscious will. Jung’s contribution to psychotherapy for those cases where rational treatment produces no satisfactory results, are confined. Roughly 1/3 of his patients are not suffering from clinical neurosis but from the emptiness of their lives. By meditating on a dream thoroughly, something always comes out of it. It is an important hint that shows the patient the unconscious leading him/her. Jung says there is difficulty when dreams do not show anything tangible. Those dreams give clues of possibilities and never can be made plausible to an outsider. Dreams that contain mythological images can be strange and baffling. For Jung, primitive psychology, mythology, comparative religion, and archaeology is important as they provide analogies that enriches the lives of his patients. Jung says that creative fantasy is the origin for all works of man. This activity of imagination frees man from the “nothing but” to a spirit of play. Jung’s aim is to create a psychic state where the patient can begin to experiment with their own nature. “The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it” (Carl Jung).
Chapter 5 is titled: The Stages of Life. The problems associated with stages of human development means to unfold a picture of psychic life from cradle to grave. According to Jung, our psychic processes are made up of reflections, experiments, and doubts. They are all foreign to the unconscious mind of man. The existence of problems comes from the growth of consciousness. When man turns away from instinct it creates consciousness. Problems draw an isolated state where nature abandons and consciousness is driven. Even in that, a wider and higher consciousness gives us certainty and clarity. In dealing with problems, we instinctively refuse the way that leads through darkness yet want gratifying results. Knowing is based on a conscious connection with psychic contents. Jung talks about how it seems that young people who struggle with their existence are spared inner problems and those whom adapt easily run into sex problems or conflicts arising from a sense of inferiority. Those who try and protect themselves against the new or strange, regress back to the past and falls in the same neurotic state as the one who can identify the new but runs from the past. Whatever the past gives to us is normally adapted to future possibilities and demands. The design and meaning of a problem does not lie in the solution but in the constant working at it. Statistics show that there is a rise in mental depression cases for men around 40. For women, neurotic difficulties show up earlier. According to Jung, a human being could not live to 70 or 80 if the longevity had no meaning for the species. Jung states that we do not know what happens to a person after they are dead. There are no scientific proofs about it. From the psychotherapy view, it is more desirable to think of death as a transition-a part of the life process whose time and extent escapes our knowledge. The working of the intellect is an understanding that thinking is an equation that nothing comes out of but what we put in.
Chapter 6 is titled: Freud and Jung-Contrasts. Widely accepted ideas are not the personal property of their author. Contrary, the author is the servant of his ideas. We do not create ideas, they create us. True expression helps us achieve the best. It consists in giving form to what we observe. Jung states that Freud’s theory regarding sexuality, infantile pleasure and the conflict they have with reality is the truest expression of his psychic makeup. Jung points out that he is not an opponent of Freud. He says our perception is conditioned by what we are. Since we are all different, we see and express things differently. Jung looks at man in ways of health and soundness trying to free the sick from Freud’s point of view. Jung states that Freud’s teaching is one-sided generalizing facts only from neurotic states of mind. According to Jung, Freud made a mistake going against philosophy. Jung has never refused philosophical criticism. He knows that every word he speaks, carries something of himself. He doesn’t doubt that natural instincts are forces of propulsion in human life despite if they are called sexuality or the will to power. Yet, he doesn’t doubt also that these instincts collide with the spirit. Jung attributes a positive value to religion and biology. Freud attributed sexuality as the only driving psychic power. Jung says that only after he split from Freud did Freud begin to acknowledge equal status for to other psychic activities. Although Freud says Jung denies the importance of sexuality in psychic life, Jung claims otherwise. Jung says he tries to set limits to the terminology of sex and merely put it in its place. What Freud describes is that sexual obsession that comes out when a patient has reached the point where him/her needs to be led out of a wrong situation or attitude. Theology cannot help those who are looking for an answer because it demands faith and faith cannot be made. Jung states that we are faced with a need for rediscovering the life of the spirit. According to Jung the contrasts go back to their differences in their basic assumptions.
Chapter 10 is titled: The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man. This spiritual problem is a question that belongs to the present but yet we cannot judge fully. It has to do with something universal. To be whole of the present means to be completely conscious of one’s existence and requires intensive and extensive consciousness. Moving forward is act of tearing loose all that embraces unconsciousness which claims the bulk of man. It is a painful fact that every good side has a bad one. According to Jung, modern man has suffered a fatal shock and as a result has fell into profound uncertainty. Jung says that a spiritual need has surfaced. He says there has never been a time where the psyche did not manifest itself but it didn’t attract so much attention until now. The psychic life has always expressed in a metaphysical system. Jung says he used to believe it was his duty to call people to order but not admits the need in calling himself to order. He says that science has destroyed the refuge of the inner life-it once was a haven and now a place of terror. A compensation in the unconscious arises when a piece of the conscious life loses value. The noisome and secrets of the inner life, to the modern man, are valuable because they serve his/her purpose. Psychological insight seems to trespass personal life and therefore, it meets with personal resistance and denial. Jung emphasizes that the unconscious has an attraction for healthy minds and not just the sick. Jung says we are only at the beginning of a new spiritual awareness. Need and distress breed new forms of life. A new self-awareness comes from the attractive power of the psyche. There is a psychic life in the end that embraces us all.

Modern Man In Search Of A Soul actually chose me instead of me choosing it. I was looking through the psychoanalysts and psychologists that were studied in class. None really sparked an interest in me like Carl Jung. The funny thing is we have all heard of Freud and he is probably one of the more popular choices for such an assignment. However, I wanted someone who contributed just as well to the field of psychology but wasn’t really in the lime light. I had to research all of Jung’s theories to make sure I was comfortable with choosing him. I found a sort of connection with Jung. I was about to buy one book when my eyes happened to glance downward and saw this one. How more spiritual than that? I wanted something to be able to relate to and believe in. Low and behold, this book showed up. There are a total of 11 chapters in this book. Surprisingly, it was not hard to choose the ones that were of interest to me. The first chapter talked about dream analysis. I believe, like Jung, that dreams do tell a lot about and to the dreamer. Some examples he gave in the book were amazing. I wonder at times if people who write books about their work exaggerate on what really took place. For whatever reason, I believe Jung wholeheartedly. Dreams can show what steps to take next as well as what steps not to take. Most of us forget the dreams we have yet there are some dreams that stick with us forever. I believe this happens because it kept in the subconscious mind. We make ourselves aware of the dream as it has significance in our present life. I can see how it can be difficult for the doctor not to judge or impress his/her beliefs on the patient/client. The chapter about the stages of life was interesting. I see myself and I also see my mother in the stages that were presented. Jung states that what keeps one from being ultimately happy is the refusal to be open to new experiences. When we transition from childhood to adolescence, nature sort of abandons us to the conscious world. He used the biblical analogy of the fall of man to the beginning awareness of consciousness as a curse. The chapter regarding the contrasts between Freud and Jung speaks for itself. They both contributed significantly to the field of psychology. Most theorists have their foundation in Freud’s theories. Many began to break away from him and form their own theories, which to me is just like the transition from adolescence to adulthood. As an adolescence we are under the wings of our parents and thus for most of us we believe what our parents have taught us. Once we transition to adulthood, we have a better understanding of life and will experience things that will and can make our view different from our parents in some areas. The last chapter I summarized about was the spiritual problems of modern man. I believe the mind does have a spiritual connection. Like Jung I don’t see how one cannot see that there is a link between the psyche and spirit. I agree with Jung when he talks about life after death. How can we know what really happens if no one dies and then comes back to tell us what happens. There is no definite answer. This book report has proven to be very insightful. It has broaden my horizon and made me think. The good thing is, it makes more than ever ready to study more.