As a matter of approach, it’s helpful to consider The Red Book as an account of an extended active imagination, that technique that Jung at times hints at, at times elucidates, whereby the conscious mind loosens it’s grip enough to allow the unfolding of a waken dream.
“Although previously he had made some attempts to fathom his own unconscious processes it was on December 12, 1913, that Jung began in earnest to undertake this task in a systematic way. As he actively stimulated the upsurge of imagery by writing down his dreams every morning and by telling stories to himself, he found that he began to converse with ’sub-personalities.’ In Jung’s terms, the complexes can ‘personate,’ i.e. they can be encountered as if they are people in a dialectic akin to a personal relationship.” R. Hobson, Imagination and amplification in psychotherapy, JAP, 16:1, pg.90.
As Jung continues to introduce his task in the Red Book, he questions his soul asking where it has been? Who it is? How can he attain the knowledge of the heart?
The spirit of the depths even taught me to consider my action and my decision as dependent on dreams. Dreams pave the way for life, and they determine you without you understanding their language. One would like to learn this language, but who can teach and learn it? Scholarliness alone is not enough; there is a knowledge of the heart that gives deeper insight. the knowledge of the heart is in no book and is not to be found in the mouth of any teacher, but grows out of you like the green seed from the dark earth.” Carl Jung, The Red Book, pg. 233.
All that unfolds across the many pages of the Red Book is in some way the answer framed in these simple questions.
“I only want to hold you,
I don’t want to tie you down.”
- John Perry Barlow
It’s a hard pill to swallow the first time. Oh, it’s easy enough to entertain the possibility, but the experience? Now just one second. What’s going on around here?
Jung teaches that we are not singular but a multiplicity. I am us…me is we… However you want to crack the lid on this one is up to you. The specific challenge of the corner we collectively find ourselves in is that a few thousand years a momentum have strengthened our egos into the current fantasy of identity, autonomy, isolation and widespread egotism. The ego has propped itself up as king.
A widening of consciousness to include the energies beyond the ego leads to the discovery of a new center of the personality, an archetypal reality Jung calls the Self. A life directed toward this reality is anything but the self-centeredness we equate with egotism run a muck.
Paraphrasing Jung, each “encounter with the Self is always a defeat for the ego.” These experiences tear into the fabric of how we frame reality. And our framing of reality, fantasy that it is, is also where we hang the hat we call sanity.
The interesting thing to consider if you’re compelled to explore the psyche is that the ego need not dissolve or crumble when it gets dislodged from it’s current stronghold on identity. Instead, it can realign it’s obligations with relationship to the realities it encounters.
It’s helpful to remember that everyone has these energies pulsing through them. Is it possible that some day, perhaps a dozen generations down the line, everyone will relate to them?
Consciousness is our awareness. Jung taught of four functions of the ego, each engendering a distinct type of awareness. He also taught of a fifth function that will be dealt with at the end of the post.
- Thinking: place yourself in an exam, one you’re well prepared for (no relying on any magical thinking now) and consider the process of formulating the correct answer. There you have an example of thinking consciousness. Or figure out what groceries you need to buy at the store.
- Feeling: a bit harder to discriminate as we tend to jump to the emotions. The problem is that the emotions often act in us unconsciously. Anger can rage like a fire before we know what happened. By feeling consciousness, Jung was identifying that capability to recognize values. It’s the awareness that operates when you know you really enjoy one song more than another. Valuing this over that, in Jung’s terminology is your conscious awareness of how you feel about it.
- Sensation: How our senses integrate physical reality for us defines this awareness. It easy to isolate its distinctness if you think of your awareness when making your way through the house in the dark.
- Intuition: This is that future leaning awareness that discerns the patterns of what will be, the potential, the opportunities, the inspirations. Intuition is imaginative.
In Jung’s scheme, the four functions create a compass of consciousness. Thinking and feeling are opposites, just as sensation and intuition are. One of the functions is the primary mode that an individual uses for relating to the world. Opposite the primary function we find the inferior function, an awareness that will be unreliable or weak. The importance of the inferior function is fascinating. It is the place where the unconscious can greatly influence the ego. It is also the place where the unconscious can meet the ego. Such a meeting is the fifth type of awareness.
- The Transcendent Function: this awareness develops if the ego is in relationship with the unconscious. It develops as an awakening to the the realities extending beyond the ego within the psyche. Different traditions have called this Atman, the god within, the higher self, a higher power. Consciousness in relationship to these realities tends to be described as numinous, or the mysterium tremendum et fascinans, the fearful and fascinating mystery.
“Man’s task is…to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious. Neither should he persist in his unconsciousness nor remain identical with the unconscious elements of his being, thus evading his destiny, which is to create more and more consciousness. As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. It may even be assumed that just as the unconscious affects us, so the increase in our consciousness affects the unconscious.” Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, p. 326
Have you ever rushed to get a campfire started as the light of day was rapidly fading? A certain deep emotion, related to horror sets in. Perhaps the wind was picking up. Perhaps rains threatened. One option is to dive in the tent and make an early night of it. But persistence and focus keep you attuned to the smoldering bark and grass. Five minutes later, the moment has dissipated in a blazing fire ringed by complete darkness.
Consciousness, really getting an understanding of something that you were blind to previously, is a task. It takes work. The stinging together of all the puzzle pieces of awareness creates an opus, your unique story of individuation.
What contents of the unconscious are pushing up and demanding your attention these days? Will you light those various sticks into a glowing fire? Or will you dive into the tent?
As a matter of approach, it’s helpful to consider The Red Book as an account of an extended active imagination, that technique that Jung at times hints at, at times elucidates, whereby the conscious mind loosens it’s grip enough to allow the unfolding of a waken dream.
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