JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY AND VIOLENCE:Religion and mental illnesses

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Forensic Psychology (PSY - 513)

Lesson 12

JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY

AND VIOLENCE

Objectives:

To understand the concept of different archetypes

To understand the concept of active imagination

Difference of Freudian unconscious and Jungian Collective unconscious

Though Jung's analytical psychology derives from Freud's psychoanalysis, there was contention,

disagreement and disappointment shared between these two great thinkers, resulting in a rift between

once great friends. Some key differences are presented below:

FREUD depicted the unconscious as a

JUNG postulated two layers of the

container underlying the conscious mind,

unconscious - a personal unconscious, right

whose task is to contain rejected and un-

under the conscious mind, taking in

encountered events, feelings, thoughts and

personal psychic contents and down below

experiences of the conscious mind.

the collective unconscious, containing the

accumulating experience of all humanity.

According to FREUD the force of life is

There is much more to life than sexuality,

driven by sexuality and the underlying

which is a part of a greater wholeness like

unconscious contains nothing but feelings,

mysticism, spiritualism and religion which

thoughts experience and frustrations of

underlies the process of Individuation and

resulting unfulfilled sexual desires; hence

constant search for meaning, according to

the unconscious is a bag full of pathology

JUNG.

The

unconscious

has

and in fact, so is life in general.

compensatory regulating function, aiming

at healing, growth and individuation.

For FREUD, a disturbance to the psychic

For JUNG it is not necessarily pathology,

balance is a pathology stemming from an

but rather a compensatory and regulatory

unresolved sexual conflict, a complex

inclination of the unconscious to strive and

surrounding the person's sexual energy

resolve the unbalanced equilibrium of the

(libido).

psyche as a whole.

Freud's most work was with neurotic

Jung's major work was with psychotics.

people.

Religion and mental illnesses:

While working with psychotics Jung encountered many religion symbols shown in paintings of patients

but he did not criticized the religion rather he viewed religion as an integrated force of personality. He

argued that psychosis is opposite of religion as it disintegrate the personality.

Collective unconscious is the most frequently misunderstood concept, to understand this complex

concept lets look into the contents of the collective unconscious that are called archetypes.

Archetypes

"Basic elements of the Psyche that act as independent beings within a person represented by

symbols"

Forensic Psychology (PSY - 513)

Jung also called them dominants, imagos, mythological or primordial images, and a few other names.

First book about archetypes and Jungian typology was written by Dr. Ajmal. Archetypes seem like

different "jinns" living with in an individual. Like one jin is child other is wise old man and another is

young lady and so on. Different personalities are living with in a person like:

Shadow

Child

Great Mother

Hero

Wise Old Man

Anima

Animus

Trickster

Self

The Shadow archetype

An archetype that displays only bad qualities, To explain this archetype Dr. Ajmal takes the Abu

Qasim's shoes story, in which old and shaggy shoes becomes his identity and presents the dark side of

his life.

It is the "dark side" of the ego, and the evil that we are capable of is often stored there. Actually, the

shadow is amoral -- neither good nor bad, just like animals. An animal is capable of tender care for its

young and vicious killing for food, but it doesn't choose to do either. It just does what it does. It is

"innocent." But from our human perspective, the animal world looks rather brutal, inhuman, so the

shadow becomes something of a garbage can for the parts of ourselves that we can't quite admit to. We

can understand shadow with the reference of Freud's "projection", like we have shadow following us all

the time and in the same way our bad qualities are following us like a shadow and we see our own evil

characteristics in other people.

Symbols of the shadow include the snake (as in the garden of Eden), the dragon, monsters, and demons.

It often guards the entrance to a cave or a pool of water, which is the collective unconscious. Next time

you dream about wrestling with the devil, it may only be yourself you are wrestling with!

The Child archetype

The Child archetype nurtures that part of us that yearns to be lighthearted and innocent, expecting the

wonders of tomorrow, Fresh attitude, wishing for the basic needs and desires, the desire in it's very pure

form. This part of our nature contributes greatly to our ability to sense playfulness in our lives,

balancing the seriousness of adult responsibilities. The balanced Child is a delight to be around

because the energy that flows from this part of our personality is

positively infectious and brings out the best in others, as well as in us.

The Great Mother archetype

In Hinduism many "Devis" are found. In Christianity we can find Hazrat

Maryam, mother of Hazrat Iesaa (Jesus), who got the Devine status. The

mother archetype is a particularly good example. All of our ancestors had

mothers. So the mother archetype is our built-in ability to recognize a certain

relationship, that of "mothering." Jung says that this is rather abstract, and we

are likely to project the archetype out into the world and onto a particular

person, usually our own mothers.

Mother can be nurturing and devouring at the same time, nurturing for her

Forensic Psychology (PSY - 513)

child and devouring for the external foes. Mother nurtures the child but scolds too.

So looking at fairy tales we can find two types of mothers

Nurturing (Feeding mother)

Devouring (witch, step mother)

The Hero archetype

Many archetypes are story characters. The hero is one of the main ones. He is the man personality and

the defeater of evil dragons. Basically, he represents the ego -- we do tend to identify with the hero of

the story -- and is often engaged in fighting the shadow, in the form of dragons and other monsters. The

hero is, however, often optimist to the stupidity level. He is, after all, ignorant of the ways of the

collective unconscious.

The wise old man archetype

The hero is guided by the wise old man. This kind of character is

typically represented as a kind and wise, older father-type figure that

uses personal knowledge of people and the world to help tell stories

and offer guidance that, in a mystical way, may impress upon his

audience a sense of who they are and who they might become, thereby

acting as a mentor. Let's understand this archetype of old wise man

with the help of an incident narrated in Holy Quranan about Hazrat

Khizar ((Alaihi Salaam)

[18. Surah Al-Kahf : Ayah 60-82]

Musa alaihi salaam said to him: Shall I follow you on condition that you should teach me right

knowledge of what you have been taught? He (Khizar alaihi salaam) said: Surely you cannot have

patience with me. And how can you have patience in that of which you have not got a comprehensive

knowledge? He (Musa alaihi salaam) said: If Allah pleases, you will find me patient and I shall not

disobey you in any matter. He (Khizar alaihi salaam) said: If you would follow me, then do not question

me about any thing until I myself speak to you about it.

So they went (their way) until when they embarked in the boat he made a hole in it. (Musa alaihi

salaam) said: Have you made a hole in it to drown its inmates? Certainly you have done a grievous

thing. He (Khizar alaihi salaam) said: Did I not say that you will not be able to have patience with me?

He (Musa alaihi salaam) said: Blame me not for what I forgot, and do not constrain me to a difficult

thing in my affair.

So they went on until, when they met a boy, He (Khizar alaihi salaam) slew him. (Musa alaihi salaam)

said: Have you slain an innocent person otherwise than for manslaughter? Certainly you have done an

evil thing. He (Khizar alaihi salaam) said: Did I not say to you that you will not be able to have patience

with me? He (Musa alaihi salaam) said: If I ask you about anything after this, keep me not in your

company; indeed you shall have (then) found an excuse in my case.

So they went on until when they came to the people of a town, they asked them for food, but they

refused to entertain them as guests. Then they found in it a wall which was on the point of falling, so He

(Khizar alaihi salaam) put it into a right state. (Musa alaihi salaam) said: If you had pleased, you might

certainly have taken a recompense for it. He (Khizar alaihi salaam) said: This shall be separation

between me and you; now I will inform you of the significance of that with which you could not have

patience. As for the boat, it belonged to (some) poor men who worked on the river and I wished that I

should damage it, and there was behind them a king who seized every boat by force. And as for the boy,

his parents were believers and we feared lest he should make disobedience and ingratitude to come upon

them: So we desired that their Lord might give them in his place one better than him in purity and

nearer to having compassion. And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and there

was beneath it a treasure belonging to them, and their father was a righteous man; so your Lord desired

Forensic Psychology (PSY - 513)

that they should attain their maturity and take out their treasure, a mercy from your Lord, and I did not

do it of my own accord. This is the significance of that with which you could not have patience.

The Anima archetype

The anima is the female aspect present in the collective unconscious of men; the anima may be

personified as a young helping girl, very spontaneous and intuitive. Anima is not of sexual nature rather

it is spiritual and wisdom based aspect of personality. Usually young beautiful lady helps a prince in

fairy tales. It is likely to be associated with deep emotionality and the force of life itself.

The Animus archetype

A masculine personality found in women, usually represented by logical, rational, reality related

thinking.

The Trickster archetype

This archetype seems negative but is very important, often represented by a clown or a magician.

The trickster's role is to hamper the hero's progress and to generally make trouble. but the basic purpose

is to guide the hero after testing. In folklore, the trickster is embodied as a clever, mischievous man or

creature, who tries to survive the dangers and challenges of the world using trickery and deceit as a

defense. For example many typical fairy tales have the King who wants to find the best groom for his

daughter by ordering several trials

The Self archetype

When an individual passes all tricksters' exams, self emerges as a result. The goal of life is to realize the

self. Self is the "Khudi" of Allama Iqbal. The self is an archetype that represents the superiority of all

opposites, so that every aspect of your personality is expressed equally. You are then neither and both

male and female, neither and both ego and shadow, neither and both good and bad, neither and both

conscious and unconscious, neither and both an individual and the whole of creation. And yet, with no

oppositions, there is no energy, and you cease to act. Of course, you no longer need to act.

How did Jung cheat? He said that my work is not to cure but to help in recognizing self but he also

relied on dream analysis, Freud view all dream symbols as the manifestation of sexual desires but Jung

gave different meanings to different symbols and he used the Active Imagination

Active imagination is a process of consciously dialoguing with our unconscious "for the production of

those contents of the unconscious which lie, as it were, immediately below the threshold of

consciousness and, when intensified, are the most likely to erupt spontaneously into the conscious mind.

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