following:
Progression and Regression. Progression is the advance of psychological
adaptation. For example, if you need a shadow (creativity, perhaps), you
will try to develop one. When conflicting traits loose power, your psyche
enters regression. Say, your persona and shadow are in opposition and
because they are in opposition, they both would be suppressed, because
neither would get enough libido, or energy.
DEVELOPMENT
———–
Jung stated that there are basically four stages of life. They are
Childhood, Youth and Young Adulthood, Middle Age, and Old Age. In the
beginning (childhood), a person’s psyche is undefferentiated and this
person becomes a projection of the parents psyche. Children are not
individuals in the beginning of their life, because their ir memories don’t
have too much stored in them and they lack a sense of continuity because of
that. As they gain experience, they realize that they are their own person
and not their parents’ projection. The stage of youth and adulthood is
announced by the physiological changes that occur during puberty. During
this stage, an individual establishes his/her position in life. His
vocation and marriage partner are determined. A person usually uses his
Anima and Shadow to d ecide those things. Values are channeled into his
establishment in the outside world. Once one is independent, even a small
experience can influence him greatly. The Middle Age is the one often
neglected by psychiatrists. Lots of people have problems in this stage.
They usually don’t know what to do with the energy left over that was
devoted to establishing positions in society as youth. As the principle of
entropy suggests, the energy is conserved, so once an adult put it to use,
he must redirect it elsewhere. Jung stated that those left-over energies
can be usefully diverted into spiritual contemplation and expansion.
Nothing much happens in old age. People have so much energy of experiences
in their psyche that even a major experience won’t upset their
psychological balance.
Often, society will force people to assume prefered types. Types are
categories of classifications of psyches which are non-absolute and have no
definite boundaries. There are eight “types.” Types are combinations of
functions and attitudes (page 3). The following are the eight main types:
1. Extraverted Thinking Type. This type of man elevates objective
thinking into the ruling passion of his life. He is typified by the
scientist who devotes his energy to learning as much as he can about
the objective world. The most developed extraverted thinker is an
Einstein.
2. Introverted Thinking Type. This type is inward-directed in his
thinking. He is exemplified by the philosopher or existential
psychologist who seeks to understand the reality of his own being.
He may eventually break his ties with reality and become
schizophrenic.
3. Extraverted Feeling Type. This type, which Jung observes is more
frequently found in women, subordinates thinking to feeling.
4. Introverted Feeling Type. This type is also more commonly found
among women. Unlike their extraverted sisters, introverted feeling
persons keep their feelings hidden from the world.
5. Extraverted Sensation Type. People of this type, mainly men, take an
interest in accumulating facts about the external world. They are
realistic, practical, and hardheaded, but they are not particularly
concerned about what things mean.
6. Introverted Sensation Type. Like all introverts, the introverted
sensation type stands aloof from external objects, immersing himself
in his own psychic sensations. He considers the world to be banal
and uninteresting.
7. Extraverted Intuitive Type. People of this type, commonly women, are
characterized by flightiness and instability. They jump from
situation to situation to discover new possibilities in the external
world. They are always looking for new worlds to conquer before they
have conquered old ones.
8. Introverted Intuitive Type. The artist is a representative of this
type, but it also contains dreamers, prophets, visionaries, and
cranks. He usually thinks of himself as a misunderstood genius.
Variations in the degree to which each of the attitudes and functions are
consciously developed or remain unconscious and undeveloped can produce a
wide range of differences among individuals.
This book is an extremely valuable source of thought provoking logic.
Jung wrote with common sense, passion, and compassion, and the reader
experiences a “shock of recognition”; he will recognize truths he has
known, but which he has not been able to express in words. This book made
me think about myself, and people in general. How people’s minds work,
including my own. I found a lot of “truth” or at least I though I did in
Jung’s teachings. I could relate some of the reading material to elements
studied in class. One will be astounded by the number of Jung’s ideas that
anticipated those of later writers. Many of the new trends in psychology
and related fields are indebted to Jung, who first gave them their
direction. The book is also interesting, because of its challenging
nature. I suppose that not all people would enjoy reading such type of
literature, since many people in this world are sensational types. I
certainly did enjoy it, and have found out some things about myself in the
process. The book is very well written. It has many good analogies and
explanations which even the most sensational type would understand. The
collection of information is tremendous. There is so much information
bundled in 130 pages, that it makes you think that 500 pages would not be
enough to really explain deeply the subject matter. This book can be
faultlessly us ed as a textbook, which could prove to be salutary in
psychology classes. I strongly recommend reading this book to all
audiences that want to. A person, content with the world around him, not
wishing to challenge the puzzles of nature, should not. This book is a
treasure for all who seek to explore the human mind.
Bibliography
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