Introduction

Whenever I was reading the Bible, the most touching part for me was the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. In this paper I tried to give myself an answer as to why that was so. The answer, for me, was hidden in Jungian psychology.

Before I was able to approach that question, I first had to remind myself of the relationship between psychology and religion. An important part of every religion is its deity, if it exists. The next step was therefore to look at the god-image and its relation to the concept of the Self in analytical psychology. In the Gospel of Matthew the god-image with which we are concerned is Christ. The next step was to understand how Christ is related to the concept of the Self. With that established, I could begin to see meaning in his sayings and relate them to known and understandable concepts of analytical psychology.

I am not sure how successful I was, but this small journey was helpful to me.

About Religion and Psychology

My exam paper is concerned with certain parts of the Gospel of Matthew. The Bible is the holy book of the Christian faith. By being holy it expresses the highest values of the Christian religion, but what is religion in the Jungian sense?

“Religion is a relationship to the highest or most powerful value, be it positive or negative. The relationship is voluntary as well as involuntary, that is to say you can accept, consciously, the value by which you are possessed unconsciously. That psychological fact which wields the greatest power in your system functions as a god, since it is always the overwhelming psychic factor that is called ‘God’…”

C.G. Jung, Psychology and Religion, par. 137

Religion is therefore connected with the relationship between human beings and God — psychologically speaking, with the relationship between the ego and some superordinate agency that is more powerful and wiser than the weak ego. In Jungian psychology that agency is called the Self. There is therefore such a thing as a relationship between the Self and the ego. If we try to investigate that relationship, one of the easiest ways is to search for parallels in world mythologies and religions.

“…the soul must contain in itself the faculty of relationship to God, i.e., a correspondence; otherwise a connection could never come about. This correspondence is, in psychological terms, the archetype of the God-image.”

C.G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, par. 11

By researching God-images in world mythologies and religions we can find parallels to the products of the unconscious in ourselves and in our patients. At the same time religion is something shared by many people during a certain historical period, and therefore expresses psychological facts common to all.

“The strongest and therefore the decisive factor in any individual psyche compels the same belief or fear, submission or devotion which a god would demand from man. Anything despotic and inescapable is in this sense ‘God’, and it becomes absolute unless, by an ethical decision freely chosen, one succeeds in building up against this natural phenomenon a position that is equally strong and invincible. If this psychic position proves to be absolutely effective, it surely deserves to be named a ‘God’, and what is more, a spiritual God, since it sprang from the freedom of ethical decision and therefore from the mind. Man is free to decide whether ‘God’ shall be a spirit or a natural phenomenon like the craving of a morphine addict, and hence whether ‘God’ shall act as a beneficent or destructive force.”

C.G. Jung, Psychology and Religion, par. 142

The religion with which I am most concerned in this paper is Christianity. Why did Christianity begin to develop when it did?

“If I am right in supposing that every religion is a spontaneous expression of a certain predominant psychological condition, then Christianity was the formulation of a condition that predominated at the beginning of our era and lasted for several centuries…”

C.G. Jung, Psychology and Religion, par. 160

What this condition was is a large question outside the scope of this paper, but every religion originates from the personal experience of an individual. This experience is an experience of the unconscious and, as such, stands in a compensatory or complementary relationship to consciousness.

Self and the God-Image

What is wholeness? As we develop, complexes are created, and they function like disconnected modes of adaptation. In one situation we are one person, in another we are someone else. We function like a bad business company without good enough communication between departments and without a boss. Because of that the company is at a disadvantage in relation to its competition and the future does not look bright for it.

The same is true of the human being. If a person is not whole, his existence is endangered. All living organisms on earth have one thing in common: their ancestors possessed an instinct for life, and that instinct is incorporated into every molecule and cell of our organisms. It is incorporated into the functioning of the brain and can be observed in the process of compensation. Psychologically speaking, our dividedness is compensated by wholeness.

What we can perceive of this wholeness are archetypal images of God. In Aion Jung says:

“The self, on the other hand, is a God-image, or at least cannot be distinguished from one.”

— C.G. Jung, Aion, par. 42

Christ as the Symbol of the Self

“The Christ-symbol is of greatest importance for psychology in so far as it is perhaps the most highly developed and differentiated symbol of the self, apart from the figure of Buddha. We can see this from the scope and substance of all the pronouncements that have been made about Christ: they agree with the psychological phenomenology of the self in unusually high degree, although they do not include all aspects of this archetype.”

— C.G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, par. 22

By researching what religion says about Christ we may therefore discover ideas that can help us in our work with patients.

“There can be no doubt that the original Christian conception of the imago Dei embodied in Christ meant an all-embracing totality that even includes the animal side of man.”

— C.G. Jung, Aion, par. 74

By researching Christ we may therefore learn something about human wholeness.

“Just as we have to remember the gods of antiquity in order to appreciate the psychological value of the anima/animus archetype, so Christ is our nearest analogy of the self and its meaning. It is naturally not a question of a collective value artificially manufactured or arbitrarily awarded, but of one that is effective and present per se, and makes its effectiveness felt whether the subject is conscious of it or not.”

— C.G. Jung, Aion, par. 79

Sermon on the Mount (Gospel of Matthew 5–7)

The part of the Gospel of Matthew that interested me most consists of Christ’s sayings from Matthew 5 through Matthew 7 — the so-called Sermon on the Mount.

If we approach these sayings psychologically, they resemble products of the unconscious. How powerful would a dream be in which Christ stood before a crowd speaking the words written in the Gospel of Matthew? In such a dream we would be meant to hear these words, and those words would possess meaning for us. If they are written in the Bible, then that meaning is important for many people; it is an expression of the collective unconscious.

Many of the sayings consist of two parts: first the description of an action, then the consequence of that action. If the action is good, the consequence is positive; if the action is bad, the consequence is negative. In this sense they resemble general laws. Psychologically speaking, Christ’s sayings in the Gospel of Matthew represent, from one point of view, psychological laws.

I will look at several of these sayings and try to connect them with concepts from analytical psychology.

Complexes

Reading Christ’s sayings in the Gospel of Matthew, I found some passages that reminded me of the relationship between the ego and complexes.

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder…’”

— Matthew 5:21–22

Murder is a way of resolving conflict. By murdering someone, every discussion ends. When we resolve conflict through repression, we perform a kind of psychological murder. Murder therefore becomes a suitable image for the creation of a complex.

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar…”

— Matthew 5:23–24

Offering a gift at the altar represents an attempt to create a connection with God — an attempt to become whole. But this is impossible until all those small, annoying complexes — the conflicts with one’s brother — are resolved.

“Settle matters quickly with your adversary…”

— Matthew 5:25–26

Prison is a place where we have no freedom. If we do not resolve our complexes, we lose our freedom.

Inflation

Inflation is a process in which the ego becomes identified with contents of the unconscious. By becoming inflated we gain extraordinary conviction, security, strength, and power. We live beyond our actual capacity. In the short run this may even appear beneficial, but generally it cripples our ability to adapt.

“Do not swear at all…”

— Matthew 5:33–37

An oath is either a promise or a statement of fact calling upon something sacred — usually God — as witness to its truth. In this way the person making the oath places himself above the very thing he invokes as witness. Psychologically speaking, this becomes an example of inflation.

Christ explains this by saying that we cannot make even one hair white or black. Even what comes out of our own heads — our thoughts — is not entirely under the control of our will. By saying simply “yes” or “no,” we abandon the attitude that we must convince others at all costs or impose ourselves absolutely. We remain open to the possibility of being wrong, which makes us humble and capable of considering other possibilities.

Projection

Projection is the process by which subjective content becomes alienated from the subject and is experienced as belonging to the object.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”

— Matthew 7:1–2

Judging is a process of evaluation. To evaluate another person objectively we would need objective facts, yet these facts are always contaminated by our own subjectivity. By judging others we are, in a certain sense, judging ourselves.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye…”

— Matthew 7:3–5

Sawdust is part of the plank. In others we see fragments of ourselves. Trying to change others does not help us because we ourselves remain unchanged. What we see in others is projection. Until we confront what we project, we cannot truly help others. This reminds me of the training analysis analysts undergo in order to work responsibly with patients.

“Do not give dogs what is sacred…”

— Matthew 7:6

There is gold hidden in our complexes. If we project them outward, we lose our source of energy; we throw it to dogs and pigs. Dogs and pigs symbolize the ordinary and banal. They cannot adequately express the gold hidden within complexes. Complexes are expressions of archetypes in a language that cannot fully express them. By working on complexes and amplifying them we eventually arrive at the pearls. The pearls within complexes are archetypes themselves.

The Beatitudes

We do not endure the hardships of life easily. On the one hand we have a strong tendency to escape suffering, while on the other hand morality often demands that we endure it.

Psychologically speaking, the positive aspect of enduring hardship is adaptation. Through adaptation we become more capable of survival. If we consciously confront the demands of life while carefully observing unconscious factors, we individuate. If we do not, adaptation occurs unconsciously and complexes are formed.

The Beatitudes may therefore be understood as general statements about the conduct necessary for individuation. Since this path is difficult, they simultaneously comfort us and remind us that suffering may possess meaning.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

— Matthew 5:3

The English word blessed derives from Old English forms connected with making something holy through sacrificial blood. Blessing therefore originally implied a fruitful relationship with higher powers or with God.

In some biblical passages, where “blessed” functions as a verb, the Greek word eulogeo is used, literally meaning “to speak a good word.”

“And as they ate, Jesus took bread and blessed…”

— Mark 14:22

Blessing is therefore connected with transformative speech.

Where “blessed” functions as an adjective, the Greek word makarios appears repeatedly in the Beatitudes. In classical Greek this word referred to the immortal gods and implied freedom from fate — a condition inaccessible to mortals yet deeply desired by them.

When the Old Testament was translated into Greek, makarios was used to translate the Hebrew word barak, meaning “to kneel.” Kneeling signifies surrender. Blessed people are therefore those who surrender themselves to the will of God.

Different original words were translated into English as “blessed,” and all these meanings contribute psychologically to the richness of the term. The blessed person is one who stands in fruitful relation to God, is transformed through the word of God, shares in the essence of God, and surrenders to God.

In the Beatitudes blessing is bestowed when a person freely chooses something that would not naturally be chosen. A higher authority — the Self or Christ — demands it for a purpose not immediately visible to the ego. Psychologically, this can be understood as a demand for higher consciousness.

The blessed person is one who finds meaning in the relationship to the unconscious. This is important because human beings can endure almost anything if it possesses meaning.

The Hebrew word for “poor,” ‘aniy, means not only poor but also humble and lowly. If the ego adopts a humble attitude toward the unconscious, the greatest danger — inflation — is reduced.

The Kingdom of Heaven resembles the goal of individuation. Psychologically speaking, it is an ideal condition in which the personality is no longer divided into conflicting complexes and instead approaches wholeness, while hell corresponds to dividedness and neurosis.

Thus psychologically speaking, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” would mean that a humble ego is necessary for wholeness. Since humility is difficult, reassurance is needed that such suffering possesses meaning. It seems to me that all the Beatitudes serve this purpose: they give meaning to the suffering involved in individuation.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

— Matthew 5:4

In Aramaic the word “mourn” also implies deep longing.

To mourn therefore means to desire something. Blessing becomes a kind of comfort for desire, which implies that desire itself is painful. Desire becomes painful when it remains unsatisfied. Psychologically, this saying suggests that there may be meaning in not immediately satisfying one’s desires. By not identifying completely with desire, we can personify it and consciously relate to it.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

— Matthew 5:5

The Aramaic equivalent of “meek” also means gentle or non-aggressive. If the gentle are blessed, then gentleness is something consciously chosen rather than instinctive. A gentle person is not identified with aggressive impulses.

The Aramaic word translated as “inherit” may also mean “to receive from the universal source.” The earth therefore becomes associated with concrete reality. Christ promises not only a reward in the afterlife but also something realized within earthly existence itself.

Conclusion

In this paper I was not able to enter into too many details because the subject would easily provide enough material for a thesis. I merely tried to approach the part of the Bible that possessed the greatest significance for me personally.

Why is religion important for psychology and psychotherapy?

Religion, with its images, is an expression of the collective unconscious and therefore stands in relation to the collective consciousness of the period in which it originated. Dogma, by contrast, is often contaminated with the unconscious problems of the period in which it was formulated. Religion expresses attempted solutions to the developmental problems of a given historical epoch. In this sense religions, like other products of the unconscious, may be approached both reductively and constructively.

At the same time religion has meaning for the individual. In Psychology and Alchemy Jung writes that psychological treatment may come to an end:

“…after having found one’s way back to the church or creed to which one previously belonged or after a conversion.”

— C.G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, par. 3

This points toward the importance of religion for psychological well-being.

For the psychotherapist, a specific religion may become an expression of the patient’s unconscious. Christ’s sayings are therefore highly relevant for understanding the unconscious of the average Christian patient.

Religious attitude is an attitude that takes notice of the autonomous workings of the psyche. Psychologically speaking, it is an attitude in which a dialectical relationship between consciousness and the unconscious is maintained. We know how important such a relationship is for the well-being of the individual. World religions provide examples of how this dialogue may be sustained.

What about Christianity itself?

Christianity developed during a time of slavery, when human life possessed little value. It pointed toward the consequences of our actions and freed us from exclusive identification with earthly existence. As a consequence we developed democracies instead of empires, free citizens instead of slaves, science and causality instead of magic.

But new problems also emerged. Where are matter and evil? They grip us from behind. As compensation, new myths emerge, and these myths can often be seen in dreams.

Christianity helped humanity recognize the best within itself, but it did not sufficiently help us recognize the evil lurking within us — and the more unconscious this evil remains, the more dangerous it becomes. But that is a subject for another exam paper.

The following text is an early seminar paper written during my training at the C.G. Jung Institute Zürich in 2008. I decided to leave the paper largely unchanged in its basic ideas and direction, despite its limitations, because it reflects an early attempt to think psychologically about dreams, compensation and complexes through broader symbolic and natural processes.

Introduction

There were two ways that I could have written this seminar paper. First was by quoting Jung and second was by trying to express the thoughts that occurred to me and conclusions I made by reading Jung and reflecting on how it fitted into my view of the world. I chose the second. So the task before me is to try to put all my thoughts about compensation in dreams and complexes in dreams into as much as five written pages, and I am not sure whether that is good or bad.

What is Compensation?

Compensation lat. (compensation – making something equal) can mean amends for something lost or given, payment for unused holiday in labor law, restoration of lost balance or damaged function in medicine, or accounting of mutual debts in commerce.

What is common to all these definitions of compensation? Compensation is process that sets in when one of opposites has gone too far.

So compensation is one general principle that makes world possible to exist and if there were no compensation, there would be no principle that would stop any process from going irreversibly into one opposite.

For example, in physics matter has mass and mass exerts gravitational field that attracts other mass. If there were no force to counteract gravitation, whole universe would collapse into one point. But there is repulsion between atoms that compensates for gravitational pull of matter and that makes our planet Earth, for example, possible to exist.

Or if there were not some kind of principle that stops electrons from collapsing into atom nucleus, same thing would happen to atom.

Or in biology, our body is producing heat but perspiration compensates for that heat production and we do not cook ourselves up.

There are processes that have no other process to compensate for them, but in that case happening is short-lived, like in explosion of nuclear bomb, although even that is compensated by atmosphere pressure after short destructive event.

It seems to me that every process that is expected to go on for longer period of time needs to have compensatory relation with some other kind of process. And process of life is few billion years old. For example, absorption of oxygen into blood is compensated by carbon burning in our cells. Rising concentration of carbon-dioxide in our blood is compensated by its resorption into air in our lungs.

Ever-changing environment of humans has made us develop tool to cope with that kind of environment. When pure instincts threatened to destroy certain number of individuals during evolution, only those who had good compensating reactions survived. They developed consciousness as compensation for unconsciousness.

But also our ego, as representative of consciousness, tends sometimes to become one-sided and needs compensation from unconscious in order not to go into extreme. So one-sidedness of ego-consciousness is compensated by unconscious. For compensation of conscious attitude by unconscious, consciousness needs to exist and it has to become sufficiently one-sided.

When ego-consciousness becomes too one-sided, compensation can take dramatic proportions and can happen in waking life, but usually compensation of conscious attitude can be observed when abaissement du niveau mental happens, like in sleep. And it can be seen, in symbolic form, in dreams.

When we are awake, ego-complex exerts pressure on contents that are not important for present situation and when that pressure is lessened, what is left of ego can observe what is happening below threshold of consciousness. On one hand ego can observe its own foundations, i.e. unconscious on which ego is based, and on other hand reactions of unconscious to its own existence. Second part is mostly compensatory in character and that is what is happening when we talk about compensation in dreams.

Here are few examples.

An overworked married woman, after hard day at work, dreams about carefree time when she was dating her husband. She wakes up rejuvenated and little nostalgic for those times. Dream is compensating her present attitude when she is working too much and reminding her that there is more to life than work.

Student who has to study for exams but thinks he already knows enough dreams that he has to pay more money for his already paid scholarship. Student has overestimated his preparedness for exams and dream tells him that he has to give more effort in preparing for them.

Youth dreams of girl that he overvalues in conscious life. In dream she is ugly, stupid and speaks in primitive language. Unconscious tries to devalue girl and so compensate conscious overvaluation.

Complexes

Adaptation is process by which we cope with outside world on one hand and our inner world on other hand. Most sophisticated tool of adaptation is ego. As it develops it gains certain attitude that has proved itself useful in past and ego is reluctant to change it. We could say that it identifies with it and as such gains certain rigidity. But ever-changing environment demands constant development of already achieved attitude.

If outer or inner circumstances demand attitude that ego does not possess, compensation from unconscious occurs and nature takes its course in form of archetype that tries to force itself into consciousness through images or actions. If archetype expresses itself through action we talk about instinct, but to be incorporated into consciousness it has to be expressed as image also. For image to be perceived by ego, archetype has to borrow material from consciousness in order to make symbol. Symbol is unconscious fact expressed by conscious images.

When consciousness perceives symbol, several things can happen. New thing can be understood by ego and incorporated into consciousness, so that new attitude appropriate for new situation is attained and adaptation becomes successful and conscious. But archetype may also not have enough material to be properly expressed, or expressed fact may be too incompatible with already attained ego attitude and repression occurs.

In latter two cases unknown thing that is essential for adaptation to new circumstance stays unconscious and complex is formed. In second case created complex is so-called complex that has never been conscious and in third case we are talking about complexes of personal nature.

Complexes have purpose of adapting individual to situation that started process of their creation. But those adaptations lack differentiating power that ego has and they “adapt” us not only to situations that created them, but also to situations that remind us of them or are merely associated with original event that created complex.

One example that comes to mind is association experiment where word that is merely associated with certain event makes complex active and repression is needed, which takes time and prolonged reaction occurs.

When we have complexes, we are not only one, but many and as such we are uncoordinated, like army without commander. We are less adapted with complexes than when complexes become part of consciousness. We are one-sided and that situation is extreme and as such calls for compensation.

Compensation and Complexes

If we have love troubles, sometimes romantic movie helps. In movie we see people with same troubles and we see how they react to similar circumstances. By experiencing movie, we give archetypes content to express themselves and new thoughts or feelings occur that can help us cope with our situation.

But when we fall asleep, we also see movie and actors in that movie are our complexes. By experiencing dream, we get chance to experience complexes on more conscious level and by experiencing them we get chance to incorporate them into consciousness. And that is one kind of compensation for our dividedness.

For example, man dreams about his uncle who is little raw, little like cave man, simple, interested in food, drinks, hunting and sex. Dream reminds him that he has his uncle in himself also and by remembering that he connects with that aspect of personality. And by doing that he has chance to evaluate his behaviour next time subjective uncle constellates.

Conclusion

This seminar paper was hardest of all for me to write. There was no specific problem to solve and I had to dig out theories and conclusions I use intuitively when thinking about dreams.

I feel that what I said in this seminar paper is what lies behind dreams and complexes, at least from my subjective viewpoint. I tried to use as few assumptions as possible and assumed that compensation is general law that governs every possible process in physics, biology and psychology where opposites are at play. It connected itself with theory of evolution and fitted with Jung’s theory of compensation and complexes, at least it seems so from my subjective viewpoint.

Bibliography

• B. Klaić, Dictionary of Foreign Words, Nakladni Zavod MH, 1990
• C.G. Jung, The Symbolic Life, Princeton University Press, 1976
• C.G. Jung, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, Princeton University Press, 1969
• J. Jacobi, Complex, Archetype, Symbol, Princeton University Press, 1959

One of the earlier essays written during my training at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zürich in 2008. The text represents an early attempt to think about the relationship between archetype, instinct, biology and consciousness from the perspective of my understanding of analytical psychology at the time.

Introduction

There is the archetype as such, instinct and archetypal image. The archetypal image is something perceivable; it can be emotion, thought, sound or any kind of image, even an intuitive hunch — anything, as long as it is made of conscious material and at the same time expresses an unconscious fact.

The archetype as such is a much wider idea. It points toward the collective unconscious, which stems from our biological background, brain structure and the chemical reactions taking place in the body and brain. The archetype as such is embedded in the matter we are made of.

If we look at things from an evolutionary standpoint, as dead matter becomes alive it begins to show instinctual behaviour. As images begin to be perceived by the individual, consciousness slowly develops. In short, the archetype as such is related to matter itself, instinct is related to life in general, and image to consciousness.

In this paper I will try to reason through these ideas.

Archetype as Such

Archetype and Physics

The archetype has no content; it determines form. If we look at the solar system, every planet differs in size, shape and mass, yet every one of them circles around the sun according to the same laws of gravity. Gravity also determines the form of planets, pressure and temperature within them, and many other things. We cannot perceive gravity directly, only the effects it produces.

The same could be said about elemental forces in physics in general. They themselves are not directly perceivable, but their effects are. In some sense, this resembles the way archetypes manifest themselves in psychology.

The elemental forces of physics govern matter and the universe itself. Since we are also made of matter, one may ask whether something of these fundamental laws is reflected in the structure of the psyche.

Archetype and Chemistry

A small amoeba can live both in salt water and in fresh water. If we move it from salt water into fresh water, it swells in order to compensate for osmotic pressure. We can repeat a similar experiment with a porous balloon filled with saline solution and placed into fresh water. Living and non-living matter follow the same laws.

Millions of similar reactions take place continuously in the body and brain. Modern pharmacology is based on the assumption that many of these reactions can be reproduced and studied in laboratories.

The reactions taking place in the body are also related to psychic states. Certain psychiatric drugs influence depressive thoughts and emotions. Do psychic processes have their chemical equivalents within the body? If so, then psychic life is not entirely separate from the laws of chemistry. Chemical laws also give form to psychic processes.

Could the unperceivable archetype have some relation to these laws of chemistry?

Archetype as Such and Instinct

Archetype and Biology

Complex physical and chemical systems react to outside influences by changing structure or position. If force is applied to a stone, it moves. If oxygen is added to fire, it burns more strongly.

There are organisms so simple that scientists sometimes have difficulty determining whether they should primarily be understood as living organisms or as highly complex chemical compounds. Their behaviour is determined by chemical laws just as much as by biological ones. Where is the border that divides chemical reactions from the physiological reactions of living organisms?

Inherited reaction to stimuli is instinct. In simple organisms these reactions are primarily physiological, while in more developed organisms we can observe increasingly differentiated behaviour. Psychologically speaking, instinct could be described as a reaction to stimuli that still remains largely within the body and outside conscious comprehension, although consciousness may become aware of it.

If archetype is the force that shapes the reactions of living organisms to stimuli, then instinct may be understood as the first observable product of its activity.

Instinct and Image

Blind Instinct and Learning

When plankton becomes abundant within a marine ecosystem, certain fish multiply rapidly and consume it until the food source disappears, after which many of them die from hunger. Or a hungry caveman, chasing a deer, fails to notice the hole before him and falls into it.

If a wolf sees food and rushes toward it, but falls into a hunter’s trap and gets hurt, the next time it encounters a similar trap it may stop itself. Something has been learned. The same can happen to the caveman. The next time he follows a deer he may stop himself before the hole because he remembers the previous experience and the pain connected with it.

At that moment he perceives an image of pain without directly experiencing it again. The image confronts the blind instinct driving him forward. Blind instinct stands opposite to the image he perceives, yet instinct and image may arise from the same root. That root we call the archetype as such.

Consciousness and Evolution

An image has to be made of something already perceived and experienced. It is composed of elements of past experience that can be connected with the present situation.

The perception of images is closely related to survival. One could suppose that image formation developed gradually through natural selection. Individuals capable of imagining consequences may have had greater chances of survival and adaptation, and therefore passed these capacities on to their descendants.

Remembering images makes it possible to connect present situations with previously experienced ones, and this may be one of the foundations of consciousness itself. Image formation arises from the same roots as instinct, but on a different level of development. In this sense, image compensates for the one-sidedness of instinct.

The mythologies of the world could be understood as symbolic images of repeatedly experienced human situations. Their purpose is not only explanatory, but also adaptive: they prepare the individual for experiences that have not yet been personally lived through.

Archetype, Complex, Symbol and Adaptation

Adaptation is the process through which we cope both with the outer world and with our own inner reality. The ego is perhaps the most sophisticated instrument of adaptation.

As the ego develops, it forms attitudes that have proven useful in the past. Over time, however, consciousness may become identified with these attitudes and gain a certain rigidity, while life itself continually changes and demands further development.

If outer or inner circumstances require an attitude that consciousness does not yet possess, compensation from the unconscious occurs. The archetype then attempts to force itself into consciousness through images, emotions or actions. If archetype expresses itself through action we speak of instinct, but in order to become conscious it must also appear in symbolic form.

To become perceivable, the archetype borrows material from consciousness and shapes it into symbol. Symbol could therefore be understood as an unconscious fact expressed through conscious images.

When consciousness encounters a symbol, several things may happen:

1. The new content is understood and integrated into consciousness. A new attitude develops and adaptation succeeds.
2. The archetype lacks sufficient material to express itself adequately.
3. The unconscious content is too incompatible with the already existing attitude of the ego, and repression occurs.

In the latter two cases the unknown factor necessary for adaptation remains unconscious and forms a complex. In one case the complex has never become conscious; in the other, consciousness has actively rejected it.

Thus ego consciousness develops out of the collective unconscious, while the personal unconscious develops partly through the activity and limitations of ego consciousness itself.

Archetype and Healing

The archetype governs not only the development of consciousness, but also the movement toward healing and transformation. If development becomes impossible because consciousness cannot abandon an already established attitude, neurosis sets in. A complex is formed that remains disconnected from conscious life.

How can such a situation be approached? Consciousness itself participates in the formation of neurosis, yet transformation also requires consciousness. At the same time, consciousness can develop only through confrontation with something greater than itself — through encounter with archetypal reality.

In that sense, archetype is also what heals.

By reconnecting with something common to humanity as a whole, the individual may become able to endure suffering and discover meaning within it. This reminds me of the story Jung mentions regarding the healing of snake bites in ancient Egypt. The wounded person was told the myth of Isis and Osiris, and through identification with the symbolic drama — with the archetypal level of experience — healing could occur.

Archetype in Everyday Life

Normal psychological development assumes that at certain points in life our existing attitude becomes insufficient. We either develop further or become neurotic. The development of ego itself is archetypal in nature, and most individuals are confronted with similar developmental situations throughout life.

There are certain situations almost all of us must go through. These events could be called archetypal because they demand transformation of consciousness. Examples include beginning school, first experiences of love, entering work life, marriage, creative activity, illness, loss and death.

Such moments are archetypal because the existing ego attitude is no longer sufficient and unconscious compensation becomes activated. During these periods people often have significant dreams, symbolic experiences and sometimes even synchronistic events.

Archetype and the Unknown

Whenever the human mind confronts the unknown — whether within psyche or nature — it attempts to give form to what cannot yet be fully understood. Archetypal processes organise conscious material into symbolic patterns capable of expressing something previously unknown.

This may partly explain why similar mythological motifs appear repeatedly across cultures, dreams, religions and even scientific theories. Human beings throughout history encountered similar existential problems and required similar psychological adaptations. Archetypal patterns therefore produced similar symbolic images.

An example could be the symbolic problem of three and four. Variations of this motif appear in Christianity, alchemy, Jung’s psychological typology and even modern attempts within physics to understand unified structures underlying nature. What all these examples share is the effort of the human mind to approach and symbolically organise the unknown.

Conclusion

The collective unconscious itself cannot be perceived directly by the ego. We perceive only its effects.

These effects range from instinctual behaviour in living organisms to symbolic images in dreams, myths, religion, creativity and psychological development. They can also be observed in recurring patterns of human culture and in the symbolic structures through which humanity attempts to understand nature and existence.

Based on such phenomena, psychology postulates the existence of something we call the collective unconscious. It shapes consciousness and the symbolic images consciousness perceives — archetypal images or symbols. It also underlies inherited patterns of reaction that we call instincts.

In statistical physics, systems composed of many particles are studied through the laws governing individual particles. In a somewhat analogous sense, one could imagine the archetype as such as related to the fundamental laws underlying matter, life and psyche.

If this is so, can we say that psyche is an epiphenomenon of matter? By saying this, my Christian background still rebels. Yet how much do we really know about matter itself? God may be hidden in it just as much as He may be hidden in our souls.

Bibliography

• C.G. Jung, Mysterium Coniunctionis, Princeton University Press, 1963
• C.G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, Princeton University Press, 1968
• C.G. Jung, Psychology and Religion, Princeton University Press, 1958
• C.G. Jung, Symbols of Transformation, Princeton University Press, 1956
• C.G. Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, Princeton University Press, 1968
• C.G. Jung, Psychological Types, Princeton University Press, 1971
• C.G. Jung, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, Princeton University Press, 1969
• C.G. Jung, The Symbolic Life, Princeton University Press, 1976
• Edward F. Edinger, The Mysterium Lectures, Inner City Books, Toronto, 1995

The text is based on a lecture presented at the 1st International Conference of the Slovene Association for Analytical Psychology (SZAP), The Jožef Magdič Days (2025).

What is Active Imagination?

Active imagination is a practical procedure by which one, fully conscious, enters a fantasy and interacts with the environment and figures of the unconscious.

The reason for entering a fantasy is usually a practical one; a psychological or physical symptom, a subjective conflict or the subjective aspect of an objective one, a strong emotion, etc. When one has had an experience of active imagination, it becomes crucial, if one wants to benefit from it, to try to understand the psychological meaning of the fantasy and extract an ethical goal from it. In the end, it means making a change in one’s life based on the meaning of the experience.

All these steps also have a neurological component to them. I do not know whether every psychological experience necessarily has a neurological basis, but it seems useful to think about them in such a way because it is grounding to do so. It prevents us from straying too far from what is psychologically possible and also enables the use of certain therapeutic interventions, though that is another subject. In this small lecture, I will therefore try to explain how active imagination may directly influence the functioning of the brain. We will begin with the idea of functional modules of the brain.

What is a Functional Module of the Brain?

A functional module of the brain refers to a region or network of neurons specialized for performing a specific type of computation or function. These modules are not necessarily single anatomical structures; they can be distributed across multiple areas while still operating together in order to achieve a particular cognitive, sensory, or motor task. The concept is widely used in neuroscience to describe how complex behaviours and mental processes emerge from coordinated activity in specific brain circuits.

Dreams and Functional Module Perspective

Consciousness as Functional Module

As already mentioned, these modules are not anatomical structures. The same structures can therefore be active while different modules operate, and different structures can participate while the same module remains active.

From such a perspective, one can choose almost any cognitive, sensory, or motor task and say that a particular brain module is active while it is functioning. For the purposes of this lecture, we will conceptualize certain brain modules corresponding to particular psychological functions and simply name them. It is a kind of mental shorthand used for conceptual convenience when describing relatively stable psychological functions in this way.

Perceptions, Emotions, Psychological Functions

For example, one could say that while we are looking, the seeing module is active, while hearing corresponds to the activity of the listening module. Anger would correspond to the activity of the anger module, while sadness would correspond to the activity of the sadness module. One could even say that while the brain memorizes, the memory module is active. Technically speaking, every manifestation of psychic functioning corresponds to the activity of a particular brain module. That would mean that every psychological function in the Jungian sense — thinking, intuition, sensation, and feeling — has a corresponding brain module.

Every complex has a brain module. Every instinct and archetypal image also has a brain module and corresponds to a particular psychological phenomenon. One could even say that consciousness itself has a brain module — let us call it the Consciousness module — while the unconscious also has a corresponding Unconsciousness module.

What Fires Together, Wires Together

With that in mind, I will introduce another idea from neuroscience, expressed in the saying: “What fires together, wires together.”

The idea is that while we undergo psychological experiences, and while the brain functions in a certain way to make these experiences possible, particular neurons repeatedly work together and gradually strengthen their connections. Even though brain modules consist of specific neuronal networks, all neurons remain interconnected to some extent.

Every activity of the brain therefore influences other activities — strongly, weakly, or somewhere in between. Some activities of the brain are closely associated with the Consciousness module, while others are not. We already have a psychological term for the area in which these activities, disconnected from consciousness, operate: the unconscious.

Repression as a Necessity

In neurocognitive literature one can read that the simultaneous performance of two psychological functions is governed by the allocation of limited neural processing resources. When two tasks rely on overlapping neural systems, interference occurs. When they rely on more distinct systems, parallel execution becomes more possible, though still constrained.

From Jungian psychology and clinical experience we already know something similar regarding the functioning of consciousness. It is as if certain brain modules are under pressure and therefore cannot function properly. Conflicts between the Consciousness module and another module correspond to what psychology calls neurosis. Often this other module begins functioning independently from consciousness and can even become repressive toward it. Such a module corresponds to what analytical psychology calls a complex. That is the situation in which a complex becomes so strong that consciousness itself is partially repressed.

Remembering the Dream

Let us now return to non-pathological psychology.

Every night the Consciousness module falls asleep and its activity diminishes, while unconscious modules continue functioning. They may even become more active because there is less interference between consciousness and unconscious processes. Since the brain is interconnected, activity in one module induces activity in another. Unconscious activity therefore induces activity in the Seeing module, the Hearing module, and the Memory module. In the morning we wake up and discover that certain stories are stored within memory. We call these stories dreams.

Dream as Self-Representation of Unconscious Functioning

Dreams can therefore be understood as self-representations of unconscious functioning, while the symbols appearing within them represent different brain modules and their interplay. It is almost as if every morning we are presented with an image of unconscious functioning translated into symbolic form.

Functional Module as Symbol

Each symbol in a dream may thus be understood as a representation of a particular brain module. By working with it, we create interaction between the Consciousness module and different unconscious modules. In this process we resolve actual or potential conflicts and enable the psyche to function more as a unified whole instead of a collection of conflicting tendencies. “We are legion,” familiar from possession narratives and exorcism stories, is actually an apt description of a psyche tormented by autonomous complexes — different psychological systems functioning independently and in conflict with one another.

By working on dreams and approaching them as ethical problems, we alter the functioning of consciousness itself. We change the functioning of the brain and, hopefully, the legion gradually becomes one. This corresponds to a consciousness that stands in meaningful relation to the Self — the biggest brain module of all. An ideal goal, never fully achievable, yet crucial for healthy psychic functioning.

Active Imagination

Since this lecture concerns active imagination, we should now say something more about the process itself.

In active imagination consciousness must stand its ground while at the same time remaining open to the position of the unconscious and flexible enough to find a middle ground between its own standpoint and that of the unconscious. One can easily imagine what happens to formerly opposing brain modules during such a process. Instead of two opposing tendencies, a new symbolic unity may emerge — a symbol of the Self.

Need for Existing Consciousness

Active imagination should be entered with one’s real personality. That means one should already possess a relatively developed personality structure and have one’s own opinions and standpoint toward life. A certain degree of psychological development should therefore already have taken place through life experience and, possibly, through analysis. The Consciousness module must already exist as a sufficiently stable center. Otherwise there is no stable structure capable of entering into meaningful interaction with unconscious material.

For this reason, active imagination would generally be inappropriate for a child. It could interfere with the development of consciousness itself, since a stable consciousness has not yet sufficiently formed.

The Theme of Active Imagination – Buying and Guilt

Before entering a fantasy, one should decide what to focus on. It may be a strong emotion experienced during a complex episode, an image from a dream one wishes to understand better, or even a bodily symptom such as stomach pain under stress or pain in the knee.

One recent example concerns a person who described becoming overtaken by Black Friday fever, spending too much money within a short period of time and consequently experiencing intense guilt. This disturbed him because he normally considered himself a thrifty person. He did not understand what was happening. Was he under the influence of a complex compelling him to spend money, or was the complex actually the guilt he felt afterward? He therefore decided to do active imagination on the problem.

Entering the Fantasy

To do active imagination one needs a quiet place.

Sitting down with his eyes closed, he attempted to call forth the fantasy underlying the conflict between spending and guilt. When one calls forth a fantasy, one must remain focused enough so that the fantasy does not drift into unrelated associations. At the same time, one must not become too rigid, because the fantasy also needs freedom to develop on its own and interact spontaneously with consciousness.

If one becomes too rigid, interference is imposed upon the unconscious process. If one is too unfocused, the material changes too rapidly for meaningful interaction to occur.

Neuroscience has shown that during focused attention certain neurochemical processes strengthen neuronal connections relevant to the task at hand. By focusing on the fantasy, we are therefore actively connecting the neurons of the Consciousness module with those of unconscious modules — in this case perhaps the guilt module or another constellation activated in the unconscious.

In this example, the person entered the fantasy and saw a large bear. Since it is important in active imagination to react as if the situation were real, he initially tried to run away. But the bear called him back and told him not to run, insisting that it was not dangerous. When he asked the bear why it had made him spend money on unnecessary things, the bear answered that it was preparing for hibernation and needed enough supplies for the period of passivity ahead. The active imagination ended there.

Applying Active Imagination in Conscious Life and Rewiring of the Brain

Now comes the important part: reflecting on the fantasy, drawing parallels to conscious life, and applying the insight in reality.

The resistance and guilt the person felt toward spending money corresponded psychologically to his attempt to run away from the bear. The bear calling him back corresponded to the urge to prepare, acquire, and secure what was necessary. The central question then became: should he resist the impulse entirely, or should he listen to it?

The bear, like animals in dreams generally, symbolized instinct — more specifically, the instinct to hoard, preserve resources, and prepare for future scarcity. When such an instinct functions without the moderating influence of consciousness, it may become pathological. In such a case the bear would no longer be benevolent. In this imagination, however, the bear appeared benevolent, which suggested that the instinct itself was not pathological.

By reflecting on the image, the person realized that the things he had bought were actually things he genuinely needed and had postponed purchasing for a long time because they had previously been too expensive. During Black Friday sales he managed to buy them for approximately one-third of the original price. The guilt he experienced was therefore unnecessary and reflected not reality itself, but his own complexes surrounding money.

By focusing on the symbols and dynamics emerging in active imagination, he was able to lessen the guilt and develop a more appropriate relationship toward money and spending. The conflict between practical necessity and irrational guilt gradually diminished. The money was not wasted, and the inner conflict partially resolved.

When one engages in active imagination, one must think deeply about the experience and discover what it means for one’s own life. Often this requires doing things one would rather avoid. But sustained focus on a meaningful psychological goal allows the brain gradually to reorganize itself, since focused attention strengthens the connections between consciousness and previously dissociated unconscious tendencies. The legion becomes one and the Self becomes more embodied within psychic life. The process does not promise happiness. Sometimes it promises suffering instead. But if approached correctly, it gives meaning.

Conclusion

In this small lecture I have tried to offer several hints regarding how I think about the psyche, active imagination, and the concept of functional brain modules as a way of remaining psychologically grounded.

Within such a perspective, every symbol corresponds to a particular functional brain module, while every module corresponds to a particular psychological function. Thinking in this way prevents me from becoming lost in symbols, detached from life itself.

Leaving aside the classical use of active imagination, we can also see how observing fantasy provides momentary information about unconscious dynamics. The value of such a procedure is difficult to overstate.

For example, the fantasy underlying a panic attack is often precisely what activates the fear response. Likewise, fantasies connected with countertransference reactions may provide immediate insight into unconscious dynamics operating within the analytic relationship.

A third important use concerns resistance to external psychological influence. Marketing experts, political propaganda, and increasingly artificial intelligence systems often rely upon behavioural science to activate unconscious tendencies that shape behaviour toward particular goals.

In this sense, active imagination may function almost like a psychological form of imaging. An MRI scans the body, while active imagination scans unconscious functioning — the active complexes and archetypal constellations operating at a given moment.

The essential point is that by observing, entering, and interacting with fantasy, we place ourselves in a position to discover how we ourselves should change. And if we truly change, the brain changes as well.

The possibility that a profound inner conflict could begin transforming within a relatively short period of time sounds almost like science fiction. Yet active imagination remains one of the most difficult psychological procedures to carry out seriously and honestly. For this reason, despite its power, it is not frequently used in psychotherapy. Very often analysis ends before active imagination can be meaningfully integrated into the process. But in the life of an analyst, it may become an invaluable tool for dealing with personal development, neurotic conflicts, and counter-transference issues, among many other things.