A Map of the Soul - Week #2

Following the themes from last week, within this post, we’ll look at the Ego, the Shadow, and begin with a basic exploration of the function of dreams as a way of growing in self-understanding and integration.

The Map of the Soul: 

the Ego, the Shadow, and Dreams

(4) Ego - The ego can be understood as the system of controlled interpretation and illusion of
possessing the full self. It is not in accord with the body or with nature. Within the drawing, the ego is represented as a square to symbolize constructed thinking. Squares do not occur within nature. They are fully constructed by human intention and design. The ego participates in the deception that it has the capacity to fully know and engage (and act on behalf of) the whole person.

The ego is good in that it enables "persona" projection to achieve social, political, and economic ends. The ego instructs us as to how to live and function in society and is necessary for this aspect of the self’s development. However, for proper (“healthy,” “sound,” “good”) individuation and full integration of the self, an awareness of the ego’s controlling illusions is necessary.

The ego system has to learn from the fuller self. This is achieved through gained competency in observation, growing openness to experience the full range of the self and the cultivation of awareness. The ego is in need of “going to school” as it listens to the mythology that comes from what “lies beneath” within the whole self (and the collective unconscious). Body knowledge must be received with humility and a basic trust in what is being discovered and revealed by the whole embodied self as it moves in and is encountered within the world.

(5) Shadow - The shadow can be understood as the unconscious deposit (Freud) from deep within the body experience. Represents experiences that have been repressed (both within the individual’s bodied history, as well as from within the collective as it is received via human collective unconsciousness from the beginning of human history). The “shocks” from the shadow set up a state, a system of response (or perceived non-response), that results in a “posture” that one takes on throughout life. The personal shadow is the shocks/experiences that are unique to the person in all their particulars. The self is a function of the biology of the body. The body “stores” the shadow impressions and the body/shadow experience is a constituent component of the whole self as it is received and experienced within this deeper universal grounding.

Present within the shadow also lies the fundamental experiences of humanity throughout our evolution - the collective shadow. Within the arts (literature, film, storytelling, myths, visual arts, music, poetry, etc.) human beings are "playing out" the dramatic narrative of coming to terms with the collective shadow - encountering the fear, danger, and dread associated with the "darker" side of our existence.

A Side Note Regarding Dreams

Within the dream life of the individual, an unfolding drama of our personal experiences is being represented in symbols (often haphazardly "plucked" from recent daily experiences/images/occurrences.) The chaotic nature of this construction is the result of the ego’s controlling “defenses” being down during the sleep state. Often the symbols themselves have no intrinsic meaning and only function instrumentally to contact and communicate with the person’s conscious mind. In the dream state, the unconscious is offering up "material" to be "worked out." By remembering dreams, the symbols offered to us within them, and the dramas being played out in their narratives (what is at "stake"), we can begin to integrate our shadow. Guided reflection is helpful here.

(N.B. Reflection is possible by the aware "self," or through analysis we a psychoanalyst. Exercise with caution individual analysis; however, limited self-analysis is possible at times within the individuation process.)

There are two different kinds of dreams: (1) personal associations - generated from personal experience, and (2) social associations - generated from the collective unconscious and offered in mythological/archetypal symbols and images. 

Jung spoke of both realities within dreams: (1) small/little dreams - presenting material from personal experience, and (2) large dreams - presenting material from mythological symbols and dreams that are working on societies shadow/embodiment. Larger dreams are received from the collective unconscious.

Next week we’ll look at the Persona(-ae), and the Anima/Animus.

Look forward to continuing this exploration with you all, 

Jason

A Map of the Soul - Week #1

A Map of the Soul - Week #1

Introduction

Over the next four weeks, I will unfold a diagram of a “map of the soul” with basic descriptive comments. These reflections are based upon: (1) lectures given by Joseph Campbell in his Mythos series (founded upon the work of Adolf Bastain and Carl Jung), (2) informed by various personal drawings and notes on readings in the field of analytical psychology, and (3) a reading of Erich Neumann’s The Origins and History of Consciousness.

The “map” is a graphic representation intended to help us in our encounter and understanding of the constituent elements of our experience: of our “self,” our embodiment, our relationship to others in our environment, and our relationship to the larger world. Obviously, the map is not intended to be an exhaustive description of the soul’s reality and our total experience of it; rather, it is a referent point to aid in the understanding of our own experience, the “goings on” of the variable dynamics of our person, and our connection (or disillusionment) with others. The diagram and comments are an attempt to offer a conceptual model and put into words the interplay of our inner experience and our relationships.

Let’s begin with a look at the diagram in its entirety and then, in turn, begin with our first series of comments. 

The Map of the Soul: 

the Body, the Self, the Threshold of Consciousness, the Conscious, the Unconscious, the Ego, the True Self, the Shadow, the Anima and Animus, the Persona(-ae), and our Projections. 

Over the next 4 weeks, I will give a description of each element within this representation, seeking to explain each element in part, its relationship to the larger whole, and how we may be aided by the unfolding of the map’s meaning. Let’s now begin with the first movement. 

The Threshold of Consciousness, Wisdom of the Body, and Self 

(1) Threshold of Consciousness - The “dividing line” that demarcates the “conscious” from the “unconscious.” The conscious domain constitutes the narratives of the constructed self as it places words to the experience that arise from encounters of the interior and exterior world through the body. The conscious mind contains habitual thought patterns concerning perceptions of the “self” as well as the perceived phenomenon of the world. An initial awareness of the unconscious often begins with low-resolution encounters of internal and external “objects” that seem to be “causes” of thought patterns, perceptions, urges to act/motivations for action, and behaviors. The representation of the unconscious domain as occupying a greater area of the circle of the self is intended to indicate the large degree to which our unconscious influences and affects our lives. At times we may ask ourselves, "Why did I do that?" And we very well may not know. 

(2) Wisdom of the Body - The outer line of the circle is to represent “where” the person ends and the world begins. The wisdom contained herein is the knowledge formed from the physical embodiment of the person located in a particular history - in space and time. This is the most fundamental knowledge. There is no “disembodied” human experience. All is apprehended, experienced, and interpreted through the function and prism of the body’s "knowing." “As the forest trees, so the universe peoples.” - Allan Watts. The person is necessarily and causally related to the multifold distinctions of full embodiment in the world - longitude, latitude, height of sea level, familial/social relationships, masculine/feminine, ethnicity, economic/social standing, political affiliation, culture, perceived history, tradition, mores, ethos, etc. We are our bodies - located in space and time. All knowledge, even supra-natural, or “spiritual” knowledge, is only known in and through experiences mediated via the body.

(3) Self - The condition of our embodiment. The Self is represented in the map as the integer that is fully the surface of the complete circle (both conscious and unconscious domains) and the line of the complete outer circle which is the body’s boundary within the world. The Self is fully conditioned by the particulars of the embodiment within which it exists: young, old, healthy, decrepit, male, female, etc. The Self is the bounds of our experience - the line of the circle inward. The “True Self” at the center of the circle is the integrated center. The “True Self” is in part an inner awareness not to over-identify with the narratives of the Ego, the Anima/Animus energies/projections, Persona(-ae), the Shadow, or our Projections. Theologically, this is the center of the belovedness within which we are held.

Next week we’ll look at the Ego, the Shadow, and begin with a basic exploration of the function of dreams as a way of growing in self-understanding and integration (in relation to our unconscious).  In week three we’ll look at the Persona(-ae), and the Anima/Animus. In our final week of the series, we’ll walk through the reality of our Projections and how they are manifest in our relationships with others in our environment.

Look forward to sharing this journey with you all, 

Jason+