Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst is responsible for the birth of analytical psychology. His theory of the “collective unconscious” continues to have an enormous impact on both psychology and spirituality and where the two cross paths.
Personality Theory and Carl Jung
Personality theory and the very familiar “Myers Briggs Personality Types” owes much of its development to Jung’s theory and his four basic psychological functions:
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- Extraversion vs. introversion.
- Sensation vs. intuition.
- Thinking vs. feeling.
- Judging vs. perceiving.
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Many now famous thinkers and authors draw heavily on Carl Jung’s work. A student of Jung’s theories myself, I often read, quote and reflect on many of them here on Aging Abundantly. My own progression of thought has moved from Jung to Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, a Jungian Psychoanalyst and the author of Women Who Run with the Wolves, through Caroline Myss, Brené Brown and many others, all of whom refer to Jung in their work.
“We are still certain we know what other people think or what their true character is. We are convinced that certain people have all the bad qualities we do not know in ourselves.
If you imagine someone who is brave enough to withdraw all his projections, then you get an individual who is conscious of a pretty thick shadow.
Such a man has saddled himself with new problems and conflicts. He has become a serious problem to himself, as he is now unable to say that they do this or that, they are wrong, and they must be fought against.
He lives in the “House of the Gathering.”
Such a man knows that whatever is wrong in the world is in himself, and if he only learns to deal with his own shadow he has done something real for the world. He has succeeded in shouldering at least an infinitesimal part of the gigantic, unsolved social problems of our day.”
– Carl Jung
