Psychology of Dreams - Essay Example

Critical analysis of Jungs Memories, Dreams, and Reflections Introduction In 1957’s spring, legendary psychiatrist Carl Jung Gustav set out to tell the story of his life. He embarked upon a series of dialogues with his associate, Aniela Jaffe, which he used as his books’ basis. At times, his drive for expression was so powerful that he wrote the whole chapters by hand. The book offers incredible admittance to the psychic life of the man who gave the world psychological notions. Some of the psychological theories he delivered were the shadow and the collective unconscious. Carl Jung began writing and telling his stories that in 1975, would become memories, dreams and reflections. The book narrates a story of a life from both old age perspective and mature psychological understanding. This is seen when Jung still works in the final stages of the book until shortly before his demise in the year 1961. The outcome was Memories, Dreams, Reflections, a fascinating peek behind Jung’s mind. The text revealed utopia wisdom, experience and self-reflection. The puzzling and disordered events that drove the ideas of Jung are reinterpreted through his overarching psychology theory lens. Therefore, the book gives Carl Jung’s life more consistency than must have seemed imaginable to him while he lived it, particularly in his younger years. Analysis The title of the book accurately mirrors its content, the memories, dreams, and reflections. The book also reflects Jung’s travels and other experiences of his life that shaped his understanding of the psyche and religion psychology. Carl Jung maps the psyche through images. The images are powerful, and they remain with the reader. For instance, a dream in his childhood of an enormous penis installed underground and its single eye gazing towards heaven. Further, as a young boy, Jung was gripped with fear when he saw a Catholic priest dressed in black. He thought the priest was walking towards him while disguising himself. The book also describes Jungs dogmatic and philosophical discussions with his father. His father was a minister who was disempowered and disappointed. His life turned Jung away from Christianity and the church. The book also defines or outlines his close relationship with his mother who was oppressed by mental illness. Progressively, Jung developed his collective unconscious theory, the archetypes existence and the process of individuation. Through this, the center of individual consciousness which is the ego is gradually infiltrated by the truth and the power of self. The book mirrors Jungian psychology two-step process. The processes include listening to the unconscious in one’s life and then connecting to it consciously. Jung acknowledged this as a process in life that will take a long time. The first half of life accentuates formation of identity and the second half emphasizes integration and individuation of psychic material from the unconscious. For Jung, life was a process of discovering and understanding the models and expressing them in conscious life. Therefore, the reader comes to know that the basis and substance of Carl Jungs life and work are to be found in the prehistoric experience. It is evident that Jung was a phenomenological psychologist in the tradition of Europe. He anchored his study in his experiences, reflections, and insights. He does not use other peoples experiences and ideas. The book seems to be a highly significant and valuable construction rather than an explicit phenomenology. Understanding the book as a social construction challenges Jungs lifelong proclamation. Jung asserted that he was a pragmatist and not a metaphysician. He claimed that the processes of his personal myth have a universal religious and spiritual significance. However, according to critics, his psychology became a metaphysic. All of his thoughts including his thoughts on God are rooted in the psyche concept. God is frequently mentioned particularly when Jung recounts his childhood as the son of a pastor. By the end of Jungs life, he had clarified Gods relation to the psyche. According to him, the image of God is from a psychological viewpoint and is always the inner experience projection (Jung 334-335). Therefore, according to Jung, God was entirely intrapsychic and not at all supreme. This is a major difficulty Christians face that otherwise supports religion of Jungs psychology. However, the conclusion that Jung rejected God is far from accepted by some scholars. In fact, they argue that Jung left open the probability of a supreme God. Moreover, other scholars state that Jung did believe in a superior reality if not a superior God. Criticisms The most severe weakness of Carl Jungs book is the minimal account of his interactions with others. Much of the attention is paid to his relation with his parents. In fact, a whole chapter is devoted to his fated relationship with his father. His mother is mentioned only once in a footnote. Additionally, there is no mention of Toni Wolfe with whom he had a powerful psychic and sexual relationship. Furthermore, he does not report substantially how other thinkers and psychologists impacted his work. He even does not mention the childhood trauma that he went through from being sexually assaulted at the hands of a trusted old man neither does he mention his multiple relationships with women. The reader can be misled easily to believe that his work arose almost entirely from his intellect. He was influenced much by others as witnessed by the large numbers of letters that he wrote to his colleagues so as not to be secluded and his cultivation of relationships with people worldwide. Jungs omission of significant relations between the book takes away the chance to understand the collaborative nature of scientific inquiry and creative activity. Another Jungs weakness is failing to address his meaningful adult relationships. He recommends that individuation is an introverted experience where one a person follows his/her destiny. Nonetheless, the Christian tradition has always acknowledged vocation as something to be recognized in the community. He fails to address the communal vocational aspect. Nevertheless, considering the challenges in the book, an attitude of humility and awe would be appropriate as pastoral theology and pastoral psychology. The two primary challenges are the shadow incorporation and the recognition of the dynamic and God’s alarming ways. In Jungian Psychology, it is a priority to recognize and incorporate the shadow, and of God that people do not like owning. According to Jung, humans need to bring their darkness and God’s darkness into their conscious lives and relate to it in a mature and open manner. The outcome is an opposite’s tension that assists to keep humans in balance by making it hard for the shadow to erupt from unconsciousness and upset their journeys. The reader is reminded of the need to incorporate the shadow as they listen to homosexuality debates in their denomination. Jung calls both the church and its members to incorporate the concealed and disturbing facets of their beings. Through the images, synchronicities and dreams in the book, the author reminds human beings that their God is a God who is always coming out. God breaks into man’s conscious and unconscious life in manners that are perplexing and at times frightening. Jung’s embrace of all of creation as a potential illumination source reminds the reader that a healthy pantheism is a necessary but ignored Christian belief facet. Jung calls people to be open to God in ways that are unexpected. Conclusion Despite the stated weaknesses, the book stands as a significant illustration of both method and content in the religion psychology. It presents important challenges to thinkers of theology. It is also a vital model for pastoral psychology and pastoral theology as they seek to reshape themselves for service in a world of post-Christianity. Work Cited Jung, Carl Gustav. Memories, Dreams, Reflections. New York: Random House, 1965. Print Read More