Lesson 10: Projection or Integration of the Shadow<\/p>\n
Introduction<\/p>\n
In the last Lesson we saw how Jung determined the value of a religious experience based on whether it resulted in a positive change in the life of an individual and fostered the process of individuation. In this Lesson we will look more closely at what supports and what hinders individuation. Simply put, we facilitate individuation to the extent that we can withdraw our projections and integrate our shadow. To the extent that we disavow and project onto others that dark side of ourselves which we are unwilling to accept, we hinder individuation. Our involvement in religion is therefore healthy or not depending on whether it facilitates or hinders this religious function of the psyche: the process of individuation.<\/p>\n
In the Terry Lectures that he gave at Yale University in 1937, Jung talks specifically about projections. He notes that while science has contributed to the despiritualization of the world in that we no longer project human and divine qualities into the inanimate world, projection still dominates our personal psychology:<\/p>\n
But our ordinary psychological life is still swarming with projections. You can find them spread out in the newspapers, books, rumors and in ordinary social gossip. All gaps in actual knowledge are still filled with projections. We are still almost 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 or that they live all those vices which could, of course, never be our own. We must still be exceedingly careful in order not to project our own shadows too shamelessly; we are still swamped with projected illusions. (Jung 1938, 101)<\/p>\n
What might a person look like, however, who does not project their shadow? Jung continues:<\/p>\n
If you imagine someone who is brave enough to withdraw these projections, all and sundry, then you get an individual 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,\u00a0they\u00a0are wrong and they must be fought against. (Jung 1938, 101)<\/p>\n
It appears here that Jung is jesting by saying this person has a serious problem. Yes this person now has the problem of accepting and integrating what formerly was projected, but in the scheme of things it is no comparison to the problems that projections cause in the individual and in the world. As Jung continues note how what he is saying is echoed by a number of other theorists whom we have read in this course:<\/p>\n
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 then he has done something real for the world. He has succeeded in removing an infinitesimal part at least of the unsolved gigantic, social problems of our day. These problems are unwieldy and poisoned by mutual projections. How can anyone see straight when he does not even see himself and that darkness which he himself carries unconsciously into all his dealings? (Jung 1938, 101-2)<\/p>\n
Let’s look now at how a contemporary Jungian analyst looks at the archetypal aspects of projection and integration of the shadow.<\/p>\n
READ:<\/p>\n
“The Dark Side of the Self, September 11, and a Depth Psychology of Terrorism” by Lionel Corbett<\/p>\n
For our purposes, the first part of his essay will serve as a review of some of the psychoanalytic theories of terrorism and religion that we have already looked at, particularly from the perspective of self psychology and Klein. You might think of this first part as Corbett’s analysis of aspects of terrorism that involve the personal unconscious. Then about two thirds of the way into the article you will find a section entitled “The Mythological Dimension” where he turns to a more exclusively Jungian analysis of his subject. Here Corbett offers an analysis of terrorism at the archetypal level, that is, at the level of the collective unconscious. You will find this article at:<\/p>\n
(To find this article, go to the Course Content page. Click on the Road Map and then click on Internet Articles. This paper is listed there.)<\/p>\n
As you read this essay, ask yourself, what does an archetypal analysis add to what we have already seen in other psychoanalytic studies of these events? Do you find this archetypal analysis helps or hinders your understanding of the events.<\/p>\n
Evaluation of Jung<\/p>\n
To guide our discussion of an evaluation of Jung’s ideas, we turn now to the work of Naomi Goldenberg who is a professor of psychology and religion at the University of Ottawa. She explains in her book\u00a0Resurrecting the Body: Feminism, Religion, and Psychoanalysis\u00a0how she was once deeply involved with Jungian psychology until she came to see the sexism in his theories. She later realized, however, that Jung’s problematic notion of the feminine was part of what she sees as a much deeper problem in his work. She writes:<\/p>\n
It is in Jung’s theory of the archetypes that I find the flaw which deforms his entire psychological system. I now understand that any way of thinking which posits the existence of transcendent entities that direct human thought and behavior tends to be both anti-women and anti-life. (Goldenberg 1990, 71)<\/p>\n
She goes on to explain how she now finds Freudian and post-Freudian approaches more appealing. As a feminist interested in the importance of the body and aware of the sexism inherent in psychologies or religions that talk about disembodied forces, these theories for her are to be preferred since they emphasize how we are in essence physical creatures and our mental and emotional life stems from our experience of our body.<\/p>\n
READ:<\/p>\n
“A Critical View of Archetypal Thinking” by Naomi Goldenberg, which you will find in your course reader.<\/p>\n
In this essay she puts forth three criticisms of archetypal thinking. First, archetypal thinking she says glosses over personal and historical sources of our suffering. She points out how Jung himself was guilty of this. In an essay called “Looking at Jung Look at Himself” (Goldenberg 1990, 116-145), which is a critical examination of Jung’s book\u00a0Memories, Dreams, Reflections, she argues that Jung never looked clearly at the childhood sources of his own suffering. Jung in fact admitted this when he wrote “To this day, writing down my memories at the age of eighty-three, I have never unwound the tangle of my earliest memories” (Jung 1965, 27). Jung talks about how he suffered from anxiety and physical ailments. He describes a very split self by talking about personalities one and two. In 1907 he told Freud that he was sexually assaulted by a man he worshiped. Furthermore, he was suicidal, depressed, shy, and prone to violent rages. Goldenberg comments that Jung’s obvious feelings of rage towards his father, who was closely associated with the church, is clearly seen in a vision Jung recalls:<\/p>\n
I saw before me the cathedral, the blue sky. God sits on His golden throne, high above the world—and from under the throne an enormous turd falls upon the sparkling new roof, shatters it, and breaks the walls of the cathedral asunder. (Jung 1965, 39)<\/p>\n
All of these conflicts and traumas, Goldenberg argues, were not sufficiently worked through by Jung. Rather than dealing with his childhood pain, she feels he sublimated them into a psychological system.<\/p>\n
Second, archetypal thinking discourages empathy among social groups and makes racist and sexist statements possible.<\/p>\n
Third, archetypal thinking disguises human agency and puts aside the need for responsibility. Horrendous events Goldenberg insists, are done by\u00a0people, not disembodied shadows. Think of Corbett’s article again where he gives an archetypal analysis of the events of September 11. Goldenberg would want to challenge Corbett’s analysis of September 11 as a manifestation of the dark side of the Self. What do you think of Goldenberg’s critique that this sort of analysis disguises human agency?<\/p>\n
References<\/p>\n
Goldenberg, Naomi.\u00a0Resurrecting the Body: Feminism, Religion, and Psychoanalysis. New York: Crossroad, 1990.<\/p>\n
Jung, C. G.\u00a0Memories, Dreams, Reflections. New York: Vintage, 1965.<\/p>\n
Jung, C. G.\u00a0Psychology and Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1938.<\/p>\n
Required Readings<\/p>\n
The Dark Side of the Self, September 11, and a Depth Psychology of Terrorism\u00a0by Lionel Corbett<\/p>\n
A Critical View of Archetypal Thinking\u00a0by Naomi Goldenberg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lesson 10: Projection or Integration of the Shadow Introduction In the last Lesson we saw how Jung determined the value of a religious experience based on whether it resulted in a positive change in the life of an individual and fostered the process of individuation. In this Lesson we will look more closely at what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-78644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-paper-writing","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}