Art or Science-The conception of the human mind?

Carl Jung argued that the mind contained the psyche and this is rooted as deeply as the biological legacy we inherited from thousands of years of evolution. Dr. Raya Jones from the Cardiff School of Social Sciences discusses the differences between the science of the psyche and the science of biology and how these created two fundamentally different arguments within the field. 

The mind is created over time and conceptualized as the soul. It is part of our conscious as a people and determines who we are, what we believe, and how we perceive the world. The biological sciences focus more on the empirical view of the body as a collection of wiring, chemistry, and anatomy that makes us physical humans. The problem is that the mind-body connection has never been made scientifically. 

Jung also believed in a collective unconscious that is deeper than our individual unconscious. It is something that connects all human beings together through their species. This existence is often seen as the wise old man who has accumulated centuries of knowledge that carries through to each new batch of people and makes its way into generations. They are archetypal images of human life.

The mind is inherited the same way that the body is inherited.  Our biological traits are carried through from our parents and great grandparents and are part of what makes us biologically human, monkey, or anything else.  It is associated with Darwin’s Origin of Species and simply comes with each child upon birth. 

The psyche is the formation of who we are and the conception of our spiritual self. The collective unconscious is that which we hold in common to all human beings and creates the structure of our mind and how we take in and develop information as a species. Without that structure our individual psyche could not create unique but similar schemes associated with our personalities. 

Each human is connected to other human beings through our social and biological traits. Some argue that we as a species are connected together on a deeper collective unconscious level that predates our own understandings of the world. What makes us distinctly human is our ability to be conscious of our own existence and that existence within a wider world. We are human because we are aware that we are human and all humans hold similar traits.

The author attempts to explain the differences between biological science and the science of the psyche. There is a constant debate among the many theorists and scientists as to what this means. Some will rely heavily on the physical and testable while others will move more into the mystic forms of the psyche. Both are rational explanations of the parts and the whole. Our parts are derived from our biological side while our whole is manifested as our soul. 

We can move beyond this report to find something related to marketing and business. There are recurrent themes within society that take on different forms.  Advertisements seek to create a connection to our inner world. For example, a commercial related to something sad may prompt us to purchase protection (i.e. insurance or safety equipment) while one that taps into a positive feelings may prompt us to relive that experience (i.e. music or vacation) again. Brand identity and marketing can successfully create positive or negative feelings in our audience based upon the mental frameworks in which customers understand them.

Jones, R. (2013). Jung’s “psychology with the psyche” and the behavioral sciences. Behavioral sciences, 3 (3).

Carl Jung, The Self, and Archetypes

Stages of Life by Carl Jung delve into the nature of human existence. We are led by our archetypes that are designed to develop our personality and behavior.  They are created to equip us with skills in our efforts for survival based within our ancient hunter-gatherer societies. These include parenting, exploring, distinguishing friend from foe, language, values, rule adherence, reproduction, economic contribution, ceremony and responsibility. The archetype is a psychological nucleus that coordinates the workings of our lives. 

The self is an archetype made up of the ego, personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious. The self is the unification of the conscious and the unconscious and the integration of personality factors.  It is a concept of wholeness. The process of differentiation through trials and tribulations occurs over the first half of someone’s lifetime while later stages are often marked by greater wholeness. 

When Jung speaks of the self, he thinks of it in terms of the organizing genius behind personality. It seeks to create a balance between different dichotomies and generate full expression. As the self develops, it becomes more complex in its approaches as well as more capable of environmental mastery.

The ego, personal unconscious and collective unconscious are different levels of our uniqueness.  The ego can be seen as our individual way of thinking, the personal unconscious as our common experiences through an individual lens, and the collective unconscious as the common experiences of humanity. Each of these makes up the entire person and their approaches to life. 

There are different general approaches to life that include a whole host of types ranging from the hero to the caregiver and all the way over to the sage. Each of these types influences how we search for identity within our lives. The sage seeks truth while the hero seeks to protect. The ruler wants power while the orphan seeks connection to others.  Some theorists have listed 12 different types. 

Jung himself appears to only have designated four major archetypes called the self, the shadow, the anima or animus, and the persona. He did not limit the amount that actually exists. The self is the unification of the unconscious and conscious, the shadow is the secret self we can project on others, the anima/animus is the opposite sex understanding of selves, and the persona (the mask) that we allow others to see.  Each of these combined are used at various times in our lives to create a unique blend for each individual.

It is important to remember that models are only possible explanations of what actually occurs in life. As time moves on people come to confirm or dis-confirm these explanations.  Personally, I think of archetypes as societal examples that our personalities latch onto in order to define ourselves. As we begin to adopt a personality (i.e. archetype) we begin to mimic its persona in just the same way as we mimic our parents in childhood. We are not beholden to the archetype but the creator of the archetype through the examples we incorporate.

Other Reading:

About Psychology

Terra Psyche

Dr. Sheedy

Sesame Institute

Soul Craft