Jung, C. G. - Psychology of the Unconscious (1916)

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PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

DR. "

C. G.

JUXG

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS A

Study of the Transformations

and Symbolisms of

A

Contribution

to the

the

Libido

History of the Evolution of Thought

BY

Dr. C. G. Of

JUNG

the University of Zurich

AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION. WITH INTRODUCTION, BY

BEATRICE

M. HINKLE, M.D.

the Neurological Department of Cornell University Medical School and of the New York Post Graduate Medical School

Of

MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY NEW YORK 1916

319406

Copyright, 1916, by

MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY New York

All rights reserved,

3F lis

T2

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE That

humanity

seeking a

Is

upon the meaning of

life,

were, with which

It

standing of

and

fact

none

think

I

seemed

Itself

to

me

can

new message,

will

new

gainsay.

Therefore,

In this

is

a

has

It

Dr. Jung's remarkable book, "

lungen und Symbole der Libido."

It

a larger under-

relation to the universe,

particularly timely to introduce to the

lish-speaking world

light

and something tangible, as

work towards

its

a

Eng-

Wand-

work he has

plunged boldly Into the treacherous sea of mythology and folklore, the productions of the ancient

the

common

the

same

people, and turned upon this vast material

scientific

analysis that

is

and painstaking method of psychologic

applied to the

common bond

reveal the

unites all humanity, to exist

mind and that of

modern mind,

in

order to

of desire and longing which

and thus bridge the gaps presumed

between ancient and widely separated peoples and

those of our

modern

time.

The

discovery of this under-

current affecting and influencing ancient peoples as well as

modern

serves as a foundation or platform

from which

he proceeds to hold aloft a new ideal, a new goal of attainment possible of achievement and which can be

in-

tellectually satisfying, as well as emotionally appealing:

the goal of

moral autonomy.

This book, remarkable for

mendous labor expended upon

its

erudition and the tre-

It,

as well as for the

new

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

vi

which

light

needs and

human

sheds upon

It

Its possibilities,

life,

motives,

Its

not one for desultory read-

is

ing or superficial examination.

Such an approach

prevent the reader from gaining anything of value; but for those

who

Its

its

will

real

can bring a serious interest and

willingness to give a careful study to

It

the

work

will

prove to be a veritable mine capable of yielding the greatest riches.

The

difficulties In

translating a

almost Insuperable, but

I

book such

as this are

have tried faithfully to express

Dr. Jung's thought, keeping as close to the original text as possible and, at the

same

material and complicated

time, rendering the difficult

German phrasing

clearly as the subject-matter

work

I

whose

owe much

to

I

would allow.

Miss Helen

faithful assistance the

completed.

as simply

I.

In

all

and this

Brayton, without

work would never have been my gratitude to Mr.

wish to acknowledge

Louis Untermeyer, whose help

In

rendering the poetic

quotations Into English verse has been invaluable, and to

express as well assisted

me

in

my

gratitude to other friends

B.

New

York, 1915.

who have

various ways from time to time.

M. H.

AN INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOANALYSIS AND ANALYTIC PSYCHOLOGY When

Professor Freud of Vienna

made

and announced

discoveries in the realm of the neuroses,

that

the

basis

and origin of the

early

his

various

symptoms

grouped under the terms hysteria and neuroses lay unfulfilled desires

and wishes, unexpressed and unknown

to the patient for the

with the sexual

in

most

Instinct,

It

part,

and concerned

chiefly

was not realized what

far-

reaching influence this unpopular and bitterly attacked

theory would exert on the understanding of

human

life

in general.

For

this

theory has so widened

application has

now extended beyond

of pathologic states. tion of the

In its

It

has

scope that

a particular

In fact led to a

whole conduct of human

life; a

its

group

new evaluanew compre-

hension has developed which explains those things which

formerly were

unexplained,

and there

is

offered

an

understanding not only of the symptoms of a neurosis

and the phenomena of conduct but the product of the

mind

as expressed in

myths and

religions.

This amazing growth has proceeded steadily

In

an

ever-widening fashion despite opposition as violent as

any of which we have knowledge

In the past.

cism originally directed towards the

little

The

criti-

understood and

INTRODUCTION

viii

much

disliked sexual conception

now

includes the further

teachings of a psychology which by the application to

it

of such damning phrases as mystical, metaphysical and sacrilegious,

To add

now

as unscientific.

to the general confusion

surrounding a division

condemned

is

this

new

and misundertanding

school of thought there has arisen

amongst the leaders themselves, so that there

two schools led respectively by Professor

exist

Sigmund Freud of Vienna and Dr. Carl Jung of Zurich, referred to in the literature as the Vienna School and the Zurich School. It is

very easy to understand that criticism and opposi-

tion should develop against a psychology so difficult of

comprehension, and so disturbing to the ideas which have

been held by humanity for ages; a psychology which

furthermore requires a special technique as well as an observer trained to recognize and appreciate logic

phenomena

there

is

a

inner feelings and

own meaning, determined by

own

is

the

to a large extent the determiner

destiny, for only

brave act to make all

and

not a simple matter to come out boldly and state

has this idea been put forth

of

act

wishes of the individual.

that every individual

of his

its

psycho-

of the statement that

no such thing as chance, and that every

every expression has

It is

verification

in

its

scientific

this

by poets and philosophers

— not by science;

statement with

full

and

it

is

a

consciousness

meaning, and to stand ready to prove

it

by

reasoning and procedure.

Developed

entirely through empirical investigation

through an analysis of individual

cases,

and

Freudian psy-

INTRODUCTION

ix

chology seems particularly to belong to that conception

Max

of

Miiller's that "

facts rises to a scientific

An

empirical acquaintance with

knowledge of

mind discovers beneath

the

the

facts as

multiplicity

soon as

of single

productions the unity of an organic system." * Psychoanalysis

the

is

name given

method

to the

de-

veloped for reaching down into the hidden depths of the individual to bring to light the underlying motives

and

determinants of his symptoms and attitudes, and to reveal the unconscious tendencies which

behind actions and

lie

reactions and which influence development and determine the relations of life

The

itself.

result of digging

down

produce a mass of

into the hidden psyche has been to

material from below the threshold of consciousness, so astonishing and disturbing and out of relation with the

previously held values, as to arouse in any one unfamiliar

with the process the strongest antagonism and

Although originally studied only

method for analysis of

the sick

it

normal.

The

These dividual,

differences observed

In

and

conflicts, usually

and having

to

in

produce marked

certain

were the differences

were seen to be rather

to the conflicts

produced by

In the Individual.

wishes that are not self,

slight

unconscious of the sick and of the

in the reactions to life

contending forces

therapeutic

a

was soon realized through an

normal people how

in the content of the

as

criticism.

opinions, * " Science of

not fully perceived by the

in-

do with objectionable desires and

keeping with the conscious Idea of effects

which are expressed either

prejudices, Language,"

attitudes

first series, p. 25.

of

conduct,

INTRODUCTION

X

some

faulty actions, or in

As Dr. Jung

says, he

definite pathologic

who remains

symptom.

healthy has to struggle

with the same complexes that cause the neurotic to

late

occurs

there

all

"It

very far-reaching statement:

this

hardly too much to say that conduct,

ill.

The Neighbor," written Professor N. Shaler of Harvard University,

In a valuable book

by the

fall

called "

the burdens of

by the inadequacies

the important errors of

all

men

is

or of societies are caused

in the association

of the primal animal

emotions with those mental powers which have been so rapidly developed in mankind."

This statement, reached by a process of reasoning

and

method of thought and study

a

from

psychoanalysis,

presses in brief

form

nevertheless

ination of

seem

human

completely

ex-

the very basis of the postulates

developed through psychoanalysis that Such a statement made

entirely different

so

in the

I

quote

it

here.

course of a general exam-

relations does not arouse opposition nor

to be so difficult of acceptance.

It

appears to be

the individual application of these conceptions that has

roused

such

bitter

antagonism

and violent denuncia-

tions.

Rightly understood and used, psychoanalysis

compared same

to

surgery,

may

be

for psychoanalysis stands in the

relation to the personality as surgery does to the

body, and they aim at parallel results. It is

well recognized that in the last analysis nature

the real physician, the healer of

wounds; but prior

Is

to the

development of our modern asepsis and surgical technique the healing

produced by nature was most often of

a very

INTRODUCTION faulty

and Imperfect type

— hideous

xi

scars, distorted

and

crippled limbs, with functions Impaired or Incapacitated,

from the wounds, or

resulted

was unable

else nature

to

cope with the hurt and the Injured one succumbed. Science has been steadily working for centuries with

means

the aim of understanding nature and finding

to

aid and co-operate with her so that healing could take place with the least possible loss of function or permanent injury to the

warded

Marvelous

Individual.

have

results

re-

these persistent efforts, as the brilliant achieve-

ments of surgery plainly

Meantime, however, possibility of

any

man overcome his soul, hurts

Indicate.

scientific

the

thought was given to the

little

method being

wounds and

which retarded

ress as a personality,

development and progin the struggle

and symptoms of the most

That was

left solely to

Now, however,

metaphysics.

taking place in

conflicts

his

and which frequently

resulted In physical pains

varied character.

available to help

this

same

religion

and

assistance that

surgery has given to the physical body, psychoanalysis attempts to

give

always succeed

than

real

as

work

result

can

be

certain

which

makes

personality.

much

requires

developed a gence

the

surgery does

that

analytic

Is

to

to be

not

attained quality It

if

of

possible

It

cannot

expected, and more,

always

much of

That

the

he

individual.

has

character for

for

succeed,

him

not

the

No

already

and

Intelli-

to

submit

himself to a facing of his naked soul, and to the pain and suffering

which

relation in

life,

this often entails.

Here, as

in

no other

an absolute truth and an absolute honesty

INTRODUCTION

xli

are the only basis of action, since deception of any kind

deceives no one but the individual himself and acts as a

boomerang, defeating

his

own

aims.

Such deep searching and penetrating into the soul

is

not something to be undertaken lightly nor to be considered a trivial or simple matter, and the fact

where or a

compulsion

a strong

too

situation

required to undertake

lacking, such as sickness

is

difficult

much courage

meet,

to

new

all

system

be necessary to go somewhat

development and present

1895

its

beginnings of this

i"

^

book

underwill

life, it

into detail regarding

For

status.

greatest value and

for the

human

standing and practical advancement of

The

per-

is

realms of thought and seems destined to be a

psychological-philosophical

tion lies

is

it.

In order to understand this psychology which

vading

that

is

new

in this

its

direc-

greatest danger.

its

work were

published

first

entitled " Studien iiber Hysteric,"

in

and

contained the joint investigations into hysteria of Dr.

Breuer of Vienna and

his pupil

results of their investigations

Dr. Sigmund Freud.

seemed

to

various symptoms grouped under the

were the

result

which,

unknown

all

of

colored

emotionally

to the conscious

show

title

The

that the

of hysteria

reminiscences

waking

self,

were

really actively expressing themselves through the surro-

gate form of

symptoms and

though forgotten by the

that these experiences,

patient,

al-

could be reproduced

and the emotional content discharged.

Hypnosis was the means used

to enable the physician

to penetrate deeply into the forgotten

memories, for

it

INTRODUCTION was found through hypnosis that

these lost incidents and

circumstances were not really lost at

from about their

it

all

but only dropped

and were capable of being revived

consciousness,

when given

xiii

the proper stimuli.

The

astonishing part

was that with the revival of these memories and

accompanying painful and disturbing emotions, the

symptoms disappeared. clusion that these

This led naturally to the con-

symptoms were dependent upon some

emotional disturbance or psychic trauma which had been inadequately expressed, and that in order to cure the patient one merely

had

to establish the connection be-

tween the memory and the emotions which properly belonged to

it,

letting the

emotion work

itself

out through

a reproduction of the forgotten scene.

With

further investigation Freud found that hypnosis

was unnecessary for the ences,

and that

it

was

revival of the forgotten experi-

possible to obtain the lost emotional

material in the conscious and normal state.

For

this

purpose the patient was encouraged to assume a passive, non-critical

attitude

and simply

let

his

thoughts flow,

speaking of whatever came into his mind, holding nothing back.

During

this

free

and easy discussion of

his life

and conditions, directed by the law of association of ideas, reference

was invariably made

to the experiences

or thoughts which were the most affective and disturbing elements.

It

this indirect

was seen

to be quite impossible to avoid

revelation because of the strength of the

emotions surrounding these ideas and the

effect

conscious wish to repress unpleasant feelings.

of the

This Im-

portant group of Ideas or impressions, with the feelings

INTRODUCTION

xiv

and emotions clustered around them which are betrayed through

this process,

However, with

was

the

called

by Jung a complex.

touching of the complex which

always contains feelings and emotions so painful or unpleasant as to be unacceptable to consciousness, and which are therefore repressed and hidden, great difficulties ap-

peared, for very often the patient came to a sudden stop

and could apparently

recall

Memory

nothing more.

gaps were frequent, relations twisted,

Evidently

etc.

some force banished these memories so that the person

was

quite honest in saying that he could

ing or that there was nothing to getfulness

was

called

tell.

repression,

remember noth-

This kind of for-

and

is

the

normal

mechanism by which nature protects the individual from such painful feelings as are caused by unpleasant and unacceptable experiences and thoughts, the recognition of his egoistic nature, flict

and the often

quite unbearable con-

of his weaknesses with his feelings of idealism.

At

this early

time great attention was given towards

developing a technique which would render more easy the reproduction of these forgotten memories, for with the

abandonment of hypnosis

known

active force

was

at

it

was seen that some

un-

work which not only banished

painful memories and feelings, but also prevented their return;

this

was found

was

called

resistance.

to be the important

This

resistance

mechanism which

inter-

fered with a free flow of thought and produced the greatest difficulty in the further conduct of the analysis. It

appeared under various guises and frequently mani-

fested itself In intellectual objections based on reasoning

INTRODUCTION ground,

in criticism directed

criticism of the method

itself,

xv

towards the analyst, or

and

finally,

In

often in a com-

plete blocking of expression, so that until the resistance

was broken nothing more could be produced. It was necessary then to find some aid by which these resistances could be

and

overcome and the repressed memories

and

feelings revived

set free.

For

It

was proven

again and again that even though the person was not at

aware of concealing within himself some emotionally

all

disturbing feeling or experience with which his

were associated, yet such was the proper conditions

this

fact,

symptoms

and that under

material could be brought Into

This realm where these unknown but

consciousness.

turbing emotions were hidden was called the "

scious

—the

''

not aware at the given time

Is

This term

and

Is

used very loosely

Is

dis-

Uncon-

Unconscious " also being a name used

arbitrarily to Indicate all that material of

son

"

which the per-

— the not-conscious.

in

Freudian psychology

not Intended to provoke any academic discussion

but to conform strictly to the dictionary classification of a " negative concept which can neither be described nor

defined."

To

merely means

say that an idea or feeling

at that time of

which he

With

is

Is

to Indicate that the Individual its

unconscious Is

unaware

existence, or that all the material of

unaware

at a given time

Is

unconscious.

the discovery of the significance in relation to

hysteria of these varied experiences and forgotten ories

which always led Into the erotic realm and usually

were carried far back an

mem-

infantile sexual

Into early childhood, the theory of

trauma as

a cause of this neurosis de-

INTRODUCTION

xvi

veloped.

Contrary to the usual belief that children have

no sexuality and that only arise,

it

was

definitely

kind of sexuality

at puberty does

shown

among

that there

was

marked

children of the most tender years,

entirely instinctive

and capable of producing

on the entire later

life.

However, further

suddenly

it

a very

a

grave

effect

investigations carried into the lives

of normal people disclosed quite as

many

psychic and

sexual traumas in their early childhood as in the lives of the patients; therefore, the conception of the "infantile

sexual trauma " as the etiological factor

favor of " the infantilism

in

other words,

it

was abandoned

of sexuality "

was soon realized that many of

traumas which were placed

in their early

itself.

the sexual

childhood by

these patients, did not really exist except in their

phantasies and probably were produced as a against the memories of their ities.

the

These experiences led

to a

own

defence

childish sexual activ-

deep investigation into

nature of the child's sexuality and developed the

ideas which

Freud incorporated

Contributions to the

many even

own

In

in a

work

called "

He

Sexual Theory."

Three

found so

variations and manifestations of sexual activity

among young

activity

was

children that he realized that this

the normal, although entirely unconscious,

expression of the child's developing

comparable

to

duced a very

the

adult

life,

nevertheless

sexuality,

definite influence

and

and while not

effect

on the

pro-

child's

life.

These "

childish

expressions of this instinct he called

polymorphous perverse," because

in

many ways

they

INTRODUCTION

xvii

resembled the various abnormalities called perversions

when found among

adults under certain conditions.

In the light of these additional investigations Freud

was led

symptoms of

the neurotic patient being due to definite

experiences,

sexual

for instead of the

to change his formulation,

they seemed to be determined by sexual constitution and

own

his

reactions towards

the

kind of repression to which these

his

were

Instincts

subjected.

Perhaps one of the greatest sources of misunderstanding and difficulty in this whole subject

lies

sexuality, for Freud's conception of this

from that of the popular

ferent

sexuality to be

practically

is

in the

entirely dif-

He

sense.

term

conceives

synonymous with the word

love and to Include under this term

all

those tender

feelings and emotions which have had their origin

primitive erotic source, even

now

their

and another substituted for

entirely lost

be borne

If

in

mind that Freud

psychic side of sexuality

and

Its

In a

primary aim

It.

It

is

must also

emphasizes the

strictly

importance, as well as

the somatic expression.

Therefore, to understand Freud's theories, his very

broad conception of the term sexual must never be

for-

gotten.

Through

this careful investigation

of the psychic

life

of the individual, the tremendous influence and importance

of phantasy-making for the

shown.

It

was

definitely

was discovered that the Indulgence In day-

dreams and phantasies was

among

fate

children but

among

practically universal not only adults, that

even whole

lives

INTRODUCTION

xviii

were being lived out

in a phantastic

dreamer, a world wherein he could

and desires which were found possible to satisfy in the

Much

world of

reality.

from unrealized wishes,

desires

and

which could only express themselves through

veiled symbols in the

form of phantastic

understood, nor fully recognized.

one

those wishes

fulfil all

to be too difficult or im-

of this phantasy thinking was seen to be scarcely

conscious, but arose strivings

world created by the

of the most

Indeed,

common human

structures not it is

perhaps

experiences to

" queer thoughts," undesired ideas

find

and images, forcing

themselves upon one's attention to such an extent that the will has to be It is

employed

to

push them out of mind.

not unusual to discover long-forgotten impressions

of childhood assuming a phantastic shape

dwelt upon as though they were

This material afforded a rich into the soul, for

still

in

memory, and

of importance.

field

for the searchers

through the operation of the law of

association of ideas these phantastic products, traced back to their origin, revealed the fact that instead of being

meaningless or foolish, they were produced by a definite process,

and arose from

distinct wishes

and desires which

unconsciously veiled themselves in these mysterious forms

and It

pictures. is

conceded that the most completely unconscious

product of an individual fessor

Freud turned

is

his

dream, and therefore Pro-

his attention

from phantasies and

day-dreams to the investigation of the nightly dreams of his patients to discover

upon the painful

whether they would throw

feelings

light

and ideas repressed out of

INTRODUCTION and therefore

consciousness,

xix

inaccessible to direct revela-

tion.

This

brilliant idea

soon led to a rich fruiting, for

became evident that contrary the

dream

is

a phantastic

to the usual conception that

and absurd jumble of hetero-

geneous fragments, having no real relation to the the individual,

it is

full

it

of meaning.

concerned with the problem of

life

In fact,

life

of

usually

it is

most pressing

at the

time, which expresses itself not directly, but in symbolic

form

so as to be unrecognized.

In this

way

the individual

gains an expression and fulfilment of his unrealized wish

or desire.

This discovery of the symbolic nature of the dream

and the phantasy was brought about associative

method and developed empirically through

investigations of the

manner

it

entirely through the

dreams of many people.

became evident that certain ideas and objects

which recurred again and again

were

tasies of different people

in the

dreams and phan-

definitely associated with

certain unconscious or unrecognized wishes

and were repeatedly used by the mind meanings where

direct

a

allowed.

Thus

were

general

in a

In this

certain

and

desires,

to express these

form was repressed and un-

dream expressions and

way considered

figures

to be rather definite

symbols of these repressed ideas and feelings found the unconscious.

study

it

Through

a comparative

in

and parallel

soon appeared that there was a similiar mechan-

ism at work

in

myths and fairy

tionship between the

tales

and that the

dreams and phantasies of an

ual and the myths and folk tales of a people

was

rela-

individ-

so close

INTRODUCTION

XX

Abraham

that

could say that the myth

of the Infantile soul the

myth of

is

a

fragment

of the race and the dream

life

is

the individual.

Thus through

dreams the patient himself

relating his

furnished the most important means of gaining access to the unconscious and disturbing complexes with which his

symptoms were connected. Besides the dream analysis the patient furnished other

means of revelation of and unconscious his

acts, his

complexes

his

—

his

opening remarks to

emotional reactions to certain ideas;

mannerisms his physician,

in short the

whole

behavior and verbal expressions of the individual reveal his inner nature

Through

all

and problems. this

work

it

became

clear that in

the

emotional nature lay the origin not only of the various

nervous illnesses themselves, but also of the isolated

symptoms and individual which are the part of

idiosyncrasies and peculiarities

all

humanity and that the patho-

genic cause of the disturbances

lies

not in the ignorance

of individuals, but in those inner resistances which are the

underlying basis of this ignorance.

Therefore the aim of the therapy became not merely the relief of the ignorance but the searching out and com-

bating of these resistances. It

becomes evident from even

of the analytic procedure that

we

this brief description

are dealing with a very

complex and delicate material, and with a technique which needs to make definite use of

all

the help of the patient.

has long been recognized

It

Influences available for

that the relation established between physician and pa-

INTRODUCTION tient

has a great

he

able to render

Is

upon

effect

—

In

the

physician,

of

aid

and

the patient towards the

advice was just

latter's

made

ment under the

In

a confidence

If

so

much more

This personal feeling has been frankly recog-

efficacious.

nized and

the medical assistance which

other words,

personal regard developed

xxl

of distinct service In psychoanalytic treat-

the

name of

this

definite

transference. relationship

It

through

Is

which must be

established In the one being analyzed towards the analyst

that

It

Is

possible

to

deal with

the

unconscious

and

organized resistances which so easily blind the Individual

and render the acceptance of the new valuations very difficult to

raw and

the

sensitive soul.

Freud's emphasis upon the role of the sexual Instinct In the

ing

production of the neurosis and also

power upon

the personality of the

determin-

In Its

normal Individual

does not Imply that he does not also recognize other determinants

at

the

root

of

human

conduct,

instance, the instinct for preservation of life

principle Itself.

as

for

and the ego

But these motives are not so violently

forbidden and repressed as the sexual Impulse, and therefore, because of that repressive force

and the strength

of the Impulse he considers this primary

In Its influence

upon the human being.

The importance clearly revealed

name of

of this instinct upon

human

by the great place given to

it

Viewed

cannot seem extraordinary that a

or disturbance

in this

emotional

field

is

under the

It

love In art, literature, poetry, romance and

beauty from the beginning of recorded time. this light

life

all

In

difficulty

should produce such

INTRODUCTION

xxii

far-reaching consequences for the individual.

impulse

is

The

sexual

often compared with that of hunger, and this

craving and need lying in

all

humanity

is

called by

Freud

nature

of the

libido.

The Oedipus Problem With

further

investigations

very astonishing situation was

repressed complexes a

The

revealed.

the

into

parental influence on children

is

some-

thing so well recognized and understood that to call tention to

sounds much

it

like a banality.

However, here

an extraordinary discovery was made, for the feelings and emotions of adults that this influence

it

at-

in tracing

out

became evident

was paramount not only for children

but for adults as well; that the entire direction of lives

was largely determined

quite unconsciously

by the pa-

rental associations, and that, although adults, the emo-

was

tional side of their nature

demanded unconsciously

still

infantile in type

and

the infantile or childish rela-

tions.

Freud traces out the commencement of the attachment for the parents

in this wise.

In the beginning the child derives

and pleasure from the mother and care for

its

wants.

infantile

In this

its first

in the first

satisfaction

form of

nutrition

act of suckling

Freud

sees already a kind of sexual pleasure, for he apparently identifies

the pleasure principle and the sex'ual instinct

and considers that the former latter. tile

At

this early

is

primarily rooted in the

time commence such various infan-

actions unconnected with nutrition as thumbsucking,

INTRODUCTION various

movements of

the

body

xxlii

rubbing,

as

boring,

pulling and other manifestations of a definite Interest In

own

its

body, a delight In nakedness, the pleasure ex-

some object and

hibited In Inflicting pain on

the pleasure

from receiving

child pleasure

and

analogous to certain perversions

by Freud the childhood.

"

opposite,

All of these afford the

pain.

satisfaction,

its

and because they seem In adults

they are called

polymorphous perverse sexuality

The

character of these

Instinctive

of

"

actions

which have nothing to do with any other person, and through which the child attains pleasure from body, caused Freud erotic after

elements of

its

Is

Ellis.

However, with the growth

a parallel

development of the psychic

sexual nature and

original object of

own

to term this phase of life as auto-

Havelock

of the child there

its

its

now

love, primarily

helplessness and need, acquires a

the mother, the

determined by

new

valuation.

Its

The

beginnings of the need for a love object to satisfy the craving or libido of the child are early in evidence and,

following along sex lines the

mother and

in general, the little

son prefers

the daughter the father after the usual

preference of the parents.

At

this early

time children feel deeply the enormous

importance of their parents and their entire world

bounded by the family

circle.

is

All the elements of the

ego which the child possesses have now become manifest; love,

jealousy,

hate,

curiosity,

etc.,

and those

instincts

are directed In the greatest degree towards the objects

of their libido, namely the parents.

ego of the child there

is

a

With

the growing

development of strong wishes

INTRODUCTION

xxlv

and desires demanding

satisfaction

which can only be

by the mother; therefore there

gratified

aroused

in

and anger towards

the small son the feeling of jealousy

whom he mother and whom

is

the father in

sees a rival for the affection of

the

he would like to replace.

desire in the soul of the child

m

complex

recognition

of

its

Freud

calls the

his fate to kill his

Freud presents

father and win his mother for a wife.

At

complex of every neurosis.

the basis of this complex,

be found in

Oedipus

analogy to the tragedy

of King Oedipus who was drawn by

this as the nuclear

This

some

trace of which can

every person, Freud sees a definite incest wish

towards the mother which only lacks the quality of consciousness.

of moral

Because

reactions

wish

this

is

quickly subjected to repression through the operation of the " incest barrier," a postulate he compares to the incest

taboo found child

among

beginning to develop

is

expressed by the question,

The

interest

At

inferior peoples.

time the

typical sexual curiosity

its

"Where do

and investigation of the

come from?"

I

child into this prob-

lem, aided by observations and deductions actions

this

from various

and attitudes of the parents, who have no idea

of the watchfulness of the child, lead him, because of his imperfect knowledge

many

false theories

and immature development,

and ideas of

birth.

These

into

infantile

sexual theories are held by Freud to be determinative in the development of the child's character and also for the

contents

of the unconscious as expressed in

a

future

neurosis.

These various reactions of the

child

and

his sexual curl-

INTRODUCTION oslty are entirely

xxv

normal and unavoidable, and

development proceeds

in

if

his

an orderly fashion then, at the

time of definite object choice he will pass smoothly over

from the

limitations of the family attachment out into

the world

and

However,

find therein his

if

independent existence.

the libido remains fixed on the

object so that the growing individual

himself loose from these familial

bond

is

ties,

future of the

then the incestuous

object,

instinct

and the

young personality endangered.

the development of the incestuous

chosen

first

unable to tear

deepened with the developing sexual

accompanying need of a love

its

is

and

entire

For with

bond the natural

re-

pressions deepen because the moral censor cannot allow these disturbing relations to ual.

become

Therefore, the whole matter

clear to the individis

repressed

more

deeply into the unconscious, and even a feeling of positive

enmity and repulsion towards the parents

developed

in

is

often

order to conceal and over-compensate for

the impossible situation actually present.

This persistence of the attachment of the libido to the original object,

and the

inability to find in this a suitable

satisfaction for the adult need, interferes with the

development of the psycho-sexual character, and

normal

it is

due

to this that the adult retains that " infantilism of sexuality "

which plays so great a role

stability

of the emotional

life

in

determining the

in-

which so frequently leads

into the definite neuroses.

These were the conclusions reached and the ground on which Freudian psychology rested, regarding the etiology

INTRODUCTION

xxvl

of the neurosis, and the tendencies underlying normal

human mechanisms, when Dr. Carl Jung,

the

most promi-

nent of Freud's disciples, and the leader of the Zurich school,

found himself no longer able to agree with

Freud's

findings

certain

in

particulars,

phenomena which Freud observed and

although the

the technique of

psychoanalysis developed by Freud were the material on

which Jung worked and the value of which he clearly

The

emphasizes. in his

which have developed lay

differences

understanding and interpretation of the phenomena

observed.

Beginning with the conception of libido

itself

term used to connote sexual hunger and craving, the

as

a

albeit

meaning of the word sexual was extended by Freud

much wider significance than common usage has assigned it, Jung was unable to confine himself to to

embrace

a

He

this limitation.

push of in its

of

life as

something extending beyond sexuality even

He

wider sense.

unknown

conceived this longing, this urge or

saw

in sexuality

logical

all

life,

which occupies

the

such

human

as

and compares

Although recognizing, with

many

in

growth,

activities

cosmic energy or urge manifested calls libido

itself

not

but in various physiological and psycho-

manifestations

hunger, and

term libido a concept

nature, comparable to Bergson's elan vital,

a hypothetical energy of

only

in the

It

and

In the

development,

interests.

This

human being he

with the energy of physics.

common

with Freud as well as

others, the primal instinct of reproduction as

the basis of

many

functions and present-day activities of

mankind no longer sexual

in

character he repudiates the

INTRODUCTION Idea of

them

calling

still

Its

originally out of the

This

life

point this hypothetical energy of

power used

libido,

but not the ex-

through which libido flows.

an energic concept of

Is

sexual.

various manifestations Jung sees as most

important channels occupied by clusive ones

though their de-

sexual, even

velopment was a growth Sexuality and

xxvli

by

instinctively

;

and from or libido

life

man

in

Is

a living

automatic

the

all

view-

this

processes of his functioning; such very processes being

By

but different manifestations of this energy. of

Its

quality of mobility

virtue

and change man, through

his

understanding and Intelligence, has the power consciously to direct

and use

his libido in definite

and desired ways.

In this conception of Jung will be seen an analogy to

Bergson,

who

becoming, very

stuff

speaks of " this change, this

this self-creation, call

and

reality of

In developing the

It

movement and

what you

our being."

will, as the

*

energic conception of libido

and

separating it from Freud's sexual definition, Jung makes possible the explanation of interest in general, and provides a working concept by which not only the specifically sexual, but the general activities

and reactions of man can

be understood. If a person complains of his

work or of In

interest in

losing Interest in his surroundings, then one

understands that his libido

and that

no longer having

Is

withdrawn from

consequence the object

itself

this object

seems no longer

attractive, whereas, as a matter of fact, the object is

exactly the

same

as formerly.

In other words,

* " Creative Evolution."

itself it

is

INTRODUCTION

xxvlil

we bestow upon an

the libido that attractive

The and

and

object that

makes

it

interesting.

may

causes for the withdrawal of libido

from those that

are usually quite different

offer in explanation.

be various

the persons

task of psychoanalysis to

It is the

discover the real reasons, which are usually hidden and

unknown.

On

the other hand,

when an

individual ex-

hibits an exaggerated interest or places an over-emphasis

upon an idea or libido here

situation, then

and that we may

we know

there

is

too

much

find as a consequence a corre-

sponding depletion elsewhere.

This leads directly

into the second point of difference

between Jung's views and those of Freud.

This

is

con-

cerned with those practically universal childish manifestations of sexuality called by

"

Freud

polymorphous

perverse " because of their similarity to those abnormalities

of sexuality which occur in adults and are called

perversions.

Jung takes exception

He

to this viewpoint.

sees in the

various manifestations of childhood the precursors or

forerunners of the later fully developed sexuality, and instead of considering

them perverse he considers them

preliminary expressions of sexual coloring.

human

life into

three stages.

The

first

He

divides

stage up to about

the third or fourth year, generally speaking, he calls the

presexual stage,

for there

energy occupied chiefly

he

sees

the

in the functions

libido

or

life

of nutrition and

growth, and he draws an analogy between

this

period and

that of the caterpillar stage of the butterfly.

The second

stage includes the years

from

this

time

INTRODUCTION until puberty,

and

this

xxix

he speaks of as the prepubertal

stage.

The

third period

is

that

from puberty onward and can

be considered the time of maturity.

period of which varies

It is in the earliest stage, the

greatly in different individuals, that are fully inaugurated

those various manifestations which have so

marked

a

sexual coloring that there can be no question of their relationship, although at that time sexuality in the adult

meaning of the word does not

Jung

exist.

explains the polymorphism of these

as arising

from

a gradual

movement of

phenomena from

the libido

new

function of nutrition into

exclusive service in the

avenues which successively open up with the development of the child until the tion proper at

final

puberty.

inauguration of the sexual func-

Normally these

habits are gradually relinquished until the libido

is

en-

withdrawn from these immature phases and with

tirely

the ushering in of puberty for the the

bad

childish

first

time " appears in

form of an undifferentiated sexual primitive power,

clearly forcing the individual

towards

division, budding,

etc."

However,

if in

the course of

its

movement from

the

function of nutrition to the sexual function the libido

arrested or retarded at any phase, then a fixation result,

creating

a

disturbance

normal development.

For,

in

the

harmony of

although the libido

is

is

may the re-

tarded and remains clinging to some childish manifestation,

time goes on and the physical growth of the child

does not stand

still.

Soon a great contrast

is

created

INTRODUCTION

XXX

between the infantile manifestations of the emotional life

and the needs of the more adult

foundation

is

and the

individual,

thus prepared for either the development

of a definite neurosis or else for those weaknesses of or symptomatic disturbances which are

character

sufficiently serious to

One

be called a neurosis.

of the most active and important forms of childish

libido

occupation

world

is

is

phantasy making.

in

child's

and enjoyment which

the world of reality so often denies.

and real demands of

life

are

As

the child

made upon him

increasingly necessary that his libido be taken his phantastic

to reality

it

grows

becomes

away from

world and used for the required adaptation

needed by

his

age and condition, until

for the adult the freedom of the whole libido

meet

The

one of imagery and make-believe where he can

create for himself that satisfaction

to

not

the biological

is

and cultural demands of

finally

necessary life.

Instead of thus employing the libido in the real world,

however, certain people never relinquish the seeking for satisfaction in the

though they make

shadowy world of phantasy and even certain attempts at adaptation they

are halted and discouraged by every difficulty and obstacle in the

their

path of

life

and are

This condition

inner psychic world.

state of introversion.

easily pulled

It is

is

back into called a

concerned with the past and

the reminiscences which belong thereto.

Situations

experiences which should have been completed and ished long

ago are

still

dwelt upon and

lived

and fin-

with.

Images and matters which were once important but which normally have no significance for their later age are

still

INTRODUCTION

xxxr

The

actively Influencing their present lives.

nature and

character of these phantasy products are legion, and are easily recognized in the emotional attitudes

and preten-

and exaggerations, the preju-

sions, the childish illusions

and inconsistencies which people express

dices

The

fold forms.

actual situation

small matters are

manner; or

Is

Is

demanded.

mani-

Inadequately faced;

an exaggerated

reacted towards In

else a frivolous attitude

real seriousness

in

Is

maintained where

In other words, there

Is

clearly manifested an inadequate psychic adaptation to-

wards child,

reality

which

but which

Is

is

very discordant

The most Important the parents.

quite to be

expected from the

In the adult.

of these past Influences

Because they are the

first

developing childish love, and afford the

and pleasure

to the child, they

objects of the

first

satisfaction

become the models for

succeeding efforts, as Freud has worked out. called the nuclear or root

was

so powerful

It

complex because

seemed

that of

Is

all

This he

this influence

to be the determining factor

In all later diflicultles In the life

In this phase of the problem

of the Individual. lies

the third great dif-

ference between Jung's Interpretation of the observed

phenomena and Jung persons

that of Freud.

definitely recognizes that there are

who

many

clearly exhibited In their childhood the

neurotic tendencies that are later exaggerated.

an almost overwhelming children

Is

neurotic

effect

same

Also that

on the destiny of these

exercised by the influence of the parents, the

frequent over-anxiety or tenderness, the lack of sympathy

or understanding, In other words, the complexes of the

INTRODUCTION

xxxii

parent reacting upon the child and producing In him love,

The

admiration, fear, distrust, hate, revolt. sensitiveness

and impressionability of the

greater the

more

child, the

he will be stamped with the familial environment, and the

more he

world of

will unconsciously seek to find again in the

reality the

model of

own

his

small world with

the pleasures and satisfactions, or disappointments

all

and unhappinesses with which This condition to be sure

It

was

Is

conscious one, for the individual fectly free

from

the real world,

filled.

not a recognized or a

may

this past Influence

think himself per-

because he

and because actually there

is

is

living in

a great dif-

ference between the present conditions and that of his

He

childish past. a

sees all this. Intellectually, but there

Is

wide gap between the intellectual grasp of a situation

and the emotional development, and realm wherein

many

lies

it

is

the

latter

However, although

the disharmony.

Ideas and feelings are connected with the parents,

analysis reveals very often that they are only subjective

and that

in reality

past situation. real father

they bear

little

resemblance to the actual

Therefore, Jung speaks no longer of the

and mother but uses the term imago or image

to represent the father or mother, because the feelings

and phantasies frequently do not deal with the parents

but with

the

distorted

real

and subjective Image

created by the imagination of the Individual.

Following

this

distinction

Jung

complex of Freud only a symbol sire

sees in the

Oedipus

for the " childish de-

towards the parents and for the

conflict

which

craving evokes," and cannot accept the theory that

this

in this

INTRODUCTION

xxxili

early stage of childhood the mother has any real sexual significance for the child.

The demands

of

the

child

upon the mother, the

jealousy so often exhibited, are at the role of the

first

connected with

mother as protector, caretaker and sup-

plier of nutritive wants, and only later, with the germinat-

ing eroticism, does the child's love become admixed with the developing sexual quality. still

chief love objects are

the parents and he naturally continues to seek and

them

to find in

way

The

In this

satisfaction for all his desires.

the typical conflict

is

developed which

In the

son

is

directed towards the father and in the daughter towards

This jealousy of the daughter towards the

the mother.

mother

is

called the Electra

complex from the myth of

Electra

who took revenge on

her mother for the murder

of the husband because she was

in this

way deprived of

her father.

Normally

as puberty

becomes more or the

degree

in

attained the child gradually

is

from

less freed

which

this

Is

his parents,

and upon

accomplished depends his

health and future well-being.

This demand of nature upon the young individual to

from the bonds of

free himself

and ence

to find in the is

world of

produces

reality his

independent

and dominating that

so imperious

dependency

his childish

in the child the greatest struggles

It

exist-

frequently

and severest

conflicts, the

period being characterized symbolically as a

self-sacrifice

by Jung.

It

frequently happens that the young person

closely

bound

in the

family relations that

it is

is

so

only with

INTRODUCTION

xxxiv

the greatest difficulty that he can attain any measure of

freedom and then only very imperfectly, so that the

libido

and

sexualis can only express itself in certain feelings

phantasies which clearly reveal the existence of the complex until then entirely hidden and unrealized.

commences Immoral Intense

Now

the secondary struggle against the unfilial

with

feelings

expressing themselves

resistances

and

development of

consequent

a

in

irritation,

anger, revolt and antagonism against the parents, or else In

an especially tender, submissive and yielding attitude

which over-compensates for the rebellion and reaction held within.

This struggle and phantasy of

conflict gives rise to the

which really means the

self-sacrifice

sacri-

of the childish tendencies and love type in order to

ficing

free libido; for his nature

capacity

demands

that he attain the

accomplishment of

for the

fulfilment, the satisfaction of

veloped

his

own

personal

which belongs to the de-

man and woman.

This conception has been worked out

Jung

unconscious

In the

book which

is

In

detail

by

herein presented to English

readers.

We

now come

ceptions in that

It

to the

most Important of Jung's con-

bears practically upon the treatment

of certain types of the neuroses and stands theoretically in direct

opposition to Freud's hypothesis.

While recog-

nizing fully the Influence of the parents and of the sexual constitution of the child,

Jung refuses

to see In this In-

fantile past the real cause for the later

the Illness.

He

development of

definitely places the cause of the patho-

INTRODUCTION genie eonfllet in the present

moment and

xxxv eonsiders that in

seeking for the cause in the distant past one

lowing the desire of the patient, which

much

himself as

from

as possible

is

is

to

only fol-

withdraw

the present important

period.

The

conflict

duty which

is

produced by some important task or

is

essential biologically

and practically for the

fulfilment of the ego of the individual, but before which

an obstacle arises from which he shrinks, and thus halted

With

cannot go on.

progression libido

is

this

interference in the path of

stored up and a regression takes

place whereby there occurs a reanimation of past

of libido occupation which were entirely child,

but which for the adult are no longer of value.

These regressive alive

ways

normal to the

infantile

desires

and phantasies now

and striving for satisfaction are converted

symptoms, and

in these

surrogate forms

into

obtain a certain

gratification, thus creating the external manifestations

the neurosis.

of

Therefore Jung does not ask from what

psychic experience or point of fixation in childhood the patient

he

is

is

suffering, but

avoiding, or

unable to overcome

what

is

the present duty or task

what obstacle ?

What

is

in his life's

path he

is

the cause of his regression

to past psychic experiences?

Following

this

theory Jung expresses the view that the

elaborate phantasies and dreams produced by these patients are really stitutes

forms of compensation or

artificial sub-

for the unfulfilled adaptation to reality.

sexual content of these phantasies and dreams

is

The only

apparently and not actually expressive of a real sexual

INTRODUCTION

xxxvi

desire or Incest wish, but

a regressive

Is

employment of

sexual forms to symbolically express a present-day need

when too

or Impossible,

difficult

what

demand seems and no adaptation Is made to

the attainment of the present ego

possible for the Individual's capability.*

Is

With this statement Jung throws a new light on the work of analytic psychology and on the conception of the neurotic symptoms,

standing the

and renders possible of under-

many apparent

incongruities

and

conflicting

observations which have been so disturbing to the

now becomes proper

It

lished by all this

what

Its

Is

to ask

critics.

what has been

mass of Investigation

estab-

Into the soul,

and

value not only as a therapeutic measure for

the neurotic sufferer,

human

but also for the normal

being?

and perhaps most Important

First

Is

a definite psychological determinism. life

being

Instead of

human

with foolish, meaningless or purposeless

filled

actions, errors

the recognition of

and thoughts.

It

can be demonstrated that

no expression or manifestation of the psyche, however trifling

or Inconsistent In appearance,

unmotivated.

Only

Is

really lawless or

a possession of the technique

Is

neces-

sary In order to reveal, to any one desirous of knowing, the existence of the unconscious determinants of his man-

nerisms,

trivial

purpose and

expressions,

and behavior,

their

significance.

* For a more complete Theory of Psychoanalysis graph Series, No. 19. "

acts

of Jung's views consult his Nervous and Mental Disease Mono-

presentation " in the

INTRODUCTION

xxxvii

This leads Into the second fundamental conception, which

is

and that

perhaps even

It is the

themselves by

I

mind and

general attitude of people to judge

their surface motives, to satisfy themselves

by saying or thinking " or "

considered than the foregoing,

the relative value of the conscious

is

thought.

less

this is

what

I

want

intended to do thus and so," but

to

do or say

somehow what

one thought, one intended to say or expected to do often the contrary of what actually

is

"

is

very

said or done.

Every one has had these experiences when the gap

be-

tween the conscious thought and action was gross enough to be observed.

consciously desire

known experience something very much and when it

It is also a well

obtained to discover that this

no wise

in

satisfied

lessened the desire, which was then transferred to

Thus one became cognizant of

other object.

to is

or

some

the fact

that the feeling and idea presented by consciousness as

the desire

was an

conditions?

error.

What

the difficulty in these

is

Evidently some other directing force than

that of which

we

are aware

is

at

work.

Dr. G. Stanley Hall uses a very striking symbol when he compares the mind to an iceberg floating

In the

ocean

with one-eighth visible above the water and seven-eighths

below scious

—the

one-eighth above being that part called con-

and the seven-eighths below that which we

unconscious.

The

Influence

call the

and controlling power of the

unconscious desires over our thoughts and acts are In this relative

and

proportion.

Faint glimmers of other motives

interests than those

often

flit

we

into consciousness.

accept or which

These

we

believe,

Indications, if studied

INTRODUCTION

xxxviii

or valued accurately, would lead to the realization that consciousness

is

but a single stage and but one form of

Therefore

expression of mind.

its

dictum

but one,

is

often untrustworthy, approach to the great question as to

what

is

to

what

in particular is the actual soul

man's actual psychic accomplishment, and as

development of

the individual.

A

further contribution of equal importance has been

the empiric development of a dynamic theory of life; the

conception that

life is in a state

of flux

—movement—

development

man

by means of

lead-

Through

ing either to construction or destruction.

the

has reached he has attained the power

his intelligence

and understanding of

defi-

certain extent this life energy or

nitely directing to

a

libido into avenues

which serve

his interest

and bring

a

real satisfaction for the present day.

When man

through ignorance and certain inherent

tendencies fails to recognize his needs or his fulfil

power

to

them, or to adapt himself to the conditions of reality

of the present time, there tion of infantile paths

is

then produced that reanima-

by which an attempt

is

made

to

gain fulfilment or satisfaction through the production of

symptoms or

The

attitudes.

acceptance of these statements demands the recog-

nition of the existence of an infantile sexuality

large part played by

it

in the later life

and the

of the individual.

Because of the power and imperious influence exerted by the parents

upon the

attachment of

child,

and because of the unconscious

his libido to the original object, the

and the perseverance of

this

first

love

model

mother, in

the

i

— INTRODUCTION psyche, he finds

It

very

difficult,

xxxix

on reaching the stage

of adult development and the time for seeking a love object outside of the family, to gain a satisfactory model.

exceedingly Important for parents and teachers

It Is

to recognize the requirements of nature, which, beginning

with puberty, imperiously demand of the young

indi-

vidual a separation of himself from the parent stem and

In our

the development of an independent existence.

complex modern

civilization

demand of nature is who has the

this

difficult enough of achievement for the child

heartiest

and most

and environment

intelligent co-operation of his parents

—but

contend with his

for the one

own

who

inner struggle

but has In addition the resistance of

would hold him

in his

childhood at any

has not only to

for his

freedom

his parents cost,

who

because they

cannot endure the thought of his separation from them, the task becomes one of the greatest magnitude.

period

when

the struggle between

It is

the childish

during

this

inertia

and nature's urge becomes so keen, that there occur

the striking manifestations of jealousy, criticism, irritability

usually directed against the parents, of defiance

all

of parental authority, of runaways and various other psychic and nervous disorders

This struggle, which

Is

the

known first

to

all.

great task of mankind

and the one which requires the greatest which

is

expressed by Jung as the

the sacrifice of the childish

effort,

self-sacrifice

is

that

motive

feelings and demands, and of

the irresponsibility of this period, and the assumption of

the duties and tasks of an individual existence. It

is

this

great theme which Jung sees as the real

INTRODUCTION

xl

motive lying hidden

In the

from the beginning, artistic

as

of

creations

myths and religions of man

well

both

as

the

in

ancient

literature

and

and modern time,

and which he works out with the greatest wealth of detail

and painstaking

effort In the

book herewith

pre-

sented.

This necessitates a recognition and revaluation of the

enormous Importance and

and the

influence of the ego

sexual instinct upon the thought and reaction of man,

and also predicates

a displacement of the psychological

point of gravity from the will and intellect to the realm

The

of the emotions and feelings. synthesis of these

desired end

two paths or the use of the

is

a

Intellect

constructively in the service of the emotions In order to

gain for the best Interest of the Individual some sort of co-operative reaction between the two.

No

one dealing with analytic psychology can

fail to

be struck by the tremendous and unnecessary burdens

which

man

has placed upon himself, and

he has increased the Intellectual views

to

difficulties

of adaptation by

and moral formulas, and by

admit to himself that he

is

actually just a

imperfect, and containing within himself tendencies,

tory goal.

how

good and bad,

all

striving for

greatly

his rigid

his inability

human being

all

manner of

some

satisfac-

Further, that the refusal to see himself In

this light Instead

of as an Ideal person in no

way

alters

the actual condition, and that In fact, through the cheap

pretense of being able only to consider himself as a very virtuous person, or as shocked and hurt the " sins " of others, he actually

is

when observing

prevented from de-

INTRODUCTION own

veloping his

how

of

capac-

expressions.

among people the idea we cannot see each other's

frequently expressed

is

fortunate

that

is

it

and how disturbing

thoughts,

own

character and bringing his

ities to their fullest

There

xli

But what

feelings could be read.

They

secrets of the soul?

it

would be is

if

our real

so shameful in these

are in reality our

own

egoistic

striving, longing, wishing for satisfaction, for

desires all

happiness; those desires which instinctively crave their

own

gratification but

which can only be really

fulfilled

by

adapting them to the real world and to the social group.

Why

is

it

that

it is

the prime Influence in

ego

so painful for all

itself, in its desires,

In short, in Its tion, the

The

to is

need for self-expression and self-perpetua-

evolutionary impetus in life?

man

in

an inner resistance

it

is

all

interest to consider his neighbor

is

and that

to ignore the needs of the

a part.

moral

everywhere evident that it Is

body

it is

own

But even

the ethical and

has only very imperfectly learned that

per-

which

to include others in his scheme, lest his

teachings of centuries

he

may

in nature itself

greedy desires should serve to destroy him.

him

in the

wishes, needs and satisfactions,

with this Inner demand and

for

admit that

found

basis for the unpleasantness of this idea

haps be found forces

man

human endeavor

to his

man own

impossible

social of

which

Externally, the recognition of the strength

of the ego impulse

Is

objectionable because of the ideal

conception that self-striving and so-called selfish seeking are unworthy, Ignoble and Incompatible with a desirable

character and must be ignored at

all cost.

INTRODUCTION

xlii

The

futility

of this attitude

is

to be clearly seen In the

failure after all these centuries to even

human

as evidenced in our is

relations

quite as Ineffectual in this

where

realm as

overcome

the effort to

this

it

something

and unholy.

Institutions,

in that

it,

and

of sexuality

imperious domination

has been attempted by lowering the in

and

approximate

and seeing

Instinct,

or unclean, something unspeakable

vile

Instead of destroying the power of sexuality

this struggle has only warped and distorted, injured and

mutilated the expression; for not without destruction of

can these

individual

the

stroyed.

Life

expression

answers to

itself

fundamental

instincts

be

de-

has needs and imperiously demands

through

the

this freely

forms

created.

All

and simply except man.

nature

His

fail-

ure to recognize himself as an instrument through which the life energy

coursing and the demands of which

Is

must be obeyed,

is

the cause of his misery.

Despite his

possession of intellect and self-consciousness, he cannot

without disaster to himself refuse the tasks of the fulfilment of his

own

needs.

life

and

Man's great task

is

the adaptation of himself to reality and the recognition

of himself as an instrument for the expression of

according to his individual

possibilities.

It is in his privilege as a self-creator that his

purpose

is

life

highest

found.

The value of man is enabled to

self-consciousness lies in the reflect

upon himself and learn

fact that to under-

stand the true origin and significance of his actions and opinions, that he his

may

adequately value the real level of

development and avoid being self-deceived and there-

INTRODUCTION from

fore Inhibited

xliii

finding his biological adaptation.

He

need no longer be unconscious of the motives underlying himself behind a changed exterior,

his actions or hide in

other words, be merely a series of reactions to stimuli

as the mechanists have

become

it,

but he

may

to a certain extent

and self-determining being.

a self-creating

Indeed, there seems to be an impulse towards adaptation quite as

Bergson sees

it,

and

it

would seem

to be a

task of the highest order to use intelligence to assist one's

work with

self to

Through

this impulse.

the investigation of these different avenues

human being and

leading into the hidden depths of the

through the revelation of the motives and influences at

work

there,

although astonishing to the uninitiated, a

very clear and definite conception of the actual relationship

— brotherhood — of

It is this recognition

of these

all

mankind

common

at once both the

Is

obtained.

factors basically

Inherent in humanity from the beginning and

which

is

human

still

active,

most hopeful and the most

feared and disliked part of psychoanalysis. It

Is

disliked by those individuals

who have

prided

themselves upon their superiority and the distinction be-

tween their reactions and motives and those of ordinary In other words, they attempt to become per-

mankind. sonalities

others,

through elevating themselves

and

it Is

a distinct

these pretensions in

common by

all.

lie

blow

and lowering

to discover that beneath

the very ordinary elements shared

On

the other hand, to those

who have

been able to recognize their own weaknesses and have

"

INTRODUCTION

xliv

suffered in the privacy of their

own

that these things have not set

them apart from

but that they are the

no

common

souls, the

property of

knowledge and that

all

one can point the finger of scorn at his fellow,

of the greatest experiences of of the greatest It

is

and

life

is

others,

is

one

productive

relief.

feared by

many who

realize that in these painfully

acquired repressions and symptoms

from

their protection

their safety

lie

and

and dealing with

directly facing

tendencies and characteristics with which they feel unable

The

to cope.

repression and the accompanying

indicate a difficulty a

sort

of

and

a struggle,

compromise or

and

symptoms

In this

way

are

formation which

substitute

permit, although only In a wasteful and futile manner, the activity of the repressed tendencies.

Nevertheless,

to analyze the individual back to his original tendencies

and reveal tions

to

him the meaning of these

would be

substitute forma-

a useless procedure In which truly " the

man would be worse than the first if the work ceased there. The aim Is not to destroy those barriers upon which civilized man has so painfully

last state of that

climbed and to reduce him to his primitive

where these have

him

state,

but,

failed or Imperfectly succeeded, to help

to attain his greatest possibilities with less expendi-

ture of energy,

provides.

less

wasteful methods than nature

In this achievement

able side of this thesis.

by

It is

method

— the

hopeful because

lies

the hopeful and valu-

development of the syn-

now

a

way

Is

opened

to

deal with these primitive tendencies constructively, and

render their

effects

not only harmless but useful,

by

INTRODUCTION them

utilizing

in

xlv

higher aims, socially and individually

valuable and satisfactory.

This

what has occurred normally

is

in

those individuals

who seem capable and constructive personalities; creative

minds that give so much

to the race.

those

In

They have

converted certain psychological tendencies which could

have produced useless symptoms or destructive actions Indeed

into valuable productions.

it

Is

not

uncommon

for strong, capable persons to state themselves that they

knew they could have been or destructive libido freed

equally capable of a wasteful

This utilization of the energy or

life.

by removing the repressions and the

lifting

of infantile tendencies and desires into higher purposes

and directions status It

is

suitable for the individual at his present

called sublimation.

must not be understood by

geniuses

wonderful

or

through analysis, for Its

purpose

is

to

this

is

can

that

created

be

not the aim of the procedure.

remove the

which interfere with the

discussion

this

personalities

inhibitions

full

and

restrictions

development of the per-

sonality, to help individuals attain to that level

where

they really belong, and to prepare people to better under-

stand and meet

or so-called " peculiarities

life

whether they are neurotic sufferers

normal people " with the

which belong to

difficulties

This reasoning and method of procedure

when all

the application

is

and

all.

made

to the

human

only

new

being.

In

is

improvements of plants and animals these general

principles have been recognized structively utilized.

and

their teachings con-

INTRODUCTION

xlvi

Luther Burbank, that plant wizard whose work

known

to all the world, says, "

A

of the tendencies within a plant "

plant improvement," and

improvement brings with takenly think, a

it is it,

knowledge of the is

is

battle

the very basis of all

not that the

work of

plant

incidentally, as people mis-

knowledge of these

forces,

it is

the knowl-

edge of these forces, rather, which makes plant improve-

ment

possible."

Has

this

not been also the mistake of

man

regarding

himself, and the cause, partly at least, of his failure to

succeed in actually reaching a

more advanced and

stable

development? This recognition of man's biological relationship to all life

and the

practical utilization of this recognition,

and asks for an

necessitates a readjustment of thought

examination and reconsideration of the facts of

human

conduct which are observable by any thoughtful person.

A

quiet

and progressive upheaval of old ideas has taken

place and to unify

is still

going on.

and value

all

Analytic psychology attempts

of the various phenomena of

which have been observed and noted

man

at different times

by isolated investigators of isolated manifestations and thus bring offers a

some orderly sequence

method whereby

into

the whole.

the relations of the

It

human being

biologically to all other living forms can be established,

the actual achievement of

and opens a health,

man

himself adequately valued,

vista of the possibilities of

happiness

improvement

and accomplishment for the human

being.

Beatrice M. Hinkle. lo

Gramercy Park.

in

AUTHOR'S NOTE

My

work has been

task In this

vidual phantasy system, and

In

to Investigate an indi-

the doing of

problems

it

of such magnitude have been uncovered, that

deavor to grasp them

meant only the

In

toward those paths,

may

of which

exploration

crown the work of future Investigators with I

the

am

not

In

sympathy with the

possibly

success.

which favors

attitude

repression of certain possible working hypotheses

because they are perhaps erroneous, and so

no lasting value. to

sible

become for

en-

their entirety has necessarily

a superficial orientation

opening and

my

especially entirely

However,

tions.

I

possess

endeavored as far as

pos-*

guard myself from error, which might indeed

am

I

Certainly

may

dangerous upon these dizzy heights,

aware of the

risks of these investiga-

do not consider

I

scientific

work

as a

dogmatic contest, but rather as a work done for the

in-

crease and deepening of knowledge.

This contribution

is

addressed to those having similar

ideas concerning science.

In conclusion, assisted

my

I

am

must render thanks

endeavors with valuable

dear wife and ance

I

my

friends, to

to those aid,

who have

especially

whose disinterested

my

assist*

deeply indebted. C. G. Jung.

Zurich.

—A

CONTENTS PAGE

AUTHOR'S NOTE

xlvii

PART

I

CHAPTER

INTRODUCTION

3

Relation of the Incest Phantasy to the Oedipus Legend Moral revulsion over such a discovery The unity of the antique and modern psychology Followers of Freud in this The need of analyzing historical material in relafield tion to individual analysis.

—

—

I.— CONCERNING

—

THE TWO KINDS OF THINKING

.

.

— —

8

Antiquity of the belief in dreams Dream-meanings psychoThey concern wish-fulfilments logical, not literal What is symbolic in our typical dream: the sexual assault everyday thinking? One kind of thinking: intensive and Directed thinking and thinking in deliberate, or directed words Origin of speech in primitive nature sounds The evolution of speech Directed thinking a modern acquisition Thinking, not directed, a thinking in images: akin to dreaming Two kinds of thinking: directed and dream or phantasy thinking Science an expression of directed thinking The discipline of scholasticism as a forerunner Antique Their world of spirit created not science but mythology subjective phantasies similar to that we find in the childmind of to-day; or in the savage The dream shows a simiInfantile thinking and dreams a re-echo of the lar type

— — — —

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

prehistoric and the ancient The myths a mass-dream of the people: the dream the myth of the individual Phantastic thinking concerns wishes Typical cases, showing kinship with ancient myths Psychology of man changes but slowly Phantastic thinking tells us of mythical or other material of undeveloped and no longer recognized wish tendencies in the soul The sexual base The wish, because of its disturbing nature, expressed not directly, but symbolically.

—

—

—

—

II.—THE

—

—

MILLER PHANTASIES

Miss

42

—

Miller's unusual suggestibility Identifying herself with others Examples of her autosuggestibility and suggestive effect Not striking in themselves, but from analytic viewpoint they afford a glance into the soul of the writer Her phantasies really tell of the history of her love.

III.—THE

HYMN

— —

OF CREATION

—

Miss Miller's description of a sea-journey ^Reallv a deA retreat from reality into scription of " introversion "

—

xlix

49

—— CONTENTS CHAPTER

PAGE

—The

return to the real world with erotic impresofficer singing in the night-watch The undervaluing of such erotic impressions Their often deep effect The succeeding dream, and poem The denied erotic impression usurps an earlier transference: it expresses itself through the Father-Imago Analysis of the poem Relation to Cyrano, Milton and Job The attempt to escape the problem by a religious and ethical pose Contrast with real religion Escape from erotic by transference to a God or Christ This made effective by mutual transference: "Love one another " The erotic spiritualized, however The inner conflict kept conscious by this method The modern, however, represses the conflict and so becomes neurotic The function of Christianity Its biologic purpose fulfilled Its forms of thought and wisdom still available. herself sion of

—

— —

—

—

— —

—

—

—

—

—

—

— —

—

SONG OF THE MOTH

IV.—THE

87

—

The double

role of Faust: creator and destroyer "I came not to send peace, but a sword " The modern problem of choice between Scylla of world-renunciation and Charybdis of world-acceptance The ethical pose of The of Creation having failed, the unconscious projects a new attempt in the Moth-Song The choice, as in Faust The longing for the sun (or God) the same as that for the ship's officer Not the object, however: the longing is im-

—

—

Hymn

—

— — God our honors —The failure

—

own

longing to which we pay divine by a real compensation the libido-object which is surrendered, produces regression to an earlier and discarded object A return to the infantile The use of the parent image It becomes synonymous with God, Sun, Fire Sun and snake Symbols of the libido gathered into the sun-symbol The tendency toward unity and toward multiplicity One God with many attributes: or many gods that are attributes of one Phallus and sun The sun-hero, the well-beloved Christ as sun-god " Moth and sun " then brings us to historic depths of the soul The sun-hero creative and destructive Hence: Moth and Flame: burning one's wings The destructiveness of being fruitful Wherefore the neurotic withdraws from the conflict, committing a sort of self-murder Comparison with Byron's Heaven and Earth. portant

is

to replace

—

—

— — — —

—

—

—

PART I.—ASPECTS

A

—

—

—

—

II

OF THE LIBIDO

backward glance

127

—The

—

sun the natural god Comparison with libido Libido, " sun-energy " The sun-image as seen by the mystic in introversion The phallic symbol of the libido Faust's key Mythical heroes with phallic attributes These heroes personifications of the human libido

—

—

and Its

its

—

typical fates

—

—A

etymological context.

—

—

definition of the

word

" libido "

— CONTENTS

li

PAGE

CHAPTER II.—THE

CONCEPTION AND THE GENETIC THEORY OF

LIBIDO

139

A

— New

widening of the conception of libido study of paranoia The impossibility of

—

light

from

the

restricting the congenetic definition The ception of libido to the sexual function of reality only partly sexual Yet this, and other functions, originally derivations from procreative impulse The process of transformation Libido, and the conception Examples in mythology The stages of of will in general the libido: its desexualized derivatives and differentiations Sublimation vs. repression Splittings off of the primal libido Application of genetic theory of libido to intro-

—A

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

version psychoses — Replacing reality by archaic surrogates — Desexualizing libido by means of phantastic analogy formations —Possibly human consciousness brought present manner —The importance of the phrase: " to

state in this

Even

little

as."

TRANSFORMATION OF THE LIBIDO. A POSSIBLE SOURCE OF PRIMITIVE HUMAN DISCOVERIES

III.— THE

.

—

An example

of transition of the libido Act of boring with forefinger: an infantile presexual activity Similar activities in patient's early childhood Outcome in dementia prascox Its phantasies related to mythological products: a reproduction of the creations of antiquity The freeing of libido from the nutritive to enter the sexual function The epoch of suckling and the epoch of displaced rhythmic activity These followed by the beginnings of onanistic attempts An obstacle in the sexual zone produces regression to a previous mode These regressions easier in earlier stages of humanity than now The ethnological phantasy of boring Examples The production of fire Its sexual significance substitute for coitus The invention of fire-making then due to the need of supplying a symbol for the sexual act The psychological compulsion for such transitions of the libido based on an original division of the will Regression to incestuous Prohibition here sends incestuous component of libido back to pre-sexual Character of its application here The substitution of Mother-Earth for the parent Also of infantile boring Leading then to discovery of fire An example in Hindoo literature The sexual significance of the mouth Its other function: the mating call The regression which produced fire through boring also elaborated the mating call The beginnings of speech Example from the Hindoo Speech and fire the firstfruits of transformation of libido The fire-preparation regarded as forbidden, as robbery The forbidden thing onanism Onanism a cheating of sexuality of its purpose The ceremonial fire-production a substitute for the possibility of onanistic regression Thus a transformation of libido ensues.

—

—

—

—

A

—

—

—

—

—

—

— —

—

—

—

—

—

—

— — — —

—

—

—

157

—— CONTENTS

lii

CHAPTER

PAGE

...

IV.— THE UNCONSCIOUS ORIGIN OF THE HERO The cause of introversion The forward and backward flow of the libido The abnormal third The conflict rooted The " terrible mother " Miss Miller's in the incest problem

191

—

— — — — product of hypnaintroversion — An internal gogic vision and poem—The uniformity of the unconscious in men—The unconscious the object of a true psychology production of the hero The individual tendency with cult—The love for the hero or god a love for the unconthe mother of humanity— Such scious — A turning back — Miss Miller's menregressions act favorably within tion of the Sphinx —Theriomorphic representations of the represent father and mother libido—Their tendency The Sphinx represents the fear of the mother — Miss figure —The Miller's mention of the Aztec— Analysis of significance of the hand symbolically— The Aztec a substitute for the Sphinx—The name Chi-wan-to-pel —The connection of the anal region with veneration — Chiwantopel and Ahasver, the Wandering Jew —The parallel with Chidher Heroes generating themselves through their own mothers Analogy with the Sun — Setting and rising sun: Mithra and Helios, Christ and Peter, Dhulqarnein and Chidher —The symbol —The two Dadophores: the two thieves —The mortal and immortal parts of man —The Trinity taken from phallic symbolism— Comparison of libido with phallus the Analysis of libido symbolism always leads back mother incest—The hero myth the myth of our own ing unconscious— Faust. —

conflict

Its

all

its

to

limits

to

this

fish

to

suflfer-

v.— SYMBOLISM OF The crowd

THE MOTHER AND OF REBIRTH

—

.

The city as symbol of as symbol of mystery the mother The motive of continuous " union " The typical journey of the sun-hero Examples longing for rebirth through the mother The compulsion to symbolize the mother as City, Sea, Source, etc. The city as terrible mother and as holy mother The relation of the watermotive to rebirth Of the tree-motive Tree of life a mother-image The bisexual character of trees Such symbols to be understood psychologically, not anatomically The incestuous desire aims at becoming a child again, not at incest It evades incest by creating myths of symbolic rebirth The libido spiritualized through this use of symbols To be born of the spirit This compulsion toward symbolism brings a release of forces bound up in incest This process in Christianity Christianity with its repression of the manifest sexual the negative of the ancient sexual cult The unconscious transformation of the incest wish into religious exercise does not meet the modern need conscious method necessary, involving moral autonomy Replacing belief by understanding The history of the symbolism of trees The rise of the idea of the terrible mother a mask of the incest wish The myth of Osiris Related examples The motive of ** devouring" The Cross of

—

—

—

—

—

— —

—

—A

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—A —

—

—

—

—

—

—

233

— CONTENTS CHAPTER

liii

PAGE

—

Christ: tree of death and tree of life

Lilith: the devouring mother The Lamias The conquering of the mother Snake and dragon: the resistance against incest The father represents the active repulse of the incest wish of the son He

—

—

—

—

—

frequently becomes the monster to be overcome by the hero

The Mithraic

sacrificing of the incest wish an overcoming of the mother replacing of archaic overpowering by sacrifice of the wish The crucified Christ an expression of this renunciation Other cross sacrifices Cross symbol possesses significance of "union" Child in mother's womb: or man and mother in union Conception of the soul a derivative of mother imago The power of incest prohibition created the self-conscious individual It was the coercion The further visions of Miss Miller. to domestication

—A

— —

—

—

—

—

—

—

VI.—THE

BATTLE

FOR

MOTHER

FROM

DELIVERANCE

THE 307

The appearance

hero Chiwantopel on horseback Hero and horse equivalent of humanity and its repressed libido Horse a libido symbol, partly phallic, partly maternal, like the tree It represents the libido repressed through

—

of the

—

—The scene of Chiwantopel and the —Recalling Cassius and Brutus: also delirium of Cyrano— Identification of Cassius with mother— His fantile disposition — Miss Miller's hero also infantile — Her visions from an infantile mother transference— Her hero die from an arrow wound —The symbolism of the arrow—The onslaught of unconscious desires —The deadly arrows the hero from within — means the of introversion —A sinking back the world of the child The danger of regression — may mean annihilation or new —Examples of introversion—The clash between the incest prohibition

Indian

his

in-

arise

to

strike

state

It

into

this

It

life

the

retrogressive

tendency in

unconscious

individual

the

and the conscious forward striving—Willed introversion The unfulfilled sacrifice in the Miller phantasy means an attempt to renounce the mother: the conquest of a new life through the death of the old The hero Miss Miller herself.

—

VII.—THE

DUAL MOTHER ROLE

Chiwantopel's understands "

monologue

34X

—His

quest

for

the

" one who for the lifeThe battle

—A quest for the mother—Also —The sexual element the wish— for independence from the mother — — Miss Miller's use of Longfellow's Hiawatha — An analysis of Hiawatha —The miraculous birth—The A typical hero of the hero's birth symbolic because really a rebirth from the mother-spouse —The twofold mother which Christian mythology becomes twofold birth —The hero own procreator — Virgin conception a mask for incestuous impregna— Hiawatha's early —The of mothernature with the mother—The killing of a roebuck a constrength — He quering of the parents — He takes on companion

in

Its peril

libido

it

is

in his

tion

life

identification

their

goes forth to slay the father in order to possess the mother

— CONTENTS

llv

CHAPTER

PAGE

—Minnehaha, the mother— Hiawatha's introversion— Hiding the mother's womb the lap of nature really a return — The regression the presexual revives the importance overof nutrition — The inner struggle with the mother, against the longing power and impregnate her — This for the mother brings new strength — The Mondamin motive of the entrance in other myths —The Savior-hero the of the libido into the personal maternal depths —This and be born again — Hiawatha's struggle with the fish-monster — A new deliverance from the mother — And so again with Megissogwon, the Magician — The hero must again and again conquer the mother —Then follows his death: the marriage with Minnehaha — Other incidents, the west — Miss Miller also reminded sinking of the sun by Chiwantopel's longing of Wagner's Siegfried —Analysis of the Siegfried myth — The treasure-guarding dragon The dragon the son's repressed longing for the mother Symbolism of the cave — The separation from the mother, the hero's conquering of the dragon —The symbolism of the cup — Drinking from the mother— Cup of the blood of Christ The resultant mysterious union of man — Profane interpremystery— The phallic significance of the tations of serpent —The snake as representing the introverting libido — Self-procreation: or creation of the world through introversion — Xhe world thus an emanation of the libido —The hero himself a serpent— The psychoanalytic treatment of regression — The hidden libido touched upon causes a strugwith the treasurethe the hero gle: that guarding dragon —The awakening of Brunhilda — Siegfried own libido —The conmother: a symbol of finding to

in

to

to

fight

fruit

is

to

die,

his

in

this

quest

fight

fights

is,

his

his of the

mother

terrible

brings

the

love

and

life-

giving mother.

Vni.—THE SACRIFICE Miss

Miller's

428

vision

again

—The

paradoxical

striving

away from

the mother toward the mother becomes beneficent on being conquered Chiwantopel a hero of words, not deeds He has not that will to live which breaks the magic circle of the His identification with the author, and her incestuous wish for the parents The end is the devouring of the daughter's libido by the mother Sexuality of the unconIdle dreaming the mother of the scious merelv a symbol fear of death This downward path in the poetry of Holderlin The estrangement from reality, the introversion of the libido

The

destroying mother

—

—

—

—

— —

—

— —

—

leading to death The necessity of freeing libido for a complete devotion to life Otherwise bound by unconscious compulsion: Fate Sublimation through voluntary work Creation of the world through cosmic sacrifice Man discovers the world when he sacrifices the mother The incest barrier as the producer of thought Budding sexuality drawing the individual from the family The mind dawns at the moment the child begins to be free of the mother

—

— —

— —

CONTENTS

Iv

CHAPTER

—

He

PAGE

seeks to win the world, and leave the mother Childish regression to the presexual brings archaic phantasies The Sacrifice of incest problem not physical, but psychological of the horse: sacrifice of the animal nature The sacrifice Suof the "mother libido": of the son to the mother periority of Christian symbol: the sacrifice, not only of lower nature, but the whole personality Miss Miller's phantasy passes from sacrifice of the sexual, to sacrifice of the infantile personality Problem of psychoanalysis, expressed mythologically, the sacrifice and rebirth of the infantile hero The libido wills the destruction of its creation: horse and serpent The end of the hero by means of earthquake The one who understands him is the

— —

—

—

— —

mother.

—

—

—

" Therefore theory, which gives nificance,

is

to

often very useful, even

facts their value

if

it

is

throws light on phenomena which no one observed, examination, from studied,

and

it

many

and

sig-

partially false, for

it

forces an

it

which no one had hitherto more extended and more pro-

angles, of facts

gives the impulse for

ductive researches.

" It

is,

therefore, a

moral duty for the man of science and to submit to

himself to the risk of committing error in

order that science

may continue

to

A

progress.

attacked the author for this very severely, saying, here ideal very limited

with a mind

and very

paltry.

sufficiently serious

that all that they write

is

But

those

and impersonal

who

to

expose

criticism,

writer has is

a scientific

are

endowed

as not to believe

the expression of truth absolute

and

which places the aims of science well above the miserable vanity and paltry ' amour propre ' of the eternal, approve of this theory

scientist.''

—Guglielmo

Ferrero.

Les Lois Psychologiques du Symbolisme

—l8gs.

Preface, p.

vtii.

PART

I

INTRODUCTION Any one who Dream

can read Freud's " Interpretation of the

" without scientific rebellion at the newness

apparently unjustified daring of

dream

nudity of the this

astonishing

at the

and who can allow

interpretation,

unusual array of facts to influence his mind calmly

and without prejudice,

individual

Phantasy,

will surely be deeply

where Freud

place

that

an

analytical presenta-

Its

and without moral Indignation

tion,

and

is

calls

psychologic

to

mind

fact

the

that

Incest

the essential root of that powerful ancient

this

simple reference

may

wholly peculiar feeling which arises in the noise

the

namely,

conflict,

The

dramatic material, the Oedipus legend.

made by

impressed at

and tumult of

come across an ancient

relic

a

—

impression

be likened to that

In

us

modern

if,

for example,

street

we should

the Corinthian capital of a

walled-in column, or a fragment of inscription.

Just a

moment ago we were given over to the noisy ephemeral life of the present, when something very far away and strange appears to us, which turns our attention to things

of another order; a glimpse away from the Incoherent multiplicity of the present to a higher coherence in history.

Very

this spot life

and

likely

It

would suddenly occur

where we now run busily activity prevailed

to

and

to us that

two thousand years ago 3

on

fro a similar in

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

4

somewhat other forms;

similar passions

moved mankind,

and man was likewise convinced of the uniqueness of existence.

I

would

liken the impression

monuments of

acquaintance with the

which the

his

first

antiquity so easily

leaves behind to that impression which Freud's reference to the Oedipus legend

makes

— for while we

gaged with the confusing impressions of the the Individual Soul, suddenly there

are

still

en-

variability of

opened a revelation

is

of the simple greatness of the Oedipus tragedy

—that

never extinguished light of the Grecian theatre.

This breadth of outlook carries revelation.

For

us, the ancient

in itself

been buried among the shadows of the past;

room one could

something of

psychology has long since in the school-

scarcely repress a sceptical smile

when

one indiscreetly reckoned the comfortable matronly age of Penelope and the age of Jocasta, and comically com-

pared the result of the reckoning with the tragic-erotic struggles in the legend and drama.

that time (and

We

who knows even today?)

did not

know

at

that the mother

can be the all-consuming passion of the son, which per-

haps undermines it,

his

whole

and

tragically destroys

so that not even the magnitude of the Oedipus Fate

seems one jot overdrawn. stood far

life

cases like

Rare and pathologically under-

Ninon de Lenclos and her son

removed from most of

^

lie

too

us to give a living impression.

But when we follow the paths traced out by Freud, we arrive at a recognition of the present existence of such possibilities,

which, although they are too

force incest, are

still

weak

to en-

strong enough to cause disturbances

of considerable magnitude

in the

soul.

The admission

INTRODUCTION

5

of such possibilities to one's self does not occur without a great burst of moral revulsion.

only too easily dazzle the

make knowledge of

Resistances arise which and, through that,

Intellect,

Whenever we sucfrom more scientific

self impossible.

ceed, however, in stripping feelings

knowledge, then that abyss which separates our age from the antique that Oedipus

we

bridged, and, with astonishment,

is

The importance

a living thing for us.

is still

see

We

of such an Impression should not be undervalued. are taught by this Insight that there

elementary human

conflicts existing

That which

and

place.

still

remains true, but

up a vain

common bond

we

are different

We

when we

— that

is

on the

on one

other

opened

to

an

stable point of first

intellectual

comprehension.

strata of the Individual soul

through

view outside our own

time,

mind

that,

we come

of the ancient

do we win that

culture,

from which,

an objective understanding of their

mechanisms would be which we

far has not

an Inner sympathy, and,

indirectly Into possession of the living culture, and, just precisely

With

to the understanding of the

side, leads to

side,

Through buried

for the

to say,

Is

forgetting that an Indissoluble

In

ancient mind; an understanding which so existed, and,

give

of the present day

binds us to the people of antiquity.

path

this truth a

true for us only

the ancients.

have nearly succeeded

Greeks with horror

affected the

it is

illusion that

more moral, than

an identity of

is

Independent of time

possible.

At

least that

get

from

the

enquiry

made

possible by Freud's

rediscovery

Is

of the

the

hope

Oedipus

problem.

The

work has

al-

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

6

ready resulted fruitfully tion

are Indebted to this stimula-

some bold attacks upon

for

human mind.

history of the Riklin,-

we

;

There are

works of

the

Maeder,^ Jones,

Rank,*

Abraham,''

the territory of the

^

— recently

Silberer has joined their ranks with a beautiful investigation

entitled

debted to

" Phantasie

Pfister

for

^

und Mythus."

We

^

cannot be overlooked here, and which

much impor-

of

is

The

tance for Christian religious psychology.

purpose of these works

problems

through

knowledge; that activity of the cific

I

in

is

to say,

leading

the unlocking of historical

is

application

the

in-

work which

comprehensive

a

are

psychoanalytic

of

knowledge drawn from the

modern unconscious mind concerning

spe-

historical material.

must refer the reader

may

order that he

extent

and

obtained.

entirely to the specified works,

gain information concerning the

the kind of insight which has already been

The

explanations are in

many

in particulars; nevertheless, this detracts in

the total result.

It

would be

significant

cases dubious

no way from

enough

if

only

the far-reaching analogy between the psychologic structure of the historical relics

and the structure of the recent

individual psychologic products alone were demonstrated.

This proof

is

possible of attainment for every intelligent

person through the work done up to

analogy prevails especially

In

this

time.

symbolism, as Riklin, Rank,

Maeder, and Abraham have pointed out with ing examples;

it

is

also

shown

etc.,

as

illuminat-

in the individual

isms of unconscious work, that condensation,

The

Abraham

is

mechan-

to say in repression,

explicitly

shows.

INTRODUCTION

Up

7

to the present time the psychoanalytic investigator

has turned his interest chiefly to the analysis of the Individual psychologic problems.

It

seems to me, however,

that In the present state of affairs there

demand

imperative

for

is

a

more or

less

psychoanalyst to broaden

the

the analysis of the individual problems by a comparative relating to them,

study of historical material

Freud has already done

on " Leonardo da Vinci." analytic conceptions

masterly manner

In a

just

In his

as

book

For, just as the psycho-

^

promote understanding of the

his-

toric psychologic creations, so reversedly historical mate-

can

shed new light upon Individual psychologic

problems.

These and similar considerations have caused

me

my

rials

to turn

in the

hope

attention

somewhat more

that, out of this,

new

tions of individual psychology

to the historical,

Insight Into the founda-

might be won.

CHAPTER

I

CONCERNING THE TWO KINDS OF THINKING It

a

is

well-known fact that one of the principles of

analytic psychology

that the

is

understood symbolically; that

is

dream images are

to be

to say, that they are not

to be taken literally just as they are presented in sleep,

but that behind them a hidden meaning has to be surmised.

of a dream symbolism which

It is this ancient idea

has challenged not only criticism, but, the strongest opposition.

in addition to that,

That dreams may be

full

import, and, therefore, something to be interpreted, tainly neither a strange

nor an extraordinary idea.

is

of

cer-

This

has been familiar to mankind for thousands of years, and, therefore, seems

much

like

a banal truth.

The dream

interpretations of the Egyptians and Chaldeans,

story of Joseph

known is

to every one,

also familiar.

all

who

interpreted Pharaoh's dreams, are

and the dream book of Artemidorus

From

times and peoples

significant,

countless inscribed

we

know

of prophetic and also of curative dreams

the

dream of

dreamt she was

formed

monuments of

learn of foreboding dreams, of

which the Deity sent to the

We

and the

the

to be with

into a snake.

and examples

sick,

We

sleeping in the temple.

mother of Augustus, who child

by the Deity trans-

will not

heap up references

to bear witness to the existence of a belief

CONCERNING

TWO

KINDS OF THINKING

in the

symbolism of dreams.

and

so generally believed,

is

way, and, indeed, as true, but

is

is

an idea

so old,

is

probably true

mostly the case,

some

in

not literally

is

In this distinction

true psychologically.

why

the reason

is

When it

g

the old fogies of science have

lies

from time

to time

thrown away an inherited piece of ancient truth;

because

it

was not

literal

For such

but psychologic truth.

discrimination this type of person has at no time

had any

comprehension.

From our God existing the dream,

When we

experience,

it

hardly conceivable that a

is

outside of ourselves causes dreams, or that

eo ipso, foresees the future prophetically. translate this into the psychologic, however,

much more

then the ancient theories sound

reconcilable,

namely, the dream arises from a part of the mind un-

known

to us, hut

none the

less

important, and

with the desires for the approaching day. logic

concerned

This psycho-

formula derived from the ancient superstitious conof dreams,

ception

with

is

the

is,

so

to

speak,

Freudian psychology,

exactly

which

identified

assumes

a

ris-

ing wish from the unconscious to be the source of the

dream.

As

the old belief teaches, the Deity or the

Demon

speaks in symbolic speech to the sleeper, and the dream interpreter has the riddle to solve.

say this means that the dream

is

In

modern speech we

a series of images,

which

are apparently contradictory and nonsensical, hut arise in reality

from psychologic material which

yields a clear

meaning.

Were

I to

suppose

among my

readers a far-reaching

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

lo

ignorance of dream analysis, then

with

statement

this

illustrate

Today, however, these things are

should be obliged to

I

numerous

examples.

quite well

known, so

that one must proceed carefully with every-day dream material, out of consideration for a public educated in

these matters.

inconvenience that no

It Is a special

can be recounted without being obliged to add to

dream It

half

a life's history which affords the individual foundations

of the dream, but there are some few typical dreams

which can be told without too great a these

is

the

prevalent

dream of

ing happily spent in

open

her

door

with a lance. countless

the sexual assault, which

among women.

A

Is

and

stabs

some

through

Instead of the lance

it

is

simple,

an even-

a robber breaks

This theme, which explains

variations,

especially

girl sleeping after

dancing, dreams that

noisily

One of

ballast.

some

her Itself,

body has

complicated.

a sword, a dagger, a revolver,

a gun, a cannon, a hydrant, a watering pot; or the assault is

a burglary,

hidden

may

a pursuit,

in the closet

robbery, or

a

or under the bed.

It

is

Or

some one the danger

be Illustrated by wild animals; for instance, a horse

which throws the dreamer to the ground and kicks her the

body with

in

his hind foot; lions, tigers, elephants with

threatening trunks, and finally snakes

In

Sometimes the snake creeps

mouth, sometimes

it

Into the

bites the breast like Cleopatra's

times

It

comes

in the role

the variations of

endless variety.

legendary asp, some-

of the paradisical snake, or in

Franz Stuck, whose pictures of snakes

bear the significant

titles

" Vice," " Sin," " Lust."

mixture of lust and anxiety

is

The

expressed Incomparably in

;

TWO

CONCERNING

ii

of these pictures, and far more

the very atmosphere

Morike's charming poem.

brutally, indeed, than in

The Maiden What's

KINDS OF THINKING

First

s

Love Song

net?

in the

Behold,

But

Do Do

am

I

afraid,

grasp a sweet

I

eel,

a snake?

I seize

Love is a blind Fisherwoman Tell the child

Where Already

Oh,

it

to seize.

leaps in

my

hands.

Pity, or delight!

With

nestlings

and turnings

my

It coils

on

It bites

me, oh, wonder!

breast,

Boldly through the skin. It darts

Oh, Love,

I

under

my

heart.

shudder!

What

can I do, what can I begin ? That shuddering thing; There it crackles within

And

coils in a ring.

must be poisoned. Here it crawls around. It

Blissfully I feel as Itself into

And

kills

it

worms

my soul me finally.

All these things are simple, and need no explanation to be intelligible.

Somewhat more complicated, but

still

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

12

unmistakable,

is

the

dream of

A

triumphal arch of Constantine. to the right of

it,

it

woman;

a

she sees the

cannon stands before

a bird, to the left a

man.

flashes out of the tube; the projectile hits her;

There

into her pocket, into her purse.

she holds her purse as in

The image

it.

A

shot

it

goes

remains, and

it

something very precious were

if

disappears, and she continues to see

only the stock of the cannon, and over that Constantine's

motto, " In hoc signo vinces."

These few references are perhaps sufficient.

appear

insufficient,

to the symbolic nature of

For whomsoever the proof may

and

it

beginner, further evidence

certainly insufficient for a

is

may

mental work of Freud, and

Rank which

be found

in the

funda-

works of Stekel and

in the

We

are fuller in certain particulars.

assume here that the dream symbolism fact, in

dreams

must

an established

is

order to bring to our study a mind suitably pre-

pared for an appreciation of be successful

if

this

work.

We

would not

we, on the contrary, were to be astonished

at the idea that an intellectual

image can be projected image which ap-

into our conscious psychic activity; an

parently obeys such wholly other laws and purposes than those governing the conscious psychic product.

Why ogy

is

are dreams sy7?ibolicf

Every

We

question only to abandon

it

at once.

unknown.

The

is

first,

Dreams

why

this

is

so

this

are symbolic

in

the source of the dream,

question

for what

answer

will

order that they can not be understood;

the wish, which

" in psychol-

why

divided into two separate questions:

purpose are dreams symholicf

in

"

order that

may remain

and not otherwise,

CONCERNING

TWO

KINDS OF THINKING

13

leads us out into the far-reaching experiences and trains

of thought of the Freudian psychology.

Here that

How

the second question interests us, viz.,

That

dreams are symholicf

is

is it

from where

to say,

does this capacity for symbolic representation come, of

which we,

in

our conscious daily

life,

can discover ap-

parently no traces?

Let us examine

this

more

cover nothing symbolic

in

closely.

Can we

really dis-

our every-day thought?

Let

us follow our trains of thought; let us take an example.

We think of the

war of 1870 and 1871.

We

think about

a series of bloody battles, the siege of Strassburg, Belfort, Paris, the

Treaty of Peace, the foundation of the

German Empire, and

We

ing? called,

How

so on.

have we been think-

start with an idea, or super-idea, as

and without thinking of

It

is

also

but each time merely

it,

guided by a feeling of direction, we think about Individual reminiscences of the war.

we can

In this

find

nothing

symbolic, and our whole conscious thinking proceeds ac-

cording to this type.^ If

we observe our

thinking very narrowly, and follow

an intensive train of thought,

as,

for example, the solu-

tion of a difficult problem, then suddenly

we

notice that

we

are thinking in words, that In wholly Intensive think-

ing

we begin

write

down

to speak to ourselves, or that

the problem, or

be absolutely clear. to any one

who

It

make

a

we

occasionally

drawing of

it

so as to

must certainly have happened

has lived for some time

In

a foreign

country, that after a certain period he has begun to think in the

language of the country.

A

very intensive train

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

14

of thinking works that

vince any one of

thinking

is

directs itself wholly to

which adjusts

or logical

where we, expressed

In

itself to actual

other words, imitate

of objectively real things,

strictly causal succession as the historical

that

so

our mind follow after each other

in

or to con-

it,

this extent, this directed

to say, a thinking

is

succession

images

To

It

word form;

less In

to teach

it,

a reality thinking,^ having a real existence for

conditions,"^

the

Evidently

it.

the outside world.

us; that

more or

out

Itself

one wants to express

if

is,

In the

the

same

events outside

of our mind.*

We

thinking with directed attention.

call this thinking,

one

It has, In addition, the peculiarity that

and

on

that,

this account,

Our whole

time.

pensive,

vital

it

is

Is

tired

accomplishment, which

adaptation to environment; a part of

is

by

it,

set Into action only for a Is

so ex-

it is

directed thinking, which, biologically expressed,

is

the

noth-

ing but a process of psychic assimilation, which, as in

every vital accomplishment, leaves behind a corresponding exhaustion.

The

material with which

we

think

Is

language and

speech concept, a thing which has been used from time

immemorial

as

something external,

and which has

a single

As long

think directedly,

we

as

purpose

a bridge for thought,

— that we

of communication.

think for others and

speak to others.^ Speech tive

Is

sounds

originally a system of emotional

— sounds

which express terror,

and

fear,

imita-

anger,

love; and sounds which imitate the noises of the elements, the rushing and gurgling of water, the rolling of thunder,

— CONCERNING

TWO

KINDS OF THINKING

15

the tumults of the winds, the tones of the animal world,

and SQ on; and,

finally,

those which represent a combina-

and of

tion of the sounds of perception

Likewise

more or

the

in

less

affective reaction.^

modern languages,

large

quantities of onomatopoetic relics are retained; for ex-

ample, sounds for the Rauschen,

movement of

ruschen,

risseln,

water,

rennen, to rush,

rinnen,

ruscello,

ruisseau, river, Rhein.

Wasser, wissen, wissern,

Thus language

is

pissen, piscis, fisch.

orginally and essentially nothing but

a system of signs or symbols, which denote real occur-

human

rences, or their echo In the

soul.

Therefore one must decidedly agree with Anatole

when he

France,^ "

What

thought, and

is

words; that alone of

The

it!

is

to put

calls

end

how do we

think

We

?

think with

sensual and brings us back to nature.

Think

metaphysician has only the perfected cry of monkeys

and dogs with which

which he

says,

to

to construct the system of the world.

That

profound speculation and transcendent method

end

in

is

an arbitrary order the natural sounds which

cry out hunger, fear, and love in the primitive forests, and to

which were attached

little

lieved to be abstract,

when

"

Do

stifled,

much

little

the meanings which one be-

not fear that the succession of small

which compose a book

of

regarding the universe, that

Thus loneliest

thinking

out

by

they were only crude.

is

philosophy,

we

cries,

will

can live in

our directed thinking, and even

if

it

feeble

no longer."

we were

and furthest removed from our fellows, is

call to

nothing but the

first

and

teach us so

the this

notes of a long-drawn-

our companions that water had been found,

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

i6

storm was approach-

that

we had

ing,

or that wolves were prowling around the camp.

killed the bear, that a

striking

paradox of Abelard's which expresses

intuitive

way

cated

thinking

intellectu et

Any

the whole process,

human

very

limitation of our compli-

— reads,

general intellectumJ'

^^

Sermo generatur ah

*

how

system of philosophy, no matter

represents in

in a

A

abstract,

means and purpose nothing more than an developed

extremely cleverly nature sounds.^

Hence

combination

of original

arises the desire of a Schopen-

hauer or a Nietzsche for recognition and understanding,

and the despair and

One

bitterness of their loneliness.

might expect, perhaps, that a man pasture in the greatness of his

full

own

of genius could

thoughts, and re-

nounce the cheap approbation of the crowd which he despises; yet he succumbs to the

of the herd call,

more powerful impulse

His searching and

instinct.

his finding, his

belong to the herd.

When

I

said just

now

that directed thinking

is

properly

a thinking with words, and quoted that clever testimony

of Anatole France as drastic proof of

a misunder-

it,

standing might easily arise, namely, that directed thinking is

really only "

word."

That

certainly

would go too

Language should, however, be comprehended sense than that of speech, which

is

in itself

pression of the formulated thought which

being communicated

in the

widest sense.

deaf mute would be limited for thinking, which * Speech

is

is

to the

utmost

in a

far.

wider

only the ex-

is

capable of

Otherwise, the in his capacity

not the case in reality.

generated by the intellect and in turn generates

Without intellect.

TWO

CONCERNING knowledge

any *'

of

the

KINDS OF THINKING

17

word,

his

spoken

he

has

This language, considered from the stand-

language."

point of history, or in other words, directed thinking, is

here a descendant of the primitive words,

Wundt

stance, "

A

^

expresses

as,

for

in-

it.

further important result of that co-operation of sound and

many words gradu-

sign interchange consists in the fact that very ally lose altogether their original concrete

thought meaning, and

turn into signs for general ideas and for the expression of the apperceptive

it

functions

of

relation

and

and

comparison

their

In this manner abstract thought develops, which, because

products.

would not be

the root of

it,

is

possible without the

change of meaning lying at

indeed a production of that psychic and psycho-

physical reciprocal action out of

which the development

of language

takes place."

Jodl " denies the identity of language and thought, because, for one reason, one and the same psychic fact

might be expressed

From

ways.

in

different languages in

different

that he draws the conclusion that a " super-

language thinking "

exists.

Certainly there

whether with Erdmann one considers or with Jodl as

" super-language."

logical thinking.

My

conception of

it

is

such a thing,

" hypologisch,"

Only it

this

"

ing

The is

to that

word

not

agrees with the

noteworthy contribution made by Baldwin, which quote here

is

I will

for word.^^

transmission from pre-judgmental to judgmental mean-

just that

which

from knowledge which has

gets along without

it.

social

The meanings

confirmation utilized for

judgment are those already developed in their presuppositions and applications through the confirmation of social intercourse. Thus, the personal judgment, trained in the methods of social

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

i8

rendering, and disciplined by the interaction of projects

content into that world again.

its

platform for

ment

—

movement

all

the level

its

social world,

In other words, the

into the assertion of individual judg-

from which new experience

and always socialized; and

it

is

utilized

movement

just this

is

reflected in the actual results as the sense of the

—

already

is

that

we

find

appropriateness

*

'

or synomic character of the meaning rendered. *'

Now

detail,

is

we

the development of thought, as

by a method essentially of

more

are to see in

and

trial

error, of experi-

mentation, of the use of meanings as worth more than they are as

The

yet recognized to be worth.

own

individual must use his

thoughts, his established knowledges, his grounded judgments, for the

embodiment

his

thought as

world an opinion

'

still

He

inventive constructions.

schematically

'

—

terms,

projecting

disjunctively;

peculiar to himself, as

But

logic

in

if it

were

erects *

probthe

into

Thus

true.

from the

linguistic point of

to use the current language, still to

work by meanings

proceeds.

all discovery still

say

conditionally,

lematically,'

view,

new

of his

we

this

is,

already embodied in social and conventional usage. "

Language grows,

losing

and

its

its

meaning

is

both personal

social.

" It

is

the register of tradition, the record of racial conquest,

made by

the deposit of all the gains .

thought does, by never

therefore, just as

synomic or dual reference;

.

.

The

judgmental

social

copy-system,

processes

the

of

thus

"

Most

of

the training of the

new self,

genius of individuals

established,

and

race,

training school of the judgment of

the

in

turn

reflects

the

becomes

the

generations.

whereby the vagaries of

personal reaction to fact and image are reduced to the basis of

sound judgment, comes through the use of speech. When the child speaks, he lays before the world his suggestion for a general or

common meaning.

him.

The

In either case he

from a platform

of

is

point to notice here

the exchange

His next venture

knowledge on which the newer item

nearly convertible into the

The

reception he gets confirms or refutes instructed.

is

common coin not so much

is is

now more

of effective intercourse.

the exact

—secondary conversion—by which

mechanism of

this gain

is

made,

— TWO

CONCERNING as the training in

KINDS OF THINKING

judgment that the constant use

In each case, effective judgment "

Here

the object

is

to point

development of a function whose for the social experimentation by

petence

is

advanced as well

— the

actual

—

out that

it

is

rise is directly

which growth

sum up

the historical

ment and conservation

of

affords.

it

common judgment. secured by the

ad hoc,

directly

in personal

com-

the function of speech.

" In language, therefore, to

tangible

the

is

19

we have

the foregoing,

— instrument

of psychic meaning.

It

the

of the developis

the material

evidence and proof of the concurrence of social and personal judg-

ment. *

In

social

'

synomic meaning, judged as

it

'

appropriate,' becomes

meaning, held as socially generalized and acknowledged."

These arguments of Baldwin abundantly emphasize wide-reaching

the

These

language.^" cance,

caused

by

limitations are of the greatest signifi-

all,

Is

great enough to force one to ask one's self

in

if,

regard to independence of thought, Franz

Mauthner, thoroughly his

thinking

both subjectively and objectively; at least their

meaning after

of

limitations

is

not really correct in

speech

and nothing more.

sceptical,

view that thinking

is

Baldwin expresses himself more cautiously and reservedly; nevertheless, his inner

meaning

plainly in favor

is

of the primacy of speech (naturally not the spoken

perhaps

word)

call

it,

;

in the sense

the directed thinking, or as

of

we might

the thinking in Internal speech,

is

the

manifest instrument of culture, and we do not go astray

when we say

that the powerful

work of education which

the centuries have given to directed thinking has pro-

duced, just through the peculiar development of thinking

from the individual

subjective into the social objective, a

practical application of the

human mind

to

which we owe

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

20

modern empiricism and solutely the

first

time

and which occurs for ab-

technic,

in the history

of the world.

Inquisi-

tive minds have often tormented themselves with the

why

question

the undoubtedly extraordinary

and

mathematics

of

and

principles

united with the unexampled art of the

knowledge

material

facts

human hand

In

antiquity never arrived at the point of developing those

known

technical

statements

of

principles of simple machines,

amusing and curious to

There

is

fact,

for

the

Instance,

beyond the realm of the

modern

a real technic in the

necessarily only one answer

to this

;

sense.

the ancients

almost entirely, with the exception of a few extraordinary minds,

lacked the

capacity

to

allow their interest to

follow the transformations of inanimate matter to the extent necessary for

to be able to reproduce the

them

own

process of nature, creatively and through their

art,

by means of which alone they could have succeeded

in

putting themselves in possession of the force of nature.

That which they lacked was or, to express

succeed

in

it

training in directed thinking,

psychoanalytically, the ancients did not

tearing loose the libido which might be subli-

mated, from the other natural relations, and did not turn voluntarily to anthropomorphism. the development of culture libido,

and

fore, to be IS

a

lies

in

The

secret of

of the

the mobility

in its capacity for transference.

It

is,

there-

assumed that the directed thinking of our time

more or

less

modern

acquisition,

which was lacking

in earlier times.

But with that we come happens

if

we do not

to a further question, viz.,

think directedly

?

Then our

what

thinking

:

TWO

CONCERNING lacks the

major

emanates

from

KINDS OF THINKING

and the feeling of direction which

idea,

We

that/^

no

and mount according Kulpe

^*

thinking

own

to their

is

compel

longer

thoughts along a definite track, but

to

21

let

them

our sink

float,

According

gravity.

a kind of inner will action, the

absence of which necessarily leads to an automatic play

James understands the non-directed thinking, or " merely associative " thinking, as the ordinary one. of ideas.

He

about

himself

expresses

that

the

in

following

manner "

Our

thought consists for the great part of a

series of images,

one of which produces the other; a sort of passive dream-state of

which the higher animals are

also capable.

This

sort of thinking

leads, nevertheless, to reasonable conclusions of a practical as

well

as of a theoretical nature.

"

As

a rule,

the links of

sort of

this

irresponsible thinking,

which are accidentally bound together, are empirically concrete things, not abstractions."

We

can, in the following

nitions of

not

William James.

tire us; it quickly

manner, complete these

leads us

away from

phantasies of the past and future.

form of speech ing upon

ceases,

feeling;

Here, thinking

of these thoughts which turns naturally be only the past with

The customary speech

" dreaming."

in the

image crowds upon image,

more and more

but as one indeed might wish

tures.

mto

reality

clearly one

tendency which creates and makes believe, not as is,

defi-

This sort of thinking does

it

to be.^^

The

away from its

thousand

calls this

feel-

sees it

a

truly

material

reality,

can

memory

pic-

kind of thinking

— PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

22

Whoever

himself will find the

observes

attentively

general custom of speech very striking, for almost every

day we can see for ourselves how, when falling asleep, phantasies are the

woven

between

into our dreams, so that

dreams of day and night there

is

not so great a

Thus we have two forms of thinking thinking and dream or phantasy thinking. The

difference.

directed first, is

working for communication with speech elements,

troublesome and exhausting; the

latter,

on the contrary,

goes on without trouble, working spontaneously, so to speak, with reminiscences.

The

first

creates innovations,

adaptations, imitates reality and seeks to act upon

The

latter,

on the contrary, turns away from

free subjective wishes,

and

is,

it.

reality, sets

regard to adaptation,

In

wholly unproductive.^^

Let us leave aside the query as

two

different

ways of

thinking,

different

ways of thinking?

that history shows us that

always as developed as

why we

I

it

that

it.

we have was not

In this age the

most beautiful expression of directed thinking and the technic fostered by

the

to

have intimated above

directed thinking at present.

It is

possess these

and turn back

how comes

second proposition, namely,

two

to

science,

is

Both things are indebted

for their existence simply to an energetic education directed thinking.

At

the time, however,

when

a

in

few

forerunners of the present culture, like the poet Petrarch, first

began

to appreciate

was already

in existence

wit, scholasticism.^^

tasies of the past,

Nature understandingly

there

an equivalent for our science, to

This took

and

^"

it

Its

objects

from

gave to the mind

a

the phandialectic

TWO

CONCERNING

KINDS OF THINKING The

training In directed thinking.

only success which

beckoned the thinker was rhetorical victory tion,

and not a

The

transformation of

visible

of thinking were

subjects

23

disputa-

in

reality.

astonishingly

often

phantastical; for example, questions were discussed, such as

how many

angels could have a place on the point of Christ could have done his

Whether

a needle?

of redemption equally well

world

as a

pea?

The

if

he

had come

know

peculiar kind that

into

the

possibility of such problems, to

which belong the metaphysical problems to be able to

work

the unknowable,

in general, viz.,

shows us of what

mind must have been which created

such things which to us are the height of absurdity.

Nietzsche had guessed, however, at the biological back-

ground of

this

tiful tension "

phenomenon when he spoke of of the Germanic

Taken

mind which

the " beau-

the

Middle

Ages

created.

spirit

of which persons of towering intellectual powers,

scholasticism, in the

Thomas of Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Abelard, WilOccam and others, have labored, is the mother of

such as

liam of the

historically,

modern

scientific attitude,

how and

clearly

in

and

a later time will see

what scholasticism

still

living undercurrents to the science of today.

nature

lies In dialectic

furnishes Its

whole

gymnastics which have raised the

symbol of speech, the word, to an almost absolute meaning, so that

it

finally attained to that substantiality

expiring antiquity could lend to

through

work of

attributes

its

of mystical

which

logos only temporarily, valuation.

The

great

scholasticism, however, appears to be the founda-

tion of firmly knitted intellectual sublimation, the conditio

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

24 sine

qua non of the modern

scientific

and technical

spirit.

Should we go further back into history, we

shall find

we call science, dissolved into an The modern culture-creating mind is

that which today tinct cloud.

santly occupied in stripping off

and

perience,

in

finding

Nature and her forces sion.

all

to the best

and most

ex-

fitting expres-

entirely unjustified self-

we were to assume or more intelligent than

glorification if

energetic

inces-

from

formulas which bring

those

would be an absurd and

It

subjectivity

indis-

that

we

the

are

ancients

more

— our

materials for knowledge have increased, but not our

in-

we become immein regard to new Our ideas as people in the darkest times of antiquity. knowledge has increased but not our wisdom. The main tellectual capacity.

For

diately as obstinate

and insusceptible

point of our interest

is

this reason,

displaced wholly into material

reality; antiquity preferred a

more

mode

closely related to a phantastic type.

sensitive perspicuity since then,

we

towards works of

We

science.

mythology.

art,

Except for a not attained

seek in vain in antiquity for that precise

and concrete manner of thinking

a

of thought which was

characteristic of

modern

see the antique spirit create not science but

Unfortunately,

we

acquire in school only

very paltry conception of the richness and immense

power of

life

of Grecian mythology.

Therefore, at

first

glance,

it

does not seem possible for

us to assume that that energy and interest which today

we put

into science

in great

and

technic, the

part to his mythology.

man

of antiquity gave

That, nevertheless, gives

TWO

CONCERNING

KINDS OF THINKING

25

the explanation for the bewildering changes, the kaleido-

and new

scopic transformations

and

the

of

which,

little

groupings,

myths

the

Here, we move

Grecian sphere of culture. of phantasies,

syncretlstic

rejuvenation

continued

the

In

a

world

concerned with the

outer

In

course of things, flows from an inner source, and, con-

changing,

stantly

shapes.

now

creates

This phantastlcal

"

seem

how

" of the real

to

mind

activity of the ancient

The

created artistically par excellence. terest does not

now shadowy

plastic,

object of the in-

have been to grasp hold of the

world as objectively and exactly as

possibly, but to aesthetically adapt subjective phantasies

There was very

and expectations. ancient people

for

coldness

the

place

little

and

among which

disillusion

Giordano Bruno's thoughts on eternity and Kepler's coveries brought to

of antiquity saw

modern humanity.

in the

and the earth, and Everything had

human being and

moon

Even in

his brother,

attributes,

the disc of the sun

order to illustrate

dis-

man

the fruitful

good Mother.

demons; they animated equally a

was considered according theriomorphic

naive

sun the great Father of the heaven

in the

Its

The

its

to as

the animal. its

Everything

anthropomorphic or

human being

animal.

or

was given wings or four

movement.

feet,

Thus arose an

idea

of the universe which was not only very far from reality, but was one which corresponded wholly to subjective phantasies.

We It is

know, from our own experience,

an infantile stage.

To

this state of

a child the

a face or a shepherd of the stars.

The

moon

is

a

mind.

man

or

clouds in the sky

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

26

seem

sheep; the dolls drink, eat and sleep; the

like little

child places a letter at the

he

the stork to bring

to

calls

cow

sister; the

is

husband of the

him

a

little

We

know,

upon the locomotive

learn through Freud, the

Since the

tion of things,

dream it

brother or

dog the

lower races,

like

as an animal,

and

too, that

drawers of the table the child of the

As we type.

for the Christ-child;

the wife of the horse, and the

cat.

the negroes, look call the

window

is

table.

dream shows

a similar

unconcerned with the real condi-

brings the most heterogeneous matter

together, and a world of impossibilities takes the place

of

Freud

realities.

finds

when awake;

thinking

that

the thought excitation

progression characteristic of is

from

to say, the

outer perception through the association, conscious

that

is

to say,

advancement of

the system of the inner or " endopsychic "

and unconscious,

towards innervation.

to the

In the

work of

motor end;

dream he

finds

the reverse, namely, regression of the thought excitation

from the pre-conscious or unconscious perception, by the its

to the system of

means of which the dream

receives

ordinary impression of sensuous distinctness, which

can

rise to

an almost hallucinating clearness.

moves

thinking

in a

retrograde manner towards the raw

material

of memory.

thoughts

is

into

its

other side

"

The

structure

of the

dream

dissolved during the progress of regression

raw material."

perception

The dream

is,

is

The reanlmation

of the original

however, only one side of regression. regression to the infantile

memory

The

material,

which might also be understood as regression to the original perception, but which deserves especial mention

CONCERNING on account of

Its

TWO

KINDS OF THINKING

independent Importance.

This regres-

The

sion might, indeed, be considered as " historical."

dream, according to

this conception,

27

might also be de-

changed

scribed as the substitute of the infantile scene,

through transference into the recent scene.

The It

infantile scene cannot carry

must be

with

satisfied

its

through

revival;

its

From

return as a dream.

this conception of the historical side of regression,

it

fol-

lows consequently that the modes of conclusion of the

dream, at the

This

may speak

one

in so far as

same time an analogous and is

truly

the

case,

that

dream

Infantile character.

experience

as

shown, so that today every one subject of

of them, must show

who

is

has

familiar with the

analysis confirms Freud's proposition

dreams are a piece of the conquered

childish soul.

abundantly

life

of the

Inasmuch as the childish psychic life

Is

undeniably of an archaic type, this characteristic belongs to the

dream

In quite

an unusual degree.

Freud

calls

our

attention to this especially. "

The

dream, which

fulfils

its

wishes by a short,

regressive

method of working of the psychic apparatus, which has been abandoned by us as unsuitable. That which once ruled in the waking state, when the psychical life was still young and Impotent, appears to be banished to the dream life, in somewhat the same way as the bow and

path, affords us only an example of the primary

arrow, those discarded, primitive weapons of adult humanity, have

been relegated to the nursery."

All this experience

^^

suggests to us that

we draw

a

parallel between the phantastical, mythological thinking

of antiquity and the similar thinking of children, between

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

28 the

lower human races and dreams. ^^

thought

not a strange one for

is

This train of

but quite familiar

us,

through our knowledge of comparative anatomy and the history of development, which

show

how

us

and function of the human body are the of

embryonic

changes

is

psychology

similar

corresponds

Consequently,

phylogenesis.

to

to

Therefore, the sup-

ontogenesis

that

justified

results of a series

correspond

of the race.

in the history

position

which

changes

the structure

would

it

be true, as well, that the state of infantile thinking child's psychic life, as well as in

dreams,

is

in

in the

nothing but a

re-echo of the prehistoric and the ancient.^^

In regard to

this,

Nietzsche takes a very broad and

re-

markable standpoint.^^ " In our sleep and in our dreams

thought of earlier humanity.

I

reasons in his dreams, he reasoned

thousands of years.

The

first

we

mean,

pass through the

in the

when

in the

waking

state

manifests

its

many

causa which occurred to his mind in

reference to anything that needed explanation, satisfied

passed for truth.

whole

same way that man

In the dream

this atavistic relic of

existence within us, for

it

is

him and humanity

the foundation

upon

which the higher rational faculty developed, and which is still developing in every individual. The dream carries us back into earlier states of human culture, and affords us a means of understanding because

it

we

better.

The dream

thought

are so thoroughly trained to

stages of evolution during

which

of theorizing has prevailed.

To

it

is

so easy to us

this phantastic

and

form dream is called upon facile

a certain extent the

which during the day is meet the severe demands for trained thought, made by the

a restorative for the brain, to

now,

through the interminable

conditions of a higher civilization. " From these facts, we can understand

how

logical thinking, the taking seriously of cause

lately

and

more acute

effect,

has been

— :

TWO

CONCERNING developed

;

when our

KINDS OF THINKING

functions of reason and intelligence

29 reach

still

back involuntarily to those primitive forms of conclusion, and

We

we

lives in this condition."

about half our

live

have already seen that Freud, independently of

Nietzsche, has reached a similar standpoint from the

dream

basis of

analysis.

The

step

from

this established

proposition to the perception of the myths as familiar

dream images

is

no longer a great one.

Freud has formu-

lated this conclusion himself.-^ "

The

etc.,

this,

is

investigation of this folk-psychologic formation, myths,

by no means finished at present.

however,

it

is

distorted residue of wish phantasies of

ized dreams of

people."^

Riklin

"^

has insisted

upon the dream mechanism of the

Abraham "

whole nations, the secular-

the myths in a simlllar manner, as

mass dream of the

rightly

take an example of

young humanity."

Rank ^* understands a

To

probable that the myths correspond to the

^^

fables,

has done the same for the myths.

The myth

is

Thus

myth

a

fragment of the infantile

He

and says

soul-life of the people."

and "

the

a sustained,

is

still

remaining fragment from

the infantile soul-life of the people, and the

dream

is

the

myth

of the individual."

An

unprejudiced

reading

authors will certainly allay intimate connection between

psychology.

The

of all

the

above-mentioned

doubts concerning the

dream psychology and myth

conclusion results almost

from

itself,

that the age which created the myths thought childishly

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

30 that

to say, phantastically, as in our age

Is

is

still

done,

to a very great extent (associatively or analogically) in

The

dreams.

beginnings of myth formations

the

(in

the taking of phantasies for realities, which

child),

partly in accord with the historical,

among children. One might raise the

may

is

easily be dis-

covered

objection that the mythological

Inclinations of children are implanted

objection

loose

from

Has humanity myths? Every man

at

futile.

is

the

senses to perceive that the world

ever broken

all

has eyes and

is

The

by education.

all his

dead, cold and un-

ending, and he has never yet seen a God, nor brought to light the existence of such

the contrary, there

from empirical

was need of

tible optimism, and one far

reality, in order, for

necessity.

a phantastic, Indestruc-

removed from

example, to discover

all

sense of

In the

shameful

death of Christ really the highest salvation and the

a child the substance of earlier

from him should off

it

the need for mythology.

happen that

re-

Thus one can Indeed withhold

demption of the world.

from

On

all

myths but not take

One

traditions in the

can say, that

world were

cut

with a single blow, then with the succeeding genera-

tion, the

start

whole mythology and history of religion would

over again.

throwing

off

supremacy are of no

Only

mythology

— the

a

In a

few individuals succeed

time of a certain intellectual

mass never frees

avail; they

In

Itself.

Explanations

merely destroy a transitory form

of manifestation, but not the creating Impulse.

Let us again take up our

We

earlier train of thought.

spoke of the ontogenetic re-echo of the phylo-

TWO

CONCERNING

among

genetic psychology tastlc

thinking

KINDS OF THINKING we saw

children,

31

that phan-

a characteristic of antiquity, of the child,

is

and of the lower races; but now we know also that our

modern and this

man

adult

same phantastic

Is

large part to

in

thinking, which enters as soon as the

A

lessening of the Interest, a

sufficient to

put an end to the directed

directed thinking ceases. slight fatigue.

given over

Is

thinking, the exact psychological adaptation to the real

world, and to replace

from

we

theme and give way

the

thought; lose

if

our

to

of

field.

How

the Important question obtrudes Itself:

from

From

science

we

the poets

learn

little.

we

The

for the

first

typical

cycles.

orator.

The

time.

The

It

showed us

stutterer

are

much about

learn

psychoanalytic

method, presented to science by Freud, shed this

trains

by degrees the consciousness of the present, and

phantasies created? It;

own

digress

the slackening of the attention increases, then

the phantasy enters into possession of the

Here

We

with phantasies.

It

light

upon

that there

imagines he

is

a

are

great

truth of this, Demosthenes, thanks to his

energy, has proven.

be a millionaire, the

The poor man Imagines himself to child an adult. The conquered fight

out victorious battles with the conquerer; the unfit tor-

ments or delights himself with ambitious plans. imagine that which we lack. the "

while

why we

" of all this

The

interesting question of

we must here

leave unanswered,

return to the historic problem:

source do the phantasies

draw

From what

We puberty. A

their materials?

chose, as an example, a typical phantasy of child in that stage before

whom

We

^^

the whole frightening

— PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

32

uncertainty of the future fate opens, puts back the uncer-

and

tainty into the past, through his phantasy,

only

I

were not the child of

my

says, " If

ordinary parents, but

the child of a rich and fashionable count, and had been

merely passed over to

my

some day

parents, then

a golden

coach would come, and the count would take his child

back with him to on, as in

his

wonderful

castle,"

Grimm's Fairy Tales which

her children."^

With

normal

a

fugitive, quickly-passing idea

However,

and forgotten.

child,

which

at

the

is

it

tells to

goes

stops with the

it

soon covered over

one time, and that was

the ancient world of culture, the phantasy

in

was an openly

—

The heroes, I recall Romuand Remus, Semiramis, Moses and many others,

acknowledged lus

and so

mother

institution.

have been separated from their real parents.^^

Others

are directly sons of gods, and the noble races derive their

As one

family trees from heroes and gods.

example, the phantasy of modern humanity a

re-echo of an old-folk-belief,

spread originally.^^ others, a

had

true meaning.

The same

spoken of dreams of sexual

and which once

thing holds

the

assault:

breaks into the house and commits a

That, too, era

was

Is

a mythological theme,

certainly a reality too.^-

fact that the capture of

and

In cultivated epochs.

good

who

dangerous

I

was

act.

in the prehistoric

Wholly apart from

It

in

we have

robber

women was something

in the lawless prehistoric times,

mythology

nothing but

In the preamble

regard to the sexual phantasy.

this

phantasy chooses,

classic,

Is

is

by

which was very wide-

ambitious

form which

among a

The

sees

the

general

also a subject of

recall the capture of

TWO

CONCERNING

KINDS OF THINKING

Proserpina, Delanira, Europa, the Sabine

We

must not forget

that,

exist in various regions

33

women,

etc.

even today, marriage customs

which

recall the ancient

custom

of marriage by capture.

The symbolism

of the instrument of coitus was an

exhaustible material for ancient phantasy. a widespread cult that

was designated

It

in-

furnished

phallic, the object

The companion

of reverence of which was the phallus.

of Dionysus was Phales, a personification of the phallus

Herme

proceeding from the phallic

phallic symbols were countless.

The

of Dionysus.

Among

the Sablnes, the

custom existed for the bridegroom to part the bride's hair with a lance.

The

bird, the fish

and the snake were

In addition, there existed in enormous

phallic symbols.

therlomorphic representations of the sexual

quantities

connection with which the bull, the he-goat,

Instinct, in

the ram, the boar

and the

ass

were frequently used.

An

undercurrent to this choice of symbol was furnished by the

sodomltic inclination of humanity.

dream phantasy of modern man, placed by an animal, there re-echo the

is

man

In is

the re-

recurring in the ontogenetic

same thing which was openly represented by

the ancients countless times.

There were he-goats which

pursued nymphs, satyrs with she-goats in

When

the feared

Egypt there even

in still

older times

existed a shrine of a goat god, which

the Greeks called Pan,

themselves with

;

where the Hierodules prostituted

goats.-^*

It is well

known

that this wor-

ship has not died out, but continues to live as a special

custom

in

South Italy and Greece.^*

Today we

feel for such a thing

nothing but the deepest

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

34

abhorrence, and never would admit

still

slumbered

In

Nevertheless, just as truly as the idea of the

our souls.

sexual assault

is

there, so are these things there too;

we should contemplate moral

it

eye-glasses,

still

more

closely,

—not

which

through

with horror, but with interest as a

natural science, since these things are venerable relics of

We

past culture periods.

have, even today, a clause in

our penal code against sodomy.

But that which was once

among

so strong as to give rise to a worship

a highly

developed people has probably not wholly disappeared

from

the

tions.

human may

We

soul during the course of a few genera-

not forget that since the symposium of

Plato, in which homo-sexuality faces us on the

with the so-called "

normal

They

level

sexuality," only -eighty gen-

And what

erations have passed.

same

are eighty generations?

shrink to an imperceptible period of time

when

compared with the space of time which separates us from the homo-Neandertalensis or Heidelbergensis. call to

mind,

in this connection,

is

a very

common

from century

^^ :

belief that the further

more does he

man

separated

differ

to century, like fashions of literature.

we

is

from us in his that the psychology of humanity changes

from the present by time, the thoughts and feelings;

might

some choice thoughts of

the great historian Guglielmo Ferrero " It

I

Therefore, no

an law from those with which we are familiar, than we immediately search for some complex meanings, which

sooner do

or a belief a

institution, a custom, a

find in past history

little different

frequently resolve themselves into phrases of doubtful significance. " Indeed, man does not change so quickly his psychology at ;

bottom remains the same, and even one epoch to another, mind.

it

The fundamental

if

his culture varies

much from

does not change the functioning of his

laws of the mind remain the same, at

TWO

CONCERNING least

KINDS OF THINKING

during the short historical period of which

35

we have knowl-

must be capable mind which we can

edge, and all phenomena, even the most strange,

of explanation by those

common laws

of the

recognize in ourselves."

The

psychologist should accept this viewpoint without

Today,

reservation as peculiarly applicable to himself. indeed,

In

our civilization the phallic processions, the

DIonysIan mysteries of Phallic

emblems,

have

classical

Athens, the barefaced

disappeared

from our

coins,

houses, temples and streets; so also have the therlomor-

phic representations of the Deity been reduced to small

remnants, like the

God and

the

Dove

of the

Holy Ghost,

the

Lamb

Cock of Peter adorning our church towers.

In the same way, the capture and violation of

Yet

have shrunken away to crimes. affect the fact that in

of

all

women

of this does not

we. In childhood, go through a period

which the impulses toward these archaic inclinations

appear again and again, and that through possess, side by side with the

and adapted thought,

all

our

life

we

newly recruited, directed

a phantastic thought

which corre-

sponds to the thought of the centuries of antiquity and barbarism.

Just as our bodies

still

of old functions and conditions

in

keep the reminders

many

old-fashioned

organs, so our minds, too, which apparently have out-

grown those archaic

tendencies,

nevertheless bear the

marks of the evolution passed through, and the very ancient re-echoes, at least dreamily, in phantasies.

The symbolism which Freud

has discovered,

is

re-

vealed as an expression of a thinking and of an impulse limited to the dream, to

wrong

conduct, and to derange-

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

36

ments of the mind, which form of thinking and impulse at one time ruled as the mightiest influence

past culture

in

epochs.

The

question of whence

which

ability

enables brings us

symbolically,

two kinds of thinking

comes the inclination and

mind

the

express

itself

the distinction between the

to

—

to

directed

the

and adapted on

one hand, and the subjective, fed by our own egotistic

on the other.

wishes,

presupposing

that

it

The were

latter

not

form of

thinking,

corrected

constantly

by the adapted thinking, must necessarily produce an overwhelmingly subjectively distorted idea of the world.

We

regard

this state

of mind as infantile.

It lies in

our

individual past, and in the past of mankind.

With

this

we

affirm the important fact that

man

in his

phantastic thinking has kept a condensation of the psychic history of his development.

An

tant task, which even today

hardly possible,

is

extraordinarily impor-

systematic description of phantastic thinking. at the most, sketch

nomenon

it.

still

to give a

One may,

While directed thinking

is

a phe-

conscious throughout,^^ the same cannot be as-

serted of phantastic thinking. it

is

falls entirely in the

Doubtless, a great part of

realm of the conscious, but,

much goes along in half shadows, and amount in the unconscious; therefore, be disclosed only indirectly.^^ By

at least, just as

generally an undetermined

and

this can,

means of phantastic

thinking, directed thinking

nected with the oldest foundations of the

is

con-

human mind,

which have been for a long time beneath the threshold of the consciousness.

The

products of this phantastic

TWO

CONCERNING thinking

arising

directly

KINDS OF THINKING from the consciousness

waking dreams, or day-dreams,

first,

37 are,

which Freud,

to

Flournoy, Pick and others have given special attention; then the dreams which offer to the consciousness, at

first,

a mysterious exterior, and win meaning only through the Indirectly inferred unconscious contents.

Lastly, there

a so-called wholly unconscious phantasy system In

which

complex,

split-off

exhibits

a

Is

the

pronounced tend-

ency towards the production of a dissociated personallty.^^^

Our foregoing

from the unconscious are related

arising

From

explanations show wherein the products

all

these signs

possesses In

it

may

some degree

to the mythical.

be concluded that the soul

historical

strata,

the

oldest

stratum of which would correspond to the unconscious.

The

must be that an introversion occurring

result of that

in later life,

according to the Freudian teaching, seizes

upon regressive

Infantile

individual past.

That

first

reminiscences taken from the points out the

way; then, with

stronger Introversion and regression (strong repressions, introversion psychoses), there traits

come

to light

pronounced

of an archaic mental kind which, under certain

cir-

cumstances, might go as far as the re-echo of a once manifest, archaic mental product.

This problem deserves to be more thoroughly

dis-

As a concrete example, let us take the history of pious Abbe Oegger which Anatole France has com-

cussed.

the

municated to

us.^^

and much given one question,

to

viz.,

This priest was a hypercritical man, phantasies,

especially In regard to

the fate of Judas; whether he

was

38

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

really

damned, as the teaching of the church

everlasting punishment, or whether

him

after

Oegger sided with

all.

view that God, an instrument,

had chosen Judas

This necessary

Christ.^^

human

instrument, without the help of which the

would not have been

race

sharer in salvation, could not

a

be damned by

possibly

as

order to bring about the highest point

work of redemption by

of the

God had pardoned

the intelligent point of

in his all-wisdom,

in

asserts, to

the all-good God.

In order to

put an end to his doubts, Oegger went one night to the

made supplication for a sign that Judas was Then he felt a heavenly touch upon his shoulder.

church, and

saved.

Following lution to

Oegger

this,

go out

told the Archbishop of his reso-

into the

world to preach God's unending

mercy.

Here we have fore us.

It is

a richly

developed phantasy system be-

concerned with the subtle and perpetually

undecided question as to whether the legendary figure of

Judas

is

damned or

mythical material, I recall

not.

The Judas legend

viz., the

Siegfried and

tragic

Hagen, Balder and Loki.

their closest associates.

—

it

is

torical over

Brutus. still

It

is,

too,

and over again.

Since the

Siegfried

faithless traitor

a

This myth

not honorable battle which

but evil treachery.

In itself,

malicious betrayal of a hero.

and Balder were murdered by

among

is,

is

moving and

kills

the noble,

an occurrence which

One

myth of such

a

the subject of teaching and

from

is his-

thinks of Caesar and

deed

is

very old, and

repetition,

it

is

the

expression of a psychological fact, that envy does not

allow humanity to sleep, and that

all

of us carry, in a

TWO

CONCERNING

KINDS OF THINKING

39

hidden recess of our heart, a deadly wish towards the

This rule can be applied generally to mythical

hero.

does not set forth any account of the old

It

tradition.

events^ hut rather acts in such a

common

a thought

way

it

always reveals

humanity, and once more rejuve-

to

Thus, for example, the

nated.

that

and deeds of the

lives

founders of old religions are the purest condensations of typical,

contemporaneous myths, behind which the

individual figure entirely disappears.*^

But why does our pious Abbe torment himself with the old Judas legend?

He

first

went

Into the

world to preach

and then, after some time, he

gospel of mercy,

the

separated from the Catholic church and became a Swedenborgian.

was of

Now

the Judas

all,

to be

we understand

who betrayed his Lord. Therefore, first make sure of the divine mercy, in order

Judas

In peace.

light

upon the mechanism of the

The known,

phantasies in general.

conscious phantasy

be of mythical or other material;

seriously as such, for

take

He

Judas phantasy.

he had to

This case throws a

may

his

It

not to be taken

has an indirect meaning.

however, as important. per

it,

it is

se,

If

then the thing

not understandable, and makes one despair of the ciency of the mind.

Oegger, that

his

But we saw,

in the case

of

is

eflli-

Abbe

doubts and his hopes did not turn upon

the historical problem of Judas, but sonality,

we

which wished

to

win

a

way

upon

to

his

own

freedom for

perItself

through the solution of the Judas problem.

The

conscious phantasies

tell

us of tnythical or other

material of undeveloped or no longer recognized wish

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

40

As

tendencies in the soul.

easily to be understood,

acknowledgment of which one

innate tendency, an fuses to

Is

an re-

make, and which one treats as non-existent, can

hardly contain a thing that conscious character.

It

may

be

In

accord with our

concerns the tendencies which are

considered Immoral, and as generally Impossible, and the strongest resentment

Is

felt

towards bringing them Into

What would Oegger

the consciousness.

have said had

he been told confidentially that he was preparing himself

And what

for the Judas role?

Immoral and

sider

were non-existent?

It is that

least

when we even

tasies,

if

viz.,

which

we

con-

at least

wish

ourselves do

non-existent, or which

spread on the surface, manifestations.

In

we

wide-

In antiquity lay

sexuality in all

its

various

Therefore, we need not wonder

in the

most of our phan-

find this at the base of

the phantasies have a different appearance.

Because Oegger found the damnation of Judas incompatible with God's goodness, he thought about the con-

with

way; that

that

flict in

this

is

Is

the conscious sequence.

the unconscious

sequence; because Oegger

himself wished to be a Judas, he

goodness of God. of his

own

symbol

in

To

Along

first

made

sure of the

Oegger, Judas was the symbol

unconscious tendency, and he

made

use of this

order to be able to meditate over his uncon-

scious wish.

The

direct

coming

into consciousness of the

Judas wish would have been too painful for him.

Thus^

there must he typical myths which are really the instru-

ments of a folk-psychological complex treatment.

Burckhardt seems to have suspected said that every

Greek of the

this

Jacob

when he once

classical era carried in

him-

— CONCERNING self a

TWO

KINDS OF THINKING

fragment of the Oedipus,

carries a

just as every

41

German

fragment of Faust/^

The problem which

the

simple

story

of the

Abbe

Oegger has brought

clearly before us confronts us again

when we prepare

examine phantasies which owe their

to

existence this time to an exclusively unconscious work.

We

are Indebted for the material which

we

will use In

the following chapters to the useful publication of an

American woman, Miss Frank Miller, who has given the world

some

under the

title,

subconsclente." 1906.^^

poetical unconsciously "

Quelque

Vol.

V.,

faits

to

formed phantasies

d'imaginatlon creatrlce

Archives

de

Psychologies

CHAPTER

II

THE MILLER PHANTASIES We

know, from much psychoanalytic experience, that

whenever one recounts

dreams, he

his phantasies or his

deals not only with the most important and intimate of

most painful

his problems, but with the one the

at that

moment/ Since In the case of

complicated system,

Miss Miller we have

we must

to the particulars which I

I

do with a

to

give our attention carefully

will discuss, following as best.

can Miss Miller's presentation. In the

sagere gives a

first

chapter, "

Phenomenes de suggestion pasMiss Miller

ou d'autosuggestion instantanee," list

of examples of her unusual suggestibility,

which she herself considers as a symptom of her nervous

temperament; for example, she caviar,

Is

excessively

whereas some of her relatives loathe

it.

fond of

How-

ever, as soon as any one expresses his loathing, she herself feels

to

momentarily the same loathing.

very important a

I

do not need

emphasize especially the fact that such examples are In

individual psychology; that caviar

food for which nervous

especial predilection,

Is

women

a fact well

frequently have

known

Is

an

to the psycho-

analyslst.

Miss Miller has an extraordinary faculty for taking 42

THE MILLER PHANTASIES

43

other people's feelings upon herself, and of identification; for example, she identifies herself to such a degree in "

Cyrano

" with the

that she feels in

her

wounded

own

Christian de Neuvillette,

breast a truly piercing pain at

that place where Christian received the deadly blow.

From aside

the viewpoint of analytic psychology, the theatre,

from any

may

esthetic value,

institution for the treatment of the

be considered as an

mass complex.

The

enjoyment of the comedy, or of the dramatic plot ending happily one's

produced by an unreserved

is

own complexes with

tragedy

The enjoyment of

the play.

the thrilling yet satisfactory feeling that

lies in

something which might occur to one's to another.

Christian

of

identification

The sympathy

means that there

self

is

happening

of our author with the dying is

her a complex awaiting

in

a similar solution, which whispers softly to her " hodie tibi,

eras mihi,"

and that one may know exactly what

moment Miss

considered the effectual

she felt a pain in her breast, " se precipite sur lui

Therefore the

Miller adds that

Lorsque Sarah Bernhardt

pour etancher

effectual

is

moment

le

is

sang de sa blessure."

when

the love between

Christian and Roxane comes to a sudden end. If

we

glance over the whole of Rostand's play,

come upon

certain

moments, the

effect

we

of which one can-

not easily escape and which we will emphasize here because they have meaning for

all

that follows.

Cyrano de

Bergerac, with the long ugly nose, on account of which

he undertakes countless duels, loves Roxane, who, for her part unaware of

it,

loves Christian, because of the

beautiful verses which really originate

from Cyrano's

"

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

44

come from

pen, but which apparently is

.

Cyrano

Christian.

misunderstood one, whose passionate love and

the

noble soul no one suspects; the hero

who

self for others, and, dying, just in the

more

reads to her once

sacrifices

evening of

himlife,

Christian's last letter, the verses

which he himself had composed. " Roxane, adieu, je vais mourir!

ma

C'est pour ce soir, je crois,

Et

meurs!

je

Jamais

bien-aimee!

d'amour inexprime.

J'ai I'ame lourde encore

plus, jamais

mes yeux

grises,

Mes regards dont c'etait les fremissantes fetes, Ne baiseront au vol les gestes que vous faites; J'en revois un petit qui vous est familier

Pour toucher votre front Et je crie: Adieu!

Mon Mon Et

— Ma —mon

ma

chere,

—

et je voudrais crier

cherie,

amour!

tresor

coeur ne vous quitta jamais une seconde,

je

suis et

je

serai

j

usque dans I'autre monde

Celui qui vous aime sans mesure, celui

Whereupon Roxane one.

It is

—

recognizes in him the real loved

already too late; death comes; and

delirium, Cyrano

raises himself,

" Je crois, qu'elle regarde.

.

mon

Qu'elle ose regarder

.

and draws

in

his

agonized

sword:

.

nez, la camarde!

(II leve son epee.)

Que

dites-vous?

Je

.

.

.

C'est inutile!

le sais!

Mais on ne se bat pas dans I'espoir du succes! Non! Non! C'est bien plus beau, lorsque c'est inutile! Qu'est-ce que c'est que tous ceux-la? Vous etes mille? Ah! je vous reconnais, tous mes vieux ennemis! Le mensonge!

—

—

(II frappe de son epee le vide.)

THE MILLER PHANTASIES TIens, tiens, ha! ha!

Les Prejuges,

Compromis,

les

Lachetes!

les

45

.

.

.

(II frappe.)

Que

je pactise?

Jamais, jamais!

—

Je

sais blen

N'importe:

je

—Ah,

te voila, toi, la Sottise!

me

bats! je

me

Oui, vous m'arrachez tout,

Arrachez!

Que

II

mettrez a has;

me

bats! je

bats!

le laurler et la rose!

y a malgre vous quelque chose

j'emporte, et ce soir,

Mon

me

qu'a la fin vous

quand

j'entrerai chez Dieu,

salut balaiera largement le seuil bleu.

Quelque chose que sans un J'emporte malgre vous,

who under

Cyrano,

hid a soul so

pli,

sans une tache,

—^mon panache."

et c'est

body

the hateful exterior of his

much more

beautiful,

is

a yearner

misunderstood, and his last triumph

is

at least, with a clean

un

— " Sans shield

The identification of Christian, who in himself is a

tache."

and sympathetic, expresses

and one

that he departs,

sans une

pli et

the author with the dying figure but little impressive

clearly that a sudden

end

The

destined for her love just as for Christian's love. tragic Intermezzo with Christian, however.

we have seen upon cance,

viz.,

Roxane.

the

Therefore,

the

Is

just

is

of

love

identification

has only the significance of a substitute

this

played as

a background of much wider

misunderstood

erinnerung "), and

Is

with

memory

will be

signifi-

Cyrano

for

Christian

(" deck-

really intended for Cyrano.

what we might expect

is

That

seen in the

further course of our analysis.

Besides this story of identification with Christian, there follows as a further example an extraordinarily plastic

:

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

46

memory of the sea, evoked by the a steamboat

on the high

des machines,

le

photograph of

sight of a

(" Je sentis les pulsations

seas.

soulevement des vagues,

balancement

le

du navire.")

We

may mention

here the supposition that there are

connected with sea journeys particularly impressive and strong memories which penetrate deeply into the soul

and give an

especially strong character to the surface

To what

memories through unconscious harmony. the

memories assumed here agree with the above men-

tioned problem

we

shall see in the following pages.

This example, following at while

in

hair, in

moment " II

order to protect

it

wound

from

avec

j'etais

tous

singular

At

a wetting.

Once,

:

around her

same

the

sur un piedestal, une veritable statue

details:

ses

main tenant des

Miss Miller

insignes,"

membres

un pied en

raides,

and so on.

identified herself, therefore, with

and naturally the foundation for

tian statue,

a subjective pretension.

That

Egyptian

stiff,

statue, just as

passive," qualities for verbial.

is

a towel

she had the following strong impression

me sembla que

avant, la

this time,

bathing. Miss Miller

egyptienne,

self

extent

One does

is

to say, "

I

an Egypthis

am

like

an

wooden, sublime and im-

which the Egyptian statue

not

was

make such an

is

pro-

assertion to one's

without an inner compulsion, and the correct formula

might

just as well be, " as

tian statue

I

stiff,

might indeed be."

unclothed body

in a

wooden,

The

etc.,

as an

Egyp-

sight of one's

bath has undeniable

own

effects for the

phantasy, which can be set at rest by the above formula.^

THE MILLER PHANTASIES The example which

follows

" J'ai reussi a lui

Leman, ou

lac

il

faire

this,

upon an

author's personal influence

emphasizes

the

artist:

comme ceux du

rendre des paysages,

n'a jamais ete, et

47

pretendait que je pouvals

il

rendre des choses qu'il n'avait jamais vues, et lui donner

lui faire

la sensation d'une

bref que je

me

atmosphere ambiante

crayon, c'est a dire

qu'il n'avait

comme lui-meme

servais de lui

comme d'un

jamais sentie;

se servait

de son

simple instrument."

in

abrupt contrast to the phan-

tasy of the Egyptian statue.

Miss Miller had here the

This observation stands

unspoken need of emphasizing her almost magic

upon another person. either, felt

effect

This could not have happened,

without an unconscious need, which

by one who does not often succeed

Is

particularly

In

making an

emotional impression upon a fellow being.

With

that, the list of

Miss Miller's

examples which are to picture

autosuggestibllity

and suggestive

In this respect, the

exhausted.

effect,

is

examples are neither

From an

especially striking nor interesting.

viewpoint, on the contrary, they are

analytical

much more Impor-

tant, since they afford us a glance into the soul of the

writer.

what

is

Ferenczi^ has taught us In an excellent work to be

that these

thought about suggestibility, that

phenomena win new

Freudian libido theory,

come

in

the

much

The

to say,

as their effects be-

In the discussion

identification

receiving an influx of energy

This was

al-

of the examples,

greatest detail regarding the

with Christian. its

so

clear through " Libido-besetzungen."

ready indicated above

and

in

Is

aspects In the light of the

becomes

Identification effective

from the strongly

by

accen-

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

48

thought

tuated

and emotional feeling underlying the Just the reverse

Christian motif.

of the Individual interest (that

Is

In

(the

Is

upon another person, by

unconsciously compelled to reaction

same or opposed).

The

majority of the examples Is

put under the effects

when

the libido has spon-

concern cases where Miss Miller

of suggestion; that

the suggestive effect

an especial capacity for concentrating

to say, libido)

which the other

Is

Is

to say,

taneously gained possession of certain impressions, and this

is

Impossible

if

the libido

Is

dammed up

to an un-

usual degree by the lack of application to reality. Miller's

observations

about

inform

us,

pleased to

tell

suggestibility

therefore, of the fact that the author

is

Miss

us in her following phantasies something of the history

of her love.

CHAPTER

III

THE HYMN OF CREATION The *'

second chapter

Poeme

Gloire a Dieu.

When

in

Miss Miller's work

entitled,

is

onirique."

twenty years of age, Miss Miller took a long

journey through Europe.

We

leave the description of

it

to her: " After a long and rough journey from

holm, from there pleasure

—

and myths

came back

me

to

The

which

blended

indistinctly

it

—and

a true

to enter

stayed hours long on deck

I

to dream, stretched out in a reclining chair. of the different countries

to Stock-

found

I

to leave the world of inhabited cities

^

the world of waves, sky and silence '

New York

Petersburg and Odessa,

to

I

histories,

saw

together

legends

in the distance, in

a sort

of

luminous mist, in which things lost their reality, while the dreams

and thoughts alone took on somewhat the appearance of reality. At first, I even avoided all company and kept to myself, lost wholly

in

my

dreams, where

and good came back

new

life.

into

my

all

that

I

knew

of great, beautiful

consciousness with

I also employed a great part of

my

new

strength and

time writing to

my

distant friends, reading and sketching out short poems about the

Some

regions visited.

of

these

poems were

of

a very serious

character."

It

may seem

superfluous, perhaps, to enter intimately

into all these details.

made

above,

— that

speak, they always

we recall, however, the remark when people let their unconscious If

tell

us the most important things of 49

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

•50

their Intimate selves

—then

pears to have meaning. tell us,

even the smallest detail ap-

Valuable personalities Invariably

through their unconscious, things that are gener-

ally valuable, so that patient interest

Miss Miller describes here After the

life

of the

cities

had been absorbing her

rewarded.

is

a state of " Introversion."

many

with their

impressions

(with that already

Interest

dis-

cussed strength of suggestion which powerfully enforced

upon the ocean, and

the impression) she breathed freely after so

wholly

many

external Impressions, became engrossed

in the Internal

the surroundings,

dreams became

with intentional abstraction from

so that things lost their reality

truth.

We

know from psychopathology

that certain mental disturbances

-

exist

which are

manifested by the Individuals shutting themselves slowly,

more and more, from

their phantasies, during

the reality loses

Its

and

and sinking

reality

which process,

in

first

off

Into,

proportion as

hold, the Inner world gains In reality

and determining power.^

This process leads to a certain

point

(which varies with the Individual) when the pa-

tients

suddenly become more or

separation from reality. Is

The

less conscious

of their

event which then enters

the pathological excitation: that

to say, the patients

is

begin to turn towards the environment, with diseased

views (to be sure)

which, however,

still

represent the

compensating, although unsuccessful, attempt at transference.* different.

The methods I will

of reaction are, naturally, very

not concern myself more closely about

this here.

This type appears to be generally

a psychological rule

:

THE HYMN OF CREATION which holds good for

neuroses and, therefore, also

all

much

for the normal In a fore, expect that

51

We

less degree.

Miss Miller, after

might, there-

this energetic

and per-

severing introversion, which had even encroached for a time upon the feeling of reality, would succumb anew to

an impression of the real world and also to just as sug-

and energetic an

gestive

influence as that of her dreams.

Let us proceed with the narrative " But as the journey

themselves in

aimable) and

On

drew

an end, the ship's

to

officers

outdid

kindness (tout ce qu'il y a de plus empresse et de plus I

passed

many amusing hours

teaching them English.

the Sicilian coast, In the harbor of Catania,

song which was very similar to a song well (Brine, wine and damsels fine).

very well, and one of the

officers

The who

I

wrote a

known on

sailor's

the sea,

Italians in general all sing

sang on deck during night

watch, had made a great impression upon

me and had

given

me

Soon

some words adapted to his melody. was very nearly obliged to reverse the well-known Veder Napoli e poi morir,' that Is to say, suddenly I

the idea of writing after that, I

saying,

*

—

became very

ill,

although not dangerously

such an extent, however, that sights of the city in a carriage.

and since we had planned on board early

In the

I

so.

I

recovered to

could go on land to

This day

tired

me

visit

to see Pisa the following day,

evening and soon lay

down

the

very much,

to sleep

I

went

without

thinking of anything more serious than the beauty of the officers

and the ugliness of the Italian beggars."

One

Is

somewhat disappointed

at

meeting here, instead

of the expected impression of reality, rather a small inter-

mezzo,

a

the singer,

flirtation.

had made

Nevertheless, one of the a great impression

beaucoup d'impression)

.

The remark

(11

officers,

m'avait fait

at the close of the

description, " sans songer a rien de plus serieux qu'a la

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

52

beaute des

and so on, diminishes the seriousness

officiers,'

of the impression,

it is

that the impression

The

assumption, however,

is

supported by the fact that a

such

an erotic character came

much, of

true.

" Brine, wine

One

is

mood

openly influenced the

and damsels

fine,"

and

poem upon

very

a subject

forth immediately, in the singer's

honor.

only too easily inclined to take such an impression

lightly,

and one admits so gladly the statements of the

participators

and not

when they represent everything

at all serious.

length, because

it is

I

as simple

dwell upon this impression at

important to

know

that an erotic im-

pression after such an introversion, has a deep effect and is

The suddenly

undervalued, possibly, by Miss Miller.

passing sickness

is

obscure and needs a psychologic inter-

pretation which cannot be touched upon here because of

The phenomena now

lack of data.

to be described can

only be explained as arising from a disturbance which reaches to the very depths of her being. "

From Naples

during which

I

to

Livorno,

slept

more or

seldom deep or dreamless. voice

It

the

ship

less well,

travelled

—my me

seemed to

as

if

for

a night,

however,

my

is

mother's

wakened me, just at the end of the following dream. At had a vague conception of the words, When the morning sang together,' which were the praeludium of a certain con*

first I

stars

sleep,

fused representation of creation and of the mighty chorals re-

sounding through the universe.

In spite of the strange, contra-

dictory and confused character which

there

was mingled

in it the

is

peculiar to the dream,

chorus of an oratorio which has been

given by one of the foremost musical societies of

New

York, and

with that were also memories of Milton's Paradise Lost.' Then from out of this whirl, there slowly emerged certain words, which *

arranged themselves into three strophes and, indeed, they seemed

THE HYMN OF CREATION

53

my own handwriting on ordinary blue-lined writing paper my old poetry book which I always carried around with me; in short, they appeared to me exactly as some minutes later they were in reality in my book." to be in

on a page of

Miss Miller now wrote down the following poem, which she rearranged somewhat

make

more

it

nearly,

in

a

few months

later, to

her opinion, like the dream

original. "

When

A

the Eternal first

And

throughout

There

rolled an echo deep

God

When

A

the Eternal

a mighty choral took:

God

All glory to the

When

A

to look,

hearing ears and seeing eyes

Once more

"

made Light

myriad eyes sprang out

And

and clear:

Sound!

of

first

to hear,

Universe

all the

All glory to the **

made Sound

myriad ears sprang out

the Eternal

of Light!

first

gave Love

myriad hearts sprang into

Ears

filled

life;

with music, eyes with light;

Pealed forth with hearts with love

All glory to the

God

of Love!

all rife:

"

Before we enter upon Miss Miller's attempt to bring to light

through her suppositions

liminal creation,

we

will

of the material already sion

^

the root of this sub-

attempt a short analytic survey In

our possession.

The

impres-

on the ship has already been properly emphasized,

so that

we need have no

session of the

further difficulty In gaining pos-

dynamic process which brought about

poetical revelation.

It

was made

this

clear In the preceding

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

54

paragraphs that Miss Miller possibly had not inconsiderably undervalued the importance of the erotic impres-

This assumption gains

sion.

which shows

perience,

weak

social or

in cases

ex-

relatively

erotic impressions are greatly undervalued.

can see this best

from

through

in probability

very generally,

that,

One

where those concerned, either

moral grounds, consider an

erotic relation

as something quite impossible; for example, parents and

and

brothers

children,

relations

sisters,

(homosexual)

between older and younger men, and so on. pression

is

relatively slight, then

for the participators;

if

it

does not exist at

the impression

tragic dependence arises, which

may

is

erections of the small son in their

see the

bed, a sister

who

still

seats herself

on her father's

then has " strange " sensations in her "

They

lap,

abdomen."

are all morally indignant to the highest degree

one speaks of " sexuality." is

own

who

half-playfuUy embraces her brother, a twenty-year-

old daughter

and

some great

This lack of under-

standing can go unbelievably far; mothers,

who

all

strong, then a

result in

nonsense, or be carried to any extent.

first

If the im-

Finally, our

carried on with the tacit agreement to

as possible of the erotic,

ignorance

in

regard to

and it.

to spread It is

if

whole education

know

as

little

abroad the deepest

no wonder, therefore,

that the judgment, in puncto, of the importance of an erotic impression

is

generally unsafe and inadequate.

Miss Miller was under the impression, as we have seen.

of the feelings aroused by

influence of a deep erotic

Because of the sum-total

this, it

does not seem that this

impression was more than dimly realized, for the dream

THE HYMN OF CREATION had

powerful repetition.

to contain a

perience, one

knows

From

55

analytic ex-

dreams which patients

that the early

bring for analysis are none the less of especial Interest,

because of the fact that they bring out criticisms and valuations of the physician's personality, which previ-

would have been asked for

ously,

They

directly In vain.

enrich the conscious Impression which the patient had of his physician,

They

and often concerning very Important

points.

are naturally erotic observations which the uncon-

scious

was forced

versal

to

make,

just because of the quite uni-

undervaluation and uncertain judgment of the

relatively

weak

In the drastic and

erotic Impression.

hyperbolic manner of expression of the dream, the impression often appears in almost unintelligible

form on account

of the immeasurable dimension of the symbol. peculiarity which seems to rest

the unconscious,

this

is

—

upon the

in that.

that

further

historic strata of

that an erotic impression,

which conscious acknowledgment earlier

A

is

denied,

usurps an

and discarded transference and expresses Therefore,

among young

remarkable

it

expression, which

may

itself

frequently happens, for example,

time of their

girls at the

difficulties

to

develop

first

love,

In the capacity for erotic

be reduced analytically to disturb-

ances through a regressive attempt at resuscitation of ''

the father Image, or the

Father-Imago."

®

Indeed, one might presume something similar

in

Miss

Miller's case, for the idea of the masculine creative deity is

a derivation, analytically

of the " Father-Imago,"

^

and

historically psychologic,

and aims, above

all,

to replace

the discarded infantile father transference in such a

way

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

56

that for the individual the passing

from the narrow

of the family Into the wider circle of

be simpler or

made

society

we can

see, in the

" Praeludium," the religious, poetically

its

may

easier.

In the light of this reflection,

and

human

circle

poem

formed

product of an introversion depending upon the surrogate of the " Father-Imago."

In spite of the incomplete ap-

perception of the effectual impression, essential compo-

nent parts of this are included

marks, so to speak, of

tion, as

in the Idea

of compensa-

origin.

(Pfister has

its

coined for this the striking expression, " turn of the Complex.")

The

Law

that of the officer singing in the night watch, "

morning a

stars

new world

sang together."

to the girl.

The

That

the

first

When

was the

idea of this opened

(Creation.)

This creator has created tone, then love.

of the Re-

effectual Impression

to be created should

light,

and then

have been tone,

made clear only individually, for there is no cosmogony except the Gnosis of Hermes, a generally quite unknown system, which would have such tendencies. But now we might venture a conjecture, which Is already apcan be

parent, and which soon will be proven thoroughly, viz.,

— the singing morning stars — the God of tone — the Creator —the — and of Love. God of Light— (of the sun) — (of the

the following chain of associations

:

the singer

fire)

The

links of this chain are

the exception of sun and

fire,

proven by the material, with which

I

put in parentheses,

but which, however, will be proven through what follows in the further course of the analysis.

sions,

All of these express

with one exception, belong to erotic speech.

("

My

THE HYMN OF CREATION God,

my

star, light;

57

sun, fire of love, fiery love," etc.)

" Creator " appears indistinct at

first,

but becomes under-

standable through the reference to the undertone of Eros, to the vibrating chord of Nature,

which attempts

every pair of lovers, and

Itself in

awaits the

renew

to

wonder of

creation.

Miss Miller had taken pains creation of her

through

mind

to her understanding, and, indeed

procedure

a

to disclose the unconscious

which

agrees

in

with

principle

psychoanalysis, and, therefore, leads to the same results But, as usually happens with laymen

as psychoanalysis.

and beginners. Miss Miller, because she had no knowledge of psychoanalysis,

left

off

of

it

to light in an indirect, that

More

ner.

than

this, a

is

bottom

to say, censored

man-

simple method, merely the carry-

ing out of the thought to

cover the meaning.

which

at the thoughts

necessarily bring the deep complex lying at the

its

conclusion,

Miss Miller

finds

is it

sufficient to dis-

astonishing that

her unconscious phantasy does not, following the Mosaic account of creation, put light In the

first

place, Instead of

tone.

Now

follows an explanation, theoretically constructed

and correct ad hoc, the hollowness of which

Is,

however,

characteristic of all similar attempts at explanation.

She

says: " It the

is

perhaps interesting to recall that Anaxagoras also had

Cosmos

arise

out of chaos through a sort of whirlwind, which

does not happen usually without producing sound.^

But

at this

had studied no philosophy, and knew nothing either of Anaxagoras or of his theories about the 'rov?,^ which I, uncontime

I

sciously,

was openly

following.

At

that time, also, I

was

equally

— PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

58 in

knew nothing

complete ignorance of Leibnitz, and, therefore,

of his doctrine

'

dum Deus

calculat,

Miss Miller's references

to

fit

"

mundus.'

Anaxagoras and

to Leib-

by means of thought; that

nitz both refer to creation

material reality, a reference at

first

not

intelligible,

which

will soon,

however, be more easily understood.

We

now come

to those fancies

" In the first place, there

the

is

but

from which Miss Miller

drew her unconscious

principally

is

new

to say, that divine thought alone could bring forth a

creation. Paradise Lost

'

'

by Milton,

which we had at home in the edition illustrated by Dore, and which had often delighted me from childhood. Then the Book of Job,' which had been read aloud to me since the time of my '

Moreover,

earliest recollection.

of is

*

Paradise Lost

the

"

"

'

Of man's

"

'

When

one compares the

if

verse,

first

poem

first

words

one notices that there

closely

first

.

made

.

.

sound.'

also recalls various passages in Job,

Handel's Oratorio

in

The

disobedience

first

the Eternal

very indistinctly in the

first

*

The

Creation,'

part of the dream."

" Lost Paradise " which, as

and one or two

which came out ^

well known,

is

so

connected with the beginning of the world,

is

made more

clearly evident "

which

my

same verse measure.

My

places

with

'

is

Of man's

is

by the verse

first

disobedience

concerned evidently with the

"

fall,

of which need not be shown any further. objection

the I

meaning

know

the

which every one unacquainted with psycho-

analysis will raise, viz., that

Miss Miller might

just as

well have chosen any other verse as an example, and accidentally, she

had taken the

first

that,

one that happened

THE HYMN OF CREATION to Is

appear which had

we hear

and from our

our medical colleagues,

from

the

psychical sphere say, there are

and there It Is

so.

Is,

It Is

gener-

Is

law of causation

fact that the Is

from

equally

patients,

This misunderstanding

based on such arguments.

arises

As

this content, also accidentally.

well known, the criticism which

ally

59

not taken seriously enough; that

no accidents, no

''

just as wells."

therefore, a sufficient reason at

the

In

Is

It Is so,

hand why

moreover true that Miss Miller's poem

connected with the

to

Is

wherein just that erotic compo-

fall,

nent comes forth, the existence of which we have surmised above. to tell which passages In

Miss Miller neglects

These, unfortunately, are there-

occurred to her mind.

fore only general suppositions. to the

Lost Paradise.

was due

Job

Job

Take

lost all

first,

the analogy

that he had, and this

who wished to Incite him same way mankind, through the

to an act of Satan,

against God.

In the

temptation of the serpent, lost Paradise, and was plunged

The

into earth's torments.

which Is

Is

Idea,

mood

or rather the

expressed by the reference to the Lost Paradise,

Miss Miller's feeling that she had

lost

which was connected with satanIc temptation.

something

To

her

it

happened, just as to Job, that she suffered innocently, for she did not fall a victim to temptation.

are not understood by his friends

Satan has taken a hand innocent.

Job never

there a hint In that? especially mentally

In the

tires

We

;^^

Job's sufferings

no one knows that

game, and that Job

Is

truly

of avowing his innocence.

know

Is

that certain neurotic and

diseased people continually defend

—

;

;

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

6o

their Innocence against non-existent attacks;

however, one

discovers at a closer examination that the patient, while

he apparently defends his innocence without reason, with that a "

from

fulfils

Deckhandlung," the energy for which arises

whose

just those impulses,

sinful character

is

re-

vealed by the contents of the pretended reproach and

calumny."

Job suffered doubly, on one

side

through the loss of

his

fortune, on the other through the lack of understanding in his friends

The

the latter can be seen throughout the book.

;

suffering of the misunderstood recalls the figure of

Cyrano de Bergerac

— he too suffered doubly, on one side

through hopeless love, on the other side through mis-

He

we have seen, in the last hopeless battle against " Le Mensonge, les Compromis, les Qui, Vous m'arPrejuges, les Lachetes et la Sottise. understanding.

falls,

as

—

rachez tout

laurier et la rose

le

" !

Job laments "

God And I

delivereth casteth

was

me

me

at ease,

He

hands of the wicked,

and he brake me asunder

Yea, he hath taken *'

to the ungodly,

into the

hath also set

me

me up

by the neck, and dashed

me

to pieces:

for his mark.

His archers compass me round about;

He He He He

my

and doth not spare; upon the ground. breaketh me with breach upon breach runneth upon me like a giant." Job xvi: 11-15. cleaveth

poureth out

The analogy

reins asunder,

my

gall

of feeling

less struggle against the

conflict

lies In

the suffering of the hope-

more powerful.

It is as if this

were accompanied from afar by the sounds of

:

THE HYMN OF CREATION

6i

" creation," which brings up a beautiful and mysterious

image belonging to the unconscious, and which has not yet forced

We

its

way up

to the light of the

upper world.

surmise, rather than know, that this battle has really

something to do with creation, with the struggles between negations and affirmations. *'

The

references to Rostand's

" through the identification with Christian, to

Cyrano

Milton's " Paradise Lost," to the sorrows of Job, mis-

understood by

his friends, betray plainly that in the soul

of the poet something was identified with these ideas.

She

also has suffered like Cyrano and Job, has lost paradise,

and dreams of

—

fruition

We

" creation,"

— creation by means of thought

through the whirlwind of Anaxagoras.^^

once

more submit ourselves

to

Miss Miller's

guidance "

remember that when fifteen years old, I was once very much stirred up over an article, read aloud to me by my mother, I concerning the idea which spontaneously produced its object.

was

I

so excited that I could not sleep all night because of thinking

over and over again what that could mean. '*

From

the age of nine to sixteen, I

went every Sunday

to a

Presbyterian Church, in charge of which, at that time, was a very cultured minister. In one of the earliest memories which I have retained of him, I see myself as a very small girl sitting In a

very large pew, continually endeavoring to keep myself awake and pay attention, without In the least being able to understand

what he meant when he spoke to us Gift of Love (don d'amour)."

There are

also rather early

of Chaos,

Cosmos and

the

memories of the awaken-

ing of puberty (nine to sixteen) the idea of the cosmos springing

which have connected

from chaos with

the

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

62

" don d'amour."

The medium In which these associations occur is the memory of a certain very much honored ecclesiastic who spoke those dark words. From the same period of time comes the remembrance of that excitement

about the idea of the " creative thought " which from itself "

produced

tion intimated

:

Here

object."

its

are two

the creative thought,

ways of

crea-

and the mysterious

reference to the " don d'amour."

At

the time

when

of psychoanalysis,

I

had not yet understood

I

had

the nature

a fortunate opportunity of win-

ning through continual observation a deep insight into the soul of a fifteen-year-old girl.

Then

discovered,

I

with astonishment, what the contents of the unconscious phantasies are, and

which a

girl

how

far

removed they are from those There are

of that age shows outwardly.

wide-reaching phantasies of truly mythical fruitfulness.

The

girl

was, in the

split-off

of uncounted peoples.

^^

spoken phantasy of the that age are tent

is

to

an

common

phantasy, the race-mother

we deduct

If

poetically

the

elements are left which at

girl,

to all girls, for the unconscious con-

greater degree

infinitely

common

to all

man-

kind than the content of the individual consciousness.

For

it is

the condensation of that which

is

historically the

average and ordinary.

Miss Miller's problem

human

problem: "

How am

knows but one answer d'amour!)."

the

common

to be creative? "

Nature

at this age I

to that: "

"But how

is

was

Through

the child (don

the child attained?"

Here

the terrifying problem emerges, which, as our analytic

experience shows,

is

connected with the father," where

— THE HYMN OF CREATION

63

cannot be solved; because the original sin of incest

it

weighs heavily for

time upon the

all

human

The

race.

strong and natural love which binds the child to the turns

father,

away

during which the

years

those

in

humanity of the father would be

too plainly recog-

all

" nized, to the higher forms of the father, to the " Fathers

of the church, and to the Father God,^^ visibly represented by them, and in that there

ing in

too?

Has

man?

the divine

is

not lack-

not the logos become flesh

not the divine pneuma, even the logos, en-

tered the Virgin's

of

Has

consolations.

lies still less possibility

However, mythology

of solving the problem.

womb and

among

lived

us as the son

That whirlwind of Anaxagoras was rov? which from out of

the world.

Why

Mother even

precisely

has become

itself

do we cherish the image of the Virgin day?

to this

Because

it is

always comfort-

ing and says without speech or noisy sermon to the one

seeking comfort,

through the

"

I

" idea

too have

become

mother,"

a

which spontaneously produces

its

object." I

believe that there

is

foundation enough at hand for a

sleepless night, if those phantasies peculiar to the age of

puberty were to become possessed of this idea

would be immeasurable

!

All that

under and an over meaning, as

is

is

—the

results

psychologic has an

expressed

in the

pro-

found remark of the old mystic: ovpavo? avcj, ovpavoi Karoo, aWepa avco, aidepa hcxtqj, nav rovro avojy ndv rovro Karoo, rovro Xafie Kai evrvx^^*

—

*

The heaven

all things

above,

above, the heaven below, the sky above, the sky below, all

things below, decline and rise.

— PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

64

We

would show but

slight justice,

our author,

tellectual originality of

to trace

back the commotion of that

and

lutely

entirely to the sexual

however, to the if

we were

in-

satisfied

sleepless night abso-

problem

narrow

in a

truly, to

make

use of the mystic's expression, only the under half.

The

That would be but

sense.

other half to

make

" the

is

one-half,

and

the intellectual sublimation, which strives

true in

its

own way

idea which produces

the ambiguous expression of object spontaneously,"

its

ideal creation in place of the real.

In such an intellectual accomplishment of an evidently

very capable personality, the prospect of a spiritual fulness

is

something which

piration, since for

Also

many

worthy of the highest

is

will

become

for

it is

a

as-

a necessity of life.

phantasy explains, to a great

this side of the

tent, the excitement,

it

fruit-

ex-

thought with a presenti-

ment of the future; one of those thoughts which to use one of Maeterlinck's expressions,^^

from

arise,

the "

in-

conscient superieur," that " prospective potency " of subliminal combinations.^^ I

have had the opportunity of observing certain cases

of neuroses of years' duration,

in

which, at the time of

the beginning of the illness or shortly before, a

occurred, itself

often

of visionary clarity.

inextinguishably upon the

memory, and

in analysis

revealed a hidden meaning to the patient which

pated the subsequent events of psychologic meaning.^^ ing to the

I

am

commotion of that

resulting events of

life,

in

life;

dream

This impressed

that

is

antici-

to say, their

inclined to grant this

mean-

restless night, because the

so far as

Miss Miller con-

—

:

THE HYMN OF CREATION sciously

and unconsciously unveils them

65

to us, are entirely

of a nature to confirm the supposition that that is

and presentiment of

to be considered as the inception

a sublimated

aim

moment

in life.

Miss Miller concludes the

of her fancies with the

list

following remarks **

The dream seemed

representation ideas such as *

of '

In the same in a

to

come from a mixture '

Job,'

and

*

chaos,

'

way

and cosmos.'

its

the

of

Creation,'

thought which spontaneously produces

the gift of love,'

bined

me

to

Paradise Lost,'

'

with

object':

"

as colored splinters of glass are com-

kaleidoscope, in her

mind fragments of

philos-

ophy, aesthetics and religion would seem to be combined " under the stimulating influence of the journey, and the countries

hurriedly seen, combined with the great silence and the inde-

scribable '

Only

charm of the sea. Ce ne fut que " and nothing more!

With and

'

Miss Miller shows us

these words,

energetically.

Her

confirmed over again viz.,

what position

is

in

le

man who

out, politely

parting words in her negation,

English, leave behind a curiosity;

to be negated by these

ne fut que cela et rien de plus only "

cela et rien de plus.'

'

this,

charme Impalpable de

"

—that mer

la

Is

"

and no one

Is

— and the young

dreamer, that he was a morning the creation of a

new

day.'*^

know,

to

star,

Ce

to say, really,

sang melodiously during the night watch

since forgotten,

"

words?

Is

long

least of all the

who came

One should

before

take care lest

he satisfy himself and the reader with a sentence such as " ce ne fut que cela."

Otherwise,

it

might immediately

——

—

!!

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

66

happen that one would become disturbed again.

This

occurs to Miss Miller too, since she allowed an English

quotation to follow,

— " Only

without giving the source,

from an unusually

The "

line

it is

effective

and nothing more,"

this,

The

true.

quotation comes

poem, " The Raven

"

by Poe.

referred to occurs in the following:

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping As of some one gendy rapping, rapping at my chamber door '

'Tis

some

muttered,

visitor,' I

Only

The

this,

'

tapping at

my chamber

name

raven's

is

"

'

and nothing more."

door and

spectral raven knocks nightly at his his irrevocably lost "

reminds the poet of

door

Nevermore," and

verse he croaks his horrible "

The

Lenore."

as a refrain to every

Old mem-

Nevermore."

ories come back tormentingly, and the spectre repeats *'

exorably frighten "

*

Be

away

seeks

in

vain

to

the dismal guest; he calls to the raven:

word our

that

The poet

Nevermore."

in-

sign of parting, bird or fiend,' I shrieked,

upstarting '

Get

thee back into the tempest and the night's Plutonian shore

Leave no black plume

as a token of that lie thy soul hath

Leave

my

Take

thy beak from out

my

loneliness unbroken, quit the bust above

door

my

spoken

door!

and take thy form from

the raven,

*

Nevermore.'

"

quotation, which, apparently, skips lightly over

the situation, " Only this, and nothing more," comes a text

which depicts

over the poet

off

' !

Quoth

That

heart,

my

lost

in the

Lenore.

most

from

an affecting manner the despair

in

That quotation

striking

manner.

also misleads our

Therefore, she under-

THE HYMN OF CREATION

'

67

values the erotic Impression and the wide-reaching effect

of the commotion caused by

It.

It

Is

this

undervaluation,

which Freud has formulated more precisely as " represwhich

sion,"

not attain

Is

why

the reason

and from

The

there arise " these psychologic riddles."

pression works in the unconscious, and, in

symbols forth Into consciousness. and-seek with one's

self.

First,

problem does

the erotic

conscious treatment,

directly

Its

this

erotic Im-

stead, pushes

Thus, one plays hide-

it Is

" the

morning

stars

which sing together"; then " Paradise Lost"; then the

and

erotic yearning clothes itself in an ecclesiastical dress

about "

dark words

utters

hymn

rises into a religious

into freedom, a

way

World

Creation " and finally

It thus

its

own

has

peculiar character the

fulfilled Itself

the Complex."

out

against which the censor of the moral

The hymn

personality can oppose nothing more. tains in

way

to find there, at last, a

The

—

the "

marks of

Law

its

con-

origin.

of the Return of

night singer, in this circuitous man-

ner of the old transference to the Father-Priest, has be-

come

the " Eternal," the " Creator," the

God

of Tone,

of Light, of Love.

The

Indirect course of the libido

seems to be

way

a

of sorrow; at least "Paradise Lost" and the parallel reference to Job lead one to that conclusion. In

addition to

this,

If

we

take,

the Introductory intimation of the

Identification with Christian,

which we see concludes with

Cyrano, then we are furnished with material which tures the indirect course of the libido as truly a

sorrow. fall,

had

It Is

the

same

as

when mankind,

pic-

way

of

after the sinful

the burden of the earthly life to bear, or like

—

:

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

68

who suffered under the power of Satan and of God, and who himself, without suspecting it, became a plaything of the superhuman forces which we the tortures of Job,

no longer consider

as metaphysical, but as metapsycho-

Faust also offers us the same exhibition of

logical.

God's wager. Mephistopheles:

What

will you bet?

unto

If

me

There's

full leave

Gently upon

my

a chance to gain

still

him

you give

road to train him!

Satan

But put

forth thine

hand now, and touch

and he will curse thee to thy face.

While

in

Job

i:

all

that he hath,

ii.

Job the two great tendencies are character-

ized simply as good and bad, the problem in Faust

pronouncedly erotic one; tion

and

eros, in

ized through the erotic

is

viz.,

which the Devil

lacking in Job; at the same time Job

scious of the conflict within his

own

is

him of

evil in his

one might say that Faust able

since

he

is

own

heart.

To

considerably

openly confesses to

The

not con-

soul; he even con-

tinuously disputes the arguments of his friends to convince

a

strikingly character-

is

of the erotic tempter.

fitting role

is

the battle between sublima-

who wish

this extent,

more honor-

the torments of his

Goul.

Miss Miller the evil and the

acts like

is

lets

good come from the other world, from

the metapsychologic.

Job

Job; she says nothing, and

Therefore, the identification with

also significant in this respect.

A

wider, and,

in-

THE HYMN OF CREATION

69

deed, a very important analogy remains to be mentioned.

The

creative power, which love really

rightly con-

is,

sidered from the natural standpoint, remains as the real

from the

attribute of the Divinity, sublimated

poem God

pression; therefore, in the

is

erotic im-

praised through-

out as Creator.

Job

same

offers the

Satan

illustration.

God

of Job's fruitfulness.

the destroyer

is

the fruitful one himself,

is

therefore, at the end of the book, he gives forth, as an

own

expression of his

creative power, this

hymn,

filled

In this hymn, strangely enough,

with lofty poetic beauty.

two unsympathetic representatives of the animal kingdom, behemoth and the leviathan, both expressive of the crudest force conceivable in nature, are given chief con-

behemoth being

sideration; the

God

bute of the

" Behold

now

of Creation.

behemoth, which

He

eateth grass as an ox.

Lo,

now

And

He

;

his strength

his force

moveth

The

is

is

in the

I

made

in his loins,

his tail like a cedar:

sinews of his thighs are knit together. as tubes of brass;

His limbs are

like bars of iron.

is

the chief of the

only that

Behold,

He

is

if

ways

made him

of

giveth

God: him

his

sword.

confident though a Jordan swell even to his mouth.

him when he

is

on the watch.

pierce through his nose with a snare?

Canst thou draw leviathan with a fish-hook?

Or

...

a river overflow, he trembleth not;

Shall any take

Or

as well as thee;

muscles of his belly.

His bones are

He He

really the phallic attri-

press

down

his

tongue with a cord?

.

.

.

;

:

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

70

Lay thy hand upon him

Remember None is so

Who Who

then

the battle and do no more. fierce that is

hath

God

him up

stir

me?

he that can stand before

first

Whatsoever

dare

is

given unto me, that

—Job

should repay him?

I

under the whole heaven

is

xl: 15-20, 23-24; xli:

says this in order to bring his

i,

8,

lO-ii.

power and omnipo-

tence impressively before Job's eyes.

behemoth and

mine."

God

is

like

the

the leviathan; the fruitful nature giving

— the untamable wildness and boundlessness of nature, — and the overwhelming danger of the forth abundance,

unchained power. -°

The

But what has destroyed Job's earthly paradise?

As

unchained power of nature.

God

here,

all

it

be seen

has simply turned his other side outwards for

once; the side which loose

the poet lets

man

calls the devil,

and which

lets

the torments of nature on Job, naturally for the

The God who crebefore whom the poor weak man

purpose of discipline and training. ated such monstrosities, stiffens

self

with anxiety, truly must hide qualities within him-

which are food for thought.

This

God

lives in the

heart, in the unconscious, in the realm of metapsychology.

There

is

the source of the anxiety before the unspeakably

horrible,

The

and of the strength

person, that

is

to withstand the horrors.

to say his conscious " I,"

thing, like a feather

which

is

is

like a play-

whirled around by different

currents of air; sometimes the sacrifice and sometimes the

The Book

sacrificer,

and he cannot hinder

shows us

God at work God? A thought which humanity

Who

is this

either.

of Job

both as creator and destroyer. in

every

THE HYMN OF CREATION part of the world and In Itself

ages has brought forth from

all

and always again anew

the other world to which

71

in similar

man

forms; a power

gives praise, a

power which

an Idea necessary to

creates as well as destroys,

Since, psychologically understood, the divinity else

in

Is

life.

nothing

than a projected complex of representation which

Is

accentuated In feeling according to the degree of religious-

God

ness of the Individual, so

representative

of

a

certain

is

to be considered as the

sum of energy

(libido).

This energy, therefore, appears projected (metaphysically) because

works from the unconscious outwards,

It

when it Is dislodged from there, as psychoanalysis shows. As I have earlier made apparent In the Bedeutung des ''

Vaters," the religious instinct feeds upon the incestuous libido

of the infantile period.

of religion which

now

to be at least the it

exist, the

moulding

In the principal forms

father transference seems

Influence; In older religions,

seems to be the Influence of the mother transference

which creates the attributes of the

divinity.

The

attri-

butes of the divinity are omnipotence, a sternly persecuting paternalism ruling through fear

and

a loving paternalism

(Old Testament)

(New Testament). These

are

the attributes of the libido in that wide sense In which

Freud has conceived

pagan and

this

Idea empirically.

In certain

also In certain Christian attributes of divinity

the maternal stands out strongly, and in the former the

animal also comes Into the greatest prominence. ^^

Like-

wise, the Infantile, so closely interwoven with religious

phantasies, and lently, is

from time

nowhere

lacklng.^^

to time breaking forth so vio-

All this points to the sources

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

72

of the dynamic states of religious activity.

These are

those Impulses which In childhood are withdrawn from Incestuous

application through the

incest barrier

and which,

Intervention of the

especially at the time of puberty,

as a result of affluxes of libido coming from the

completely employed

As

peculiar activity.

sexuality, are is

Hymn

which

easily understood, that

The

is

is

not the form but

primitive

power which Job's

valuable in the God-creating Idea the power, the libido.

in-

still

aroused to their own

of Creation vindicates, the unconditional and

in-

exorable, the unjust and the superhuman, are truly and rightly attributes of libido, which " lead us unto life,"

which " gle in

is

let the

poor be

and against which

guilty,"

Nothing remains for mankind but

In vain.

harmony with

this will.

to

strug-

work

" Nietzsche's " Zarathustra

teaches us this impressively.

We

see that in

Miss Miller the

from the unconscious erotic;

it

Infantile

Is

takes a great part of

hymn arising amend for the

religious

the compensating its

materials from the

reminiscences which she re-awakened into

by the Introversion of the ation not succeeded application been

libido.

Had

life

this religious cre-

(and also had another sublimated

eliminated)

then Miss Miller would

have yielded to the erotic impression, either to consequence or to a negative

issue,

its

natural

which would have

replaced the lost success In love by a correspondingly

strong sorrow.

It is

well

known

that opinions are

much

divided concerning the worth of this issue of an erotic conflict,

such as Miss Miller has presented to

thought to be

much more

us.

It is

beautiful to solve unnoticed an

THE HYMN OF CREATION

73

erotic tension, in the elevated feelings of religious poetry, in

which perhaps many other people can

consolation.

ception

One

from the

wrong

is

find joy

storm against

to

and con-

this

radical standpoint of fanaticism

for

truth. I

think that one should view with philosophic admira-

tion the strange paths of the libido

gate the purposes of It is

not too

much

there not

investi-

circuitous ways.

its

to say that

we have herewith dug up

and yet the problem remains unsolved.

the erotic root,

Were

and should

bound up with that

a mysterious purpose,

probably of the greatest biological meaning, then tainly twenty centuries

would not have yearned for

with such intense longing. current

moves

In

the

same direction

as,

taken

to be

is

in the

widest

Middle Ages and of

the ancient mystery cults, one of which

There

it

Doubtless, this sort of llbldlan

sense, did that ecstatic ideal of the

Christianity.

cer-

became the

later

seen biologically in this

ideal an exercise of psychologic projection (of the para-

noldlan mechanism, as Freud would express

it)

.^^

The

projection consists in the repressing of the conflict into the unconscious

and the

setting forth of the repressed

contents into seeming objectivity, which

mula of paranoia.

The

known, for the freeing from which one must escape by

and oppressing power

is

is

also the for-

repression serves,

all

a

means because

feared.

as

is

painful complex

The

Its

well

from

compelling

repression can lead

to an apparent complete suppression which corresponds to a strong self-control.

Unfortunately, however,

self-

control has limits which are only too narrowly drawn.

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

74

Closer observation of people shows, is

maintained at the

occur which

fall into

comes

to the surface

diately afterwards; seldom directly,

patient,

the form of

person

(e. g. a

is,

calm

certain results

two categories.

First, the suppressed effect

narily in

true, that

is

it

moment, but

critical

true, but ordi-

is

it

imme-

a displacement to another object

in official relations, polite, submissive,

and so on, and turns

whole anger loose upon

his

his wife or his subordinates).

Second,

the

and

who

compensations

creates

strive for excessive

and

try always to think, feel,

ideally,

bility

effect

For example, people who

elsewhere. ethics,

suppressed

act altruistically

avenge themselves, because of the impossi-

of carrying out their ideals, by subtle maliciousness,

which naturally does not come into their own consciousness as such, but which leads to misunderstandings and

unhappy

situations.

Apparently, then,

of these are

all

only " especially unfortunate circumstances," or they are the guilt and malice of other people, or they are tragic

complications.

One theless

is,

indeed, freed of the conscious conflict, never-

it lies

invisible at one's feet,

at every step.

and forgetting achievement makeshift.

The is

The

inadequate because

—

it

it is

is

in reality a

mere

much more

In this one keeps the conflict in sight

and so on) and gives

personality standing outside of one's evangelical

not possible of

religious projection offers a

(care, pain, anxiety,

The

stumbled over

is

technic of the apparent suppressing

in the last analysis

effectual help.

and

command

self,

teaches us this:

it

over to a

the Divinity.

— THE HYMN OF CREATION " Cast

you."

your

all

—/ Peter v:

upon

anxiety

him,

75 he

because

careth

for

7.

" In nothing be anxious; but in every thing by prayer and sup-

...

plication

let

your requests be made known unto God."

Phil, iv:6.

One must

give the burdening complex of the soul con-

sciously over to the Deity; that

a definite representation

candid avowal of

sin

To

self.^*

who answers those questions, demand belongs the

and the Christian humility presum-

to

(" Confess, therefore, your sins

These measures aim

v: 16).

of the

conflicts,

and

to

know

one^s

consider the mutual avowal of sins as

most powerful support

the

up as ob-

this Inner

possible for one to examine one's self

One may

set

Is

with

It

Both are for the purpose of making

ing such an avowal. it

to say, associate

complex which

jectively real, as a person

for us unanswerable.

is

work of education one to another." James this

—

at a conscious recognition

thoroughly psychoanalytic, which

also

is

a conditio sine qua non of the psychoanalytic condition

of recovery.

Just as psychoanalysis in the hands of the

physician, a secular method, sets

up the real object of

transference as the one to take over the conflicts of the

oppressed and to solve them, so the Christian religion

up

the Saviour, considered as real; " In

through

redemption sins.

.

.

(Eph.

."

his

1:7

blood,

^^^ ^^l-

his

sin,

"

mouth"

sins in his

who

did no

sin,

i^H-)^^

(Pet. 11:22).

body upon the

neither

"Who

his

He

God who

was

tree " (Pet.

have

forgiveness

the

deliverer and redeemer of our guilt, a

above

whom we

sets

guile

own ii:

self

24).

is

of the

stands

found

In

bare our

"There-

—

—

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

76

away

fore Christ has been sacrificed once to take

many" (Heb.

sins of of,

is

The God,

ix:28).

the

thus thought

distinguished as innocent in himself and as the

(These

self-sacrificer.

for that

qualities are true also

amount of

energy —

resentation

complex designated the

^libido

—which

belongs to the rep-

Redeemer.)

The

conscious projection towards which the Christian education aims, offers, therefore, a double benefit:

kept conscious of the conflict

(sins)

first,

one

is

of two opposing

tendencies mutually resistant, and through this one pre-

vents a

known

trouble

from becoming, by means of

re-

unknown and therefore

so

pressing and forgetting, an

Secondly, one lightens

much more tormenting sorrow. one's burden by surrendering tions are

it

One must not

known.

to

him

to

whom

all solu-

forget that the individual

psychologic roots of the Deity, set up as real by the pious, are concealed

of

this, still

from him, and

that he, although

bears the burden alone and

This delusion would lead

his conflict.

is still

unaware

alone with

infallibly to the

speedy breaking up of the system, for Nature cannot definitely be

deceived,

but the powerful institution of

Christianity meets this situation.

book of James

is

is

The command

in the

the best expression of the psychologic

significance of this: "

This

in-

Bear ye one another's burdens."

emphasized as especially important

in

^^

order

to preserve society upright through mutual love (Trans-

ference)

;

the Pauline writings leave no doubt about this:

"Through

Gal. v: 13. love be servants one to another." " Let love of the brethren continue." Heb. xiii: i. ** And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and

—

—

:

THE HYMN OF CREATION Not

good works. is

our

forgetting

own

assembling together as

Heb. x: 24-25.

the custom of some, but exhorting one another."

We

77

might say that the real transference taught

Christian community

is

in the

the condition absolutely necessary

for the efficacy of the miracle of redemption; the letter of

" ii:

He

John comes out frankly with

first

this

that loveth his brother abideth in the light."

—/

John

10.

" If

we

The Deity religion

God

love one another,

abideth in us."

—/ John

iv: 12.

continues to be efficacious in the Christian

only upon the

foundation of brotherly love.

Consequently, here too the mystery of redemption

One may

unresisting real transference.^^ one's self, for

what then

is

is

the

properly ask

the Deity useful,

if his efficacy

To

this also the

consists only in the real transference?

evangelical message has a striking answer: "

Men

**

So Christ

of many,

are all brothers in Christ."

shall

that wait for

The

also,

having been once offered to bear the

him unto

salvation."

Heb.

condition of transference

such as between

man and

history of ancient cults this

sins

appear a second time apart from sin to them ix: 28.

among

brothers

Christ, a spiritual one.

and

is

to be

As

the

certain Christian sects shows,

explanation of the Christian religion

is

an especially

important one biologically, for the psychologic intimacy creates certain shortened

ways between men which lead

only too easily to that from which Christianity seeks to release them,

namely

to the sexual relation with all those

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

78

consequences and necessities under which the really

ready highly civilized

man had For

of our Christian era.

al-

to suffer at the beginning

just as the ancient religious

experience was regarded distinctly as a bodily union with the Deity,^^ just so ity

was worship permeated with

of every kind.

The moral

relations of people with each other.

eracy of the

first

sexual-

Sexuality lay only too close to the

degen-

Christian century produced a moral re-

action arising out of the darkness of the lowest strata of society

which was expressed

second and third cen-

In the

two antagonistic

turies at its purest in the

religions, Chris-

and Mithracism on the other.

tianity

on the one

These

religions strove after precisely that higher

side,

of social intercourse symbolic of a projected " flesh" idea (logos), whereby sive energies of the archaic

from one passion

all

form

become

those strongest impul-

man, formerly plunging him

into another,^^

and which seemed

to the

ancients like the compulsion of the evil constellations, as €t;xapjA£V7jy*

and which

in the sense

of later ages might

be translated as the driving force of the Svvaj^i?

Hiyr}riKri\

of Zeno, could be

the

libido,'^

made

use of for

social preservation.^^ It

may

tion of

be assumed most certainly that the domestica-

humanity has cost the greatest

which produced the

stoical

ideal

sacrifices.

must

certainly

was known why and against what of Nero serves to set off effectually the famous it

from

created.

the forty-first letter of Seneca to Lucillus: * Destiny. t

Power

for putting in motion.

An

age

have

The age extracts

THE HYMN OF CREATION *'

One

drags the other into error, and

when

salvation

us in deeper? '*

how

when

no one bids us halt,

all

touched by

we

can

attain to

the world drives

"

you ever come across a man unafraid

Do

79

desires,

happy

in misfortune,

of a storm, elevated above ordinary mortals,

you ?

as the gods, does not reverence seize

in

danger, un-

peaceful in the midst

on the same plane

Are you not compelled

Such an exalted being is certainly something different from the miserable body which he inhabits ? A divine strength to say,

^

'

rules there, such an excellent mind, full of moderation, raised above all trivialities,

at that which we others fear or strive power animates such a person, a thing of this

which smiles

after: a heavenly

kind does not exist without the cooperation of a deity.

The

from which he Just as the sun's rays touch the earth in reality and yet home only there from whence they come, so an eminent

largest part of such a being belongs to the region

came. are at

holy

man associates with us. He know the divine better, and

learn to

belongs to his original home.

wards

it;

The tion

among

He

is

sent to us that

although with

we may

us, still really

looks thither and reaches to-

us he walks as an exalted being."

people of this age had grown ripe for Identifica-

with the Ao;/o?

(word)

"become

flesh,"

founding of a new fellowship, united by one

name of which people each other brothers.^^

for the

idea,^^ in the

could love each other and

The

(Messiah), of a mediator

call

old vague idea of a ^eairrj