Carl Gustav Jung: Review of Greatness

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There is a monumental biography on the market about Carl Gustav Jung, great pioneer and genius parallel to Freud. This is no simple biography, it is an extremely scholarly one. It tells a fascinating story in great and accurate detail with research that comprises hundreds of closely packed pages. While it may not be easy going, it does give a fascinating view, a view of a giant of psychology, a view as well of his confreres, including the great Sigmund Freud. No, not easy going, but rewarding.

This is a story of the evolution of psychoanalysis as well as the evolution of the great man. It is written by Deirdre Bair, who received a National Book Award for Beckett: A Biography. There is integrity and balance in preparing this historical document; it spares no one, showing their weaknesses in their own words, but in the light of their individual greatness and contributions to science. This includes the great disciples of Carl Jung.

From the start, let me confess that I am long-trained as a Freudian analyst and was given the idea for all of the years of my training that Jung, while a great scholar and Freud’s crown prince, was nevertheless the one who went badly astray. The Freudian view was that he became too religious, abandoning the basic principles of psychoanalysis. This book shows that it was quite to the contrary. While Freud is depicted here as an autocrat who stuck strictly to his own ideas, I do not believe that is quite true. I have studied Freud for years, and believe that there is some truth to what Deirdre Bair says; Freud was afraid that the baby, psychoanalysis, was in danger of being discredited and thrown away. His fear was and is understandable as we look back at the atmosphere of his time.

He was sorely disappointed in Jung. He considered Jung like a son, and had looked forward to his taking over the psychoanalytic organization and developing it further. Their parting was also painful for Jung as well, for Freud had indeed been a father figure to him. But in the emergence of Jung from his period of dominance by Freud (in truth he had found great satisfaction in Freud’s discoveries of the Unconscious), Jung found himself propelled by the originality of his own ideas. The foibles of Jung’s own character are shown in terms of his demanding that he absolutely dominate a discussion, that his own ideas should stick, and while he continually revised his ideas (therefore showing an openness), he was not particularly open to face to face disagreement with his disciples.

There is something about Jung’s writing that I find very hard to swallow, with the exception of the writing in his autobiography, Memories, Dreams, and Reflections. His has been described as a discursive style, and indeed, Jung goes around and around. This stands in marked contrast to Freud’s classical style (for which he was awarded a prize, I believe) in which the ideas were fully organized and easily followed one upon the other. Nevertheless, through all of this discursive style (which simultaneously reveals the enormous information and wide ranging interests of Jung) spring forth truly creative ideas. From time to time, they may be thought to be on the edge of psychosis, but genius and insanity are not far apart. In fact, Jung had near psychotic episodes when he was in the throes of a severe illness. He used these experiences, combining them with his wide ranging interest in literature, to create novel and truly cosmic ideas of the archetypes of the collective unconscious: the anima (the female principle) and animus (the male principle).

Jung’s very powerful personality, as well as his highly original ideas, attracted a number of faithful and brilliant adherents. Chief amongst them was Marie Louise von Franz. Von Franz stuck with Jung throughout the time that he was interested in the importance of myth, and then later (and even more importantly) during his interest in alchemy. Myths, he felt, described major principles that guide us from above as well as from within. As Archetypes, they operate collectively as human beings repeat the theme in group character patterns, in dreams, and creative literature.

There were some of Jung’s followers who parted ways with him because of his interest in alchemy. Alchemy, as it is thought of today, is viewed as silly and primitive, though it is the forerunner of chemistry. It is thought to be a process which would change base metal, such as lead, into gold. A deeper understanding reveals that it goes far beyond such an idea. The true practice of alchemy aims to refine the lead or dross of the personality into the pure gold of an enlightened spiritual advancement of the personality.

This is the essence, I believe, of good, dynamic psychotherapy. It is to release the personality from hindrances which have kept it bound to the baser levels of view of the world, to allow the personality and the soul to rise to the more elevated levels of group love, consideration for humanity, and altruistic and creative effort.

The story ends with the great struggle over the publication of Jung’s memoirs in Memories, Dreams, and Reflections. As it turns out, the autobiography is very popular—and a book highly to be recommended. The struggle was one which is illustrative of the lesser aspects of our human personalities. They came to the fore when the publisher tried to save money by cutting out essential items. The publisher had to face off with Aniela Jaffe, who had authorship responsibility delegated to her by Jung. She was very covetous of her rights and her insertions into the work. All of this created the great struggle.

But the biography of this great man comes forth as a clear, illuminating and interesting study. Jung: A Biography by Deirdre Bair, is a more than a worthy complement to the basic autobiography of Memories, Dreams, and Reflections. It is a scholarly reference source for those who may wish to further study Jung and his creative discoveries.

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Contact Dr. Pressman by writing to: Maurie D. Pressman, M.D., 200 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, or call 215/922-0204, email: mauriedavid@earthlink.net, or visit his website, www.mauriepressman.com.

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