Hello all!
I've been reading through the various profiles and posts here, and appreciating, deeply, the unique backgrounds and perspectives each of you bring to this community. And it's made me increasingly curious about a question I've wondered about myself. What makes you a Jungian, or what called you to Jung?
So I thought I'd pose it here. What called you to Jungian psychology, or the Jungian approach? Do you consider yourself a Jungian, or do you avoid the label? What was it about Jung's writings that spoke to you? What does it mean, in your mind, to be a Jungian?
Replies
Siona,
For me, most essentially and in my bones... why Jung... because Jung seems to have been the first to take soul (psyche) seriously and have an honored place for soul in his psychology.
I distinctly remember the exact moment while sitting in a graduate class - Experimentation in Personality Theory - listening to the cognitive theories of Bandura and Epstein - and naively asking the professor (that I greatly admired) what place god and soul had in their cognitive behaviorist constructs of the personality.
Bonnie, I appreciate your reminding us that this is not strictly a Jungian social networking site. I'm especially grateful in that I may be more thoroughly James Hillmanian than Carl Jungian. At the same time, as you yourself said... I have a strong feeling that there would be no Hillman, if there were no Jung...
Hi Siona: You've likely already seen Paul's recent post, Erich Neumann and Jungian Psychology, but if not, you may want to check out what he's doing as well. His question is not the same as yours, but he has probably/will probably run into some input and comments that would also apply to your question here.
For my part, I will say that I really love most of Jung's stuff, but my training in Depth Psych (somehow, I have managed to complet two separate M.A.s in the same field!) insists that I be open to a much wider spectrum of thought and theory than only that of Jung. While Depth Psychology includes Jungian thought, I'm not sure Jungian Psychology could now aptly claim to be the whole of Depth Psychology (if it ever could!--Let's not forget the contributions of Freud, Eugene Bleuler, William James, and the many others who all contributed to begin with--I'm sure you're familiar with Ellenberger's book, The Discovery of the Unconscious, which does a wonderful job of covering the origins and development of Depth Psych).
To your point in the recent post about Hillman, Psychologies of Liberation, though touched on by Jung, have developed much further since his time--as have Archetypal Psych, Ecopsych, and many of the cultural/cross-cultural issues Jung addressed. He certainly set the foundation, but I think he would be pleased to know in some ways that Depth Psychologies (and I use the plural here with emphasis) have outgrown him...
Bonnie: Oh, forgive me... you're right. I'd been paying so much attention to the Jungian threads of Depth Psychology I didn't think to broaden the question. Thank you. In an earlier era I might have felt justified in assuming that it might have been Jung's work that drew people to the field, but these days I'd doubt that would be true; I'm sure there are many now who step in through the door of ecopsychology, or Thomas Moore's work, or or others. And i agree, wholly, with your conclusion. :)
Ed: Thank you. I feel ever so much the same way, and it's a treat to see that mirrored in your understanding. And if you do feel like elaborating on your visions and dreams, I'd love to listen.
Siona,
For many years I have searched for a perspective that could unite both my interest in religion/spirituality and psychology. The psychology departments, in general, did not want to talk about religion and the religion departments didn't want to talk about psychology. As religions became more dogmatic and literal, and psychology became dominated by cognitive-behavioral and neuropharmacology, there was even less interest in any attempt to bring what was increasingly seen as two separate disciplines together. I knew about Jungian psychology through my love of the arts but only as a footnote to art interpretation and art therapy approaches. The fact that Jungian approaches allow for art and mystery within the mix of religion and psychology sealed the deal (after 10 years). There are, of course, more details within this broad brush answer, some related to my dreams and visions, but that can be for another time.
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