Jungian Dream Work: THE STRUCTURE OF THE PSYCHE

Mert Neff Brubaker

THE STRUCTURE OF THE PSYCHE (the totality of all psychological processes, conscious and unconscious)

Conscious Parts:

The Persona – the masks we wear, the roles we play, the part we show to the world

The Ego – provides the framework for one’s self-perception and identity and is the reality base for
interaction with the environment. It is the thoughts, feelings, evaluations, perceptions, sensations and
active memories. It has both an internal and an external frame of reference. Its goals are stability,
predictability, safety, control.

Unconscious Parts:

Personal Unconscious contains a) forgotten or repressed material that has been lost to the conscious
because it is not acceptable to the ego, but is still retrievable and b) elements that have never reached
consciousness but nevertheless still influence us strongly.

 At the center of the unconscious is the Self/Soul which is the unifying and stabilizing part of the
personality. It begins to develop as a regulating center when the individual moves from sole
reliance on the conscious ego to a mediating ground between the conscious, the unconscious and
the collective unconscious. The Soul’s goals are growth and living life fully. It does not care if that
makes the ego uncomfortable, embarrassed, afraid. It only wants you to be fully whole.
 Surrounding the Self are three highly evolved sub-personalities:
1) The Shadow is the composite opposite of the Persona. It is all of the parts we do not want to
show to the world, the parts within us deemed unacceptable in society and generally repressed.
These traits can be positive or negative, but generally are considered “bad” by the person who
usually denies their existence. Jung said, however, that 90% of the Shadow is pure gold. One
must find the gift that this disowned part has to offer.
2) Animus/Anima the masculine and feminine parts that are present in each person. It is very
individual whether certain traits will show up as masculine or feminine. Generally those showing
up as the opposite sex are farther from consciousness.
3) Complexes are emotionally charged groups of ideas or images. They consist of all the personal
experiences associated with and idea plus the conscious societal ideas AND the collective
unconscious energy around the idea. They can be positive or negative and are considered the
building blocks of the personality.

Instincts and intuition would arise from the interaction of material in this realm.

Beneath the Personal Unconscious and far below the conscious awareness is the Collective Unconscious
or the transpersonal or nonpersonal conscious. It is not concerned with any personal experiences. It
contains images common to all humanity, i.e. mother, father, earth, heaven, birth, death. These images
and symbols have been transmitted down through generations and are a guiding part of our thinking
and feeling and acting. These are energies but can have concrete representations:
  The Collective Shadow – that is far deeper and wider and evil in its very nature. It is the Devil, The
Monster from the Black Lagoon, hideous and malevolent aliens, Voldemort and the Sith Lords all
rolled into one.
 The Collective Self/Soul – is the universal expression of wholeness and completeness represented
concretely as Christ or Buddha.
 The Collective Anima/Animus – the total and complete feminine/masculine energies
 Numerous Individual Archetypes like the Child, the Trickster, the Mage, the Crone or Wise
Woman, the Hero/Heroine, or archetypal ideas like Birth, Death and Rebirth in their pure energy
form.

Dreams and Active Imagination are the means by which the Self attempt to communicate with the
individual/conscious ego. Dreams are like the nightly musings of the soul or like looking into a kind of
mirror. Active Imagination is like a waking dream with the active participation of the ego, providing
moral grounding. Dreams are amoral; they simply show what is happening.

The language of the inner world is largely symbol. Occasionally there are words, like disembodied
phrases that may show up. Jung advised learning as much mythology as possible, because allusions to it
or themes connected with it may appear in dreams. Symbols are personal and specific to the dreamer.
The goal of all of this introspective work is awareness in the service of personal growth and eventually
Individuation, which is the integration of opposites and wholeness, completeness of the individual. And
this growth and wholeness with change how we operate in the world.