Carl Jung (1875-1961)

Jung’s Significant Life Experiences

Carl Jung drew inspiration from

many sources when he developed

his psychological theory. Freud's
psychoanalytic method, of course,
influenced him greatly. His own
experiences and his time spent as a
therapist in a hospital also had an
impact. Jung was an avid reader,
too, often studying texts from ancient times and other civilizations.

• Before Jung’s fourth birthday, his family

moved to a suburb of Basel. It is
from this period that his earliest dream
stems. This dream, which was to have a
profound effect on his later life and on his
concept of a collective unconscious.

He theorized that the collective

unconscious is made up of a collection of
knowledge and imagery that every person is
born with and is shared by all human
beings due to ancestral experience. Though
humans may not know what thoughts and
images are in their collective unconscious, it
is thought that in moments of crisis the
psyche can tap into the collective
unconscious.
• During his school years, Jung gradually became aware of two separate aspects of
his self, and he called these his No. 1 and No. 2 personalities. He personally
experienced the extraversion and introversion type of attitude. And started to
believe that that introversion and extraversion were present in everyone, but
that one attitude-type is invariably dominant. When external factors are the
prime motivating force for judgments, perceptions, affects and actions, we have
an extraverted attitude or type.

• During his adolescence, Jung experienced sexual assault by a man he once

worshipped. Jung was actually 18 years old at the time of the sexual assault and
saw the older man as a fatherly friend in whom he could confide nearly
everything. Alan Elms (1994) contended that Jung’s erotic feelings toward
Freud—coupled with his early experience of the sexual assault by an older man he
once worshipped—may have been one of the major reasons why Jung eventually
broke from Freud. Elms further suggested that Jung’s rejection of Freud’s sexual
theories may have stemmed from his ambivalent sexual feelings toward Freud.
• The break with Freud were filled with loneliness and self-analysis for Jung. From
December of 1913 until 1917, he underwent the most profound and dangerous
experience of his life—a trip through the under-ground of his own unconscious
psyche. By using dream interpretation and active imagination to force himself
through his underground journey, Jung eventually was able to create his unique
theory of personality.

• Going more deeply, he came upon

the contents of the collective unconscious—
the archetypes. He heard his anima speak
to him in a clear feminine voice; he
discovered his shadow, the evil side of
his personality: he spoke with the wise
old man and the great mother archetypes.
and finally, near the end of his journey,
he achieved a kind of psychological rebirth
called individuation.

Prepare by: Lady Dianne Eval