Jung’s Collective Unconscious

Carl Jung was a Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who developed analytical psychology, a reaction to the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud in certain ways. The ideas of the extraverted and the introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious were suggested and developed by Jung. In psychology and the study of faith, literature, and similar areas, his work was influential. 

During his initial working years, he came to be associated with another prominent Psychologist naming Sigmund Freud. Later on, they both split as a result of their beliefs in different principles and concepts under Psychology.

It was Freud who popularised the three components of mind being: the conscious (one’s objective and thinking mind), the subconscious (part of the mind that is currently not in focal awareness), and the unconscious (reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, desires and impulses that lie outside our conscious awareness). Out of the above three constituents, the Unconscious mind was the most debated upon. 

The theory 

The explanations given by Jung and Freud were different concerning the nature of the Unconscious mind. Freud believed that our personal experiences played a major role in the formation of our Unconscious mind. Contrary to this, Jung believed that it was genetically inherited. This ideology put forth by Jung came to be known as the “Collective Unconscious” or “Objective Unconscious”. The collective unconscious is common to all human beings according to Jung’s teachings and is responsible for a variety of deep-seated values and impulses, such as morality, sexual behavior, and instincts of life and death.

According to Jung, the collective unconscious is manifested in universal concepts, known as “Archetypes”. These structures can take the form of signs, symbols as well as varying models of thinking, perceiving, behaving, etc. The most important feature that characterizes these Archetypes is that they are inherited from our ancestors. Some of the examples, as given by Jung include: 

• Birth 
• Death 
• Rebirth 
• Power
• The child 
• The mother 

An example: The Mother 

The archetype of the mother takes the form of a personal mother, grandmother, stepmother, lawful mother, nurse, governess. The Church, the country, the soil, the trees, the sea, a garden, a plowed field, a spring, or a well are other mother symbols. 

Motherly love and warmth, so revered in art and poetry, which gives us our first identification in the world, is the optimistic side of the archetype. Yet it may have negative significance. 

If in a human there is an imbalance of the archetype, we see the ‘complex’ of the Mother. In males, the complex can give rise to ‘Don Juanism’. Don Juan or Don Juan syndrome is a non-clinical term because of his implicit homosexuality or insecurity about his masculinity for the desire, in a man, to have sex with many different female partners.

If a woman goes through the same imbalance/complex, the negative consequences can take the form of a certain level of exaggeration of their maternal instinct. For example, a mother who lives and sacrifices her individuality for her children. In other forms of the archetype, to not be like her biological mother, a woman would go to great lengths. For instance, she might carve out a domain of her own, being an intellectual to illustrate the lack of knowledge of her mother. 

The father 

The archetype of the Father takes the shape of God, any giant, tyrant, ruler, judge, physician, executioner, devil,  leader, holy man, boss, wise old man, and, of course, father.  Both light and dark, i.e., negative and positive elements exist, as with any other archetype. 

Law, order, discipline, rationality, comprehension, and motivation are implied by the optimistic component of the Father principle. A positive father thus not only guides but also protects those under his care and can put his ideas into fruition. 

The negative archetype of the father comprises rigidity, authority, and a cold intellectual way of dealing with their relations. This leads to a state of hubris (extreme pride or arrogance), vanity, and intellectual inflation.

The child 

Innocence is one of the first attributes that we identify with the idea of an infant. Many of us in which this element of the child archetype is prevalent will find ourselves to be easy-going in general, to have a carefree approach, and to be able to readily trust others. Such childlike innocence is brilliantly demonstrated in fictional characters such as Snow White. 

However, this innocent child may not be equipped to face the various challenges one comes across as a part of life and start to feel overwhelmed. It might realize at any point, the world around is not that optimal or equal and includes imperfections. This can lead to feelings of despair as the happy bubble of the child bursts, and the child finds himself feeling exhausted.

To conclude the concept of objective unconsciousness, in the words of Carl Jung, “ In addition to our immediate consciousness, which is of a thoroughly personal nature, there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals”.