About Carl Jung

Carl Gustav Jung (26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss
psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of analytical
psychology. Jung's approach to psychology has been influential in
the field of depth psychology and in countercultural movements
across the globe. He emphasized understanding the psyche through
exploring the worlds of dreams, art, mythology, world religion and
philosophy. Although he was a theoretical psychologist and practicing
clinician, much of his life's work was spent exploring other areas,
including Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology,
sociology, as well as literature and the arts. His most notable ideas
include the concept of psychological archetypes, the collective
unconscious and synchronicity.
Jung emphasized the importance of balance and harmony. He
cautioned that modern people rely too heavily on science and logic
and would benefit from integrating spirituality and appreciation of
unconscious realms.

As a quiet, introverted child, Carl Jung would come to be one of the

most influential psychiatrists in the world. And, his association,
collaboration, and eventual fall out with Sigmund Freud would make
his biography even more astounding. Through an expansive
education and by authoring many books, Carl Jung donated so much
to the study of the human psyche that he is considered by many to
stand next to, and not in the shadow of, the world’s leading
psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.

Born the son of a preacher, Jung went on to graduate with a degree

in medicine from the University of Basel. He worked until 1909 in
Burghöltzi, an asylum and clinic for those suffering the maladies of
schizophrenia in Zürich. This experience undoubtedly affected Jung’s
work in his later years.

Always interested in spirituality and parapsychology, Carl Jung

dabbled in the arts of the spiritual world, ever exploring the realms of
unconscious human experience that was often being ignored in
modern-day medicine. Jung released his book entitled, The
Psychology of Dementia Praecox. This caught the attention of
Sigmund Freud and the two would later work and lecture together in
the United States.

What bitterly separated Freud and Jung was their different beliefs on
just how much sexuality controlled motivation. Freud believed it
absolute. Jung admitted it was a part of man’s make up, but wouldn’t
go as far as Freud did in his theories. This break-up caused a six-
year mental breakdown for the young Jung. Some say that Jung was
having prophetic images of World War I, which was looming in the
distance.

Carl Jung overcame his breakdown and found the modern system of
Analytical Psychology. Feeling limited and enclosed by the academia
of the day, Jung decided to travel the world to explore and be an
anthropologist of the mind of the people. He later dubbed this the “Collective
Consciousness” of mankind. He went on to classify personalities as extrovert
or introvert. He regarded mental breakdowns and fervent behavior to be
rooted in the fact that one had not yet discovered their own personal meaning
in the world. Jung hypothesized that through the exploration of the
unconscious, in dreams, in art, and in other cultures, the ‘self’ could fully be
realized.

Jung had interests in the study of literature and alchemy, and came to
theorize that men and women each had a certain anima or animus – the inner
need to feel and not reject our own male or female tendencies. Many of his
theories are cited in his biography entitled Memories, Dreams, Reflections
where he also explores the psychological conflicts of his own life.

Carl Jung was made the president of the General Medical Society for
Psychotherapy in 1933. While this organization did have certain Nazi
connections, Jung accepted the position in hopes of preserving the field of
psychoanalysis and therapy. With some criticized publications, Jung never
claimed any personal anti-Semitic feelings, but only theorized about
differences of how each interpreted the role of psychology.