46 Spirituality Studies 11-1 Spring 2025 distinguishes it from an “image” (Ger. Bild) – the concrete, representable result of this imagination. For example, a particular, depictable triangle must be preceded by an inner, general, unifying principle – the schema of a triangle. The image, therefore, is concrete and sensory, whereas the schema is a general mental structure (Kant 1998, A 141– A 142). Here, we have several strong arguments for why Kant’s schemata correspond to Jung’s archetypes better than any other concepts. First, although they are not in contradiction with reason, they have a broader significance than reason alone can fully grasp. Second, they emerge as given to reason – reason analyzes this givenness but does not create it. Finally, schemata unify and coordinate the senses and reason, forming a conceptual bridge between perception and thought. Now, let us compare these characteristics with Jung’s archetype, which reveals itself to consciousness as a symbol formed from “available psychic material” and generates an experience of meaning across perception, feeling, thinking, and intuition. It enables orientation in life situations that far exceed the grasp of reason due to their complexity. In the Critique of Judgment, Kant distinguishes between schematism (which enables the application of concepts to sensory objects) and symbolism (which presents concepts indirectly through analogies). Reason itself does not create symbols but allows for their interpretation and the understanding of ideas such as the soul, the world, and God, which cannot be directly represented through sensory perception. Symbolic presentation thus expands the capacity of reason to comprehend ideas that are not perceptible to the senses. In the Critique of Pure Reason, reason primarily has a determining function – it dictates how we should understand the world through categories. However, in the Critique of Judgment, Kant introduces reflective judgment, wherein reason does not attempt to subordinate an object to a pre-given concept but instead seeks meaning in the object’s form. Without reason, we would not perceive symbols as carriers of deeper meaning. In other words, imagination schematizes only when guided by reason. The task of imagination and the apprehension of ideas is one of the key points where Jung and Freud diverge. As Christian Kerslake (2007, 112) puts it: The Idea is both more and less unconscious than Freudian repressed representations. It is more unconscious as we cannot even make secure inferences about it on the basis of displaced ‘derivatives’. It is less unconscious in the sense that Kant’s expanded theory of cognition allows us to conceive of non-representational types of cognition. Symbolic thought is exactly one such type of cognition; artistic creativity is another. Kant’s theory allows one to open up the theory of ‘the unconscious’ to accommodate highly specific types of cognition that cannot be recognized by the Freudian model. For Jung, ideas are also the goal of knowledge – motivating our thinking while remaining unconscious to us. An unconsciously motivated idea means that our actions are guided by a purpose that remains implicit and can only be clarified through projection. Through projection, we imbue the world with meaning, which then returns to us like a lost piece of the puzzle about ourselves. 5 Crystallization as Evolution Let us examine how Jung discusses the genesis of consciousness in Psychological Types (1921). The human mind develops from archaic conditions – a state in which consciousness has not yet differentiated itself from the unconscious, and its functions are not only unconscious but also undifferentiated from one another. In this state, everything within the being, as well as the connection between the being and its environment, is closely intertwined, operating immediately and unreflectively as an organic whole. According to Jung, though in so-called primitive or archaic humans, this perfectly integrated whole is already somewhat disrupted. Their thinking and feeling are “lightly differentiated” from perception – that is, from the immediate sensory apprehension of the world. From the perspective of nature, they no longer function as a seamless part of an organic totality but must establish relationships with their environment, other people, and themselves. Jung argues that they do this in a “primitive manner” – without a sufficient ability to distinguish perception from feeling and thinking, or to separate their subjective experience from objective reality. According to Jung, this lack of differentiation manifests in phenomena such as magic and fetishism. Even at this stage, a certain degree of reflection and interpretation of the world begins to emerge. A distinct psychic quality starts to surface, and its tool – one that “liberates psychic energy from the bonds of boundless, uncomprehending perception” – is the image, or archetype, an expression of “the ability to adopt a standpoint beyond mere sensory perception” (Jung CW6 1921, 612–613). This means that
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