Spirituality Studies 11-1 Spring 2025 47 Ivana Ryška Vajdová we do not merely perceive the sunrise and sunset to physiologically adapt to them, but we relate to them through our feeling and thinking, however primitive, assigning them meaning. This semiotic process occurs through the symbolic image – for example, the myth of the birth and death of the sun as a divine figure. Jung sees in this ability to create such images the power of the creative spirit. The autonomy and distinctiveness with which the archetype emerges into consciousness give it a numinous nature. Creativity, understood as spontaneous activity present even among archaic peoples, is, according to Jung, evidence that the psyche possesses something autonomous, something that exists in and of itself – it has its own inherent nature and cannot be reduced to a mere epiphenomenon of biology. Just as the phenomenon of life stands in contrast to the background of inanimate nature, Jung argues that the psyche contrasts in a similar way. Its product – the image – though formed from various sources, is nonetheless a homogeneous entity with its own intrinsic meaning. Once again, we see a parallel to crystallization. Primordial images, or archetypes, are collective according to Jung because they “condense” the experience of all humanity and life in general. They can be glimpsed in mythological motifs or fairy tales, as they manifest the original, archaic reflection of the world – what Jung calls “the twomillion-year-old man within us”. Archetypes are “stored” in the collective unconscious, from where they influence us whenever we find ourselves in a situation of collective significance. Alongside the collective unconscious, Jung also posits the personal unconscious, which contains personal images – ones that do not have mythological or collective significance but instead express individual situations. In the process of consciousness emerging from the organic whole of the unconscious, Jung describes a weakening of original automatisms and the formation of a new, differentiated structure of consciousness. This consciousness establishes a relationship both with the totality of the psyche and with its individual components, which gradually delineate themselves and acquire specific functions. Jung understands differentiation as “the development of distinct features, the separation of parts from the whole”. He defines the whole as both the sum of all psychic functions of an individual and as their connection to historical and social context (Jung CW6 1921, 589). The emancipation of consciousness is dependent on the separation of distinct psychic functions, such as differentiating thinking from perception. Undifferentiated thinking continuously blends with other cognitive processes, losing its autonomy. Only when thinking separates from feeling does it become evident that it has its own laws, purpose, and direction: “Without differentiation, direction is impossible, since the orientation of a function toward a goal depends on the elimination of anything irrelevant… only a differentiated function can be governed” (Jung CW6 1921, 590). Just as individual psychic functions have their own distinct purpose, the individual itself represents a unique psychological and physiological constellation – one that is apriorically given yet initially unconscious. According to Jung, true individual existence can only emerge through separation from collective psychology, making differentiation a key process in psychological development. The process of distinguishing oneself from the unconscious collective level is simultaneously the discovery of self-determining meaning. This principle underlies Jung’s psychotherapy, which he termed the “constructive method” – a contrast to reductive approaches, which lead the individual back to collective psychological patterns. A constructively understood future is not simply a recombination of existing elements but rather an expansion into the unknown—something that can and should become but cannot be fully deduced from the present state. For Jung, psychological growth is the expansion of psychic freedom. This autonomy closely resembles Kant’s concept of moral freedom, which is not dictated by external norms but by inner self-determination. Jung therefore argues that without individuation, morality disintegrates, as excessive conformity to collective norms weakens an individual’s authentic ethical responsibility (Jung CW6 1921, 589–622). 6 The Limits of Thought, Jung’s Revision of Kant The concreteness of a person is also their limitation – a theme that runs throughout Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and one from which Jung draws extensively, not only at the level of human nature, but also in the context of psychological types and individuals. Kant’s “objects” emerge in their concreteness, meaning they possess an aesthetic quality which is not determined freely, but which instead reflects the structure of our cognition. This aesthetic moment of “sensibility” precedes the logical moment of thinking, or rather, they are interconnected, allowing something to emerge in our minds that gives “meaning and significance”. As he writes (Kant 1998, A 51): Without sensibility no object would be given to us, and without understanding none would be thought. Thoughts
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