05 - part 5 - Symbols in an individual analysis, Jung

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the
psychologist,
the
individual
feels
directly
challenged;
but
what
the
artist
has
to
say,
particularly
in
our
century,
usually
remains
in
an
impersonal
sphere.
And
yet
it
seems
important
that
the
suggestion
of
a
more
whole,
and
therefore
more
human,
form
of
expres-
sion
should
have
become
visible
in our
time.
It is a glimmer
of hope,
symbolized
for
me
(at
the
time
of writing:
1961)
by
a
number
of
paintings
by
the
French
artist
Pierre
Soulages.
Behind
a
cataract
of
huge,
black
rafters
there
glimmers
a
clear,
pure
blue
or
a radiant
yellow.
Light
is
dawning
behind
darkness.
5
PART
SYMBOLS
IN
AN
INDIVIDUAL ANALYSIS
Jolande
Jacobi
I
I
)
i
322
)
'",I',·'
The
beginning
of the
analysis
There
is a widespread
belief that
the methods
of Jungian
psychology
are
applicable
only
to
middle-aged
people.
True,
many
men
and
women
reach
middle
age without
achieving psychological
maturity,
and it.is
therefore
nec-
essary to help them through
the neglected phases of their
development.
They
have
not
completed
the
first part
of
the process of individuation
that Dr. M.-L. von Pranz
has
described.
But it is also true that
a young person
can en-
counter
serious problems
as he grows up. If a young per-
son is afraid
of life and finds it hard
to adjust to reality,
he might prefer
to dwell in his fantasies
or to remain
a
child.
In such
a young
person
(especially
if he is intro-
verted)
one can sometimes discover
unexpected
treasures
in the unconscious,
and by bringing
them
into conscious-
ness strengthen
his ego and
give him
the psychic
energy
he
needs
to
grow
into
a
mature
perSQn. That
is
the
function of the powerful symbolism of our dreams.
Other contributors to this book have described the na'"
ture of these symbols and the role they play in man's
psychologk.:'ll nature. I wish to show how analysis can aid
the individuation process by taking the example of a young
engineer, aged 25, whom I shall call Henry.
Henry came from a rural district in eastern Switzerland.
His father, of Protestant peasant stock, was a general
practitioner: Henry described him as a man with high
moral standards, but a rather withdrawn person who found
it difficult to relate to other people. He. was more of a
father to his patients than to his children. At home, Henry's
mother
A
17th-century
French
drawing
of
"The
Palace
of
Dreams."
was the dominant
personality.
"We were raised by
the strong hand of our mother,"
he said on one occasion.
324
325
She came from a family with an academic background and
wide artistic interests. She herself, in spite of her strict-
ness, had a broad spiritual horizon; she was impulsive and
romantic (she had a great love for Italy). Though she was
by birth a Catholic, her children had been brought up
in the Protestantism of their father. Henry had a sister,
older than himself, with whom he had a good relationship.
Henry was introverted, shy, finely drawn, and very tall,
with light hair, a high pale forehead and blue eyes with
dark shadows. He did not think that a neurosis (the most
usual reason) had brought him to me, but rather an inner
urge to work on his psyche. A strong mother-tie, however,
and a fear of committing himself to life were hidden
behind this urge; but these were only discovered during
the analytical work with me. He had just completed his
studies and taken a position in a large factory, and he
was facing the many problems of a young man on the
threshold of manhood. "It appears to me," he wrote in a
letter asking for an interview, "that this phase of my life
is particularly important and meaningful. I must decide
either to remain unconscious in a well-protected security,
or else to venture on a yet unknown way of which I have
great hopes." The choice thus confronting him was whether
to remain
bachelor dedicated to a scholarly life. His doubts were
strong enough to prevent his reaching a decision; he needed
a further
step toward
maturity
before
he could
feel sure
of himself.
Although
qualities
of both
his parents
were
combined
in
Henry,
he
was
markedly
mother-bound.
In
his
con-
sciousness,
he
was
identified
with
his
real
(or
"light")
mother,
who represented
high ideals
and intellectual
am-
bitions. But in his unconscious
he was deeply in the power
of
the
dark
aspects
of
his
mother-bound
condition.
His
unconscious
still held his ego in a strangle-hold.
All his
clear-cut thinking
and his efforts to find a firm standpoint
in
the
purely
rational
remained
nothing
more
than
an
intellectual exercise.
The need to escape from this "mother-prison" was ex-
pressed in hostile reactions to his real mother and a re-
jection of the "inner mother" as a symbol of the feminine
side of the unconscious. But an inner power sought to
hold him back in the condition of childhood, resisting
everything that attracted him to the outside world. Even
the attractions of his fiancee were not enough to free him
from his mother-ties,
and thus help him find himself.
He
was not
aware that
his inner
urge for
growth
(which
he
a lonely, vacillating,
and unrealistic
youth or to
felt
strongly)
included
the
need
to
detach
himself
from
become
a self-sufficient and responsible
adult.
his mother.
My analytical work with Henry lasted nine months. Al-
together, there were 35 sessions in which he presented 50
dreams. So short an analysis is rare. It is only possible
when energy-laden dreams like Henry's speed up the
process of development. Of course, from the Jungian point
of view, there
Henry
told me that
he preferred
books
to society;
he
felt inhibited
among people,
and was often
tormented
by
doubts
and
self-criticism.
He
was well read
for
his
age
and
had
a leaning
toward
aesthetic
intellectualism.
After
an earlier
atheistic stage, he became rigorously
Protestant,
but
finally his religious
attitude
became
completely
neu-
tral. He had chosen a technical
education
because he felt
is no rule
for the length
of ,time required
for
a successful
analysis. All depends
on the individual's
his talents lay in mathematics
and geometry. He possessed
a logical mind, trained
in the natural
sciences, but he also
readiness
to realize
inner
facts
and
on
the material
pre-
sented by his unconscious.
Like most introverts, Henry led a rather monotonous
outer life. During the day he was completely involved in
his job. In the evenings he sometimes went out with his
fiancee or with friends, with whom he liked to have
literary discussions. Quite often he sat in his lodgings
absorbed in a book or in his own thoughts. Though we
regularly discussed the happenings of his daily life, and
also his childhood and youth, we usually got fairly quickly
to the
had
a propensity
toward
the irrational
and
mystical
that
he did not want to even admit
to himself.
About
two years before
his analysis began,
Henry
had
become
engaged
to a Catholic
girl from
the French
part
of
Switzerland.
He
described
her
as
charming,
efficient,
and
full
of
initiative.
Nevertheless,
he
was
uncertain
whether
he
should
undertake
the
responsibility
of
mar-
riage.
Since
he
had
so little
acquaintance
with
girls,
he
thought
it might
be better
to wait,
or
even to remain
a
investigation
of
his dreams
and
the
problems
his
326
327
inner life presented to him. It was extraordinary to see
how strongly his dreams emphasized his "call" to spiritual
development.
But I must make it clear that not everything described
here was told to Henry. In analysis one must always re-
main conscious of how explosive the dreamer's symbols
may be for him. The analyst can hardly be too careful
and reserved. If too bright a light is thrown on the dream-
language of symbols, the dreamer can be driven into an-
xiety, and thus led into rationalization as a defense mech-
anism. Or he can no longer assimilate them, and can fall
into a severe psychic crisis. Also, the dreams reported
and commented on here are by no means all the dreams
that Henry had during his analysis. I can discuss only an
important few that influenced his development.
In the beginning of our work, childhood memories with
important symbolic meanings came up. The oldest dated
back to Henry's fourth year. He said: "One morning I
was allowed to go with my mother to the baker's shop
and there I received a crescent roll from the baker's wife.
I did not eat the roll but carried it proudly in my hand.
Only my mother and the baker's wife were present, so I
was the only man." Such crescents are popularly called
"moon-teeth," and this symbolic allusion to the moon un-
derlines the dominating power of the feminine-a power
to which the little boy may have felt exposed and which,
as the "only man," he was proud of being able to confront.
Another
And these problems
are also to be seen in the images of
his first dream.
The
initial
dream
The day after Henry's
first visit to me, he had the follow-
ing dream:
I was on an excursion with a group of people I did not
know. We were going to the Zinalrothorn. We had started from
Samaden. We only walked about an hour because we were to
camp and have some theatricals. I was not given an active
part. I especially remember one performer-a
young woman
in a pathetic role wearing a long flowing robe.
It was midday and I wanted to go on to the pass. As all
the others preferred to remain, I went up alone, leaving my
equipment behind. However, I found myself right back in the
valley and completely lost my orientation. I wanted to return
to my party but did not know which mountainside I should
climb. I
was hesitant about asking. Finally, an
old woman
showed me the way I must go.
Then I ascended from a different starting point than our
group had used in the morning. It was a matter of making a
turn at the right altitude and then following the mountain
slope to return to the party. I climbed along a cog-wheelmoun-
tain railway on the right side. On my left little cars constantly
passed me, each containing one hidden bloated little man in
a blue suit. It is said they are dead. I was afraid of other cars
coming from behind and kept turning around to look, so as
not to be run over. My anxiety was needless.
At the point where I had to turn off to the right, there were
people awaiting me. They took me to an inn. A cloudburst
came up. I regretted that my equipment-my rucksack, and my
motor bike-were not there, but I was told not to get them
till next morning. I accepted the advice.
childhood
memory
came
from
his fifth
year.
It
concerned
Henry's
sister,
who
came
home
after
her
examinations
at school and found
him constructing
a toy
barn.
The barn
was made
with blocks of wood
arranged
in the form
of a square
and
surrounded
with
a kind
of
hedge that looked like the battlements
of a castle. Henry
was pleased
with
his
achievement,
and
said
teasingly
to
Dr.
Jung
assigned great
importance
to
the first dream
his sister:
"You have started school but you're
already on
in an analysis, for,
according
to him, it often
has antici-
holiday."
Her reply, that he was on holiday all year, upset
patory
value.
A
decision
to
go
into
analysis
is
usually
him
terribly.
He
felt
deeply
hurt
that
his "achievement"
accompanied
by an emotional
upheaval
that
disturbs
the
was not taken seriously.
Even
deep psychic levels from
which
archetypal
symbols
arise.
years
later
Henry
had
not
forgotten
the
bitter
The
first
dreams
therefore
often
present
"collective
im-
hurt
and injustice
that
he had felt when
his construction
ages"
that
provide
a
perspective
for
the
analysis
as
a
was rejected.
His later problems
concerning
the
assertion
whole and can give the therapist
insight into the dreamer's
of his masculinity
and
the
conflict between
rational
and
psychic conflicts.
What
fantasy
values are already
visible in this early experience.
does the
above dream
tell us of Henry's
future
328
329
development? We must first examine some of the associa-
tions that Henry himself supplied. The village of Samaden
had been the home of Jlirg' Jenatsch, a famous 17th-century
Swiss freedom-fighter. The "theatricals" called up the
thought of Goethe's
Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre,
which
Henry liked very much. In the woman he saw a resem-
blance to the figure in a painting called
The Island of the
Dead
by the 19th-century Swiss artist Arnold Bocklin.
The "wise old woman," as he called her, seemed to be
associated on the one hand to his analyst, on the other
to the charwoman in J. B. Priestley's play
They Came to
a City.
The cog-wheel railway reminded him of the barn
(with battlements) that he had built as a child.
The dream describes an "excursion" (a sort of "walking
tour"), which is a striking parallel to Henry's decision to
undertake analysis. The individuation process is often sym-
bolized by a voyage of discovery to unknown lands. Such
a voyage takes place in John Bunyan's
Pilgrim's Progress,
or in Dante's
Divina Commedia.
The "traveler" ·in Dante's
poem, searching for a way, comes to a mountain that he
decides to climb: But because of three strange animals (a
motif that will also appear in one of Henry's later dreams)
he is forced to descend into the valley and even into hell.
(Later he ascends again to purgatory and /finally reaches
paradise.) From this parallel one could deduce that there
might be a similar period of disorientation and lonely
seeking in store for Henry. The first part of this life-
journey, represented as climbing a mountain, offers ascent
from the unconscious to an elevated point of view of the
ego-i.e., to an increased consciousness.
Samaden is named as the starting point of the excur-
sion. This is where Jenatsch (whom we may take as em-
bodying the "freedom-seeking" sense within Henry's un-
conscious) started his campaign for the liberation of the
Veltlin region of Switzerland from the French. Jenatsch
had other characteristics in common with Henry: He was
a Protestant who fell in love with a Catholic girl; and,
like Henry, whose analysis was to free h.im from his
mother-ties and from fear of life, Jenatsch also fought for
liberation. One could interpret this as a favorable augury
for the success of Henry's own fight for freedom. The goal
of the excursion
One of Henry's
childhood memo-
ries involved a
crescent roll, which
he drew (top left).
Center, the same
shape on a modern
Swiss bakery sign.
The crescent shape
has long been
linked with the
moon and thus
with the feminine
principle,
as in the
crown
(left)
of the
goddess
Ishtar
of
is the Zinalrothorn,
a mountain
in west-
third-century
H.C.
ern
Switzerland
that
he
did
not
know.
The
word
rot
Babylon.
331
330
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