Let’s look at the Self archetype, one of the central concepts in Carl Jung’s theory of archetypes and the unconscious, and a deeply inspiring one at that.
This archetype is at the top of Jung’s archetypal tree, and acts as an end-point in the growth process that Jung considers primary to human flourishing. The Self archetype is our higher self, our higher wisdom, our all-seeing inner eye.
Where Freud fails to offer a coherent, high-level vision of psychic work, Jung opens our eyes to a wonderful possibility that exists for us all: unifying of our inner light and shadow, coherence, authenticity, and wisdom. We capitalise the word “Self” to indicate its sacrality.
Let’s begin with the key qualities of the Self archetype.
Key Qualities
First of all, let’s note that according to Jung, this Self is an archetype: a psychic pattern stored in the collective unconscious that we may tap into or not.
He thought that when we do enough shadow work, uncovering the Persona, reintegrating the Shadow, and rebalancing the Anima and Animus, we come to discover this Self. Thus, though it’s an archetype and exists as an ever-present potential, it remains largely hidden or dormant until we’ve undertaken this process.
In precise terms, Jung thought it was
- a part of the psyche/individual, the one which directed all others,
- the totality of the psyche, the union of all opposites,
- AND the centre of the psyche, the organising principle.
It is not just another part of our ego, but a distinct centre of personality, separate from the ego, yet which integrates it. It is like the union of all psychic opposites, of all our drives, motivations and perspectives of all kinds. It’s able to unify both our conscious and unconscious worlds: it is the totality that naturally includes both.
When we tap into the Self archetype, we feel true, integrated, balanced and cohesive. There is wholeness and order. It guides us and keeps us adjusted. It is the regulating centre of our mind.
There are many ways to visually depict the Self. In contrast to the depiction of the unconscious, often in the form of an iceberg whose very tip, poking out of the water, is our conscious mind, the Self is always depicted using symbols of wholeness, like a mandala, square or circle.
Jung discovered the Self in part through his mandala drawings. He came to realise that at the centre of the mandalas, amid all of the patterns and images that surrounded it, lay a unified core, a viewfinder. That is the Self that includes all.
For a different perspective, you can depict the Self and ego together by drawing a circle with a dot in the centre. The Self is the circle, while the ego is the dot. The Self encompasses the ego, transcending yet including it.
The Self appears in films and tales as wise people, saviours and prophets. You can see it in the yin-yang symbol, or in the Centaur, the creature who is half man and half animal: an inseparable unification of the two.
Ego, self and Self
When discussing the Self archetype, it’s crucial we make some distinctions to prevent confusion.
For one thing, this Self is not dictatorial. It’s not the full actualisation of our drives for power, fame, money and respect, all built up to create an omnipotent, all-powerful self. Rather, it’s an identity that goes beyond any particular desires or goals, and instead integrates all desires and goals and is able to mediate between them, acting on them when necessary.
The Self is also not another form of ego, as though an upgraded, more functional version. They are fundamentally different operating systems within us.
Understand that the ego is the part of our psyche that aims to guarantee our survival in all forms, whether biological, psychological or social. To do this, it creates a cohesive narrative about what life is and our role is, which may be wildly distorted and inaccurate. So long as it survives, it doesn’t really care.
As Jane Loevinger says when describing ego development:
the search for coherent meanings in experience is the essence of the ego or of ego functioning, rather than just one among many ego functions. The ego maintains its stability, its identity, and its coherence by selectively gating out observations inconsistent with its current state – granting that one person’s coherence is another person’s gibberish.
Jane loevinger
The ego is concerned with self-preservation, minimising pain and maximising pleasure. It fears, worries, plans and denies the reality of death. It is largely operational and pragmatic; it offers little wisdom or wholeness.
The Self sees the ego and its limitations. It seeks contentment, wholeness, integrity and balance.
The Self Archetype & Shadow Work
Carl Jung described the Self archetype as “the blueprint of our potential unfolding and the path to greater unity of the conscious and unconscious in us… reorienting us towards balance and guiding us into greater wholeness.”
Jung’s approach to therapy based onarchetypal psychology was to help patients identify and reintegrate various levels of themselves until reaching the end-point, the realisation of the Self:
- Uncover, heal and reintegrate the Persona;
- Uncover, heal and reintegrate the Shadow;
- Uncover, heal and reintegrate the Anima or Animus;
- Identify and live out the Self.
In other words, once we have done enough work to identify and reintegrate our subpersonalities, which occur at many different levels, we start to tap into the Self that at once embraces and transcends them all.
My Thoughts on the Self Archetype
I’d like to offer some thoughts on Jung’s theory of the Self archetype.
It’s clear that Jung was largely interested in shadow work. That was his main paradigm or viewpoint on human psychology. Naturally, his Self archetype defines the end point of shadow work and psychic reintegration.
Thus, it’s fundamentally based on the false, age-old assumption that there is only one axis of human growth. This has plagued maps of human growth, East and West, ancient and modern, for as long as they’ve existed.
It doesn’t explicitly include two of the other major growth verticals: spiritual realisation, and the vertical stages of development. It does include some facets of them, but it also smudges them together into one, without nuance or precision. They are fundamentally different, and they should be treated as such.
Integrating the shadow does not guarantee direct spiritual realisation. It may facilitate it, but it doesn’t directly lead to it. The same for vertical human growth: shadow work helps us reintegrate everything that has come in our vertical growth trajectory, but that doesn’t mean it will lead us further than our current level.
On the other hand, what I do love about Jung’s work is that it gives us a clear end-point, vision and organising principle for shadow work. This endeavour isn’t just about gathering up the multitude of inner voices and drives, but transcending them and discovering a new operating system in the process. This is hugely inspiring.
It’s not just about curing one specific illness or overcoming one life issue. It points us to a greater vision of who we can be in the long run, beyond any temporary issue that we’re grappling with. I think this is sorely missing in grassroots medicine, psychiatry and psychology.
So though the Self archetype is a limited concept of human potential, he does point us towards an inspiring endpoint in our shadow work.
You might like my video on anger reintegration.
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The post What is the Self Archetype? first appeared on Deep Psychology.
The post What is the Self Archetype? appeared first on Deep Psychology.
