Jungian Psychology from the Cultural Perspective

Carl jung is often associated with Freud and psychoanalysis, including his own "analytical psychology". He has several concepts, such as unconsciousness, symbolism, and dream analysis, which can easily make people think that these concepts are inherited from Freud's classical psychoanalysis theory. Therefore, when introducing Jung's psychology, the academic circles will habitually put Jung in the chapter of psychoanalysis, and at most it will be named as "new psychoanalysis". This is the usual practice and the most common thinking habit.

Once upon a time, I thought so, thinking that Freud's psychoanalytic theory was like a big lake, and Jung's analytical psychology was just a stream in the lake. Although it later developed into a lake, it finally originated from the great lake-flowing out of an unconscious place-where there was a stormy primitive force that controlled everything in the future. Past experience, especially "nurturing" in infancy, has become the key to a person's life. Psychoanalysis attaches great importance to causality, and thinks that the causes of today's "problems" can be found from past experience, and these evidences are usually hidden in the depths and can only be "excavated" by therapists.

However, when you read more of Jung's works, you will find that Jung's treatment thought is very different from Freud's theory, probably because he is a priest's family background, so he will be particularly mysterious, even feel mysterious, not so friendly and easy to understand. Reading his works has also become obscure and profound. However, there will always be some feelings at that time, which is a bit of "deja vu". As for what it is, it is not so clear. This is my superficial understanding of jung and his school before.

Until later, because of the work of Face to Face, I had the honor to meet Professor Alvin Dueck, who was studying cultural psychology at Fuller University in the United States. He has a deep affection for face-to-face teaching and an extraordinary friendship with Dr. Wang Xuefu, the founder of face-to-face teaching. The deepest connection based on this relationship-I learned later-is that Professor Du Aiwen is an expert in studying "cultural psychology". In his view, psychological healing should first respect the cultural environment of the parties; Starting from his "native culture", Dr. Wang Xuefu thinks that the healing work is actually an "awakening" and "renewal" of the client's own old culture. The so-called "coincidence" between them emphasizes the role of "culture" in treatment, which makes people with "like-mindedness" appreciate each other and form a profound friendship, which is commendable.

I have had the privilege of meeting Professor Du Aiwen several times. I don't have any close contact with him because of the language problem. But in his teaching and company, through observation and experience, I can deeply feel the knowledge and humility as a cultural elder. As he revealed, his eyes, like a clear lake, are deep, distant and pure. There is also his composure and steadiness, which is probably the accumulation of culture and experience over the years. Of course, because of his American cultural background, he occasionally has American humor, which makes people feel childlike and lovely. Unfortunately, Professor Du Aiwen's fame in China, especially in the general public and psychological circles, is not as loud as his knowledge and personality, which is extremely disproportionate. Recently, his book Psychology of Peace, co-authored with another American scholar, was published in China. Although it started from Christian psychology, it also incorporated the understanding of cultural diversity and differences into the treatment process from time to time. It is also worth mentioning that one of the recommenders of this book is Professor Han Buxin, who has recently been appointed as the chairman of the Chinese Psychological Society.

This time, Professor Du Aiwen went to China to attend the meeting. Although he only had a few days, he spared no effort to explain Jungian psychology face to face in his spare time to explain the psychological connection between eastern and western cultures. From this, I began to learn to look at Jung and his analytical psychology from a cultural perspective, which is a brand-new understanding and understanding for me. Although I don't know much about it, I still repeat my thoughts and tidy up the mess.

The word "culture" is mentioned many times here, which inevitably leads to the definition and judgment of culture. However, when we talk about the word "culture", there are often some inconsistent opinions. Everyone seems to have some descriptions that seem to suit him. Of course, the most easily misunderstood thing is to equate "culture" with "knowledge". Obviously, the category of "culture" has been narrowed and distorted.

In order to truly understand the meaning of "culture", I personally think it is necessary to start with the etymology of the East and the West. From the perspective of ancient China, the word "culture" was interpreted separately. The original meaning of "Wen" refers to texture, which extends the meaning of decoration, modification, article and cultivation. The original meaning of "Hua" is changed, born and created, and it is extended to change, realize and repair. When the two words are linked together, we can think that "culture" is actually the abbreviation of "humanistic education"; In the west, the word "culture" comes from Latin culture, which means farming, training, education, development and respect. Compared with China's ancient Chinese characters, western "culture" pays more attention to "culture", and both emphasize "cultivation" and "education". However, for a society or a group, if it wants to educate others, then the group must have the attributes that the group has, and this attribute can have an impact on the individuals in the group, and with the help of the strength of the group, the individuals in this attribute can actively participate and continue to act as the "pusher" for the spread of "culture".

However, as for what these "* * * attributes" refer to, edward tylor, a British anthropologist, has a clear description in his book 187 1 primitive culture. His description of culture is: "knowledge, belief, art, morality, law, habits, etc." All the abilities and habits acquired as members of society are a compound whole. Let's just say that the word "culture" mentioned here contains the above viewpoints.

The proposition of collective unconsciousness is Jung's most important contribution in psychoanalysis, and it is also the most obvious difference or transcendence to Freud's theory. Freud is a clinical psychiatrist, and the establishment of his psychoanalytic theory mainly comes from the summary of his many years of clinical practice experience. He looked for the root of neurosis or mental illness from one individual patient to another, that is, the individual's instinctive conflict was suppressed into unconsciousness, and because the instinctive power was too strong to live forever, he took the form of symptoms and expressed it in a symbolic curve. Freud always cared about the psychological world of human beings. Although he will also involve some social and cultural factors, such as his research on totem and taboo, love and sexuality, literature and art, his ultimate goal is to return to the individual. He wants to prove the unconscious existence of human beings and the transformation of sexual instinct after being suppressed. Because Freud paid attention to the individual, it was easy for him to push his theoretical thoughts to the linear thinking of reductionism and determinism.

Jung began to form his concept of collective unconsciousness after parting ways with Freud. He noticed that Freud's theory would have a transcendental universal basis on instinct, that is, these instincts were impersonal, innate and universal. It seems that people are born and can control their future development. But Freud did not point out how these transcendental parts were obtained from a deeper and broader perspective, and Jung gave a better answer. He put forward the concept of "collective unconsciousness", that is, there is a more common collective unconsciousness in the depths of "individual unconsciousness", which belongs to the same part of the whole mankind. How did the collective unconscious come into being? Jung gave a certain explanation from the perspective of human culture at this time. He pointed out that since ancient times, the collective unconscious has been linked with consciousness through its culture and manifested in consciousness. For example, people in ancient Greece worshipped various temples in their lives in order to gain the ability to worship the Lord God and overcome their inner timidity, hesitation and ignorance.

However, after the rise of the industrial revolution, rationalism gradually gained the upper hand, scientific methods replaced the free expression of the mind, and symbolic forms and ritual activities became less and less, so human beings tended to project in a collective way. In other words, human beings under rational thinking are no longer easy to communicate directly with the collective unconscious, as if they are losing contact more and more. In Jung's view, this is the reason why more and more modern people suffer from neurosis.

Prototypes and symbols seem to be the easiest way to connect Jungian psychology with culture, because they both carry profound human culture in them. Let's start with the prototype. Jung's prototype theory is based on the operation of the collective unconscious. Collective unconsciousness is regarded as a level and a state, and it needs a kind of kinetic energy to make it work, so Jung put forward the concept of prototype. This is similar to the "instinct" theory in Freud's theory. It is an energy that drives people to move in a certain direction, and it is unconscious and people cannot realize it. However, there are also differences between the two. "Instinct" is the energy generated within an individual, which has more biological characteristics; Prototype is handed down from generation to generation by human collective culture, which has cultural and social attributes. So it often has specific images or events, and it is diverse.

Jung once described several archetypal cases: archetypal events (such as life and death, separation from parents, education, marriage, etc. ), prototype images (such as mother, child, father, God, clown, hero, wise old man, etc. ), prototype symbols (such as sun, moon, water, mandala, cross, fish, horse, snake, etc. ) and.

Comparing these concrete prototype examples, we can see that these are all the precipitation from the most primitive human experience. In my opinion, it's like a paved coal mine. As time goes on, it slowly deposits from the surface layer by layer, and finally it is buried in the deepest part of the ground, becoming a part of the collective unconscious. And these * * * experiences, in fact, later formed a part of culture, handed down from generation to generation. At the same time, based on the fact that human beings have the same origin of species, the same ancestors and the most primitive and simple culture, at the bottom of the collective unconscious, there must be the same and universal prototype content of human beings, such as life and death, moon, stars, parents and children. These examples can touch the hearts of all mankind, and obviously have transcended the barriers of different cultures.

These are the most basic prototype examples, which will be deeply touched in the spiritual world of all human beings. Although the history of human development has been continuously broadened, the life field has been continuously extended, and the culture experienced by individuals is obviously different, the lowest level of human spiritual field has been passed down with the genes of human evolution. This is what Jung called the collective unconscious part, which is irrational and full of disorder, confusion and agitation. This part is active and comfortable in the long historical process of mankind. It was not until the modern historical period that rationalism gradually occupied the dominant position, and the academic spirit requiring scientificity, experimentation and logicality led the progress and development of mankind. The irrational part was strongly suppressed and had to retire. Therefore, after modern times, human beings are generally losing the most primitive, primitive and rooted part with human beings, even in the secret cave, it should be related to human individual consciousness. In Jung's view, because the individual loses contact with the self-prototype, so that he can't communicate with the collective unconscious, it will form symptoms of neurosis or psychosis.

As far as I know, Freud didn't seem to mention the concept of prototype, or explained it more. However, he often uses "symbol", especially in his dream job. He regards symbol as a key to open the door of the unconscious, and achieves individual consciousness through the cognition and interpretation of symbolic things. From this perspective, Freud looked at symbols more from the perspective of function. He expects each symbol to have a specific meaning, just as English words have a Chinese explanation, which is preset. For example, snakes are usually considered as male reproductive organs, while empty houses are considered to have female characteristics. In the Victorian culture where Freud lived at that time, this reference met the psychological needs of a certain number of people. However, after World War II, the changes in people's internal needs and cultural changes made Freud's past theoretical concept of "sexual repression" more and more untenable. This is also one of the main reasons why his favorite students leave his courtyard wall again and set up another portal, just like Adler and Jung.

Jung probably inherited Freud's theory of "symbol", and he also attached great importance to symbol, because he believed that self must be expressed through symbol, because there was no other way to express it. However, Jung's symbol is different from Freud's symbol, and the symbol mentioned by Jung is more unique and different from the cultural point of view. For example, it is also a dream interpretation, and the image of a snake appears in the dream, so Freud will simply consider "sex", which is a linear thinking; Jung's dream interpretation will break this linear thinking. He will ask some people who provide dreams about some cultures. What he wants to know is what the image of the same snake represents in his cultural context. This is actually diverse and divergent. In the Western Bible, snakes are generally symbols full of temptation and evil. In Greek mythology, snakes are also regarded as ugly, scary and unpopular characters. In oriental stories, feelings for snakes are complicated. The lower body of Nu Wa, who "made man from earth", is in the shape of a snake, which seems to contain primitive human respect for mysterious forces. In Liu Bang's "Snake-cutting Uprising", the snake was transformed into the body of the emperor, thus proclaiming "the divine right of the monarch". The snake was regarded as the body body double of the dragon in the sky, implying power and hidden power; Of course, China people are most familiar with the story of The Legend of the White Snake, especially the reprocessing of film and television works, which endows the snake with a beautiful artistic conception of repaying kindness and sadness. Therefore, different cultures determine the different connotations of their symbols. Jung will give the dream provider a specific symbolic connotation suitable for describing the dream content, and then he can find out his prototype content, so that the self-consciousness can communicate with the collective unconscious part, thus curing people's symptoms.

In addition, the English word "symbol" also has the meaning of "symbol", that is to say, Jung's prototype symbol not only refers to concrete things, but also includes more symbols and patterns with culture. For example, his most amazing "Datura" is a figure with many symbolic features. Later, Jung accepted the influence of China ancient culture brought by Wei Lixian and made some research on China's Chinese characters. Moreover, in some important places of his stone tablet, China's Chinese characters or some text patterns he created are actually symbols. Behind every Chinese character of China, there is a certain cultural meaning, which is what interested Jung and why he was deeply attracted by China culture.

Professor Du Aiwen explained Jung's psychology from his field of cultural psychology. He loved Jung, and all his words and deeds revealed his admiration for Jung's spiritual part and irrational thought. For example, he once told Dr. Wang Xuefu that he wanted to delete his doctoral experience at Stanford University in the United States. This is not to say that Stanford University is not good, nor is it because of his own arrogance. What he means is that he hopes that the part of his scientific thinking can be weakened, not the irrational and intuitive part. It can be seen that this concept is in line with Jung's idea. Jung once associated Socrates with the divination of the Book of Changes, saying that his inner spirit had suggested him to say, "You should have more music." So Socrates began to practice flute. Similarly, Professor Du Aiwen also said that when he was old, he picked up the violin he played when he was young. Although the voice is terrible, he still enjoys the process and feels that it can be related to his past experience.

People who study psychology often pursue foreign ideas and theories tirelessly, just as we are trying to learn Jungian school, but the thoughts of Jungian psychology are deeply rooted in China's ancient philosophy, which is "facing the abyss" and "fishing for immortals". Professor Du Aiwen also reminded everyone of this many times when explaining Jungian psychology. In fact, Jung met Wei Lixian, a German sinologist and Confucian believer. Jung began to contact China culture from Wei Lixian, and has been addicted to it all his life. We can get a clue from his analytical psychology theory:

Jung's concept of "unity of opposites" coincides with Confucianism's thoughts of "righteousness" and "golden mean"; Its "self-nature" and "integrity" vaguely explain the "benevolence" of Confucianism; The prescription of * * * was put forward because of the profound understanding of the Book of Changes. The alchemy in The Secret of the Golden Flower is taken from Taoist alchemy. When yin and yang are in harmony, the extremes of things will be reversed, and Laozi's concept is easy to understand; And his most famous "Datura" drawing, inspired by Tibetan Buddhism in China. It can be seen that the core idea of Jungian psychology is not so much a derivative of western academic theory as a continuation of eastern cultural thought.

As the saying goes, Jungian psychology has built a bridge between eastern and western cultures. Perhaps one day, human culture can achieve "integration" like "self", which is unknown. ...