The Self Ego : The Psychic Energy

1261 Words3 Pages

Based on Schultz and Schultz (2004), Jung saw psychic energy as a life energy, libido, for which he had two meanings, another one being a divided generalized life energy, and another one being a narrow energy that fuels the psyche. The psychic energy operates in three ways following the principles of opposites, equivalence, and entropy. The principle of opposites means that each aspect of the psyche has its opposite that creates energy. The principle of equivalence means that the energy, which opposite creates is shifted from one part to another to have balance. The principle of entropy means that an equal distribution of energy creates balance in personality. According to Friedman and Schustack (2012), Jung called the mind for psyche, and divided it into three different parts that are the conscious ego, the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious. The conscious ego is the part of the psyche that is concerned with perceiving, thinking, feeling, and remembering, and it’s responsible for running the usual activities of waking life (Schultz & Schultz, 2004). It is also responsible for our continuing sense of identity so that we feel ourselves the same person regardless of age (Anthony, 2001). The personal unconscious contains thoughts and feelings that are forgotten or repressed, because they were random or bothersome (Schultz & Schultz, 2004). It also contains future material and balances attitudes and ideas that the conscious ego presents (Friedman & Schustack, 2012). The conscious ego and the personal unconscious communicate with each other in a way that the latter provides a storage, where from the conscious ego can take out and put back information (Schultz & Schultz, 2004). The collective unconscious is the deepe... ... middle of paper ... ...efined synchronicity as “the simultaneous occurrence of a certain psychic state with one or more external events which appear as meaningful parallels to the momentary subjective state” (Main, 2000, par. 6). As stated in Nikula (n. d.), Jung got so excited about the synchronicity that he thought it may explain many mystical, parapsychological, and astrological phenomena that were his interests until his death, in addition to alchemy and Gnosticism. Based on Schultz and Schultz (2004), Jung used symbols, myths, and rituals from ancient cultures in his therapies that included the word-association test, which he used to reveal complexes, free-association to analyse symptoms, and dream analysis. Jung believed that dreams tells something that is likely to happen and that they help us to reach equilibrium between opposites energies in the psyche (Schultz & Schultz, 2004).

Open Document