Jung originally defined his concept, "the Self," (Selbst), as follows: "As an empirical concept, the Self designates the whole range of psychic phenomena in man. It expresses the unity of the personality as a whole." "But insofar as the total personality, because of its unconscious component, can only be partly conscious, the concept of the Self is, in part, only potentially empirical and is to that extent a postulate. In other words, it encompasses both the experienceable and the unexperienceable (or the not-yet experienced). From an intellectual point of view it is only a working hypothesis. Its empirical symbols, on the other hand, very often possess a distinct numinosity, that is, an emotional value. It thus proves to be an archetypal idea . . . which differs from other ideas of the kind in that it occupies a central position befitting the significance of its content and numinosity."
Of the content and development of his ideas, Jung wrote: "The Self appears in dreams, myths, and fairy tales in the figure of a 'supra-ordinate personality, ' such as a king, prophet, or savior, etc., or in the form of a totality symbol, such as the circle, square. . . . When it represents . . . a union of opposites it can also appear as a united duality in the form, for instance, of Tao as the interplay of Yang and Yin." Related ideas pertaining to Self-symbolism were initially described by Jung: "The Self is not a philosophical idea since it does not predicate its own existence."
By way of critical appraisal the Journal of Analytical Psychology published a symposium on the self in 1985. In Joseph L. Henderson's contribution it is written: "I am impressed with how much serious thinking by Jungian analysts has gone into clarifying the multi-faceted subject. For the most part the theoretical basis as expressed by Jung himself has been reaffirmed, namely that the Self as a symbol of totality of psychic life and as a central archetype of order equally exist."
But if we place metaphor to one side and look at the manifestation of self-hood in action we may find our centering totality at work in more humanly understandable forms, as in analysis where analyst and analysand enter into a common ego-self relationship.
The self in this context approaches the concept of the self in other psychologies, such as Kohut's self-psychology. Perhaps Jungians are in general becoming more comfortable with self as a psychological concept only and less in awe of the self as an archetype with its metaphysical aura.
Knowing the danger that too much emphasis upon the self may have an inflationary effect on the ego (grandiosity), or that too little emphasis upon it may aggrandize the importance of ego consciousness over the unconscious, normal self-definition is found where ego and self are separate but inherently related. Jung writes: "Sensing the Self as something irrational, as an undefinable existent, to which the ego is neither opposed or subjected, but merely attached, and about which it revolves very much as the earth revolves around the sun—thus we come to the goal of individuation." The individuated ego senses itself as the object of an unknown and supra-ordinate subject. It seems that a psychological inquiry might come to a stop here.
Bibliography
Henderson, Joseph L. (1985). The self in review. Journal of Analytical Psychology, London, 30, p. 243-246.
Jung, Carl Gustav. (1923). Psychological types. Coll. works, Vol. VI. Bollingen Series XX. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1971, p. 460-461.
Kohut, Heinz. (1971). The analysis of the self. New York, International Universities Press.
——. (1977). The restoration of the self. New York, International Universities Press.
—JOSEPH L. HENDERSON
International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. Copyright © 2005 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
