object:3.11 - Epilogue
book class:The Practice of Psycho therapy
author class:Carl Jung
subject class:Psychology
class:chapter
EPILOGUE
[538]
To give any description of the transference phenomenon is a very
difficult and delicate task, and I did not know how to set about it except by
drawing upon the symbolism of the alchemical opus. The theoria of
alchemy, as I think I have shown, is for the most part a projection of
unconscious contents, of those archetypal forms which are characteristic of
all pure fantasy-products, such as are to be met with in myths and
fairytales, or in the dreams, visions, and the delusional systems of
individual men and women. The important part played in the history of
alchemy by the hierosgamos and the mystical marriage, and also by the
coniunctio, corresponds to the central significance of the transference in
psycho therapy on the one hand and in the field of normal human
relationships on the other. For this reason, it did not seem to me too rash an
undertaking to use an historical document, whose substance derives from
centuries of mental effort, as the basis and guiding thread of my argument.
The gradual unfolding of the symbolic drama presented me with a
welcome opportunity to bring together the countless individual
experiences I have had in the course of many years study of this theme
experiences which, I readily admit, I did not know how to arrange in any
other way. This venture, therefore, must be regarded as a mere experiment;
I have no desire to attri bute any conclusive significance to it. The problems
connected with the transference are so complicated and so various that I
lack the categories necessary for a systematic account. There is in such
cases always an urge to simplify things, but this is dangerous because it so
easily violates the facts by seeking to reduce incompatibles to a common
denominator. I have resisted this temptation so far as possible and allow
myself to hope that the reader will not run away with the idea that the
process I have described here is a working model of the average course of
events. Experience shows, in fact, that not only were the alchemists
exceedingly vague as to the sequence of the various stages, but that in our
observation of individual cases there is a bewildering number of variations
as well as the greatest arbitrariness in the sequence of states, despite allagreement in principle as to the basic facts. A logical order, as we
understand it, or even the possibility of such an order, seems to lie outside
the bounds of our subject at present. We are moving here in a region of
individual and unique happenings that have no parallel. A process of this
kind can, if our categories are wide enough, be reduced to an order of sorts
and described, or at least adumbrated, with the help of analogies; but its
inmost essence is the uniqueness of a life individually livedwhich
nobody can grasp from outside, but which, on the contrary, holds the
individual in its grip. The series of pictures that served as our Ariadne
thread is one of many, so that we could easily set up several other working
models which would display the process of transference each in a different
light. But no single model would be capable of fully expressing the endless
wealth of individual variations which all have their raison dtre. Such
being the case, it is clear to me that even this attempt to give a
comprehensive account of the phenomenon is a bold undertaking. Yet its
practical importance is so great that the attempt surely justifies itself, even
if its defects give rise to misunderstandings.
1
[539]
We live today in a time of confusion and disintegration. Everything is
in the melting pot. As is usual in such circumstances, unconscious contents
thrust forward to the very borders of consciousness for the purpose of
compensating the crisis in which it finds itself. It is therefore well worth
our while to examine all such borderline phenomena with the greatest care,
however obscure they seem, with a view to discovering the seeds of new
and potential orders. The transference phenomenon is without doubt one of
the most important syndromes in the process of individuation; its wealth of
meanings goes far beyond mere personal likes and dislikes. By virtue of its
collective contents and symbols it transcends the individual personality
and extends into the social sphere, reminding us of those higher human
relationships which are so painfully absent in our present social order, or
rather disorder. The symbols of the circle and the quaternity, the hallmarks
of the individuation process, point back, on the one hand, to the original
and primitive order of human society, and forward on the other to an inner
order of the psyche. It is as though the psyche were the indispensable
instrument in the reorganization of a civilized community as opposed to
the collectivities which are so much in favour today, with their
aggregations of half-baked mass-men. This type of organization has a
meaning only if the human material it purports to organize is good for something. But the mass-man is good for nothinghe is a mere particle
that has forgotten what it is to be human and has lost its soul. What our
world lacks is the psychic connection; and no clique, no community of
interests, no political party, and no State will ever be able to replace this. It
is therefore small wonder that it was the doctors and not the sociologists
who were the first to feel more clearly than anybody else the true needs of
man, for, as psycho therapists, they have the most direct dealings with the
sufferings of the soul. If my general conclusions sometimes coincide
almost word for word with the thoughts of Pestalozzi, the deeper reason
for this does not lie in any special knowledge I might possess of this great
educators writings, but in the nature of the subject itself, that is, in insight
into the reality of man.
Figure 11Figure 12Figure 13
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