 The Practice of Jung’s PsychologyJune Singer
One of the first introductions to Jungian analysis for the layperson, this is a juicy, poetic, and powerful book about what Jung has called “individuation” through the therapeutic process. “Individuation means becoming a single, homogenous being, and insofar as ‘individuality’ embraces our innermost, last, and incomparable uniqueness, it also implies becoming one’s own self…we could also translate individuation as ‘self-realization.’ (Jung). By forging and strengthening the connection between the conscious, the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious, one widens access into the depths of the self and outward into the world."
The best thing for me about reading Singer is that she gives a palpable sense of what it actually means to travel the path inward, and the extraordinary value of having an objective and knowledgeable guide. She demonstrates so well the delicacy of the therapeutic relationship in respecting the needs of the client, how the development of the therapy needs to be drawn by the energy of the client, and the tremendous reservoir of insight and direction that the “unconscious” can provide when it is invited.
She explains the basic principles on which Jung based his method, combining it easily with biographical material about Jung which explains how his thought differs from Freud and how he arrived at his insights. Singer writes concretely and clearly about complexes, archetypes, shadow, persona, anima and animus - all the once-esoteric terms which have now become common (though not necessarily well-understood), and uses rich examples from her practice to demonstrate her own methods and how her patients embody, each in his or her unique way, the process of confronting these aspects of the self. Of course there are many frameworks in which to talk about this process, and her insights are worthwhile whether or not you are enthusiastic about the Jungian approach.
I loved this book when it was first published, and reading it again I still find it fascinating. She explores the uses of dreams throughout, which provide a rich tapestry of imagery and emotion and never fail to evoke amazement at the creative power smoldering under the most seemingly humdrum life.
Just to connect this inner journey with the apparently more exterior journey of health for a moment: Candace Pert has said “Our bodies are our unconscious minds.” Physical symptoms, like dreams, can also be an eruption of the unconscious into consciousness when it has no other way to speak, and equally useful in interpreting what is happening. (See also Awakening Intuition.)
For me, June Singer evokes the feeling rather than the intellectual concept, more than most books on this subject, of both the arduous work involved in growing in self-understanding, and also the rich resources that are available within.
On working with the “shadow:”
The way which is sought for dealing with the shadow is a difficult one. It requires a continuing search for evidence of this dark force, and when it is found it must be brought to consciousness: this is what I am, this is what I am capable of doing. The dreams must be scrutinized for every occasion when the shadow asserts itself, in whatever disguise, and it is necessary to face the meaning of that image as it relates to the life-style of the dreamer. Every situation in life which carries for an individual a charge of strong affect, which makes him excessively angry or anxious or even delighted, must be considered in terms of the possibility that the extra investment of energy may be coming from the unconscious in the form of a shadow projection. This is, moreover, not something one undertakes for a limited period in the course of the analysis, and then, when the shadow is laid to rest, can assume that he is able to go on to the finer and more glorious aspects of the analysis.
The shadow is, in truth, a devilish form, and just when you think you know who he is, he changes his disguise and appears from another direction. So it is, in the Jungian analysis, that the analysand is initiated into a lifelong process, that of looking within, and being willing to reflect long and hard on what he sees there, in order to avoid being taken over by it. Nor, I must add, is the analyst immune from the onslaught of the shadow. It is a quest which the analyst must continue as long as he is an analyst, and probably as long as he lives. In his work he must be able to differentiate his responses to the analysand so that he will know what actually is coming from the analysand to him, and what is a reflection of his own unconscious contents that he is projecting onto the analysand.
Furthermore, he must know that the matter of shadow projection is a double-edged sword, for even while he looks out for what he may tend to project onto the analysand, he must also be noticing what the analysand may be projecting onto him, else be may fall into the trap of accepting the analysand's judgment of him, when at bottom the analysand is judging those hidden aspects of himself which he dare not face, or envying those potentialities which he fails to recognize in himself.
Unless the analyst is able to sort out all of this, and utilize it in the analytic process to enlarge the area of awareness, first in himself and then in the analysand, he stands in danger of himself being unknowingly entrapped by the influence of the unconscious. Again, I must point to the importance of a long and thorough training analysis which is required to prepare the therapist to deal in depth with complexities of unconscious processes.
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