Several Views Of The Self

Jung Combined his inner experiences with his psychological observations on himself and others in a uniquely creative way. The evolution of his personal myth is described in his memoirs, which throw light on his theories and help us to integrate his experiences into our own. We do this in the light of our differing personal and cultural endowments and of subsequent clinical discoveries. In addition we have our own relatively thorough personal analyses, and are now second, third, or fourth generation analysts.

When I as a Jungian speak about the ‘self’ it usually refers to some concept, experience or feeling of totality. But first I should like to discuss what the word ‘self’ means to the man-in-the-street, and to non-Jungian analysts.

As a man-in-the-street, when I refer to myself I may be referring to one of the following:

1. I may be simply identifying myself for some specific purpose of communication. Thus ‘I am so-and-so, son of so-and-so, from such-and-such a place, of such-and-such a trade, etc.’

2. I may be referring to a subjective feeling of self connected with me-in-my-body. Roughly the feeling includes my body and all that this is felt to contain or include. This is not strictly limited to the anatomical surface of the body, but may include objects under one's immediate control such as clothes, skis, car, etc. Again, not everything inside me is felt to be part of me. There can be objects in various degrees of assimilation such as diseases, alien thoughts, voices, impulses, sub-personalities or rôles (e.g. ‘I was not myself when I said that.’) Here, feelings of control, goodness versus badness, etc. are important, as well as considerations of inside versus outside.

This ‘self of subjective experience’, as one might call it, is felt to have continuity into the past and the future, although the feeling of continuity is patchy and incomplete. A frequent cause of subjective patchiness is dissociation, while a frequent cause of objective gaps, which may not be felt subjec