Concepts that interest me include Self, Psychic Inflation, Individuation, the Shadow, and the Trickster.
Complex – the repressed organisation of images and experiences that governs perception and behaviour
Shadow – the repressed, therefore unknown, aspects of the personality including those often considered to be negative
Self – the central overarching concept governing the individuation process, as symbolised by mandalas, the union of male and female, totality, unity. Jung viewed it as the psyche’s central archetype
Individuation – the process of fulfilment of each individual “which negates neither the conscious or unconscious position but does justice to them both”.[71]
The persona, he argues, is a mask for the “collective psyche”, a mask that ‘pretends’ individuality, so that both self and others believe in that identity, even if it is really no more than a well-played role through which the collective psyche is expressed. Jung regarded the “persona-mask” as a complicated system which mediates between individual consciousness and the social community: it is “a compromise between the individual and society as to what a man should appear to be”.[But he also makes it quite explicit that it is, in substance, a character mask in the classical sense known to theatre, with its double function: both intended to make a certain impression on others, and to hide (part of) the true nature of the individual. The therapist then aims to assist the individuation process through which the client (re)gains their “own self” – by liberating the self, both from the deceptive cover of the persona, and from the power of unconscious impulses.
You come to know yourself by reclaiming your projections
Tricksters are archetypal characters who appear in the myths of many different cultures. Lewis Hyde describes the trickster as a “boundary-crosser”.[1] The trickster crosses and often breaks both physical and societal rules. Tricksters “…violate principles of social and natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis.”[2]
Often, the bending/breaking of rules takes the form of tricks or thievery. Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both. The trickster openly questions and mocks authority. They are usually male characters, and are fond of breaking rules, boasting, and playing tricks on both humans and gods.
All cultures have tales of the trickster, a crafty creature who uses cunning to get food, steal precious possessions, or simply cause mischief. In some Greek myths Hermes plays the trickster. He is the patron of thieves and the inventor of lying, a gift he passed on to Autolycus, who in turn passed it on to Odysseus.[1] In Slavic folktales, the trickster and the culture hero are often combined.
British scholar Evan Brown suggested that Jacob in the Bible has many of the characteristics of the trickster:
The tricks Jacob plays on his twin brother Esau, his father Isaac and his father-in-law Laban are immoral by conventional standards, designed to cheat other people and gain material and social advantages he is not entitled to. Nevertheless, the Biblical narrative clearly takes Jacob’s side and the reader is invited to laugh and admire Jacob’s ingenuity–as is the case with the tricksters of other cultures”.[3]
Actually, I see you more as the shadow.
Yes, the shadow which is not blinded by the light.