Metaphor Archives - The Addiction Complex

Addiction, Allegory, and the Unconscious

March 2, 2013 By Erik J. Welsh, PhD Leave a Comment · Return to top of page

Datson (2013) wrote on an intriguing topic of metaphor and allegory, titled “Musings on Metaphor and Allegory” at Soul Spelunker. What intrigues me is how the expressed symbol (through metaphor) may be evoked from what is read, alluding to the hermeneutic process. Quilligan (1979) informed “all true narrative allegory has its source in a cultures attitude toward language, and in that attitude, as embodied in the language itself, allegory finds the limits of its possibility” (p. 15). Allegory, through the organization of an experience, or reading, allows for the reader to explore the work “by making our own running commentary as we read” (Quilligan, 1979, p. 16). This presents the notion of metaphor that I would like to discuss. We are observing a metaphorical process through the method of hermeneutics. For clarity’s sake, I am discussing poetry when I am referring to the content read, and it is the exploration of poetry that might allow us to embrace the symbolic and metaphorical expressions. We may find the formation of metaphor through the engagement of literature, which is evoked through the very act of reading.

Our experiences can be viewed symbolically through allegory, which allows for a literary expression “to point more easily to something beautiful and intangible” (Edwards, 2007, p. 126). Just as I have spoken of poetry to be a means in expressing the experience of addiction, one can engage with the symbolic musings of what unconscious material has been revealed through metaphor, yet the beauty is in embracing the meaning, and to a degree, understand. Lewis (1959) informed the allegory “is of the very nature of thought and language to represent what is immaterial in picturable terms (p. 44).

Smith (2005) stated that from the “book The Allegory of Love, C. S. Lewis explains the tradition of symbolic theology in contrast to allegory…that allegory is connected to symbolism…allegory starts with the sensible world and invents something fictional, which is less real that the sensible. Symbolism, in contrast, tries to look past the sensible world to something more real beyond it to which it points” (Smith, 2005, p. 222).

A statement from Datson (2013) had directed my thoughts to the individual’s interpretations of received, or read content that may evoke metaphor, where he had explained “an allegory is nothing but the use of something known to represent some moral truth or trope in figurative terms” (Musings on Metaphor and Allegory, para 5). What I have gathered from Datson’s statement is how symbol may represent and be expressed as truth. When discussing how through poetry the individual can expose their intrapsychic interpretations, trials, and meanings, the symbol metaphorically expressed to expand on truth, reveals an apparent beauty of poetic expression. While one reads the poetic expression of themselves or from another, as Quilligan informed there is the individual’s interpretation and interpersonal meaning that is to be consciously embraced or thwarted as either a conscious or unconscious response to what emotional complex may resonate. Our reactions to the symbolic expressions do not only provide a conscious interaction, as poetry might illuminate material from the unconscious as well; so we can engage with the metaphorical expression of symbolism through poetry consciously, and potentially experience unconscious symbolism. We then can explore what symbolism, what content has seeped from the unconscious through poetic expression.

“The metaphor is the preferred language of the unconscious because metaphors are images that catapult one beyond the literal to the Mundus Imaginalis. The unconscious speaks through imagery. This is not the imaginary kind of images, but imaginal symbols, which originate from the realm of the Imaginal” (Datson, 2013, Musings on Metaphor and Allegory, para 7).

When discussing poetic expression and the experience of reading such expressions, I am bringing our attention to how we choose to use language. There are apparent blockades in the symbolic realm of words, which might cause hesitation in the artistic utilization of language; although we are discussing symbol.

“Symbolism arises when the phenomenon…is first transformed into an idea…and later into a picture…whereas allegory is found when the concept…is turned into a picture. In symbolism or symbolic representation, the picture contains the idea…in allegory, the concept is completely absorbed in the picture and the expression forms an entity. In the symbolic the poet captures…the truth immediately without having to search for it. In the allegorical he has to search…because there is a distance to be conquered between” (Cecchini, 2000, p. 342) that of what is particular and universal.

Through the understanding of symbolism the metaphor then is of unconscious content that has been projected upon the witnessed material. I would like to briefly acknowledge some terms that can present a more elaborate landscape in regard to how we may engage with and experience symbol. On September 22, 2012, The Poetic Symbol: A Metaphoric Projection of Unconscious Material, I had described projections through the terms of dissimilation and assimilation. Jung explained dissimilation to be where the “subjective content becomes alienated from the subject and is, so to speak, embodied in the object…as projection means the expulsion of a subjective content into an object” (Jung, 1921/1990, p. 457). Introjection then refers to assimilation or “an indrawing of the object into the subjective sphere of interest” (Jung, 1921/1990, p. 452). I discussed an aspect of projection and metaphor in Alchemy: The Unconscious Act of Projecting on February 2, 2013 and on July 29, 2012, I wrote on Metaphor and Symbol: An Expressive Medium, discussing metaphor to be an “expressive medium of symbols, an expression that exists in a more raw, personified context. From a psychological perspective, metaphor provides the ability to make psychological connections (Shengold, 1981), while the narratives of what is expressed through metaphor allows for the individual to conceptualize the experience”. These terms are quite fitting as we are now observing external content as a symbol, defined through metaphor, which evokes an engagement of imagination and fantasy.

Through the act of reading poetry, metaphors may influence the individual through an internalization of the expressed content. “Poetry is a marking out of our humanity in rhythm and metaphor and abstraction; but it is also that which potentially acts as a conduit to the intuitive dimensions” (Wylie, 2007, p. 80). As a writer, one may have expressed the experiences of projection just as the reader may have projected upon the content. Quilligan (1979) explained, “after reading an allegory, however, we only realize what kind of readers we are, and what kind we must become in order to interpret our significance in the cosmos” (p. 24). In theory we could conceptualize that which is a concept, an idea, separate from the symbol or image; in doing so one can theorize on how a union is to exist and how to allow for the content to be recognized.

Reference

Cecchini, L. (2000). ‘Allegory of the theologians’ or ‘allegory of the poets’: Allegory in Dante’s Commedia. Orbis Litterarum. 55, 340-378.

Datson, M. (2013). Soul Spelunker. Musings on Metaphor and Allegory. Retrieved from http://www.soulspelunker.com/2013/02/musings-on-metaphor-and-allegory.html

Edwards, B. (2007). C. S. Lewis [Four Volumes]: Life, Works, and Legacy, Volume 4. Westport, CT: Greewood Publishing Group.

Lewis, C. (1959). The allegory of love: A study in medival tradition. London: Oxford University Press.

Quilligan, M (1979). The Language of Allegory: Defining the Genre. Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press.

Smith, J. (2005). Introducing radical orthodoxy: Mapping a post-secular theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic

Wylie, D. (2007). Unconscious nobility: The animal poetry of harold farmer. English in Africa 34(2), p. 79-92.

Erik J. Welsh, PhD
– Author of The Addiction Complex

Dreams: The Imagery, Journey, and Expression

December 1, 2012 By Erik J. Welsh, PhD Leave a Comment · Return to top of page

I have always been intrigued by the occurrence of dreams, their imagery, metaphorical journey, and plausible emotions associated with the content. Before exploring the content of dreams I would like to focus on the principal or concept more-or-less of the interpretation of dream imagery. When I am discussing addiction, I am also bringing in an understanding or conceptualization of the experience of addiction. When reading on dreams I began to notice a similarity in my associations to dream work and to addiction.

I would like to start with a statement made by Stein (1997):

“If the purpose of dreams is fulfilled without their being remembered, then the idea that dreams need to be understood, or even that they necessarily have cohesive meaning for the conscious ego, is suddenly called into question. Yet we have our intuitive sense that dreams do mean something, and people who act on this assumption, as do people in psychoanalysis, experience confirmation of it” (p. 107).

I suppose then the individual’s intuitive sense of what dreaming signifies in one’s life carries the relevance of this experience. I can assume, though, for the dream that has been remembered, there is a metaphorical journey nestled within the symbolic musings of the psyche. Wilkinson (2006) informed that “the individual develops creative capacity to make conceptual and affective links across difference realms of knowing; material may begin to move from unconscious implicit memory towards the explicit realm of knowledge of memory” (Wilkinson, 2006, p. 146). I was drawn to Wilkinson’s statement as we can conceptualize a more cognizant understanding of how to discuss the occurrence, or phenomena of a dream. When we are discussing implicit memory we are observing the memory derived from experience. Then, the explicit memory is dependent upon conscious thought. Discussing memory is a topic in-of-itself, yet the intrigue is in the emotions nestled within a memory. On July 1, 2012, Emotional Estrangement, I briefly speak to emotions in regard to addiction.

“The metaphoric and metonymic sources are combined to form the reality of the dream” (Lakoff, 1993, p. 242).

Jung (1968/1974) explained dreams to be a derivative of unconscious processes, and that they are a reflection of unconscious material. “It is not a reflection of unconscious contents in general but only of certain contents which are linked together associatively and are selected by the conscious situation of the moment” (p. 34). It seems significant to mention that I do not see the meaning and metaphor of dreams to fit within discernible terms as the misuse of interpretations, of language and of theoretical applications “often turns the table on us; it even seems as if the unconscious had a way of strangling the doctor in the coils of his own theory” (Jung, 1968/1974, p. 96). What I am alluding to is for the dreamer and the listener to observe what transference exists through the presented and experienced imagery of metaphorical expression. “In dream-analysis we must never forget, even for a moment, that we move on treacherous ground where nothing is certain but uncertainty” (Jung, 1968/1974, p. 96). From what content is purged amongst the dream, the addict is receiving a personal myth, a narrative of what the ego may not have been able to endure, yet the psyche will express.

Addiction is an individual, intrapsychic experience that may include those of an environment. Though we can relate to the experience of addiction and have shared common instances, the addictive experience is that of the addict, and is highly personal. Within the dream, the experience is that of the addict’s experience and metaphorical explanation; an assumption that can be applied or extended to those beyond that of an addiction. My intention here is to look from another angle, and to allow the observer to acknowledge the experience as that of the addict’s; it is not to create a generalized understanding, but to hold space for an individual’s understanding of the experience and expressed metaphor. Let us not entrench ourselves within the tendency to have a formula to discern the material of a dream. What if one were not to entrench themselves in a generalized definition of what has been experienced, but empathetically, compassionately embrace the individual experience.

Starting from an entry on July 8, 2012, The Struggle Towards Compassion, and on September 29, 2012, The Loneliness in Addiction, I suppose that I am attempting to separate the experiences of the observed and observer, both of which hold elements of the experience. From the memories and experience of the addict, and of the observer who may witness the toil, to stare into the abyss of an addiction, might we seek to understand and interpret the experience objectively; to not have the stare locked with that of an infinite, chaotic, and perilous abyss. Just as one may have associations in regard to the metaphors of dreams, one too may have associations to the experiences and metaphors of the addict. There exists at times a tendency to interpret an experience, the dream, from a dictionary of experiences. Additionally the experience can be expressed through metaphor, and of the expressed metaphor, the listener can witness the imagery evoked. As Wilkinson (2006) explained “what has become increasingly clear is that dreams process states of emotion, that dreams have meaning” (p. 142). The meaning then, is of the addiction, of the addict, and not of the individual who projects upon the addict, or succumbs to the transference which itself is of vibrant material for another entry.

Reference

Jung, C. G. (1974). Dreams. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol 4, 8, 12, 16). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1968)

Lakoff, G. (1993). In A. Ortony (Ed.) Metaphor and thought. (pp. 202-251). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Stein, M. (1997). Jungian analysis. Chicago, IL: Open Court.

Wilkinson, M. (2006). Coming into mind. New York, NY: Routledge.

Erik J. Welsh, PhD
– Author of The Addiction Complex

The Images of Emotion

September 8, 2012 By Erik J. Welsh, PhD Leave a Comment · Return to top of page

“I managed to translate the emotions into images—that is to say, to find the images which were concealed in the emotions” (Jung, 1961/1989, p. 177). Emotions are powerful forces that can at times overwhelm the psyche. If we are able to look deeper, and withstand the pull and not become engulfed by them, emotions can carry with them meanings that are crucial for our growth and understanding. “Had I left those images hidden in the emotions, I might have been torn to pieces by them” (p. 177). By staying with the emotions, Jung found a way to translate and capture their significance into something manageable and meaningful. The images act as a bridge, connecting us to material that might otherwise overwhelm us. Following my discussion of imagination on August 19, 2012, in Fantasy, Imagination, and Desire: The Ego and Metaphor, and my discussion on July 1, 2012, in Emotional Estrangement, I am now delving into the notion of how meaning can be gleamed by uncovering the images hidden within the emotions.

The significance of an image can be recognized by how they are actually “representing an inner reality which often far outweighs the importance of external reality” (Jung, 1921/1990, p. 442). The images are a combination of unconscious material and conscious awareness at any particular moment in time. When these images touch upon material that is also mythological, the images may then capture archetypal motifs as well. At times emotions may be so overwhelming in their intensity that we disconnect from them in order to protect ourselves. When we become dissociated from our emotions, we lose the ability to create meaning out of them and the events or circumstances they arise from. Dissociation hinders our ability to find the images that capture the emotions.

“The inner image is a complex structure…It is no conglomerate, however, but a homogeneous product with a meaning of its own. The image is a condensed expression of the psychic situation as a whole” (Jung, 1921/1990, p. 443).

The emotion is what happens to the individual and at times we go to great lengths to try to deal with the emotions that we experience. The images that can be found within our emotions carry both meaning and the capacity to transform us and our understanding of the world. The deeper meanings inherent within our emotional experiences bring us to the philosophical underpinnings of alchemy. Alchemy captures unconscious processes through images and metaphor. The alchemist’s projected their own unconscious material onto material they sought to change through a series of procedures. Connecting these ideas to addiction, the very process of addiction involves becoming overwhelmed, disconnected, and estranged from parts of ourselves. For many, using a substance is a way to trying to move away from an emotional experience that feels unbearable. With substance abuse, there is no longer the possibility of translating the emotions into imagery, and the meaning is therefore untouchable. From the imagery within the emotion, reason, or meaning is plausible due to the imagined, conscious engagement towards awareness. To focus on the imagery in association with affect, one is seeking awareness of what has been experienced. As Corbett (2011) explained, “we can discern a symbolic meaning to the suffering, while other times the suffering seems meaningless” (p. 263) If we can find the image hidden within the emotion, we can also ascribed meaning to our most powerful and devastating experiences. Jung stated further:

It is equally a grave mistake to think that it is enough to gain some understanding of the images and that knowledge can here make a halt. Insight into them must be converted into an ethical obligation. Not to do so is to fall prey to the power principle, and this produces dangerous effects which are destructive not only to others but even to the knower. The images of the unconscious place a great responsibility upon a man. Failure to understand them, or a shirking of ethical responsibility, deprives him of his wholeness and imposes a painful fragmentariness on his life. (Jung, 1961/1989, p. 192-193)

The meaning of an image is then bound to the emotions and to the experiences. Emotions are what bind the associations of the symbolic experience while the images are what can help connect us to what we may find unbearable. Images, then, can be a means of preventing fragmentation or dissociation within the psyche. Jung directed our attention to the symbolic meanings and expressions of such images when discussing the alchemist’s expression of an inner experience. Jung (1944/1993) stated “what the written word could express only imperfectly, or not at all, the alchemist pressed into images. . . they often speak a more intelligible language than is found in his clumsy philosophical concepts” (p. x). From the symbolic meanings of intrapsychic experiences, the images found through emotion act as a bridge, connecting the emotions and imbuing them with meaning.

Reference

Corbett, L. (2011). The sacred cauldron: Psychotherapy as a spiritual practice. Wilmette, IL: Chiron.

Jung, C. G. (1989). Memories, dreams, reflections (A. Jaffé, Ed.) (R. Winston & C. Winston, Trans.) (Rev. ed.). New York: Vintage Books. (Original work published 1961)

Jung, C. G. (1990). Psychological types. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 6). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1921)

Jung, C. G. (1993). Psychology and alchemy. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 12). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1944)

Erik J. Welsh, PhD
– Author of The Addiction Complex

Addiction: The Poetry of Experience

August 26, 2012 By Erik J. Welsh, PhD Leave a Comment · Return to top of page

The section of Jung’s (2009) writing that I have chosen speaks to the use of words and expressions of metaphor as a reflection of our past. Among the symbolic psychological references found in this statement are descriptors that carry religious associations and connotations. I present them here not as a reflection of any particular belief system, but as a reflection of the many facets of the psyche. In my eyes, Jung’s statement also captures the complexities of the addictive experience, where through metaphor the reader may symbolically glimpse what this experience entails. When I first read this section, I was taken to a place of recollection; to look back at what one had experienced and witness the glimpse of hope. I would like to note that I am not writing on the literal meanings and intentions of Jung’s statement. I am speaking to the memories and affect that are evoked from metaphor. I have provided a brief introduction regard the concept of metaphor in a previous post on July 29, 2012, Metaphor and Symbol: An Expressive Medium.

Poetry can be interpreted “as a privileged medium for the way human beings most meaningfully deliver their lives to one another” (McDargh, 2011, p. 452).

The addict seeking wholeness is inevitably pulled at and torn from the fragmented state, hopeless and estranged in a sea of indistinguishable matter. The addict defines existence through fantasy and meanders amongst dissociative states that allow for the intolerable affect to remain seemingly manageable. Yet the intolerable is managed by disconnecting and an avoidance of intrapsychic material. The metaphor “is the very foundation of all poetic expression” (McDargh, 2011, p. 453) and it would behoove us to learn how to hone our skills that help us identify the metaphors that arise spontaneously. On June 24, 2012, I wrote Devoid of Hope, which captured the depth of hopelessness and pain within the addictive experience. Jung’s statement below illustrates what might await us if we are able to move through the feelings of despair. It is both easy and tempting to forget that addiction is a form of chaos that becomes embedded in the meaning and understanding of life. If the addict is able to regain a sense of meaning and identity, and not become swallowed up by the chaos of the addiction, a new understanding of the past can emerge that is immense and profound in ways that concrete thinking make intangible.

Lamarque (2009) cautions us on our ontological interpretations of poetry, stating “that poems cannot be treated just as strings of sentences or phrases waiting to be assigned meanings. They are not merely texts. Identifying poetry rests on more than just linguistic or textual facts” (p. 412). It is the symbolic medium of metaphor that allows for the unconscious content to be revealed, unrefined, raw, and volatile. From here I choose to see Jung’s (2009) statement, the chosen excerpt, if you will, as a piece of poetry:

My soul, where are you? Do you hear me? I speak, I call you—are you there? I have returned, I am here again. I have shaken the dust of all the lands from my feet, and I have come to you, I am with you. After long years of long wondering, I have come to you again. Should I tell you everything I have seen, experienced, and drunk in? Or do you not want to hear about all the noise of life and the world? But one thing you must know: the one thing I have learned is that one must live this life.
This life is the way, the long sought-after way to the unfathomable, which we call divine. There is no other way, all other ways are false paths. I have found the right way, it led me to you, to my soul. I returned, tempered and purified. Do you still know me? How long the separation lasted! Everything has become so different. And how did I find you? How strange my journey was! What words should I use to tell you on what twisted paths a good star has guided me to you? Give me your hand, my almost forgotten soul. How warm the joy at seeing you. Let us thank the life I have lived for all the happy and all the sad hours, for every joy, for every sadness. My soul, my journey should continue with you. I wonder with you and ascend to my solitude. (2009, p. 232)

Reference

Akhtar, S. (2000). Mental Pain And The Cultural Ointment Of Poetry. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis. 81(2), 229-243.

Jung, C.G. (2009). The red book. (M. Kyburz, J. Peck, & S. Shamdasani, Trans.)London, England: W.W. Norton & Company.

Kellogg, D. (1995). Desire pronounced and/Punctuated: Lacan and the Fate of the Poetic. American Imago,52(4), p. 405-438.

Lamarque, P. (2009). The Elusiveness of Poetic Meaning. Ratio. 22(4), 398-420.

McDargh, J. (2011). Imagining the Real: The Art of Poetry and the Art of Pastoral Attending. Pastoral Psycholgy. 60, 451-465.

Erik J. Welsh, PhD
– Author of The Addiction Complex

Fantasy, Imagination, and Desire: The Ego and Metaphor

August 19, 2012 By Erik J. Welsh, PhD Leave a Comment · Return to top of page

Though I am distinguishing fantasy from imagination, we are delving into the application of metaphor and the ego’s involvement. As my posts reflect the writing, literature and topics of my dissertation, here I am focusing on an element of my research. I introduced the concept of metaphor from a Jungian orientation on July 29, 2012, in Metaphor and Symbolism: An Expressive Medium. I also began a brief introduction of alchemy as a metaphor on August 5, 2012, in Alchemy: A Deeper Metaphor. I would like to delve deeper into the discussion of symbolism and metaphor and see how they relate to fantasy and imagination. Imagination allows for a conceptualization, or engagement of metaphor, yet the extent to which an individual can engage with symbolism is dependent upon the strength of an individual’s ego. The difficulty with addiction is that the addict, the ego, engages through the function of desire and fantasy, not imagination. From the notion of desire we then move towards the addict’s tendencies of dissociation and fantasy, which leave out the function of imagination. Describing the difference between imagination and fantasy Raff (2000) informed that “while imagination opens the door to profound experiences of the Self, and makes the formation of the Self possible, fantasy leads to inflation, illusion, and stagnation” (p. 43).

Looking through my books I encountered a statement from Ulman & Paul (2006) who explained “even an individual who is moderately healthy is never completely free of the seductive and captivating powers or the archaic form of fantasies” (p. 27). My attention is drawn towards the statement of fantasies, and specifically to how this relates to the individual who is addicted. For the addict there is a significant struggle to function, manage and tolerate experience in response to a mediation and understanding of either fantasy or imagination. Through imagination, real-word encounters integrate with an ego that functions with the ability to hold symbolic interpretations as personified projections (Schwartz-Salant, 1995).

Before I go any further, I would like to momentarily bring attention towards establishing a reference point for ego, as there are noticeable differences in the conceptualization of ego within the various psychological orientations. I will take some time in a latter post to further integrate the depth psychological understanding of ego in addiction, trauma and alchemy. For now, before further delving into how the ego is engaged with imagination and fantasy, lets look at Jung’s (1951/1979) statement:

We understand the ego as the complex factor to which all conscious contents are related. It forms, as it were, the centre of the field of consciousness; and, in so far as this comprises the empirical personality, the ego is the subject of all personal acts of consciousness. The relation of a psychic content to ego forms the criterion of its consciousness, for no content can be conscious unless it is represented to a subject (p. 3).

Edinger (1996) directs the attention to the development of the ego and the ego being established as the subject of consciousness. Jung (1951/1979) explained that the ego “seems to arise in the first place from the collision between the somatic factor and the environment, and, once established as a subject, it goes on developing from further collisions with the outer world and the inner” (p. 5). Furthermore, Jung (1951/1979) informed that consciousness, in theory, has no limits, unless consciousness encounters that which is not-known.

Fantasy is “an unconscious undertow into non-differentiation to escape conscious feeling” (Kalsched, 1996, p. 35).

An important statement to remember regarding the function of the ego is that “no content can be conscious unless it is represented to a subject” (Jung, 1951/1979, p. 3). Content may either filter through the ego or barrage the boundary, inflicting trauma. If the content is unbearable the individual may dissociate to a more manageable realm of disconnection and reside within fantasy. This dissociative realm exists in addiction and is enabled through the engagement of fantasy. The addictive elements then exacerbate a desirous existence. For the ego that thrives in fantasy, there is little chance for true engagement as the addict strives through desire. The addict may also experience dissociative states, yet there is also a desire for wholeness, though this is being sought through fantasy. The dissociative states act as blockades to the encounters with the real world.

The addict is one who meanders the dissociative realms, seeking shelter from intolerable experiences. The addict’s desires will inevitably overrun the values and needs of the psyche. When fantasizing, the individual is in a dissociative state (Kalsched, 1996). Fantasy, then, is not in the realm of the imaginable or of reality. The act of fantasy can be in response to intolerable anxiety (Kalsched, 1996). Gilbert (1964) informed that “imagination is the capacity to form mental representations” (para 2). It is about what fantasy and imagination intrapsychically procure within the individual who is addicted. “It remains an open question whether the opposition between the two standpoints can ever be satisfactorily resolved in intellectual terms” (Jung, 1921/1990, p. 63). We can get lost in the rational and avoidance of difference, plausibly siding on what provides comfort rather than a mediating tension or resolve.

Reference

Jung, C. G. (1990). Psychological types. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 6). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1921)

Jung, C. G. (1979). Aion. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 9). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1951)

Gilbert, R. (1964). Creative Imagination in Terms of Ego ‘Core’ and Boundaries. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis. 45, 75-85

Kalsched, D. (1996). The inner world of trauma:Archetypal defenses of the personal spirit. New York, NY: Routledge.

Schwartz-Salant, N. (1998). The mystery of human relationship: Alchemy and the transformation of the self. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Edinger, E. (1996). The Aion lectures: Exploring the self in C. G. Jung’s Aion. Toronto, ON, Canada: Inner City Books.

Raff, J. (2000). Jung and the alchemical imagination. York Beach, ME: Nicolas Hayes.

Erik J. Welsh, PhD
– Author of The Addiction Complex

“The metaphoric and metonymic sources are combined to form the reality of the dream” (Lakoff, 1993, p. 242).

“The inner image is a complex structure…It is no conglomerate, however, but a homogeneous product with a meaning of its own. The image is a condensed expression of the psychic situation as a whole” (Jung, 1921/1990, p. 443).

Poetry can be interpreted “as a privileged medium for the way human beings most meaningfully deliver their lives to one another” (McDargh, 2011, p. 452).

Fantasy is “an unconscious undertow into non-differentiation to escape conscious feeling” (Kalsched, 1996, p. 35).

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