My name is Mats (which is the Swedish version of Matthew). Below are abstracts of my articles in English on psychological, religious, and philosophical issues. Click on the link below the abstract to read the article.

I regard myself a “nature philosopher” with an eye on the spiritual aspects of human psychology. Today’s ‘worldly expansiveness’ needs to be counterbalanced by an alternative view of individual psychology, namely as world-transcending. Psychology sees societal adaptation and worldly engagement as hallmarks of mental health, despite the fact that history is replete with world-denying philosophers and ascetics. Among these are included the pillars of our civilization, namely Plato, Jesus, St Paul, St Augustine, etc. Suitably, the latter partitioned the human collective into the Earthly City and the City of God (De Civitate Dei ). Psychology can no longer turn a blind eye to the platonic aspect of our nature. The longing for transcendence must somehow be included in theory.

After all, psychology cannot declare the many Indian yogis and sadhus as mentally ill. Isn’t it a fact that many therapists receive patients with a transcendental yearning, who they don’t know how to deal with because of a lack of theoretical grounding? I submit that today this yearning has become vulgarized as cultural radicalism. To stand aside from society has found a neurotic expression in puer aeternus psychology (see below) . It is a kind of slacker mentality, supported by postmodernist ideologies that view the worldly situation as oppressive and inhibitory, permeated by ‘structures’ that keep subjects chained to their respective societal roles. So a formerly natural and healthy side of human psychology has been misinterpreted as political subversive ideology, highly damaging to society. To contribute to a healthy development, it is the responsibility of psychology to reopen the gate to spiritual advancement and not only support worldly adaptation.

The Self in Historical Light

Iamblichus versus Porphyry

Description: The Neoplatonic and the modern ideals of Self are discussed and criticized, such as the Freudian primal Self and the post-Jungian puerile Self.

Abstract: The article investigates the Neoplatonic Self notion. In the historical record the ideal of personality and the psychological notion of Self have taken many forms. Also the modern ideals of Self are discussed and criticized, such as the puer aeternus (eternal youth) and the primal or uroboric Self. The author argues that Carl Jung’s notion of Self is one-sidedly immanent — there is also a transcendental aspect of Self. In the heated debate between Porphyry and Iamblichus, both were right in their own way.

Keywords: Plotinus, Neoplatonism, primary narcissism, grandiose self, ego-Self axis, Erich Neumann, Michael Fordham, psychoanalysis, puer aeternus, Romantic era.

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Critique of Individuation

Description: Individuation as the process of maturation is connected with the way of the spirit. The ego abandonment of spiritual tradition must be taken seriously.

Abstract: Individuation as the process of psychological maturation is connected with the way of the spirit, the same as the ‘narrow path’. Social and worldly adaptation as a central aspect of individuation is overvalued. According to psychology, symbolic transformation of unconscious images fulfills a therapeutic function. This view is criticized as a way of upholding the stagnant ego, which should really undergo authentic transformation. The notion of ego abandonment in spiritual tradition must be taken seriously. Central to psychology is the integration of the unconscious. But equally important is the opposite process of ‘complementation’. Consciousness is not only synthetic, it has also a ‘sympathetic’ function. Consciousness can give life back to the unconscious and not only empty it of its goods. To this end, a creative form of contemplation is recommended, in the manner of painting or writing. The destruction of the stagnant state of personality, and the riddance of aspects of personality, are part and parcel of individuation. Today, adaptation and assimilation are overvalued whereas negation is undervalued. The Self in Jungian psychology is a towering ideal, a conglomerate of contradictory aspects of personality. At a point in time, the spiritual seeker must abandon the ideal of completeness and begin to negate his profane obsessions, which are nothing but meaningless games of life. At this juncture, the passionate game of creativity is ushered in.

Keywords: integration, complementation, negation, destruction, spiritual path, art, individuation, apotheosis, alchemy, Gnosticism, Holy Grail, Emanuel Swedenborg, Poul Bjerre, C.G. Jung.

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The Boardgame Mandala

Description: Board game patterns portray cultural transformations in the collective psyche in the form of mandala shapes pertaining to the whole numbers, such as three and four.

Abstract: In the evolution of game diagrams and rules boardgames have come to mirror not only cultural aspects but also the transformations in the collective psyche. The boardgame portrays the collective psyche in the form of mandala shapes pertaining to the whole numbers, such as three and four. The symbolic values of the different geometries and numbers are recurrent themes in cultural history, and denote different stages in the progression of consciousness. In particular, the boardgame can be understood as an equivalent of the vessel in medieval alchemy.

Keywords: mandala, quaternity, trinitarian, Self, alchemy, sacred game, psychic structure, divination.

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The Upward and Downward Paths of the Spirit

Description: Psychology’s one-sided focus on the integration of the unconscious must be counterbalanced by a traditional notion of spiritual ascent.

Abstract: Psychology has a focus on the integration of the unconscious — the process is regarded essential to the individuation, development, and emancipation of personality. The article argues that this view is one-sided. In order to achieve a balanced view of the Self it is necessary to restore the traditional view of spiritual development, representing the path “upwards” toward divine union (henosis). Projections of the unconscious archetype do not only serve the purpose of psychological integration — in terms of Neoplatonism they may also serve as vehicles for spiritual ascent.

Keywords: projection, Neoplatonism, Trinity, archetype, individuation, Dionysus, Cusanus, Iamblichus, coincidentia oppositorum, C.G. Jung.

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Ethical Complementarity

A Complementarian Moral Theory

Description: Complementarity, as employed in quantum physics, is relevant to moral philosophy. The moral of the heart is complementary to a view that equates evil with disorder.

Abstract: The article argues that the principle of complementarity, as employed in quantum physics, is also relevant to moral philosophy. The moral of the heart is complementary to an entropic morality, which identifies disorder as evil. The Augustinian and Neoplatonic view of evil as privation is identified with modern principles of thermodynamics. Although it is untenable as a monist moral principle, it becomes functional as a complementary opposite of moral evil. This has a bearing on the ideal of Self; the ideal nature and conduct of personality.

Keywords: privatio boni, entropy, disorder, Self, theodicy, St Augustine, Plotinus, Carl Jung.

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Spirit and Psyche ~ Complementary Paradigms

Description: Various spiritual traditions are discussed, including Hermeticism. Psychology must accommodate spiritual transcendence as counterweight to the worldly perspective.

Abstract: Depth psychology cannot compensate for the loss of spiritual tradition, nor can God make his abode in the psyche. Today, spiritual symbols are often misinterpreted in psychological terms. To remedy this, psychological theory must be developed to accommodate spiritual transcendence as complementary to psychology’s worldly perspective. The path of worldly withdrawal and spiritual contemplation is equally important as the psychological integration of the unconscious and cultural expression. The article discusses various spiritual traditions and takes a critical look at the Hermetic tradition. The nature of faith is discussed.

Keywords: religiosity, faith, Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, metaphorical unconscious, mysticism, Wasteland, animism, synchronicity, Baining people, Pseudo-Dionysius, Kirpal Singh, Carl Jung.

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The Spiritual Method

complementation as spiritual writing

Description: Complementation, as opposed to psychological integration, underlies a spiritual technique that requires a toning down of dominant consciousness.

Abstract: Spiritual techniques building on the psychological principle of unconscious integration, such as active imagination, are criticized. A one-sided flow into conscious light of unconscious content leads to stagnation and alienation from the inner Self. Light is shed on the current regress of Jungian psychology into esotericism. Complementation is defined as the complementary opposite of integration. It is characterized by a toning down of dominant consciousness. A spiritual technique that employs complementation is presented. Although it deviates from historical methods, it is comparable to the medieval contemplation of inner images. While retaining stillness and avoiding active involvement with fantasy material, focus of inner feeling and sensation is sought. The article discusses methods of dream interpretation.

Keywords: spiritual technique, complementation, spiritual writing, integration, contemplation, active imagination, esoterism, Self, dreams, C.G. Jung.

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Bergman themes

leitmotives in the films of Ingmar Bergman

Abstract: This is a discussion of some of the central themes that Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman (1918 – 2007) returns to in his films. The article discusses social and existential misery and its spiritual remedy.

Keywords: film studies, dreams, wild strawberries, the personal paradise, unconscious suffering, Eurydice, scapegoatism, vicarious suffering, Christianity.

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Jung and Swedenborg: modern Neoplatonists

Description: Carl Jung’s indebtedness to Neoplatonism and Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg is demonstrated. The ideal of worldly fulfilment is criticized.

Abstract: The article brings to light many points of agreement between Jungian psychology and the Neoplatonic worldview of Late Antiquity. Also the worldview of Emanuel Swedenborg is compared with Jungian ideas. Swedenborg ought to be regarded as Jung’s true spiritual father. The technique of active imagination, practiced by Swedenborg and Jung, is reevaluated. The ideal of worldly fulfilment is criticized. The idealistic world of Neoplatonism belongs in the unconscious, but not in the outer world.

Keywords: Neoplatonism, Swedenborg, Proclus, C.G. Jung, unus mundus, active imagination, synchronicity, correspondence, spiritual influx, analytical psychology.

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Complementation in Psychology

Description: ‘Complementation’ is the opposite of ‘integration’. It means the reversion of psychic libido into an unconscious state associated with spirituality.

Abstract: Complementation is put forward as an enhancement of the ruling paradigm in psychology. It is defined as the reversion of libido (psychic energy) into a relatively unconscious state associated with spirituality. It corresponds to the practice of ‘unknowing’ in the contemplative tradition of negative theology (‘via negativa’). The one-sided focus on unconscious integration has deleterious consequences as libido is expected to flow perpetually in the conscious direction. Eventually, it becomes an impediment to individuation. Carl Jung’s book “Answer to Job” is criticized from this perspective. There are also destructive consequences for society when notions of integration and wholeness manifest as cultural radicalism and Neo-Marxist ideology. Incarnation is the theological analogue of integration. It is counterbalanced by the glorification of God, which is equally essential. The religious sacrifice caters for the spirit. Psychology ought to give similar attention to unconscious replenishment. Complementation is associated with the praxis of mystical tradition, central to which is abstemious conduct and social withdrawal.

Keywords: Gnosticism, alchemy, scintilla, sacrifice, disidentification, Neo-Paganism, Man of Sorrows, St Anselm, satisfaction atonement, sexual cult, Book of Job.

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Critique of Synchronicity

Description: Carl Jung’s idea of synchronicity is criticized. A concept of Self as both worldly and spiritual ought to be substituted for the unitarian model.

Abstract: Unlike his dream theory and theory of archetypes, Carl Jung’s notion of synchronicity hasn’t met with success. The metaphysical system surrounding the hypothesis includes notions of supernaturalism (transcendence). This is a religio-philosophical viewpoint, rather than a scientific. The deleterious consequences are obvious. It undermines scientific respectability, promotes superstition, and has kindled obsolete polytheistic ideas in the post-Jungians. There is to date no scientific evidence to support synchronicity. But the strongest argument against the synchronistic notion is the fact that it hasn’t proved helpful in any respect. Jung’s unitarian model of the human Self is criticized. The Self really consists of two complementary aspects, a worldly and a spiritual. It is akin to the Christological notion of hypostasis. This would call for an altered view of reality, according to a paradigm of “dual wholeness”.

Keywords: meaningful coincidence, archetype, unus mundus, psychoid, transcendental, polytheism, hypostatic union, Platonism, complementarian Self.

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Jungian concepts in the light of quantum physics

Description: About quantum physics and whether or not it sustains a Platonic worldview, the ‘psychoid’ archetype, and synchronicity. The nature of mind is discussed.

Abstract: The article discusses developments in modern science that are relevant to Platonic philosophy as well as Jungian concepts of ‘unus mundus’, the psychoid archetype, and synchronicity.

Keywords: Orch OR, quantum brain, archetype, insect intelligence, Plato, Hameroff, Penrose, Jung.

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The Puer Aeternus

~ underminer of civilization ~

Description: The puer aeternus (Peter Pan) is a mythological image that also denotes a mother complex connected with psychological rootlessness.

Abstract: The puer aeternus (eternal youth) is an archetypal image of mythology. It also denotes a neurotic condition during which the maturational process is arrested. It depends on an incapability of taking root in life. In the present era the condition has reached epidemic proportions. In order to understand present-day societal and political changes, it is necessary to get a grasp of the “Peter Pan syndrome”, well-known to psychotherapists. Not only is it a tragedy to the individual who risks throwing away his life — psychological rootlessness poses a threat to our civilization. Christianity’s bearing on Western man’s ethos is analyzed.

Keywords: Peter Pan, The Little Prince, infantilism, cultural dissolution, Christianity, Mel Faber, M-L von Franz, St Augustine.

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Complementation in fairytales

Description: Interpretation of a fairy tale (The Golden Blackbird) following ‘psychological complementation’, having to do with augmentation of unconscious life.

Abstract: The relation between consciousness and the unconscious is characterized by reciprocity. The unconscious does not provide a continual flow of invigorating content for the enrichment of the conscious mind. Psychology’s focus on the principle of integration has the consequence that unconscious products, such as fairytale and myth, is sometimes misinterpreted. The article demonstrates how a certain fairytale, The Golden Blackbird, can be interpreted following the opposite principle of complementation, signifying a flow in the unconscious direction.

Keywords: integration, complementation, fairy tale, myth, redemption, Jungian, M-L von Franz.

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The Dark Shadow Of The Quaternity

A critique of the Jungian unitarian Self

Description: A critique of Carl Jung’s Self model centering on his dreams and visions. ‘Complementation’ is forwarded as counterpart to psychological integration.

Abstract: In his 1925 seminar, Carl Jung accounts for a crucifixion fantasy where he takes the appearance of a pagan deity. The article argues that Jung misinterprets this and certain other motifs. Jung’s unitarian model of the human Self harbours a multitude of opposites, which are disconsonant, such as unmixable pagan and Christian elements. The resultant Self ideal is overblown and therefore unhealthy. These elements ought to be separated into two spiritual realms, an upper and a lower, and the model of the Self ought to mirror this bipartition. Jung’s own fantasies and dreams give evidence to this. Psychology’s relation to trinitarian concepts of theology is discussed.

Keywords: quaternity, Self, transcendental, trinitarian, spirit, active imagination, circular distillation, complementation, integration.

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The Complementarian Self

The Twofold Self

Description: The psychological Self is both this-worldly and otherworldly following the principle of complementarity. It coincides with the theological view of Christ.

Abstract: The Self, representing the wholeness of the psyche, has in different guises functioned as a role model for the individual, throughout history. In the Christian era, the ideal of the spiritual individual who is morally perfect (Jesus Christ), through its very one-sidedness, created a reversal of its spirit into materialism. Psychologist Carl Jung, renounced the ideal of perfection and proposed an ideal of completeness. The article argues that the trinitarian spiritual ideal must continue to play a role, together with a this-worldly (quaternarian) ideal of spirit, following the principle of complementarity as defined by physicists. The transformation of Self is an ongoing process in the unconscious. The complementarian Self obtains as the goal of the spiritual path. In medieval alchemy it corresponds to the hermaphrodite, and the philosopher’s stone. The article diverts from Jung’s view of alchemy regarding the method of approach to the unconscious.

Keywords: Self, psychic structure, complementarity, St Augustine, Wolfgang Pauli, trinitarian, quaternity, alchemy, Christ.

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The Blood Sacrifice

its symbolism and psychology

Description: Victimization is analyzed as an archaic method of ego emancipation by which the transgressor’s unconscious suffering is transferred to the victim.

Abstract: Victimization as a form of sacrificial ritual is discussed. It is understood as an inferior and archaic method of ego emancipation by which the transgressor’s unconscious suffering is transferred to the victim. Transfer of sin and guilt occurs. As a consequence, original wholeness is disrupted. The blood sacrifice originates as a defense against the fear of an overwhelming unconscious. Power over life and death is imparted to the institutions of consciousness. Identification with collective consciousness is promoted, which serves to strengthen feeble individual consciousness. The regressive bond to the unconscious is temporarily disrupted, but the sacrifice must be renewed. It is the real impetus behind Freud’s death drive and also the destructive narcissistic relationship.

Keywords: human sacrifice, rite of passage, self-mutilation, primal transgression, apocalyptic sect, ego wholeness, flagellants, amputation disorder, sin transference, St Paul, Tezcatlipoca.

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Symbolic Poverty

On the capacity of relating symbolically with life

Description: Absent the symbolical relation to ‘dark nature’ and natural evil, Western man eschews suffering, finding appeal in idealistic illusions of earthly welfare.

Abstract: The article tries to pinpoint a collective complex unconsciously affecting the population in the Western cultural sphere. The capacity to relate symbolically with life has been lost. Symbolic poverty signifies a deficiency of spiritual relatedness. As a compensatory reaction, many strange preconceptions have appeared, partly deriving from everyday indoctrination. Most conspicuous is the inability to accept suffering, and the reluctance to endure it. Western man, especially through the loss of ritual conceptions, is losing his capacity of relating symbolically to the dark side of existence. A new attitude toward evil and the destructive forces is called for. The article hopes to challenge the reader’s preconceptions, many of which have been drunk in with the mother’s milk.

Keywords: suffering, evil, symbol, ritual, welfare state, Earth-Mother, Chuang-tzu.

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An intrusion of matriarchal consciousness

Description: The collective mind is reverting to matriarchal conceptions, abandoning traditional Western values that allow for ‘differences’. It leads to cultural neurosis.

Abstract: It is argued that Western general consciousness, in parallel with an ongoing cultural dissolution, risks moving in a “matriarchal” direction. The phenomenon represents an inroad of matriarchal consciousness into patriarchal culture, with forbidding consequences, namely the formation of a neurotic culture at a lower level of consciousness. This is unacceptable in the face of the advanced challenges of the future. The distinctive character of a culture, in terms of its cultural and psychological advancement, is a very precious thing that can give the individual the right soil to grow in, as it coincides with his/her inborn constitution. The painful questions of race and ethnicity can no longer be sidestepped. Historically, delirious racial elitism has been counterpoised by an equally unfounded homogenous view of humanity. Guided by the latest findings in human genetics, it is high time to arrive at a balanced view of ethnic diversity.

Keywords: race, matriarchal, patriarchal, heroic, psychic gradient, ethnic unconscious, symbiosis.

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Dependency in the analytic relationship

(The problem of spiritual emancipation)

Abstract: Three cases of dependency, in analysands of C.G. Jung, are investigated. Their dreams, including their personal understanding, are examined. The article addresses difficulties in Jung’s personal convictions, which hampered his former analysands (my conjecture). These convictions remain a quandary in the school of Analytical Psychology. The principle of personal emancipation, so central to the spiritual teachings of all times, is underestimated in the modern era.

Keywords: dependency, transference, Carl Jung, Joseph L. Henderson, Marie-Louise von Franz, Wolfgang Pauli, quaternarian, trinitarian, Christian mysticism, analytical psychology, individuation.

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The animistic archetypal nature of the unconscious

Description: The unconscious has an animistic structure. Therefore Platonic Forms or Jungian archetypes are essential concepts to have knowledge of the unconscious.

Abstract: The concept of the archetype in modern psychology has its roots in animistic mythological thinking, part and parcel of our unconscious psychology. The unconscious constantly produces animistic motifs. Platonism and Jungian psychology are indebted to animism. The archetype is an expression of the animistic economy of the unconscious. It explains the success of the archetypal notion in understanding the unconscious. It is justified regardless of the nature of the archetype. Its ontological (metaphysical) status is therefore not an urgent issue. The archetype resides as an entity of mind in the unconscious psyche, which is the objective psyche. Such a layer of psyche is suggestive of a “divine” unconscious realm, where autonomous processes of volition and ideation are slowly brewing. The backside is that the Platonic paradigm may trigger a polytheistic regress, exemplified by naive New Age notions. The trinitarian tradition of mysticism could provide a way out for gone astray Jungians and New Agers. The path known as ‘via negativa’ means to gear down, to accomplish a withdrawal from the world. It provides the necessary complement that makes individuation complete.

Keywords: archetype, ontology, animism, lucid dreams, individuation, Plato, Poul Bjerre, Carl Jung, contemplation, complementation.

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The Burning Issue: Race and Racialism

Description: Racial strife continues. Research finds that racial awareness is innate, which explains why multiculturalism and ‘colour-blindness’ are ineffective.

Abstract: The problems of racial strife, ethnic conflict, discrimination, and ethnic ghettoization, show no sign of abating. The ideology of multiculturalism and “colour-blindness” has proved ineffectual. This article investigates why. Race as ‘social construct’ is criticized. Racial cognizance has its roots in the unconscious. Therefore it tends to be naïve and exaggerated. This is borne out by research in cognitive science. Light is shed on psychology’s view of ethnoracial difference. Differences depend on which aspects of our common heritage that are become dominant in the population. Thus, it is not necessary to rely on a biological explanatory model. Yet, a categorical denial of biological difference is not the right way to combat racism. Community psychology research shows that ethnic integration does not foster sense of community. Ethnocultural separation, while maintaining cultural transaction, is a better solution than integration. The article highlights the problem of difference anxiety in the context of ethnicity and race.

Keywords: cultural unconscious, white flight, segregation, psychosocial alienation, dark nature, human kinds, difference anxiety, ideology of sameness, cognitive science, cultural psychology, ethnic sociology.

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Insights into the Race Issue

Description: Is ‘race’ still relevant for understanding the human condition? Refusal to acknowledge racial differences engenders an unconscious ethnoracial complex.

Abstract: Genetic research and statistical data have revealed pronounced racial and ethnic differences. It is counter-productive to sweep such facts under the carpet. The racial concept is still relevant to the understanding of the human condition. Since liberal-minded people tend to repress their negative feelings toward other ethnicities and refuse to acknowledge racial differences or problems, an unconscious multicultural complex develops. The extent to which people react with indignation when presented with sterile facts about race is proportionate to the strength of the unconscious complex. There exists no other remedy than to bring facts to light, facts which include considerable ethnic differences in IQ, and upsetting interracial crime statistics. This is a moral burden that must be carried by each and everyone. It includes the worriment of the future prospect of Western culture, in view of an ongoing mass immigration.

Keywords: ethnic IQ, crime statistics, the Other, multicultural complex, unconscious racism, eugenics, Arabic reversal, mass immigration.

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Understanding European psychology

About European psychology — its roots in the interiority of Christian Middle Ages

Description: The mind of the typical modern European is very much a product of medieval times. The Middle Ages has endowed us with valuable mental gifts.

Keywords: introversion, Middle Ages, history of science, Islam, cultural clashes, locus of control.

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A Critique of Feminism

On Women’s Collective Shadow

Description: Women harbour a secret wish to remain in dependency, subordinated to a strong man. It is exacerbated by the feminist call to cast off feminine nature.

Abstract: Feminists eschew the demands of individuation. According to female psychological authors, there is a tendency among women to remain like little girls: they harbour a secret wish to be dependent on a strong man. Other than career and material aspirations, women should turn to inner growth, in order to acquire a true psychological independence. A forlorn “moon consciousness” ought to be reconquered, which signifies the ability to exist in a symbolical realm, as women can be said to be responsible for this side of existence.

Keywords: Cinderella complex, matriarchal, irrational.

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Two psychoanalytic methods

Description: Psychoanalysis ought not always strive to resolve the unconscious problem. A higher expression must instead be sought for the ‘irresolvable complex’.

Abstract: The traditional aim of psychoanalysis is to elucidate and resolve the unconscious problem. But sometimes the factors are too deep-seated to be eliminated. The goal is instead to find a way through which the complex can be lived in an upright and productive way. A new and higher expression can be found for the irresolvable complex. Instead of conscious integration, focus is on complementation — the way in which an unconscious content undergoes transformation and conversion. Since long-term analytic treatment is not required in such cases, psychoanalysis can become better aligned to the requirements of public health care.

Keywords: irresolvable complex, future of psychoanalysis, social-minded, NPD, complementation.

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Mysterium Iniquitatis

The mystery of evil

Description: By an archaic means of ego emancipation, the transgressor’s unconscious suffering is transferred to the victim. It aims at ego-empowerment.

Abstract: Shadow projection, as the transference of personal inferiority, and the related concept of sin transference, lie at the heart of the mystery of evil. Destructive projection does not depend on “misunderstandings” in the micro-social context, nor on instinctual predatory instincts. It is an archaic method of ego emancipation by which the transgressor’s unconscious suffering is transferred to the victim. It aims at maintaining ego firmness. Intellectuals often become subjects of shadow projection since they are capable of thinking freely, and may call into question the established order. It is understood as the projection of Promethean guilt. An answer to the machinations of evil has been formulated in Christian theology. The ego’s suffering is laid on the shoulders of Christ, who carries the sins of the world. The Christ figure is understood as the inner Self (“life-giver”), which serves to promote spiritual awareness (“Christ lives in me”, Galatians 2). A regress to pre-Christian cultural values implies a rebound of scapegoat psychology, as exemplified by the collective shadow psychology of the Third Reich. The Western world is today undergoing transitions which undermine our awareness of the spiritual Self. If our sins aren’t carried by the inner Self anymore, then they must be carried by other human beings, with foreseeable consequences. The article investigates if there exists an instinctual foundation of evil.

Keywords: wickedness, the shadow, Self, sin transference, group narcissism, intellectuals, scapegoatism, Christian love, Orlando massacre.

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Cognitive Science and the Archetypal Unconscious

Abstract: The article investigates whether cognitive science and its notion of congenital unconscious metaphor can inform Jungian psychology. The backside of ingrained transcendental thinking in Western culture, and how we are still caught up in the conceptual patterns of Cartesius and Kant, is discussed.

Keywords: metaphor, archetype-as-such, ontology, animism, transcendental philosophy, folk theories, Kant, Plato, Carl Jung.

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Thanatos

A contribution to the understanding of the collective shadow

Description: Thanatos (the death drive) is an inner compulsion that protects against unconscious wholeness during which the borders of personality are dangerously dissolved.

Abstract: The principle of the death drive (Thanatos) is understood as a genuine psychic force connected with the mother complex. Destructivity in repetitious form can temporarily emancipate the ego from unconscious dependency in phallic-narcissism. It is present in the immature or fragile personality (the weak ego). Thanatos is unconsciously therapeutic in that it aims at strengthening a weak ego consciousness. It can ward off unconscious wholeness, invariably associated with the Mother archetype, in which the borders of personality are dissolved. Although it serves to avoid regression, destructiveness can become obsessive. The sun-god Horus’s perennial struggle against Seth, in Egyptian mythology, illustrates the dynamics of Thanatos. Accordingly, every night Seth defends the sun bark by defeating the negative Mother in the guise of the chaos monster Apophis. Thanks to Seth, the sun of consciousness is restored and can rise again in the morning. In history, phallocentric culture is sustained by Thanatos in its restorative capacity, but this runs counter to the ideals of patriarchal culture, whose guiding star is Horus.

Keywords: Todestrieb, matricide, trauma, suicide, mortido, destrudo, patriarchal, Phallic Mother, complementation.

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Complementaris Mundus

a complementarian metaphysic

Description: The world is both material and spiritual. Yet, in accordance with the complementarity principle, it is not experiential as a dual world.

Abstract: Many phenomena in the realm of psychology are unapproachable to science. It calls for a complementarian metaphysical model according to which the universe is both spiritual and material. But it is not experiential as a dual universe. Depending on the conscious viewpoint of the observer, it is either spiritual or material (scientific). Yet, neither of the models will suffice as sole explanatory model. This follows the principle of bipartite complementarity as defined by quantum physicist Niels Bohr. The metaphysical nature of the unconscious archetype is discussed. Postmodernist “re-enchantment of the world” is criticized.

Keywords: spirit, transcendental, science, complementarity, double realism, metaphysics, archetype, unus mundus, psychoid, Spinoza, Plato, C.G. Jung.

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The real meaning of the motif of the dying god

Description: The mythic theme of the dying god depicts the mystery of incarnation, symbolic of the propitious and liberating function of conscious realization.

Abstract: Narcissus, and other tales, have been abundantly used in concretistic types of psychological interpretation. The article shows that they ought to be viewed in abstract terms as portraying processes in the individual and collective psyche. The examined stories depict the mystery of incarnation, symbolic of the emancipative function of conscious realization. The gender of the god is discussed, and it is argued that the dominance of the masculine divinity depends on natural processes of conscious enhancement.

Keywords: archetype, Princess Cottongrass, Coyote Blue, Narcissus, Unicorn, Christ, Lucifer, Oedipus.

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The Unconscious Spiritual Nature

Description: What is the nature of ‘spirit’? From dreams we can deduce that it ever searches to manifest via the unconscious, through mysterious symbol.

Abstract: Centering upon a modern man’s dream about a glowing fish, the article points out that the unconscious, and the much older notion of the spirit, are partly overlapping spheres. The spirit ever searches to manifest via the unconscious, and it is expressive of the spiritual urge in mankind.

Keywords: relational unconscious, ichtys, spirit, spiritual urge, the Unknown, religion, alchemical vessel, dream interpretation.

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The Sphinxlike Unconscious

Description: Like the enigmatic sphinx, the unconscious is ultimately unknowable. There is inside us a longing for archaic wholeness, equatable with primary narcissism.

Abstract: The enigma of the sphinx, in itself an apt symbol of the unconscious, is impenetrable due to the ultimately unknowable nature of the unconscious. Many-sidedness is the foremost characteristic of the unconscious. Yet it is argued that the psychoanalytic theory of over-determination is inadequate. Unconscious multiformity can give rise to creative expressions in a dream. But the dream does not constitute an over-determined content. It is better viewed as the formulation of a wholeness from a composite of motifs. An important corollary is that the obsolescent notion of ‘primary narcissism’ could be reinterpreted as a form of archaic wholeness wherein religiosity and instinctuality exist in an undifferentiated condition. Certain historical expressions of sexual cultic religion could be understood as a return to blissful ‘primary narcissism’.

Keywords: unconscious unknowability, primary narcissism, Oedipus, sphinx, original wholeness, over-determination, primal scene, hieros gamos, cult of sexuality.

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The psychodynamics of terrorism

Description: Terrorism springs from an archaic psychic economy of sin transference. Its connection with the death drive and the historical blood sacrifice is discussed.

Abstract: Drawing on notions from comparative religion, and also Freud’s discussion of the death drive, light is shed on the psychodynamic principles behind terrorism, and the bottomless evil of mankind, in general. Terrorism is not foremostly a political problem, or a problem deriving from poverty. Nor is it an evil that springs from unshackled instinctual forces. Terrorism, and the even greater problem of bullying and victimization of our peers, has its roots in an archaic psychic economy of sin transference. Following St Paul, people can be vaccinated against this evil, by forsaking ideological grandiose ideals; by giving up the search for the perfect, blissful, condition of outer life, and instead learn that ‘the kingdom is within.’

Keywords: psychology of terrorism, theocracy, human sacrifice, transfer of sin, Khidr, The Green Man, St Paul, death drive, genocide.

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Hero worship

Description: The hero archetype provides the impetus for personal emancipation. Conflictingly, it gives rise to hubristic expansionism, to the detriment of heartfelt values.

Abstract: The hero archetype has two sides. On the one hand it provides the impetus for personal emancipation, contributing to the success of Western culture. On the other hand it has given rise to present-day hubris and expansionism. The article investigates the dark side of unthinking heroic worship. It is argued that our civilization is under the spell of an illusion of heroism causing a collective hubris and fixation on principles, to the detriment of the personal values of the heart. As portrayed in myth, the hero must be allowed to die.

Keywords: sun-hero, suicide bomber, terrorism, Icarus, hubris, individuation, apocalypse, millenarianism, Carl Jung.

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Critique of Neo-Hegelianism

Description: Critique is directed against Hegelianism and its continuation in Marxist and postmodern philosophy. The myth of modernity severs our roots in the natural order.

Abstract: The article discusses the hollow myth of modernity and the misguided movement in the present time that puts great faith in a technological future. Critique is directed against subjectivistic philosophy in the guise of Kantianism, Hegelianism, and their continuation in postmodern philosophy. The thought of Neo-Hegelian psychologist/philosopher Wolfgang Giegerich is refuted.

Keywords: Hegel, Romanticism, subjectivism, technology, puer aeternus, individual, collectivism, meaning, World Soul, individuation, Self, Goedel, Kant, Giegerich.

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The penitential disease

Neither psychic nor somatic?

Description: There are many handicapping illnesses that defy explanation. It is suggested that these spring from existential stress present in the collective unconscious psyche.

Abstract: Millions of people suffer from illnesses that defy explanation. It is argued that such symptoms emerge as an expression of the overall suffering of existence, a suffering that was earlier carried by the Godhead. Western mankind is becoming aware of the gloomy existential condition in a cold and meaningless universe. The solution is to tone down worldly-oriented consciousness; to gear down and invoke spiritual meaning in modern guise.

Keywords: sacrifice, penance, suffering, crucifixion, disease, Amfortas wound, spiritual, existential stress.

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Critique of idealistic phenomenologism

Abstract: The philosophy of idealistic phenomenology has a continuance in post-Jungian theory, which continues to peddle irrationality. The article concentrates on Robert Romanyshyn’s phenomenological Weltanschauung conveyed in an interview around his book “On Technology as Symptom & Dream”.

Keywords: holism, dualism, materialism, neo-animism.

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The Romantic Flight from Reality

Description: In ‘Misinterpretation of Man’, Paul Roubiczek formulates a valuable critique of Romantic times and thought, highly topical for today’s world.

Keywords: Fichte, Kant, Novalis, Schlegel, Weltschmerz.

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Critique of Archetypal Psychology

Description: James Hillman’s Archetypal Psychology reinterprets the archetype according to phenomenology and furthers an amoral and aesthetic worldview.

Abstract: Today there is a strong tendency towards making Jungian psychology a generic name for a diversity of systems that, although they at the first glance look related, because of similar terminology, their kernels and ideals are completely different from Jung’s ideas. One of these theories is Hillman’s “archetypal psychology,” which radically reinterprets Jung’s concept of the archetype, dismisses the important notion of the Self, renounces the process of individuation, devaluates the method of introversion, opposes Jung’s notion of the moral obligation of grasping the unconscious and replaces this with the amoral, aesthetic, attitude of the puer aeternus (eternal youth). Despite this gross repudiation of Jungian psychology, Hillman is embraced by publishers as a “Jungian” or “post-Jungian” psychologist. But a correct denomination would be “anti-Jungian.”

Keywords: soul-making, puer aeternus, phenomenologism, animism, subjective idealism, Archetypal Psychology, James Hillman, Carl Jung, David Tacey.

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Winnicott’s Dream

A Critique of Winnicott’s Thought as a Form of Mystical Narcissism

Description: Donald Winnicott’s theory mirrors typical features of the narcissistic disorder, such as recurrent destruction and subject-object merger.

Abstract: British psychoanalyst Donald W. Winnicott (1896-1971) developed an original theory involving controversial ideas such as the destruction of the patient and the merger of the subjective and objective worlds into a whole. He argued that C.G. Jung suffered from a severe pathology, which affected his theoretical outlook. This article argues to the contrary: Winnicott’s own theory displays a narcissistic kind of structure. His dream appears to be an unconscious reaction against an unsupportable conscious attitude. Winnicott is much concerned with how to defend against patients and their invasive pathology. It functions as a system of defence for the psychologically weak therapist, an attitude that is harmful to patients. The article contributes to the understanding of narcissism.

Keywords: narcissism, negative mother complex, potential space, relational field, suicide-cult, purity, unit personality.

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About group narcissism

Description: Group narcissism is discussed. The notions of a ‘healthy’ narcissism and a ‘natural narcissistic spectrum’ are criticized.

Abstract: Group narcissism denotes the pathological version of the way in which individuals mirror themselves in a group, often associated with an idealized person. It comes to expression in religious or political extremism and in the celebrity media machine. The notions of a ‘healthy narcissism’ and a ‘natural narcissistic spectrum’ are criticized. The causes of narcissism are discussed.

Keywords: group psychology, popular culture, idols, narcissistic spectrum, mirror effect, NPD, idealization, primary narcissism, Pinsky, Fromm, Freud.

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The Golden Blackbird

Description: An interpretation of fairy tale ‘The Golden Blackbird’ according to Marie-Louise von Franz’s method.

Keywords: non-personalistic, Dummling hero, king, transcendent function, archetype.

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A constructive critique of the structural model in psychoanalysis

Description: Critique is directed against Freud’s structural model that generalizes an Oedipal pattern. The psyche is built around many more complexes.

Abstract: The article illustrates how the theory of complex psychology is highly relevant to the ongoing discussion within the psychoanalytic community. Critique is directed against Freud’s structural model of the psyche that generalizes an Oedipal psychodynamics. The obsolete operationalism that still lingers in the psychoanalytical community must once and for all be abandoned. Psychology must cease devoting itself to unconvincing empirical investigations and allow more room for rigorous theorists.

Keywords: Oedipus, operationalism, autonomous complex, transference, rational neurosis, structural model, complex psychology, Freud.

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Critique of Intersubjectivity

Description: Intersubjectivity implies an involvement on the unconscious level. But psychotherapy should not work toward a relative merger of our conscious personalities.

Abstract: The article investigates the philosophical/psychological notion of intersubjectivity and argues that our subjective involvement in each other, especially the psychoanalytic relation between analyst and analysand, ought to be regarded as an involvement on the unconscious level. The diverse notions of a joint conscious creation, or joint narrative, implying a relative merger of our conscious personalities, are harmful and will not invoke a wholesome form of subjective engagement.

Keywords: intersubjectivity, Ogden, relational field, the analytic third, narrative.

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The ongoing self-destruction of psychoanalysis

Description: The theoretical chaos in psychoanalysis depends on an insufficient metaphysical groundwork. Empirical science must be buttressed by a metaphysical foundation.

Abstract: The current ‘theoretical chaos’ in psychoanalysis depends on an insufficient metaphysical groundwork, leading to self-destructive consequences. Empirical science must be buttressed by a metaphysical foundation, or else empirical findings cannot be comprehensively understood. It results in confusion. To remedy this, psychological theorists must delineate a system of metaphysical principles, including ethical principles. The term ‘metaphysical’ is understood as “the system of principles underlying a particular study or subject” (Webster’s dictionary).

Keywords: psychoanalysis, metaphysic, Oedipus, Proteus, empiricism, rational neurosis, psychological monomorphism, pluripotent unconscious, projective transidentification.

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The case of “Dora”

Description: An attempt at reinterpretation of Freud’s famous case of ‘Dora’.

Keywords: dream interpretation, number symbolism, psychoanalysis, Tao.

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Edinger – the ego prophet

Description: In Edward F. Edinger’s analysis of religious and alchemical themes the symbolic value is depleted as symbols are subjected to onesided intellectualization.

Abstract: The article is a critique of Edward F. Edinger’s analysis of religious and alchemical symbols. It is argued that the symbolic value is depleted when symbols are subjected to onesided intellectualization. E. sees intellectual understanding and the reinforcement of ego consciousness as universal remedies and as the essential meaning of human life. Accordingly, symbols are reductively understood as signifying ego-formative processes, when they really point at a deeper mystery. Edinger’s view of the Self as an autonomous centre of consciousness, on a par with the ego, is criticized.

Keywords: archetype, alchemy, Christ, Self, crucifixion, consciousness, ego, post-Jungian, C.G. Jung.

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Psychoanalysis at the crossroad

Description: To avoid conceptual isolation, a clarification of metapsychological assumptions is called for. Knowledge of the unconscious belongs in public consciousness.

Abstract: It is argued that psychoanalysis in the future may only be sanctioned in academia, and find acceptance in the health business, should metapsychological concepts become common knowledge. Psychoanalysis, and neighbouring branches, suffer from conceptual isolation. A knowledge of the unconscious belongs in public consciousness. Empirical research must stand on firm theoretical ground, which is not the case today. For this reason, neither research nor a clinical approach can give direction to psychoanalysis. The answer lies in a theoretical perspective, a clarification of metaphysical and metapsychological assumptions.

Keywords: dialectics, interiority, metapsychology, empiricism, physicalism, cognitive-behavioral.

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Critique of Conflict Theory

Description: Charles Brenner’s ‘Conflict Theory’ is neurotic, as such. It cannot function as a model of the normal psyche, where conscious and unconscious are separated.

Abstract: ‘Conflict theory’ (psychoanalytic) mirrors the chaotic configuration of the borderline psyche. Charles Brenner has effectively discarded the separate psychic layers of conscious and unconscious. The stream of outer and inner information is loosely connected, mirroring the instability and contradictory nature of the borderline psyche, as opposed to the more hierarchical and austere configuration of drives and perceptions among normal people. It is an apt example of a “neurotic theory”, since it cannot function as a model of the normal psyche. Conflict theory is irreconcilable with neuroscience as well as classical psychoanalysis and analytical psychology.

Keywords: compromise formation, structural model, language philosophy, indeterminacy, post-structuralism, Freud, Giegerich.

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The Limits of Science

Description: A scientific outlook requires that we accept metaphysical postulates insufficient for creating a full-fledged worldview. Ultimate truth must be sought within.

Keywords: pseudoscience, David Bohm, Niels Bohr, Copenhagen model, guidance field, teleology.

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The Plastic Preachers

On inferior psychology and religion

Description: The modern collective spirit has brought forth a personality capable of transforming any genuine subject matter into plastic. These are the false preachers.

Keywords: symbol, imagination, phenomenological psychology, Archetypal Psychology.

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The Morphic Deception

Abstract: Pseudoscientific New Age philosophy, advanced by thinkers such as Rupert Sheldrake and Ken Wilber, is a blind alley in the world of theory. Sheldrake’s philosophy, peddling notions such as morphic resonance and habits of nature, is a purely theoretical product that has been impossible to underpin empirically.

Keywords: morphogenetic field, David Bohm, Gustaf Strömberg, Ken Wilber, Niels Bohr, hypostatization, archetypal ideas, pantheism, World Soul.

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Creativity

the unconscious source of the creative spirit

Description: There exists an unconscious form of creativity that complements our daytime activity — a spiritual power that ever searches to manifest itself in human life.

Abstract: There are two forms of creativity, our daytime creativity and its unconscious complement (my conjecture). An unconscious semi-autonomous spiritual power ever searches to manifest itself in human life. In dreams it is often symbolized by the phallus, in alchemy by the spirit Mercurius. It is hampered by modern-day rationalism and the reductive view of the unconscious as mere drive nature and repressed content. What is even more damaging to the unconscious creative force is the romanticizing tendency present among Jungians and followers of New Age. The technique of ‘active imagination’, due to a romantic obsession with symbolic imagery, is likely to block out a true creativity. Hence conscious attachments cannot be abandoned. It makes impossible the goal of the immersion in the unconscious, so central to mystical and spiritual discipline. The corrupting influence befalls the very people who are favourably disposed toward the unconscious, and their creative instinct is wounded.

Keywords: creativity (“solar” and “lunar”), painting, psychoanalysis, phallus, romanticism, mysticism, alchemy, Picasso, critique of active imagination.

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Rock Music Lyric Interpretation

Description: An attempt at interpretation of rock lyrics: ‘The Hill and Hibiscus Flowers’ by Steve Harley

Keywords: father-world, puer aeternus, Hermetic philosophy, alchemy, Mother goddess.

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