Carl Jung, Personality theories, and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - 1

Genie talk: This will be a serial of posts, maybe three or four..

Carl Jung made it his life’s work to explore the “inner space” previously known as the unconscious conscious. A younger colleague of Sigmund Freud’s with a background in his theory as well as inexhaustible knowledge of mythology, religion, and philosophy he made it his habit to make sense of the unconscious. Also equipped with a knowledge in the symbolism of complex mystical traditions such as Gnosticism, Alchemy, Kabala, and similar traditions in Hinduism and Buddism, if anyone could sense the unconscious often revealing itself only in symbolic form Jung could.

After graduating and settling on psychiatry as a career Jung took a position at the Burghoeltzli Mental Hospital under Eugene Bleuler, an expert on (and the namer of) schizophrenia. It was only a few years after that that Jung met Freud. It had been said that the day that they met Freud cancelled all of his appointments for the day and they talked for 13 hours straight.

Freud later came to see Jung as the “crown prince of psychoanalysis” and his heir apparent. Jung was never completely sold on Freud’s theories, however, and their relationship began to end when during a trip to America they were analyzing each other’s dreams and Freud seemed to show a lot of resistance to Jung’s efforts at analysis. Freud finally told Jung that they would have to stop because he was afraid that he would lose his authority. From there, Carl Jung developed one of the most interesting theories of personality the world has ever seen.

to be continued....