This workshop will describe how Jung’s approach to the psyche and to psychotherapy arises out of his philosophical commitments. I will show how his is a philosophy of idealism, and how he does not see the psyche as merely a product of the brain. I will discuss Jung’s rejection of metaphysics but how he also reveals his personal metaphysical beliefs, especially his monism, based on the idea of the unus mundus. I will show how Jung acknowledges a spiritual dimension to the psyche, in contrast to most other forms of psychology, especially in terms of his ideas about the Self and the objective psyche as a source of religious experience. I will discuss the debate about Jung’s status as a scientist. Finally, I will describe how Jung and Wolfgang Pauli tried but failed to find common ground between depth psychology and quantum mechanics based on their common interest in synchronicity.

This lecture will place Jung’s thinking in the context of some of the major philosophical commitments that underpin contemporary theories of psychology and psychotherapy. Rather than compare Jung with other schools of thought on the basis of differences in clinical theory and technique, this lecture will describe Jung’s assumptions about the psyche, about human nature, and even about reality that underpin his theory and distinguish it from other approaches.

Jung’s discovery that the psyche contains an innate God-image, a divine essence, avoids many of the problems associated with anthropomorphic, patriarchal God-images. Using examples from people’s personal experiences, we will describe and discuss a variety of ways in which the Self manifests itself in dreams, visions, and synchronicities. We will also discuss Jung’s idea that the Self has a dark side that is responsible for suffering and evil, as well as describe the ways in which this contrasts with the Christian God-image.