Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of ThoughtJung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Philosophy
Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of Thought
Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Libido (Psychology); Mother and child; Psychoanalysis; Subconsciousness; Symbolism (Psychology)
Without first bringing further proof to bear, I may remark that from
this knowledge especially strong sidelights are thrown upon the original
psychologic meaning of the religious heroes. Dionysus stands in an
intimate relation with the psychology of the early Asiatic God who died
and rose again from the dead and whose manifold manifestations have been
brought together in the figure of Christ into a firm personality
enduring for centuries. We gain from our premise the knowledge that
these heroes, as well as their typical fates, are personifications of
the human libido and its typical fates. They are imagery, like the
figures of our nightly dreams—the actors and interpreters of our secret
thoughts. And since we, in the present day, have the power to decipher
the symbolism of dreams and thereby surmise the mysterious psychologic
history of development of the individual, so a way is here opened to the
understanding of the secret springs of impulse beneath the psychologic
development of races. Our previous trains of thought, which demonstrate
the phallic side of the symbolism of the libido, also show how
thoroughly justified is the term “libido.”[231] Originally taken from
the sexual sphere, this word has become the most frequent technical
expression of psychoanalysis, for the simple reason that its
significance is wide enough to cover all the unknown and countless
manifestations of the Will in the sense of Schopenhauer. It is
sufficiently comprehensive and rich in meaning to characterize the real
nature of the psychical entity which it includes. The exact classical
significance of the word libido qualifies it as an entirely appropriate
term. Libido is taken in a very wide sense in Cicero:[232]
“(Volunt ex duobus opinatis) bonis (nasci) Libidinem et Lætitiam; ut
sit lætitia præsentium bonorum: libido futurorum.—Lætitia autem et
Libido in bonorum opinione versantur, cum Libido ad id, quod videtur
bonum, illecta et inflammata rapiatur.—Natura enim omnes ea, quæ bona
videntur, sequuntur, fugiuntque contraria. Quamobrem simul objecta
species cuiuspiam est, quod bonum videatur, ad id adipiscendum
impellit ipsa natura. Id cum constanter prudenterque fit, ejusmodi
appetitionem stoici βούλησιν appellant, nos appellamus voluntatem; eam
illi putant in solo esse sapiente, quam sic definiunt; voluntas est
quæ quid cum ratione desiderat: quæ autem ratione adversa incitata est
vehementius, ea libido est, vel cupiditas effrenata, quæ in omnibus
stultis invenitur.”[233]
The meaning of libido here is “to wish,” and in the stoical distinction
of will, dissolute desire. Cicero[234] used “libido” in a corresponding
sense:
“Agere rem aliquam libidine, non ratione.”[235]
In the same sense Sallust says:
“Iracundia pars est libidinis.”
In another place in a milder and more general sense, which completely
approaches the analytical use:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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