Erich Neumann – Seek Truth

There is room for a phenomenological examination into the presence of enantiodromia, in reference to the Jungian and Neumann’s determination of the concept, and their theories upon it having a natural psychological function occurring as a real phenomena in our lives. There have been many expositions and uses of the terms in both of their works, but as to a centralized focus on the topic none exists that I’m aware of in outside philosophical treatises or in the phenomenological domain. Neither psychologist has expounded the basis for which it arises, that being upon the inherent essence of our psyche (producing both the conscious and the unconscious) to manifest the effects of enantiodromia, an analysis which undoubtedly must be carried out using a phenomenological method.

As we are beings who find ourselves “thrown” (Hiedeggerian) into a world unasked for, we necessarily encounter chaos within our experience as that which is counteractive to our ideal state of things. We find situations with limitless factors necessarily out of our control, experiences, emotions, thoughts, constantly arising and enabling us to have a potential range of options from which to decide upon manifesting in response to the present moments variants, this is the chaotic world of our subjective experience. As biological entities, the world does not present itself to us in a way which aligns with our natural goals, not to mention the more obvious examples within our experience such as our culturally informed societal goals, and developed desires. We find our consciousness constituted by a sense of consistent “directedness” (Husserl) towards objects and activities which follow from another aspect of our being, that of “desire; craving” (Buddhism), “will” (Schopenhauer), “will to power” (Nietzsche), and in general, “wanting”. This directedness of our essential Being in the pursuit of desire found within a transient world which is in its nature impermanent, conditioned, and chaotic, produces states of Being which are unique to that which we find in Dasein (humans for which their own being can become an issue for it-Heidegger). In this struggle to satisfy the directed nature of Being towards its specific desirous goals both unconsciously and consciously, we see an ever persistent attempt to wrestle with anxiety towards death and towards attainment of desire through managing the essential state of the world we find ourselves in, through imposing order upon chaos. This order manifests itself in the way we structure our being in opposition with the world in a way which optimizes our psychological experience within the present moment, according to the acquired knowledge (wisdom) which determines the degree of manageability we are able navigate situational content with.

In the learning process (wisdom acquisition) of the sentient Being, one finds oneself over correcting for the faults of inefficient ordering, this over-correcting, both in our attempts to order the chaos, as well as to avoid stagnation through manifesting change in our structure to combat rigidity (instigating chaos), is what has been described as enantiodromia in the psychological literature of Jung and Neumman.

Through our individual challenge of psychological management, we find ourselves on either side of a perfect harmony between a chaotic state of Being and an Orderly state of Being, or balance, which, if discovered, could end the pendulum swinging in any drastic fashion. Thus we unconsciously are coordinating our behaviors in response to our psychic state, which is determined through environmental and experiential stimuli to produce the current state of things as we experience them in the present. That being said, when our psyches are predominantly characterized by the presence of a dominant archetype, we tend to seek psychological resolve through the antithetical archetype. This process of dominant archetypes in an unstable psyche is eventually resolved through Jung’s conceptualization of individualization, which does not suppress the archetypes or have a dominant characteristic, but rather seeks to integrate them into a wholesome individual who recognizes their influence yet is able to be in control of the management of them so as to not be off balanced in regards to their effect over the individuals wellbeing. Thus we establishes ourselves as an individualized being, through the “discovery” and ordering of the subconscious’ contents into the awareness of consciousness, and integration of the two fields of the psyche into the totality of our Being. When our lives are characterized by a dominance of unconscious activity, we seek to impose our “will” upon our own structure, (a top-down control upon bottom-up dominance – neurologically speaking) the rectifying of such instability can be accomplished through what Neumann referred to as centroversion.

By consciously recognizing the unconscious’ power over our psyche, and recognizing the place and limits of both systems as being mere aspects of our integral whole, we begin to view the system which is our Being more holistically. A holistic view of our nature gives us the necessary knowledge to delve into the phenomenological analysis of the structure of this Being as it enables the manifestation of these multiple modes of Being. When able to retrospectively analyze “important” (more valuable/ memorable/ defining) areas of our past experience into certain generally definable temporal periods, we find them able to be classified as epochs in the development of our current Being. These psychical epochs are found as significant time spans which we are able to discover to contain indubitably essential information towards determining the next epochs essentially defining characteristics. When we analyze the general scheme of transference from one epoch in our lives development to the next, we can find the pendulum of enantiodromia present in its swing from the chaotic to the orderly, from the conscientiously depicted “good” to the “bad”, as we morally conceive of the terms conscientiously within each epoch, and vice versa, transforming our Being from one epoch to the next. It becomes present that patterns of psychological shifting have been taking place, as systems of knowledge and action are consistently being transcended by a new replacement ideology which contains within it the experiences of the past, yet purports to offer a new solution as a framework or mode of Being to oppose the state of thrownness which we then find ourselves in. As the defining of strata of conscience corrects for its misgivings in the “good” and the “bad”, progression is made towards a new system which is created through a dialectical progression as each epoch ends and contains new information as to its failures and changes it judges to be conducive to a better future state. In this process we find the development of wisdom through experience, as well as the gravitating of the pendulum towards a balanced neutral position. Thus the ancient adages such as “everything in moderation” as you get older you tend to “settle down”, settle down where? Settle down from jumping to extremities in the pursuit of a form of being which is well equipped to handle the slings and arrows of misfortune in existence.

How is a phenomenological realization of the enantiodromia which is a part of the structure we find to be the essence of our Being, useful to us who are able to conceptualize and realize the validity of it within our own lives? We can, containing as we do, detectable and contemplative modes of consciousness (available consciously to us, yet through deterministic means), contemplate our current position in reference to the optimal balancing place (being in reference to the pendulums center), which would mean an optimal life situated in the future which we would naturally fall past the in the swing of the pendulum, and work to unnaturally strive for its attainment. Whereas the process is necessarily unconsciously regulated through the advance of a subconscious or even consciously directed corrections made within our past modes of being, or in past epochs (great changes), we can take a more informed stab upon the greatest possible directedness of consciousness when we are able to view the picture holistically, consciously, after a phenomenological analysis. We can recognize our position and where we need to go, and direct our consciousness in an informed way towards the attainment of such a position. In regards to the totality of our Being and whether we seek to attain this as a short term remedy to our current psychological state, depends on our current disposition. If the desire so arises experientially to pursue centroversion consciously through diligent discipline consciously directed in its pursuits, which takes time and development (experience and knowledge), the choice is available to a broader and more precise extent to the phenomenologist who is able to determine his own position in reference to his own Beings location on the chaos/order spectrum, as well as the ability to consciously desire the pursuit of wisdom, and have the love of wisdom, which is philosophy, on his side.

While great persistent striving within a disciplined structure is often crucial to the attaining of goals, we must be wary lest we fall into psychological distress. We can consciously correct for this, without over-correcting, if we have the required wisdom to abstractly theorize about where the optimal psychological place lies, and subsequently to actively pursue these conscious goals in a practical way. In seeking to inhabit that space, we give attention to the Being which gives rise to both goal attainment and pursuit, as well as internal conscious wellbeing and psychological stability. I’m in no way saying that all-in pursuit of what is meaningful won’t produce psychological distress, but in the case in which our psychological wellbeing is hindered through our desires in our ordering of life too rigidly, we must enact wisdom to be able to navigate both aspects of the coin, the pursuit of our goals and what is meaningful, as well as what is psychologically beneficial to us. In no case should we over-correct to complacency, but with time and experience we can gain the insight and wisdom into how to circumvent these problems psychologically, as well as how to better direct ourselves to the optimal path that includes both important factors of our life (psychological state of Being and meaning-pursuing) which necessarily go hand in hand.

While I am aware this is nothing more than a basic structure into the practical outcome of phenomenologically analysis of enantiodromia, I hope it provides the necessary starting point and content that enables further inquiry.

There are archetypal artifacts of deep evolutionary developed psychologically stages which are common collectively in all humans, which were first explicitly expressed in their symbolic forms in ancient stories, mythology, and religions. These archetypes have been transmitted genetically, and it wasn’t till recently that they have been analyzed and understood in their true nature in influencing the human psyche through advent of depth psychology and the findings of Carl Jung in analytical psychology. What you find is not only a symbolic representation of the developmental stages of consciousness, as described by Neumann, but basic understandings ingrained into all of us that operate on a level at the bottom of the unconsciousness, as pointed by Jung, which enable us to operate effectively in the world, and which work also as an a priori structure in which our values can be derived from.

These archetypes are not socially or culturally constructed, but biologically significant to us as their impact on survival and the evolution of our species made them useful. In the development of consciousness, as pointed out by Neumann, the original archetype represented as the Uroboros is the first stage in the human psyche. The Uroboros is the dragon eating its tail, the ring, never ending, without beginning. In this first stage of life or in conscious development, both historically and individually, the individual is not an individual and is effectively submerged in the unconscious, only affected by external findings. This state is common among primitive humans as well as modern human infants, and is characterized by the inability to distinguish opposites, or identify phenomena. It is the unity, or lack of distinctness, between inner and outer, self and other, or good and evil, which we see to be present in our pre-consciousness states. The individual is effectively cared for by parents (mother) and has no worries of his own, and this symbol is represented as the original state of the universe, as Paradise, before knowledge of good and evil in Abrahamic religions, is found in old creation myths of heaven and earth combined, before there was light or dark, eternal. The Uroboros, a symbolic representation of this original stage of consciousness, is found all over the world and has manifested in various societies, such as the yin yang, or combination of chaos and order, before consciousness emerges.

Maori Creation Myth – Seperation of Sky God and Earth God (World Parents)

This leads into the development of the ego in Jungian terms, and the separation from the world parents. In this stage towards the individuation of consciousness, a shift takes place in development in which consciousness becomes separated from unconscious, and recognition of the differentiation of content and phenomena becomes apparent. This is the archetype of separation of world parents. This is the differentiation caused by God creating a separate heaven and hell, separating chaos and order, and in individual experience, the manifestation of a conscious for whom which his individuality becomes known, internal states become distinct from external phenomena, in general, identification of separateness is instantiated. It is in this stage of separation that the identification of opposites becomes apparent to the individual, and his state as being altogether a separate entity from other individuals also emerges. It is the revelation of man’s nakedness after eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. In archetypal stories, this is depicted as an individual’s reluctance to rely on parental guidance, and an encountering of the world for himself through the abandonment, it is the independence gained through accepting responsibility for one’s own Being, rather than being dependent on parental guidance.

After the separation from the world parents, the individual must go out forth to the world, and, in mythological stories, this is represented by the individual voluntarily undergoing a journey towards some daunting challenge, the acquisition or success in which appears to yield great value. The hero’s journey is marked by trials and tribulations which test him as an individual, entailing pitfalls, re-calibration, and eventual victory over minor challenges that lay on the path towards his goal. In the final test, the individual encounters the dragon, the manifestation of extreme chaos, in which the individual must kill in order to retrieve the value in which he set out to acquire. The value is a boon, a treasure, the fountain of youth, wisdom, it is that which is most valuable. In attaining the value after discovering the antidote to chaos, in relinquishing its protector, the hero brings the valuable treasure back to the people he had separated from, and provides them with the value he had acquired in his journey. The hero grows through the process, and in achieving the final step in providing value to the people, he not only hits the mark in terms of the aim in which he set out to achieve, but he grows through the journey in becoming the type of person that can order chaos, he becomes the hero through the hero’s journey.

In psychological terms, or insofar as individual consciousness, and the historical development of consciousness is concerned, the hero’s journey represents exactly what we too must go through to achieve an integrated psyche in the process of individualization. We must relinquish dependence upon our parents, set an aim, a goal, a place we have the potential of being, and through diligent striving and overcoming of challenges and tribulations, actualize that potential, and become the person we had the potential of being. For us to successfully do this, like the archetypal hero’s journey, we too must voluntary accept the responsibility of attempting to do what is meaningful in our lives. In striving to accomplish the meaningful end, we necessarily will fail, must recalibrate, and must strive on diligently. In the final scene, we must ultimately organize the psyches range of potentialities into a unified whole through exploration and integration, we must set our lives in order, our lives being that of chaotic nature, and conscious intentionality being the means by which we can order both ourselves, psychologically, and the world in which we inhabit.

By ordering the chaos in our psyches, and our lives, we become individualized. In striving towards the aim of actualizing the potential we inherently possess we grow in the process, and in pursuing what is meaningful we, if successful, create or uncover a novel, unique, new, phenomena, which is meaningful to us and our fellow man. This boon we create, uncover, or discover, the treasure of our efforts, the fruit of our labor, the resultant knowledge and wisdom we have gained in our journey, we must, in order to complete the journey, provide what is found to meaningful to our society, to our fellow man. In so doing so, we fulfill the hero’s journey, and become fully individualized as a Being who has integrated his psyche, overcome difficulty, uncovered what is meaningful and valuable, and provided the people with a lasting benefit that is beneficial and useful.

The hero archetype is ingrained in us, and found in stories across the world, from the dawn of civilization, and has this same plot. It is the plot of the original hunter who could venture out from his tribe, slay the animal, bring back food to the people. This for him is liberating, is useful, helpful, and to the people in which he proved for, he is hailed as the original hero, for he provides life, the means to continue living, the means to which they too can actualize their potential. In return the hero is worshiped as ultimately good, good for survival, reproduction, and the continuance of the species, but he is not interpreted as such, rather, he is immortalized through the stories in which follow after him. The hero is the one who can conquer what is difficult and return to the people with value. Thus we value individuals and those pursuits that merit this type of accomplishment, those who discover new insights in things which prove useful to all, is rightfully seen as a hero. We value and strive to be like the hero. This is an archetype everyone understands automatically. You watch a movie and you know who is the good guy and bad guy. These are not arbitrarily socio-culturally developed, they are ingrained in us, for a good reason, and in understanding them we can better understand ourselves, reality, the truth, how to progress, and become the hero of our own journey.

The archetypes can be interpreted as effecting the emergence of consciousness across the domain of human history, in the developing of it to its current peak. They can also be used to describe the process by which, in our individual lives, our own consciousness develops. Lastly, in our present moment experience, they can be seen in the manifestation of personal and interpersonal relations through their emergent manifestations, and be perceived and interpreted in giving a descriptive analysis of the current factors at play in the emergence of actions.

Seek Truth

Tag: Erich Neumann

Phenomenology of Enantiodromia

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