Author: Susan Schulte

Learning about the Jungian concept of psychological projection has helped me in my interactions with others and has also helped me to better understand myself. Projection can be defined as a process where the contents of a person’s unconscious are perceived to be in others. Because projection happens at an unconscious level, we don’t cause it to happen or control it. We can, however, try to notice when it occurs and learn from it.

Here’s an example from my life. When I was in my 20s, I worked as a secretary in a law firm. One of the lawyers, who was about 20 years older than I, was well known for his success in the field of law. He was an intelligent, personable man, and he would greet the other staff and me when he arrived each day. His intelligence and pleasant manner were evident from his conversation and behavior. However, I found myself attributing additional positive qualities to him even though I didn’t know him well enough to ascertain if those qualities were part of his personality. In a way, he became in my mind the model of an “ideal man.”

When I think back, I realize I was projecting positive aspects of myself onto the lawyer, aspects of myself of which I wasn’t consciously aware. At the time I did not know about the concept of projection and therefore had no idea this was happening. I just saw a man who I thought had so much going for him, and I also saw myself as having some positive qualities but not nearly as many as he had.

Projection works the other way also. Too often people see only negative in individuals who they don’t know, not aware that they are projecting negative aspects of themselves onto others. Carl Jung and many other writers attribute racial prejudice and injustice to negative projection, where some people fear or even hate people because of the color of their skin, their accent, clothing they wear that is different from that worn by the dominant culture, and so on.

One way we can discern whether projection might be occurring is to observe how strong our feelings are about another person or group of people. If we notice we’ve taken an immediate dislike to someone, it would be good to ask ourselves why that might be. Has that person said or done something that could be the basis for our feelings? Similarly, if we find ourselves intrigued by someone, it would be useful to ask ourselves what lies behind the attraction. In this way, we may discover aspects of ourselves that had previously been hidden from our consciousness and thereby become more integrated persons.

As I’ve written in other posts, learning about Jungian concepts has greatly enriched my life. Becoming a more conscious person as a result of paying attention to and learning from my dreams, noting synchronicities, and acting on promptings from my intuition have all added meaning and purpose to my life.

Our western culture focuses on using reasoning and cognitive skills and places little, if any, value on what is happening at an unconscious level. And yet much is going on each day of which we are not consciously aware but which is very significant. Jung expresses this when he writes in the book Memories, Dreams, Reflections: “Day after day we live far beyond the bounds of our consciousness; without our knowledge the life of the unconscious is also going on within us. The more the critical reason dominates, the more impoverished life becomes; but the more of the unconscious, and the more of myth we are capable of making conscious, the more of life we integrate.”

It’s the integration that Jung refers to that adds to our becoming more whole persons. If you’re not already familiar with it, the book I referred to above, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, is a biography of Carl Jung and includes some autobiographical sections that Jung wrote. If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to do so.

I have benefited greatly by learning about Jungian concepts. Among his many contributions to understanding the human psyche, Carl Jung identified and described psychological types. Two of the psychological types he wrote about are extraversion and introversion. People who are extraverted are energized by being with others; they thrive on interaction. People who are introverted, on the other hand, gain energy by having time alone. Another way of describing these qualities is introversion is “inward turning” and “thought oriented” and extraversion is “outward turning” and “action oriented.”

As with all aspects of being human, there is a continuum; the degree of introversion or extraversion varies for each individual. Some people who are extraverted are very outgoing and hate being alone, whereas other people who are extraverted prefer being with people but are comfortable with some alone time as well. And for some people who are introverted, being among people is actually uncomfortable and they avoid being with others unless it is essential. For others, they enjoy some interaction with others but recognize that they also need a certain amount of quiet time.

Knowing that these differences are natural has helped me to understand other people better and to be more accepting of differences. I am more introverted than extraverted, and in the past I would sometimes be uncomfortable around someone who was outgoing and might even question that person’s sincerity. I recognize now that being outgoing is simply an aspect of a person’s personality.

In addition to helping me understand other people better, I also better understand myself. I have a busy life and interact with others in my work. I recognize the imporance for myself of having some quiet, introspective time to recharge. I hope that people reading this post who were not aware of these psychological types will find knowing about them to be helpful in their relationships with others and also in understanding themselves.

Approaching life from a Jungian perspective includes each person trying to discern what is the life path for which he or she was created. It can be difficult to feel sure about what is a correct choice. For example, there are many causes that a person may support and be active in that are considered positive and helpful by most people. But no matter how positive and helpful a cause might be, it is the correct choice for an individual only if it is part of that person’s life path. It is easy for one’s ego to choose something that appears to be a good thing to do, but it might not actually be what that person was created to do.

Jungian author and psychotherapist Dr. Terry Chitwood writes about these ideas in his book Meeting Force with Silence. He writes “How can you distinguish between false hope and your real work? Actions carried out based on false hope will receive a series of obstacles that will discourage you from continuing in your direction. Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between obstacles and tests, but it can be done. Tests usually lead to understanding and growth whereas obstacles lead to frustration. The frustration’s purpose is to get you back on the right track.”

I find what Dr. Chitwood writes about frustration helping to get a person back on track to be hopeful. Knowing we have more than one chance to get back to our path is encouraging. Part of being human is to make mistakes. If we are too fearful of making mistakes, we become stuck and personal growth isn’t possible. Paying attention to our dreams, synchronicities, and intuition will help us to discern our next steps, and paying attention to our feelings, including frustration, will also help to steer us in the right direction.

As I’ve written in other posts, author John A. Sanford’s books have added greatly to my knowledge about inner life, Jungian concepts, and many other meaningful topics. In his book The Strange Trial of Mr. Hyde, Sanford writes about, among other things, the relationship between the ego and the Self. He says, “When the ego departs from the Self, the unconscious sets up an opposition to the ego. To live a moral and correct life is to live in accordance with the Self.”

Our egos can be very stubborn and not open to making changes prompted from within, especially when making those changes involves sacrifice or discomfort. And they often do, because most things that matter in life do. Hence the saying “No pain, no gain.” It is also difficult to make changes when it’s not clear to us the purpose for the changes. That is where a certain degree of faith is essential.

Sanford goes on to say, “When we are cut off from the Self, our instinct for moral action is weakened, and instead of the Self we find ourselves following the dictates of others which may or may not coincide with our inmost truth.” There is a lot of societal pressure to act certain ways, and it can be difficult to be the unique individuals each of us was created to be. And yet succumbing to societal pressure often leads to a sense that something doesn’t feel right or to a feeling of emptiness. I believe this feeling of emptiness is the basis for many people turning to alcohol, drugs, and other forms of escape, often leading to addictions. I’m not alone in this belief for much has been written to support it.

I’m reassured by the truth that Sanford expresses when he writes, “Nevertheless, the Self is always there, even if hidden from us, acting like a vital power trying to bring us back to our moral center.” We need to hold on to this truth as we endeavor to follow our individual paths.