Exploring the Psyche

by Troy W. Pierce

Originally published in MoonRise News

    C. G. Jung discovered and explored the reality of the psyche, an inner reality that is the complement of the outer one, and for many of us, the more meaningful of the two. However, before considering the inner world, we need to know where we stand in the outer one. For Jung, understanding the constellation of our conscious attitudes was important for the first process in individuation - differentiation. This process is metaphorically described in the alchemical process of separation and refinement of elements. It is hard to begin anything if you do not know what you are beginning with. There is also the fact that the way in which we relate to the outer world is usually the opposite of how we relate to the inner one.

    You may be surprised to learn that the terms introvert and an extrovert originated with Carl Jung. Psychological Types was Jung's first book after his amazing encounter with the unconscious - a period of waking dreams, conversations with inner figures, and a creative outpouring of inner images. So, you would probably expect him to include some of his experiences and insights into the nature of the unconscious in it. However, it is not about the unconscious at all, but about the dispositions of consciousness. And the first half of the rather long book is taken up with an historical contrasting of the two major distinctions, introversion and extroversion.

    No two thinkers have had a greater impact from the Hellenistic up through the Modern periods of history than Plato and Aristotle. Aristotle was a student of Plato until the old man's death. Then, after a tiff about not being made head of the Academy, he wandered around a bit, eventually deciding to reject Plato's philosophy, and formulate his own.

    Where Plato had transcendental Forms, which were primary to the objects that participated in them; Aristotle had causes, which where the form, use, reason, and ultimate purpose of objects. When the students at the Academy were studying geometry, how idealized figures relate together; the students at the Lyceum were studying biology, how parts and types of animals relate together. Plato wrote dramatic dialogues using characters other than himself. Aristotle wrote notes for his own lectures, and let others write those down and systematize them.

    Many people throughout that long stretch of history have remarked on the fact that certain types of people liked Plato, and other types Aristotle. While my own theory involves masochism (at least in the case of Aristotle), Jung saw this as the difference between the introverted and extroverted personalities. The introvert's flow of vitality is inward, while the extrovert's is outward. For Plato, a horse's existence flowed inwardly from the external ideal Horse Form. For Aristotle, a horse's existence flowed outwardly from its internal causes and purposes. Similar forms of thinking, but moving in different directions.

    This difference of polarity is difficult to understand, our own direction seems as natural as a river running downhill, while the other is as odd as a river running uphill. For example: I can conceptualize the fact that extroverts report feeling energized by attending parties, but it is a freakish and unnatural thing. "Normal people" (read - introverts) should feel drained by such functions, and spend a few days in solitary contemplation - recovering.

    To continue the river analogy, these polarities are better represented by tidal rivers than mountain rivers. Tidal rivers do at times flow backwards, and we all under certain circumstances function as the other polarity. Introversion and Extroversion are best seen as preferences, much like right or left-handedness. In our extremely extroverted culture, for instance, introverts must often learn to fill extroverted roles. Jung also saw the life cycle as favoring extroverts in the first half of life, learning how the world works, establishing a career and a family. And favoring introverts in the second, where the search for meaning and purpose are predominant. One solemn example of this being that suicide rates are highest among white males over 50 in our society, many of whom where very successful in the first half of life.

    We usually think of introversion and extroversion in terms of personality types, but both are also attitudes. To illustrate: there is a temple with an idol in which, and to which, people perform religious services. An extroverted attitude would be that this is idol worship (and probably idle worship as well), an introverted attitude would be that the idol is symbolic of the inner aspect (meaning, or possibly divinity itself) that each person brings.

    Spend some time examining these inward and outward flows in your life, particularly in how you understand your self and others.

        © -1996 Troy W. Pierce