Table Of ContentEXPLORATIONS INTO
THE SELF
THE LIBRARY OF ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY
PUBLISHED AND DISTRIBUTED BY KARNAC BOOKS
Series Editors: Michael Fordham, Rosemary Gordon,
Judith Hubback, Kenneth Lambert
Volume I Analytical Psychology: A Modern Science
Michael Fordham, Rosemary Gordon, Judith Hubback,Kenneth
Lambert, Mary Williams (eds.)
Volume 11 Technique in Jungian Analysis
Michael Fordham, Rosemary Gordon, Judith Hubback, Kenneth
Lambert (eds.)
Volume I11 The Self and Autism
by Michael Fordham
Volume IV Dying and Creating: A Search for Meaning
by Rosemary Gordon
Volume V Analysis, Repair and Individuation
by Kenneth Lambert
Volume VI My Self, My Many Selves
by Joseph Redfearn
Volume VII Explorations into the Self
by Michael Fordham
Volume VIII Jungian Child Psychotherapy:
Individuation in Childhood
Mara Sidoli & Miranda Davies (eds.)
Volume IX Psychopathology: Contemporary Jungian Perspectives
Andrew Samuels (ed.)
Volume X The Makings of Maleness: Men, Women
and the Flight of Daedalus
by Peter Tatham
THE LIBRARY OF ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY
VOLUME VII
EXPLORATIONS INTO THE SELF
BY
Michael Fordham
Published for The Society of Analytical Psychology, London
by
KARNAC
LONDON NEW YORK
First Published in 1985 by
ACADEMlC PRESS INC. (London) Ltd.
United States Edition published by ACADEMIC PRESS, INC. ORLANDO
This editiori' 2002 published by
H. Karnac (Books) Ltd.
6 Pembroke Buildings
London N W I0 6RE
01 985 The Academic Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
1. Self I. Title 11. Series
155.2 BF697
A C.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 1 85575 97 1 3
Printed and bound by Antony Rowe Ltd, Eastbourne
Contents
Foreword vii
Preface .x. i.
Acknowledgements Xlll
Introduction 1
Part One: Empirical Foundation, Hypotheses and Theories
1. The self in Jung's works
2. Individuation and ego development
3. Integration-deintegration in infancy
4. A possible root of active imagination
Part Two: Ego and Self
5. The self as an imaginative construct
6. The ego and the self
7. Mental health
8. A clinical study
9. An interpretation of Jung's thesis about synchronicity
10. Countertransference
11. Defences of the self
12. Jungian views of body-mind
Part Three: Religion, Mysticism, Alchemy
Introduction
13. Is God supernatural?
14. Notes on the mysticism of Saint John of the Cross
15. Alchemy
16. Concluding reflections
Bibliography
Index
Foreword
It is consonant with the contemporary increase of interest in the concept
of the self among analysts of many schools that The Library of Analytical
Psychology should, in 1985, be publishing two volumes on precisely that
-
subject dealing with it, however, from somewhat different angles. In
fact, the event has arisen hardly at all out of editorial contrivance and
simply represents a response to a spontaneous literary emergence out
of the creative interests of the two authors involved. The present volume
by Michael Fordham (the other is by Joseph Redfearn) is the product
of many years of sustained observation of and reflection about phenomena
arising out of three broad topics in the field of analytical psychology.
In the first place, Michael Fordham, as is widely known, has over a
number of years contributed much to studies of emergence and
development of self in early infancy and childhood. Secondly, Fordham
has been concerned with the task of clarifying some of the confusions
that have arisen out of the various senses in which Jung uses the concept
-
of the self and not only that, for he has made contributions towards
extending its content as well. In Chapter 1 he describes how he card-
indexed all of Jung's references to the self and then sorted out the themes
that recurred very often from those that appeared as isolated references -
as passing thoughts or off-the-cuff remarks. Out of the first cluster of
references there emerged two main themes; the self is seen as a totality
and the self is regarded as a dynamic ordering entity within which
compensatory processes, the differentiation of the opposites and their
integration by means of the transcendent function, progressions and
regressions, and transformations of primitive libido can all be discerned
to be taking place. Moreover, Fordham has proposed his innovative and
original view of the self in a way that further extends our understanding
of its dynamics. In the present volume he expounds his theory of the
original undifferentiated self as a totality comprised of archetypal and
ego potential. Very early indeed, perhaps in prenatal life and certainly
viii Foreword
in neonatal life, and in accordance with both activation from within and
stimulus from outside, deintegrative processes take place. The archetypes
unpack and emerge to tangle with their object-correlates in the real world
or with well-known symbolic content in the cultural environment. As
this takes place, then reintegration of the deintegrates takes place through
internationalization. Further deintegrations and reintegrations take place
resulting in the progressive enrichment of the self through the experience
of time and space, and flesh and blood.
A third area of experience, in Part 3 of his book, that has long interested
Michael Fordham, centres round the well-known fact that feelings
connected with the self seem similar to those found among religious
people. Indeed some of the dream and visionary symbolism of the self
seems highly suggestive of symbols that arise in religion. Of course, the
matter could be expressed in a reversed form; religious symbolism is
really symbolism of the self but expressed in primitive imagery, projected
onto the cosmos and accompanied by numinous feeling. Perhaps this
is a too easy solution, and, indeed, Michael Fordham does not seem
to favour it. Rather, in making use of Bion's notion of the vertex, he
emphasizes the need for the individual to examine consciously his or
her vertex and its influence upon his or her attitude towards either religion
or psychology. Thus, whether he is considering the vertex of Harry
Williams in his chapter entitled "Is God supernatural?" or the vertex
of Saint John of the Cross and distinguishing both from his own, Fordham
agrees to the validity for many people of religion understood as an activity
standing in its own right. It might be added that the capacity for a
religious attitude could be regarded as an element of the self. Religious
people, indeed, from their vertex would be inclined to believe that the
self is made in the image of an immanent God who is, nevertheless,
understood utterly to transcend man's fullest notion of integration, let
alone of the godhead.
Readers who work hard at Fordham's chapter on St John of the Cross,
-
as well as at his chapter on Alchemy, are likely to be rewarded to say
nothing of being impressed by the masterly way in which he handles
those topics and discerns the presence of the self behind or within both
the religious and the alchemical experience.
Readers of the present volume as a whole will also find amplifications
of Fordham's well-known work on infant and child development. Thus
he indicates a more recently acquired growth of interest on his part in
the observation of mother-infant interaction. This new development of
the group study of the reports about actual mother-infant interaction
brought in by individual members to the group and then discussed by
all the members in interaction has been recognized by Fordham as an
essential adjunct to the observation of psychodynamic processes in babies.
He can see that the results of it may modify or correct most of the
Foreword ix
common notions that have been grown up and are now suspected of
being based on too slight a basis of observation. On the positive side,
evidence has accumulated to indicate a considerable capacity on the part
of many babies to be effective in creating a sufficiently good maternal
environment for themselves either by sparing their mothers, who may
be depressed, uncertain of their capacities in various ways, or depleted,
or by showing them how to make better responses to their infants' needs,
or by making signals of need that the mothers can understand. In this
way, rather inhibited, clumsy and depressed mothers may be helped
by their babies to become more skilful at mothering in the ways indicated
by, for instance, Winnicott and felt to be so necessary for the growth
of the infant's personality and relationships all through his or her whole
life span.
Finally - and this is likely to be of special interest to Jungians - Michael
Fordham acknowledges his debt to Melanie Klein, not only for her
innovative work in its own right but also for its striking comple-
mentariness to the work of Jung on the archetypes and the self. Of course
some Jungians will emphasize the seeming disparateness of language
and of focus in Klein and Jung- Klein concentrating on the forms of
the spontaneous and unconscious fantasy life of early infancy, Jung more
and more, as the years rolled on from his seventieth birthday onwards,
focussing upon the cultural and historical expressions of the great
archetypal themes of humanity. Fordham, however, is a pioneer in
establishing some sense of the complementariness as well as the differences
between those two great innovative thinkers, and gratitude to him is
due for enabling us to benefit from that complementariness.
As in the five previous volumes of The Library of Analytical
Psychology, all the references to Jung's writings are taken from the
Collected Works, abbreviated as Coll. Wks followed by the volume
number. The dates refer to the first publication in whatever language
and not to the English translation.
The Editors wish to add their thanks to those of Dr Fordham for the
very extensive work of editing carried out in the first instance by
Dr Agnes Wilkinson.
Kenneth Larnbert
