#unconscious

whumpypepsigal:

The Outfit (2022):“The Wound Needs To Be Sealed. We Have To Stop This Bleeding.”

[PART 1][PART 2]

Bloody hell…

Chicago Fire S07E02

By request

knights-in-whumperland:

The Witness: Movie

The inferior function is the Achilles’ Heel of each type. The challenges of life normally make it necessary that an individual develop and rely on one primary tool – their dominant function. However, to the extent that it receives the lion’s share of energy, its opposite (Thinking v. Feeling, Sensation v. Intuition) is deprived of it. As a result, this function consistently lags behind in differentiation and development, becoming the problem child of the whole personality, apparently with a mind of its own.

This lack of energy given to the inferior function essentially amounts to a repression. It’s important to note that this repression is not necessarily total. A Thinking type still has feelings, and a Sensation type will still receive intuitions. However, they are not guided by them per se. In fact, these contents are seldom welcome and rarely usable and productive in the same way that the products of the dominant are. This is because they float up from repressed inferior, which has one foot firmly entrenched in the unconscious. To the extent that it does operate in consciousness, it is always in accordance with the governing principle of the dominant function, often parroting or rephrasing its viewpoints. Its back is broken – it can only function under its own principle in the unconscious.

Before we continue, we should examine the nature of “consciousness” and “the unconscious”. Consciousness has the qualities of illumination, wakefulness, and clarity. It is often represented by the Sun or the civilising Hero. Everything conscious is cleanly divided into its various parts, made useful and in alignment with the individual’s conscious goals and desires. By contrast, the unconscious is murky and hidden from view. It’s represented by the depths of the ocean, or the land below the horizon, the underworld. It contains the untamed “Nature” inside the individual, where everything blends into everything else, operates on instinct, and is not bothered by contradictions. This is the realm that the inferior function finds itself in, which has several consequences.

The first is concretismin the original sense of the word, meaning “grown together”. The inferior function intermingles with other unconscious contents, such as memory-complexes, Freudian urges, or the next-most-repressed function. In particular, the inferior function comes into contact with the mythological archetypes, which contaminate it with a certain fantastical or unreal quality. When the products of the inferior functions are expressed or enter consciousness, they carry these associations with them.

The second consequence is ambitendency. Everything in nature has both a light and a dark aspect, Yin and Yang. It is only in consciousness that these opposites come into conflict, since they have to be separated out in order to function in a directed and productive way. In the unconscious, they exist together. This means that the individual has difficulty making anything much out of the products of his inferior, since they contain their own antitheses – they cancel themselves out. This also means that the inferior has a definite dark side. Often, a person’s nastiest moments are carried out by the inferior, destructive, vindictive, and hell-raising. On the other hand it also has a profound light side. For example, its raw, unadulterated nature means that a person is always completely authentic through their inferior, and it often brings a refreshing, childlike simplicity out of them.

The third is that, like all unconscious contents, the inferior function and its products (that are unable to enter consciousness) are projected. The conscious personality sees its own unconscious as belonging to different people and things in their daily life. The aforementioned dark aspects are projected onto one’s enemies, and the light aspects onto friends and lovers, in either case creating a strong emotional tie. This is a way in which the unconscious can reach the conscious ego in an indirect way, for better or for worse.

As long as consciousness and the unconscious are in good standing with each other, when the individual more or less acts as a cohesive whole, the inferior function provides healthy compensation to the conscious attitude, a tempering voice that helps people consider multiple angles and perspectives. However, when the personality is at odds with itself, when the Ego tries to suppress the unconscious, the healthy compensation turns into outright antagonism. The inferior function then does its best to sabotage the conscious standpoint in order to bring it back in line. This process is described in greater depth in my article on Enantiodromia.

Developing and differentiating the inferior function is something that will be covered in a subsequent article, since it’s an extensive topic in its own right.

To recap: The inferior function is characterised by a lack of energy or attention. It sinks to the unconscious, where it develops the qualities of concretism (contamination by other unconscious contents) and ambitendency (being simultaneously light and dark). Its products are also projected onto other people and things. Normally it provides healthy compensation, but in neurotic circumstances it becomes antagonistic.

Everything You Need To Know

“This work sprang originally from my need to define the ways in which my outlook differed from Freud’s and Adler’s. In attempting to answer this question, I came across the problem of types; for it is one’s psychological type which from the outset determines and limits a person’s judgement. My book, therefore, was an effort to deal with the relationship of the individual to the world, to people and things. It discussed the various aspects of consciousness, the various attitudes the conscious mind might take toward the world, and thus constitutes a psychology of consciousness regarded from what might be called a clinical angle.”

- C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

Not everybody approaches the world in the same way. In fact, most people seem to differ from each other greatly – sometimes it seems like a miracle that we can even get along at all! In attempting to explore this problem, Jung devised a system of types that – although not as scientifically rigorous as modern personality inventories like the Big 5 or the MMPI – was simple, elegant, and deep. This should be repeated: Jung’s typology, although rooted in practical experience, is intuitive and symbolic in nature. It is meant firstly as a therapeutic tool and not as a strictly scientific theory.

Jung’s typology is made up of six elements. The first are two attitudes: IntroversionandExtroversion. These represent the direction of interest of the psyche and the movement of its energy, whether inwards or outwards. The others are four functions: Thinking,Feeling,SensationandIntuition. These are modes of operation that, between the four of them, roughly encompass your conscious experience. The shorthand goes like this: Sensation tells us that something is there; Thinking tells us what it is; Feeling tells us if it is agreeable or not; Intuition tells us from where it came and to where it might go.

Introversion is an inwards-turning of energy. It’s an orientation that expresses the supremacy of subjective part of life; one’s inner thoughts, feelings, personal experiences, and the deep unconscious*. This does not mean that introverts are always introspective – instead, their relation to the outside world is coloured by their subjective view in such a way that their perceptions and judgements hinge more on their private inner reality than on the shared reality of the objective world. Because their energy moves away from the object (and towards the subject), they tend to be relatively reserved, inscrutable, and shy.

*Footnote to Introversion: The “deep unconscious” here refers to the Collective Unconscious, which is covered in another article. To summarise, the subject isn’t only made up of personal experiences or memories. Just as we all have an inherited body that is only superficially different between individuals, so do we have an inherited psyche that has evolved over millions of years. Introversion relies particularly heavily on inherited, instinctual images and patterns of thought. Pushed to the extreme, these manifest as a mythological or religious quality of thought, since myths are just the collective expression of these inner archetypes through stories.

Extroversion is an outwards-turning of energy. Here the objective part of life is the most important. Extroverts think and act in a way that corresponds more directly to external conditions. They aren’t necessarily perfectly adjusted – extroversion is no guarantee of good social skills, and furthermore, neglecting their inner life often results in grief for the extrovert. However, they are constantly impelled to relate to the outer world in some way, and in turn to be affected by it, whether that means they’re on good terms with everybody, or that they pick fights with everybody. In general they are relatively open, sociable, jovial, or at least friendly and approachable.

The four functions are made up of two pairs of opposites. Sensation and Intuition make up the first pair. These are the “irrational” orperceiving functions. Sensation takes in impressions of the material world via the five senses, which often results in a pragmatic, grounded, or aesthetically-minded personality. Intuition is a subconscious or subliminal perception that, roughly speaking, presents the user with a whole where only a part is objectively visible. This often results in a speculative, flighty, or imaginative personality. Thinking and Feeling are the “rational” or judgingfunctions. Thinking takes a detached, mechanistic view of problems, and seeks to put the world in conceptual or at least logical terms. Feeling recognises and imparts subjective value onto things, deciding whether or not they are agreeable and good.

However, these functions are never developed and used in an individual to the same extent. As a rule, one becomes the person’s primary approach to life – thedominantfunction. Its incompatible opposite is partially repressed as a result. This becomes theinferiorfunction. The two other functions are in a middle-state of differentiation, and therefore are less harshly polarised. One is usually theauxiliaryfunction, which supports and counterbalances the dominant – a functional sidekick. This is not a hard rule, though: both could be auxiliaries, or both could be undifferentiated inferior functions. However, the most common arrangement consists of two conscious functions, the dominant and main auxiliary, and two unconscious inferior functions.

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Fig. 1 - A Thinking dominant, Feeling inferior arrangement. The two middle functions, Sensation and Intuition, are halfway between consciousness and unconsciousness. They can be developed auxiliaries or underdeveloped inferiors.

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These dominant-auxiliary combinations begin to paint familiar pictures – the practical problem-solver with Thinking and Sensation, the esoteric creative artist with Feeling and Intuition, etc. The inferior function also tends to be recognisable. We all know people who have terrible difficulties with Feeling, or for whom material reality is always a stumbling block thanks to inferior Sensation.

Finally, in any given function type, a certain attitude will also dominate. This attitude does not exist on its own, but applies to the dominant function, so that the Thinking of a Thinking type might actually be Introverted or Extroverted. The opposite attitude, however, is repressed and combines with the inferior function. The middle functions are again in a more mercurial middle state; they often have the capacity to shift either way. This results in a distinct set of types, which are described in my Jung Abridged series.

To recap: Two attitudes, Introversion and Extroversion. Four functions: two perceiving, that is Sensation and Intuition, and two judging, that is Thinking and Feeling. One is dominant and conscious; its opposite is inferior and unconscious. The other two functions can be either conscious auxiliaries or unconscious inferiors. The dominant function has a characteristic attitude; the inferior takes the opposite attitude. Those are the basics – from here you can check out any of my other articles, which deal with many aspects of this schematic in greater depth. Enjoy!

“Enantiodromia” is a Greek word that means “a running counter to”. The philosopher Heraclitus used it to refer to the tendency of one thing to turn into its opposite. In Jung’s typology, in practice, it’s what we could call a change of attitude, or a reversal of type. This can happen in a number of ways and for a number of different reasons: But, in this article, we’ll focus on what happens when the unconscious personality (centred around the inferior function) invades and overturns the conscious one (centred around the dominant). This is not unlike “The Grip” of contemporary MBTI discussions: However, the way it progresses is a bit more elaborate. Essentially, Enantiodromia consists of A) overvaluing the dominant function and attitude – which I’ve called Hubris, a word meaning pride and defiance of the gods – followed by B) an overwhelming invasion of consciousness by the inferior function-attitude – which I’ve called Nemesis, meaning divine retribution.

Jung’s Enantiodromia focuses on a certain chronology, an order of events. It goes something like this:

1. Development of a one-sided consciousness: the dominant function-attitude is overvalued, and everything else is suppressed.
2. Strengthening of the inferior function-attitude in the unconscious: “As above, so below.”
3. Inhibition of conscious performance by the inferior function-attitude.
4. Total breakthrough: the inferior function-attitude overtakes consciousness, resulting in a kind of nervous breakdown.
5. This violent psychological “coup” ideally rebalances the individual’s psyche.

In past ages, we believed that gods and angels would regularly interfere in our lives, or that demons would possess us against our conscious will. An uncharacteristic bout of rage was the work of Ares; hopelessly falling in love was the work of Aphrodite. Now, we call these things influences from the unconscious. With this in mind, we can make allegories for the process of Enantiodromia using elements of mythology and religious stories; wherein the divine principle, the deity, is the unconscious; and the heroic principle, the protagonist, is consciousness. Two stand out:

The first allegory is Hubris and Nemesis, terms from Greek tragedy. Hubris is the sin of pride in the face of the gods. The prime example is of Icarus flying too close to the sun, his brashness overcoming the warnings of his father Daedalus. The image of a falling angel might also remind us of Lucifer, cast down from heaven, also for the sin of Hubris or pride in the face of God. Nemesis is the divine retribution, the goddess whose whole purpose was to enact punishment on the people who succumbed to Hubris.

The second allegory is the Deluge. The Deluge is an almost universal myth, in which a god floods the earth and its people to purify it. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, this is the story of Noah’s Ark. Humanity is corrupt and has sinned against God, so He floods the earth. He uses Noah as a kind of hard reset: the image of the Ark making landfall at the tip of a mountain, surrounded by ocean, is representative of the new beginning of consciousness emerging from the turmoil of the unconscious.

The goal of this process is to regulate and rebalance the psyche. It can’t operate properly when it’s cut off from itself: when consciousness and unconsciousness stand in stark opposition. When the inferior function-attitude invades consciousness, it destabilises and tears down the one-sided attitude: eventually replacing it with a new conscious attitude that, ideally, is more open and receptive to compensation from the inferior functions.

I’d point you to my Jung Abridged series, where each type description includes a rough picture of what happens when the type succumbs to Hubris, and is subsequently overcome by Nemesis. However, I’ll also include a brief chart here:

Hudson & Rex s03e04:“Come On Charlie! Don’t You Quit On Me!”

Hudson & Rex s03e04:“Charlie Could Be In Trouble!”

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)

“Theseus has been taken to the Erkstag.”

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)

#the magical creatures rescuing our precious magizoologist

Hudson & Rex s03e03:“I’m Glad To See You’re Awake.”

Hudson & Rex s03e03:#ouch!

And as I sat down, pen in hand
My head fell on white paper
Tried to rise it, but I can’t
As thoughts turn into vapor

They dance around lightly
Leaving my heavy head behind
Swirl down to the pen my hand grips tightly
Only to help my anxious fingers unwind

Mistily, my thoughts pour down
Ink spilling upon thin sheet
This rain of heart and mind allows me to drown
But sun will shine on paper where my unconscious and I meet

I just hate how my mind tricks me into believing scenarios while dreaming.

Last night after days in which i felt my heart melt, my unconscious decided that it would be a perfect idea to project one of my current anxiety triggers for some reason.

I was there, I was walking into a random place, I remember you said to me you will be occupied because you will be fucking with someone else, I felt how my whole body went cold, suddenly all my blood drop to my feet and the anxiety started kicking it, I answered with a very tranquil voice “of course, it’s fine”, nevermore I’d make you feel like if you were on a golden cage again, as you said, nevermore I’d feel like an executioner, like that one painting of a lady feeding the moon, as the hours went by I felt the craziness rushing in, so I decided I’ll go into the looking of you, I don’t know how I ended up into a restaurant, very nice I could say, I saw you in the corner eating with your parents, and when i was about to get in, there he was, this handsome, hairy chef bear that asked me if i was looking for you, i said yes and he asked me why, that if i was your boyfriend to which i answered no, that we were some kind of bond, he felt relieved and said that if we were some kind of boyfriends it would be weird, then i don’t know how it happened but I was in a table sharing a meal with him, asking me all kind of things between us, he suddenly felt like a friend.

Of course I wake up full of anxiety, I felt my heart racing and how it was difficult to me to breathe, it just bummed me that few days ago I felt ready for this life but, perhaps, my mind says maybe not.

whump-side:

Whumptober 2021

No. 4 - TRUST FALL

“Do you trust me?” | taken hostage | pushed

Hhh, I love when hostages are limp in their abductor’s grasp, unaware of what’s happening, an unconscious human shield.

of-wounds-and-woes:

“JJ, please, stay with me.”

Outer Banks S02E03, for my dear friend and partner in crime @whumpypepsigal❤️

Side note: The amount of times scriptwriters use the words “Stay with me” makes me feel they know how much of an effect this sentence has on us!

aceofwhump:

Graceland 1x09

whumpdoyoumean:

Losing consciousness eyes are so good. Fluttering eyelids. Eyes going out of focus before they close. Eyes meeting with those of the whumpee or the carer, wide with pain and fear, before rolling back.