Jung’s psychological types might better be referred to as “persona” types for each presents a certain “face” to the world. They are ego orientations that manifest as personas—the way people are perceived by others. Someone with a disposition toward extraverted feeling, for example, will have a very sociable persona. He will enjoy making conversation with others, will be highly gregarious, will enjoy meeting new people. He may be the “life of the party.” Someone with an introverted thinking disposition would be more withdrawn at parties—often a quiet observer. She would enjoy thinking about complex questions, systems, and theories. She would often seem off in a world of her own.
Neither of these, for Jung, would be types of personality.
Personality transcends ego consciousness. It is the greater unique person who an individual is destined to become, and that greater person will have more fluid access to extraverted feeling and introverted thinking, as well as the other ego orientations.
Personality—as it unifies the various dispositions of psychological types, as it becomes more “whole”—will eventually disassemble the persona. The natural persona type will be an impediment to the destined wholeness, just as the life of a caterpillar is an impediment to the full expression of the inherent butterfly.
Personality, perhaps the only term among Jung’s vast lexicon of defined terms that he would not define, is an exalted experience. As we listen to some of Jung’s comments about personality, we gain a better understanding of what he had in mind. Personality is none of the psychological types per se, but rather found at a midpoint between them, uniting them.
“This something is the desired “mid-point” of the personality, that ineffable something betwixt the opposites, or else that which unites them, or the result of conflict, or the product of energetic tension: the coming to birth of personality, a profoundly individual step forward, the next stage.” (CW 7, Par 382)
A more fully evolved personality is the aim and purpose of individuation. Until the ego dispositions are united, disassembling an asymmetric persona, the full personality remains hidden away.
“The transcendent function does not proceed without aim and purpose, but leads to the revelation of the essential man. It is in the first place a purely natural process, which may in some cases pursue its course without the knowledge or assistance of the individual, and can sometimes forcibly accomplish itself in the face of opposition. The meaning and purpose of the process is the realization, in all aspects, of the personality originally hidden away in the embryonic germ-plasm; the production and unfolding of the original, potential wholeness. (CW 7, par 186)
Many people remain attached to their personas and ego identities—identifying with their political point of view, their possessions, their socio-economic standing, educational degrees, their positions of status, their organizational roles. We might think of ego identity and persona as who we are in the world.
But the unification of authentic personality is a chief aim in life. The individual and the culture are vastly enhanced by the full flowering of personality. We might think of personality as who we are in the universe.
J. G. Johnston
Author of Jung’s Indispensable Compass
Founder of Gifts Compass Inc.
Teaching Venues
I would not for anything dispense with this compass in my psychological voyages of discovery. C. G. Jung
We offer two training venues for professional practitioners to gain a clearer understanding of Jung’s “compass” of psychological types.
Life Atlas Consultant: Designed for coaches, HR professionals, consultants and counselors, this training is an extensive view of the types and their many practical applications for life. Completing this program certifies the individual as a Life Atlas Consultant with use of the online instruments at Life Atlas.
Ten online sessions $1200
To learn more about this training, register your interest here.
The Gifts Compass Certification Training: This training is for psychologists, Jungian analysts, and students of Jungian psychology who want to understand the types and their relationship to depth psychology. It covers all of the content in the Life Atlas Consultant Training, and includes crucial sessions on type oppositions and their unification in the development of unique personality. Completion of this program certifies the individual as a GCI Advisor with use of the online instruments at GiftsCompass.com
Twelve online sessions $1950
To learn more about this training, register your interest here.
To learn about our teaching venues, please visit: Become a Practitioner
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