The Self

according to Carl Jung

by Dr. Lee Gillis

Professor of Psychology

Georgia College & State University

The archetype of wholeness and the regulating center of the psyche. It is commonly symbolized by a mandala or a paradoxical union of opposites. The Self is experienced as a numinous, transpersonal power which transcends and overrides the ego. Empirically it is indistinguishable from the image of God.

The Jungian self is an archetype that expresses itself through various symbols, the main one being the mandala, a magic circle that represents unity.  The picture above is one example of a mandala.

The circle of the mandala represents unity.  For Jung, total unity is the self.  The self is central, the mid-point of personality.  All systems are held together by the self.  the self provides unity, equilibrium and stability.

For Jung, the self is one's goal in life.  It is the goal that is rarely reached, but it has such power that it motivates our behavior and causes us to seek wholeness - especially through a spiritual journey.

Jung discovered his view of the self through studying and observing religions of the Orient.  For Jung, as for many humans, religious or spiritual experience is perhaps the closest one will ever come to wholeness or unity.  For this reason, Christ and Buddha are seen as the highest expressions of the self archetype.

I had to abandon the idea of the superordinate position of the ego. ... I saw that everything, all paths I had been following, all steps I had taken, were leading back to a single point -- namely, to the mid-point. It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the centre. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the centre, to individuation.

... I knew that in finding the mandala as an expression of the self I had attained what was for me the ultimate. - C. G. Jung. Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

In Christian terms, striving to be Christ-like would be striving to achieve wholeness and unity that is consistent with the development of the self.

Due to the completeness of Jung's self, it is not thought to be able to be developed until one reaches their middle years.  It is then that individuals are thought to make a serious effort to move the center of their personality from the conscious ego to a place that is midway between consciousness and unconsciousness.  It is in this mid-point that one discovers the self.

I call this centre also the 'self,' a term that is meant to include the totality of the psyche in so far as this manifests itself in an individual. The self is not only the centre, but also the circumference that encloses consciousness and the unconscious; it is the centre of this totality, as the ego is the centre of consciousness.(1935) [from http://www.cgjung.com/cgjung/articles/hdself3.html]

Two articles which apply the Jungian concept of the self are available below

The attitudes and functions of personality

One of Jung's discoveries that can allow us to examine our balance in life is through understanding of the two major attitudes of the personality: Extraversion and Introversion. The former is oriented towards the external world while ther latter toward the inner world.  Like all Jungian concepts, all persons are thought to possess both attitudes; one is thought to be more dominant  and conscious while the other is subordinate and unconscious.  When one's self becomes more wholly developed, there is thought to be a balance between the two attitudes.

The second place one can see a movement toward unity of the self is with the four functions: sensing and intuiting, thinking and feeling.  Sensing, for Jung is a reality function that is a way of perceiving through the senses; it relies on facts.  Intuiting is a way of perceiving that relies more on unconscious processes.  The thinking function is intellectual and it is pulled or balanced by feeling which is the evaluative function of positive or negative.  From the feeling function one gets the ability to experience anger, sadness, happiness, and fear.

Again, understand the Jung felt all persons have both attitudes and all four functions.  Theoretically, in moving more towards the unity and wholeness of self, the attitudes and functions are balanced.  The self is in the middle of that balance.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is one popular way people find out through assessment which attitude is dominant and which of the functions are dominant.  In development of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator two other functions were added that were not part of Jung's original work: Judging and Perceiving.  These are explained in more detail in the link to "evaluate the personal style inventory."  Below are "public domain" instruments that can allow you to plot how you score on the attitudes and functions.  The first one requires that you print the instrument, mark and score it by hand, and then view the seecond link for an evaluation.  The bottom link is an on-line instrument of 70 items which will generate a score and an interpretation for you.  As with any attempts to put theoretical ideas into assessment instruments, there are shortcomings and pitfalls.   If however, you view these instruments as an exercise in assessing your personality, perhaps you can construct your own mandala and continue along your lifelong journey for wholeness and unity.

A Jungian Link to more information

The C.G. Jung Page

copyright © Dr. Deborah Vess 1998-2001, Georgia College & State University and the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. All rights reserved. Rights to chapters authored by contributing faculty members reserved to Georgia College & State University, to the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at GC&SU, and to the individual faculty authors.