Jung explains that since Psychology is the
study of the psyche, components of human cognition must be considered when explaining
how creativity and art are produced. Jung warns that his conclusions are but hypothesis,
for if Psychology had been able to fully explain creativity there would be a
branch of science devoted to it, and there is not. Psychology is a science of
theories, much as all social sciences are, and Neuroscience, which is the
intersection of Psychology and Neurology, has been unsuccessful in giving a definitive
answer of what makes a person creative. This is because the brain is vastly
unexplored territory. With all the scanning machines available and brain
experiments done, we still know precious little about its intricacies and
ultimate capabilities.
Jung
notes that psychologists and literary critics have different goals. A literary critic
analyzes the apparent storyline, while the psychologist looks “between the
lines” at the unconscious story, and the subtle motivations of its characters. Jung
uses Goethe’s “Faust” (1808, 1832) as an example of one play that begs to be
interpreted due to its dramatic and tragic plot. According to Jung, literature
can be placed into two categories: “psychological,” and “visionary.” The “psychological”
expresses conscious conflicts only, what I would term “conscious literature.” The second type is “visionary” and attempts to
explore the unconscious through literature and art. “It arises from timeless
depths; it is foreign and cold, many-sided, demonic and grotesque” (Jung, 1933).
Bringing
out this distinction was important to Jung because an artist’s visions will compel
him to create profound, unconsciously inspired storylines and art that could be
disturbing to our logical, linear understanding of the world. In short, the
unconscious made conscious through art may concuss our sensibilities. I thought
of my favorite Surreal artist, Salvador Dali (1904-1989) in Jung’s description
of “visionary” art. Dali’s renditions of dreams and nightmares, his “dark
recesses of the mind” as Jung put it, were captured, and distilled in his renderings
which were “visionary” in every sense of the word. Having made the point that
art is both an expression of the conscious and unconscious, Jung reminds us
that to reduce art to a representation of the artist’s psychological condition is
too confining. We must not interpret art based upon the person of the artist. Instead,
art must be seen as a “symbolic
expression” of mythology. But what does this mean?
Jung was a deeply spiritual man. From his spirituality came
his overriding psychoanalytical philosophy: that mythology has long been the cause
of mankind’s progress. It is from ancient mythology that civilization has
evolved (Jung described the Archetypes based largely on a shared mythology). I
believe what Jung was trying to say, but could not overtly, is that creativity
springs from a supernatural source that is not readily comprehensible, and that
this source is the fount of all myth and mysticism. He believed that all
unconscious material comes to us from the “collective subconscious,” an eternal
and unlimited “library” or record of human evolution that has recorded every
thought, word, and deed.
His
belief in a shared unconscious storehouse was based upon the psychic matter of
dreams and hallucinations, which are mythological in nature and universal. He
ascertained that it is the collective unconscious guiding the artist in
producing artistic representations needed at that time in history;
representations sourced from the collective unconscious which includes our
ancient mythology. In the end, Jung says, the artist is an unwitting instrument
of the collective unconscious and “subordinate to it” (Jung,1925). Jung encourages artists to
produce art that will uplift all of humanity: “What is essential in the work of
art is that it should rise far above the realm of personal life and speak from
the spirit and heart of the poet to the spirit and heart of mankind” (Jung, 1933).
Works Cited
Carl Gustov Jung. Introduction
to Jungian Psychology: Notes on the Seminar on Analytical Psychology. Philemon
Foundation Series, 1925.
Carl Gustov Jung. Modern Man in
Search of a Soul, p.156-57.
Kegan Paul, Trench,
Trubner and Co., London, 1933.
Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe. Faust. Thomas
Boosey and Sons, London, 1808 and 1832.
No comments:
Post a Comment