The idea that there is no unconscious aspect to the psyche necessarily asserts that we are aware/conscious of the entire phenomenon of the human mind. Being that psychology is still something hotly debated - it lays more in the realm of pseudo-science than it does in empirical fact - I think it’s quite clear that we aren’t conscious of the whole operation of the psyche. Therefore, there must still be some aspects that are veiled from our view; the ‘unconscious’.
The question is, if all else in the universe has an objective, predictable causality to it, why wouldn't the human mind? Even though the individual experience of the psyche is subjective, there does appear to be an objective basis to it, one that can be readily seen in part. There are countless aspects that we all share across time and distance; language, culture, religion, emotions, creativity, a sense of beauty and ethics, to name just some of the more general and obvious. But, from what I've seen, much of what we all share psychologically takes a more obscure and nuanced form; it consists of concepts which are unconscious. One of the primary ways Jung quantified the existence of the collective unconscious was through his research in symbolism as it has been used throughout human history. He found that the same symbols and stories have popped up, seemingly autonomously, throughout the ages. What’s more, when analyzing his patients, he observed that the same symbols of history would often appear in their dreams; when they were
unconscious. I don’t know how extensively you may have read Jung’s work, but I highly recommend The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious as a rich resource documenting his findings.
@Yellow:
Personally, I'm resistant to the idea of polarity/duality, that good and bad, love and hate, yin and yang exist to temper each other.
I kind of agree with you here, however I think the idea of polarity has its roots in reality. The way I see it, dualities do not exist to temper each other, but are a necessary outcome of the nature of things in this world and how we perceive them. From what I’ve seen, natural phenomena exist in as many different states as are possible within their parameters; what can happen will happen. Natural rhythms also tend to be cyclic; slowly alternating from one state to another, and then back again. This causes a very nuanced gradient effect, but we humans, in our limited perception, often miss the nuance and categorize things by their extremes. The truth is that there is a whole spectrum of color, including black and white, but we often only see the black and the white, so to speak. I think, this is an efficient way for us – with our finite processing capabilities – to understand the gist of something, since its overall character and meaning is most obvious in its extremes. But I don't think the presence of dualities in nature is limited to our perception; indeed, it is the interaction of polarities that produces such things as waveforms – which create everything from light to music – convection currents in the atmosphere which cause weather, even the cognitive functions (Introversion and Extroversion, Judgment and Perception, Thinking and Feeling, etc.) Polarities can be found in countless places in nature, they are a main principle which underlies much of the dynamism of this universe. Just because we subjectively highlight their existence and sometimes relate them to mystical concepts, doesn't mean that polarities aren't something very relevant, and it doesn't exclude the existence of balance through the mutual tempering of opposites.
--
the illusion of control.
The idea that there is a collective unconscious ties into this, in that we want to believe there is a "will", a god, a force that is driving events, and causing things to happen for a
reason.
I can see your point here as it regards the common notion of the collective unconscious popular in some New-age discussions.. or really, in general discussions these days, as New-age philosophies have leaked out into the conglomeration that is popular ‘wisdom’ :P However, Jung’s theory of the archetypes is quite counter to this, as he suggests our notion of
purpose or a
reason is an entirely subjective perception caused by the architecture of the psyche (the unconscious included). He doesn’t indicate that there is any underlying
force guiding things, his argument is more along the lines that the human psyche is an objective system which operates on some predetermined parameters, and therefore manifests in predictable ways. These parameters are mysterious in their nature, but only because of the fact that we are unaware of their operation. We’re unaware of the metabolism of our cells and the precise flow of blood through our veins as well, so it’s not so far-fetched to say that there are underlying unconscious causalities that govern the operation of the psyche; the brain is part of the body after all. I suppose the unconscious could be looked at as a substitute for
god, but I think that is a misperception. If we look at this from a slightly different point of view, I think it's possible that our concept of an omnipotent, creative deity may come from the reality that we are all manifestations of one grand human equation; our collective DNA and subsequent nature. 'Man was created in the image of god', as it's been said. I think this idea may imprecisely point at a truth of our existence.
I understand the need to find meaning. I understand the comfort that comes from feeling like there is a force out there that keeps things in check.
Yes.. but why is it that we humans desire to find meaning and feel a sense of comfort when we think we are a relevant part of something bigger – such as a universe governed and protected by a deity? The way I see it, all information in this universe is relevant to understanding reality. In the case of psychological happenings, like this need to find meaning, I think it’s important to take the existence of it seriously and ask
why such things are so universal instead of focusing on their existence as a delusional blockade to an objective view on reality. It is from this sort of direction that concepts like a collective unconscious can begin to make sense in a reasonable way.
