by Cassandra Tribe

Created on: January 11, 2009

The Universal Unconscious, more typically referred to as the Collective Unconscious, is a psychological theory first promoted by Freud and later expanded on by his pupil, Carl Jung. The historical roots of the theory come from a variety of religions that viewed the existence of the Universe not as beginning and ending with a single point, but existing within a world in which the relationship between all creatures and things was symbiotic and timeless.

Most monotheistic religions and clinical schools of psychiatry have rejected the theory of the Collective Unconscious because it acknowledges the reality of existence of things that cannot be perceived through rational experimentation. The Collective Unconscious is only revealed through historical investigation and intuitive psychological exploration. Carl Jung summarizes the Collective Unconscious well by saying that the Collective Unconscious is your "psychic inheritance" or the reservoir of our experiences as a species that while we are never directly aware of it, influences all of our experiences and behaviors.

Jung points to instances of dj vu, common mythology among unrelated peoples, universal symbols and other parallels in dreams, fantasies and artistic creation that occur with near simultaneity and common meaning among unrelated peoples as examples proving the existence of the Collective Unconscious. Is a common language of experience that every human being is born with without having had that experience in their personal life. The Collective Unconscious is the root of our empathy in which our ability to feel and identify with another person is not based upon our understanding through our own experience, but our ability to relate to them based upon an understanding what an experience means in the scope of human life.

He breaks from Freud in dividing this understanding of the Unconscious into two very unique and unequal levels: the Personal and the Collective. The Personal Unconscious is specific to an individual and can be affected and manipulated by the person's experience and efforts, the Personal Unconscious can change. The Collective Unconscious runs much deeper. It is not, as some people believe, a Universal Mind, but is a shared record of existence. The influence of the Collective Unconscious is in how we integrate our individual experience and understand the world. Depending on how our Personal Unconscious is developed, we can either utilize the knowledge that comes from the Collective Unconscious

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>