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  Table of Contents for Psychology Label Introduction to Psychology Label (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Know Thyself (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Know Thyself, The Persona (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Know Thyself, Self (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Know Thyself, Anime & Animus (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com ) Know Thyself, 5: The Shadow (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) The Higher Self (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Know Thyself, 8: The Ego (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Freud and Jung (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Why Dream? (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) A WORLD OF DREAMS (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com)

  Introduction to Psychology Label My formal education in basic psychology, consisted of undergraduate courses Psych.101,102, which focused largely on perception and study techniques and, at NASA, numerous noncredit courses in various aspects of human relations. They included Eric Bernes's “Games People Play”, Transactional Analysis, Stress Management, Oral Presentations (an excellent course that included salesmanship, debate, and speaking to a hostile audience), Problem Solving, etc. Most of these courses were more useful than one would suspect because they were not taught by local practitioners but by expensive professionals. All of these courses were helpful in some way in teaching me how to behave in certain situations, but they didn't do much in providing the information that I most needed. For that information I would have to delve deeper into all aspects of the mind, including the subconscious. This interest in depth psychology was driven by three motivation...

  Know Thyself This saying, an ancient Greek aphorism, implies that it is possible, even probable, that we do not already know ourselves. However, if someone says to me, “Know yourself”, am I not likely to reply, “I already know myself”? Certainly, reason tells me that I am in a better position to know myself than anyone else is. However, if I pause to think about the matter objectively, I realize that there are many things about myself that I don’t know. For example, if I were suddenly faced with a life-or-death situation, how would I react? I would like to think that I would be calm and courageous, but I’m not at all certain that I would be. If I behave in a helpful, generous way toward another, am I motivated by a true, caring concern for him, or is my intent to receive his praise and gratitude; or to incur a sense of obligation on his part? I know how I want to think of myself, but do I honestly know my own motives? Is it even possible to know oneself? It is surely a...

  Know Thyself, The Persona The Persona is the face, or mask, that we present to the public, whether in the form of a one-on-one conversation with a friend, or a dinner with family or friends, or a gala occasion like a wedding reception or a retirement party. One reason that it is important to recognize and understand the Persona is that the opinion that others have of you is often based on the part of your personality that they actually see. First impressions are important! I could write an academic article on the psychology of the Persona, but I think the concept can be effectively presented though a few examples. Having chosen a scholarly lifestyle in childhood, I gradually came to be perceived that way, and was voted “Most Scholarly” in the high school graduating class, with my picture in the “Class Mirror” of the annual. I was proud of that flattering honorific, little realizing that many of my classmates thought of it simply as a euphemism for “biggest nerd”. My Pers...

  Know  Thyself, Self In many ways the Self is the opposite, or converse, of the Persona. It is the place where one makes the decisions that direct his body and his mind. The introvert is at home here, but an extrovert may be so extroverted that he will avoid it in any way possible. He will constantly seek the company of others, and even when he is physically alone, he will maintain contact with the outside world by means of TV, or a cell phone, or with earbuds and satellite radio. This quiet part of the mind both influences and is influenced by the other complexes. If it dwells on thoughts of beauty, friendship, honor, and such, the effects will be seen in the Persona and in the speech and actions of the body, and even in its health. These thoughts may be instigated entirely by a decision of the Self, or they may be be brought home to the Self from recent experiences with the outside world. The same reasoning applies to negative thoughts like worry, hatred, revenge, ...

  Know Thyself Anime & Animus In his psychoanalytical practice, Jung found that each of his male patients had some female traits, not often noticeable because they are mostly recessive tendencies suppressed by the dominant male side of the psyche. Jung called this feminine side of a man the Anime and the corresponding male side of a woman the Animus. These contra-personalities usually manifest themselves in middle age, when women are past their childbearing years, and men find their sex drive beginning to wane. The effects of this change can be beneficial. For example, a man may become more caring, sympathetic, and take more interest in the fine arts. A woman can become more logical, practical, and active in crafts, home repairs, etc. On the other hand, the effects of the change can be negative. A man may become more openly and embarrassingly sentimental. He may become a whiner, a hypochondriac, or a complainer. A woman can become a virago, a fault-finding hypercriti...

  Know Thyself, Pt. 5 The Shadow In the late nineteenth century, Freud developed a large following in the psychiatric community, based largely on the thesis that most psychological problems derive from the attempt to suppress normal sexual urges. There was perhaps some basis for this theory in the cultural environment of that time, when “a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking”, but in the present where “anything goes!” it is laughable. Practices that in Freud's day were considered obscene, perverted, and even illegal are now discussed and displayed openly, celebrated, and extolled. But even in our day there exists a problem of suppressing reasonable bodily desires. It is the “conscience” imposed by mental acceptance of an extreme moral code or religious doctrines. In this regard, Jung made an interesting discovery in analyzing his own dreams and those of his patients. He found that the dreams did not condemn, or discourage, many of the thoughts and feelin...

  The Higher Self The Higher Self as the part of us that provides the wisdom and revelation that guides the mystic, as well as the inspiration that constitutes the insight of the innovative scientist, artist, poet, or composer. Jung attributes the imparting of revelation to the anime, or to an entity that he called Sophia. But the Higher Self actually appeared in dreams in many forms. Sometimes, It appears as a tall man dressed in white. Sometimes It appeared as one or two giants, sometimes as a “Prodigy Child” - an infant who could talk and advise; and there were several others. And often there would be a dream whose obvious interpretation led to a revelation. However, the role of the Higher Self is not limited to guiding each of us to be a better person. It is the source of all inspiration and innovation. In the Science label post, “The Power of Positive and Negative Thinking”, we learned that a problem that we seemingl...

  Know Thyself, 8: The Ego I saved this pesky piece of the Psyche for the last discussion because I have much to say about it. First, I should explain my own understanding of its definition. It is not the “I, alone”, or the “I, separate from others”. It is the “I, as compared with others”. It naturally enters into any one-to-one competition, where the goal is to demonstrate superiority over the adversary. Competitions like tennis, parlor games, fist fights, debates, and legal battles in the court room can fall into this category. More examples include the competition to become the starting quarterback on the football team or the class valedictorian in the graduating class. It is true that in some of these situations the “I” must compete against more than one competitor which often, but not always, makes his problem more difficult. A competitive situation can have a positive effect on the individual. For example, if Jim finds that Bob has made a better grade on Chem.101 than h...

  Freud and Jung Most of the posts under this Psychology label have dealt in some way with depth psychology, and the importance of communicating with one's subconscious mind. The two outstanding pioneers in this field were Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Both attained a measure of acclaim for their work, but each of them, in some major respect, misused that fame. Freud's problem arose when he found, through analyzing many dreams of his patients, that the evidence for telepathic dreams was undeniable. That was something supernatural, and that finding was a cause for alarm for him, because he recognized the popular fascination with anything that dealt with the supernatural, and he was aware of the dangers that lay in that direction, which he called “the dark mud of the occult. To avoid those dangers he did not emphasize them, but focused on dreams as a means of uncovering repressed urges. For some reason he f...

  Why Dream? One day, when I was browsing through a book shop, I ran across a little book – just a brief booklet, or pamphlet, and I don’t even recall its author or title. I picked it up and began to skim through it. The subject was learning about the inner self through one’s dreams. I had seen articles about dream interpretation before, but none that I trusted, because they seemed to imply that all dreams had a clairvoyant quality. But this book was not like that. The author explained that although dreams nearly always seemed meaningless, they really aren’t, because they speak in their own language which is the language of symbolism. He proceeded to describe a couple of his own dreams, and then explained the meaning of each symbol in the dream. Sure enough, when all of the symbols were in place, the dream story became a kind of fable with a clear moral. Furthermore, when he described a certain problem in his ...

  A WORLD OF DREAMS From the very first dream that I recorded, I had no doubt that the dreams held important information that I needed in my quest; but digging out this information by decoding the symbolism proved to be an awesome task. In the long run it was worth the effort, and I found that often the dreams that were the most difficult to decipher were ultimately the most helpful. To describe the individual dreams, together with their interpretations would require a volume in itself; but in a single chapter I can at least outline the principal themes and some of the lessons that I learned, together with a few of the individual dreams, by way of example. Initially the dreams seemed to have the purpose of encouraging my effort to study them, luring me on until the habit was established. For example, one early sequence of dreams presented a variety of works of art - full color paintings of various genres, abstract sculpture, a stained-glass window of remarkable beau...