The Heart is the meeting place of the individual and the divine, the inner ground of morality, authenticity and integrity. The process of coming to the Heart and of realizing the person we were meant to be is what Carl Jung called 'Individuation'. This path is full of moral challenges for anyone with the courage to take it. Using Jung's premise that the main causes of psychological problems are conflicts of conscience, Christina Becker takes the reader through the philosophical and spiritual aspects of the ethical dimensions of this individual journey toward wholeness. This book is a long overdue and unique contribution to the link between individuation and ethics. --- from the publisher Reviews: Reading The Heart of the Matter was like sitting at a feast, having the opportunity to be fed from many sources. There is much that feeds us both intellectually and emotionally in this work. It provides a systematic and scholarly grounding toward the understanding the fundamental ethical urge/need within each human being." -Shirley Halliday, Jungian analyst and president of the British Columbia Association for Analytical Psychology "The Heart of the Matter is a thoughtful and thought-provoking work that provides a philosophical and psychological ground upon which archetypal images of the heart dance with conscious and unconscious attitudes, actions, vulnerabilities, oversights, and professional infractions of individuals and the collective" -Brenda Weinberg, psychotherapist and president of the Canadian Association of Sandplay Therapists Contents: Introduction 9 Part I - Individuation as an Ethical Process 1 Ethics, Morality, and Conscience: Philosophical and Mythological Perspectives 19 Definitions 21 Morality and Judea-Christian Religion 24 Origins of Ethics, Morality and Conscience: The Debate 26 Freud’s Superego 29 Moral and Ethical Instincts: Psychological and Mythological Perspectives 30 Moral Relativism 35 Ethics and the Discovery of the Unconscious 37 2 Jung’s Exploration of Morality and Conscience 41 Jung’s Western Influences 43 Jung’s Eastern Influences 46 Jung’s Views on Morality 50 Good and Evil 52 A Psychological View of Conscience 53 3 Moral Development and Psychopathology 57 Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg 60 Carol Gilligan and Gender Differences 62 Erik Erikson’s Ethical Orientation 63 Neuman’s Ethical Development of Consciousness 69 Moral Psychopathology 72 4 The Heart: The Ethics of Integrity and Authenticity 75 Integrity and Authenticity 76 The Symbol of the Heart 81 The Heart As Morality and as the Centre of the Personality 88 5 Individuation and the Ethical Confrontation with the Unconscious 91 Nature of the Unconscious 93 Jung’s Confrontation with the Unconscious 94 Individuation 96 Shadow and Psychological Development 97 Integrity as the Opus 98 Psychological Experience of Integrity and Conscience 99 Ethical Confrontation with the Unconscious and the “New Ethic” 103 Part II - Ethics in Analysis 6 Integrity of Analysis: Boundaries 109 Analytic Boundaries and Maintaining Integrity in Analysis 112 Archetypal Basis of the Analytic Relationship 114 Analytic Boundaries: Flexibility or Violation? 119 7 The Analyst’s Shadow and Boundary Violations 125 The Analyst’s Shadow 125 Boundary Violations and Ethics in Analysis 127 Early History of Boundary Violations 129 Common Features of Boundary Violations 131 Analytic Boundaries: Flexibility or Violation? Three Case Studies 134 Issues Raised by the Case Studies 139 8 Ethics in Analysis: Survey of Attitudes of Jungian Analysts 143 Survey of Analyst Attitudes and Beliefs: Methodology 143 Results 145 Conclusions and Recommendations from Survey 158 Part III – The Ethical Attitude 9 Suffering and the Ethical Attitude 163 Our Attitude toward Suffering 165 Meaningful Suffering and the Transcendent Function 169 The Ethical Attitude for Individuation 173 The Ethical Attitude in Analytic Practice 176 Closing Reflections 183 Bibliography 189 Index 195 Appendix: Ethics Survey Questionnaire and Results 201 About the Author: Christina Becker is a Jungian Analyst in private practice in Toronto. She graduated from the C.G. Jung Institut in Zurich, Switzerland, and also has a degree in music and a Masters in Business Administration. Prior to going into training, she had a successful career as a manager, teacher, and consultant to cultural and voluntary sector communities. Read more at www.cjbecker.com |