Unlike his mentor, Freud, who was an atheist, Carl Jung saw spirituality as the defining trait of personality and human nature,
manifested as a mysterious presence found in all cultures. Jung held the conviction that God existed and that in all important matters a human being was alone with God.
Jung developed the
idea of the collective unconscious as a repository of universal archetypes
like the divine child, the old sage, and the primordial mother.
These archetypes and the symbols they elicit in dreams and through intuition,
he surmised, are meant to guide people through an
individuation process, offering fulfillment through reconciling opposing forces
within the psyche. Jung saw a person's destiny as the result of a collaboration between the
conscious and the unconscious.
While agreeing that spirituality is indigenous to
human nature, compass personality theory more explicitly affirms the Trinity as
the ontological foundation of personhood, Jesus Christ as the God-human
mediator, and the Holy Spirit as the source of wisdom within the spiritual
core. Rather than cultural symbols to guide people toward individual
fulfillment, compass theory emphasizes the Word of God as the objective revelation
of the Trinity without equal in revealing what people are called to become.
Without this framework, the Bible says, “there is a way that appears to be
right to a person, but its end is the way to death” (Prov 14:12). In other
words, symbolic interpretation of psychic and cultural processes is
insufficient in itself to establish communion and communication with the
Creator, for this requires conversion of the heart, regeneration of the spirit,
and living in existential responsiveness to the Trinity.
Of all Jung’s concepts, introversion and extroversion
have gained the widest general acceptance. Introverts focus on their own
thoughts and feelings, recharging their psychic batteries through interior
reflection and recollection. Extroverts focus on social stimulation, recharging
their psychic batteries through interaction with others. Introverts see the
world in regard to how it affects them, whereas extroverts are more concerned
with their impact upon the world.
In compass personality theory, introverted personality patterns include the Avoidant Worrier, Schizoid Loner, Dependent Pleaser, and Compulsive Controller. Extroverted patterns include the Histrionic Storyteller, Paranoid Arguer, Antisocial Rule-breaker, and Narcissistic Boaster.
Perhaps what characterizes Jung’s theory more than anything
else is his emphasis on polarities within personality as the
key to understanding individual differences and helping people make progress in
individuation. To Jung, the self can have no reality without polarity.
Both Jungian and compass personality theory see the development
of personality and relationships as a goal-directed enterprise, marked by the
balanced development of all parts of personality, utilizing a
free flow of energy between conscious and unconscious processes. Thus, the
differentiation of opposites needs consistent integration within the
self-system throughout the lifespan.
For Jung this means venerating what is God-like in
the self, but also respecting what is most base, one’s shadow side, and
learning how to give equal place even to the seemingly contradictory aspects of
human experience.
Compass personality theory is anchored in God’s invitation to trust in the Trinity as an
edifying presence for developing healthy personality and relationships. Personality health is achieved through growth in developing a Christlike Self Compass as a person learns to recognize and dismantle the
manipulative trends arising from dependency, aggression, withdrawal, or control.
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