Jung borrowed similar epistemological ideas from the philosophy of Kant (Nagy
1991:49–63) and Plato’s (Jung 1974:316–22) ideal types. Jung (1971b) described
‘the irrational third’, ‘the existence of two mutually antagonistic tendencies, both
striving to drag man into extreme attitudes and entangle him in the world, whether
on the material or spiritual level, sets him at variance with himself and accordingly
demands the existence of a counterweight.’
Buddhism and analytical psychology agree that part of the mind is concerned with
episteme, that is, with objects of knowledge: analysts call this ego, Buddhists call it
self. Knowledge arises from perception, when ‘not-doing’ interacts with ‘being with’.
In analysis, this knowledge of not-doing is called Self (Ryochi).
Bridging functions in the ego complex bring together parts of the psyche. This
mediation is essential for individuation (Fordham 1985:34–9); yet in that the ego
inevitably experiences defeat by the Self. Contemporary Jungians stress that ego
provides continuity of personal history, and maintains ‘persona’ (Hall and
Young-Eisendrath 1991:6–7). In individuation, ego derives and develops from Self.
It is defended against the outside world and the Self by persona and shadow. Persona
is the face we show the world. The word derives from Ancient Greek theatre;
‘personae’ were the masks worn by actors to represent different characters, just as in
the traditional Japanese Noh theatre.
Jung uses persona as a concept within his theory of object relations. ‘The persona
is a functional complex existing for adaptation, but it is not identical with
individuality. The persona is exclusively concerned with the relation to objects. The
relation of the individual to the object must be sharply distinguished from the relation
to the subject’ (Jung 1971c).
Shadow—the ‘thing a person has no wish to be’ (Jung 1954a) is the unlived good
in a bad person, the unlived bad in a good one. Karma and individuation are
negotiations between ego and collective, Ki and Ri; but which has control? For
developmental theories of analysis, ego is primary.
The ego, according to Freud, is the organised part of the self, constantly
influenced by instinctual impulses but keeping them under control by
repression; furthermore it directs all activities and establishes and maintains
the relation to the external world. The self is used to cover the whole of the
personality, which includes not only the ego, but the instinctual life which
Freud called the id.
(Klein 1975:249)In analytical psychology, Self is primary. It appears in dreams as a ruler or wise being,
a mandala figure, or, commonly, a crowd—or an ocean.
The ego stands to the Self as the moved to the mover, as object to subject,
because the determining factors which radiate out from the Self surround the
ego on all sides and are therefore supra-ordinate to it. The Self, like the
unconscious, is an a priori existent out of which the ego evolves. It is, so toKARMA AND INDIVIDUATION 209