My Dearest Child of Mother Earth,
I'm reading the introduction to Carl Jung's book Psychology of the unconscious: a study of the transformations and symbolisms of the libido, a contribution to the history of the evolution of thought. The introduction is written by Beatrice M. Hinkle perhaps in 1914 or 1915 but no later than 1916. In it is contained:
One of the most active and important forms of childish libido occupation is in phantasy making. The child's world is one of imagery and make believe where s/he can create for himself that satisfaction and enjoyment which the world of reality so often denies. As the child grows and real demands of life are made upon her/him it becomes increasingly necessary that her/his libido be taken away from her/his phantastic world and used for the required adaptation to reality needed by her/his age and condition until finally for the adult the freedom of the whole libido is necessary to meet the biological and cultural demands of life.
I find it fascinating that she wrote it that way. Specifically the line "for the adult the freedom of the whole libido is necessary". It sounds more appropriate and natural to me if she had written "for the adult the enslavement of the whole libido is necessary" there.
Instead of thus employing the libido in the real world however certain people never relinquish the seeking for satisfaction in the shadowy world of phantasy and even though they make certain attempts at adaptation they are halted and discouraged by every difficulty and obstacle in the path of life and are easily pulled back into their inner psychic world. This condition is called a state of introversion.
Carl Jung invented the term "introvert" and here Beatrice demonstrates its purest meaning since she was in contact with the one who originated the term at a time when it was freshly minted. The idea that an introvert is shy or something else is not part of the original concept which she states there.
Jung also has particular meanings for the term libido. Beatrice writes:
Jung also has particular meanings for the term libido. Beatrice writes:
Beginning with the conception of libido itself as a term used to connote sexual hunger and craving, albeit the meaning of the word sexual was extended by Freud to embrace a much wider significance than common usage has assigned it, Jung was unable to confine himself to this limitation. He conceived this longing, this urge or push of life as something extending beyond sexuality even in its wider sense. He saw in the term libido a concept of unknown nature, comparable to Bergson's élan vital, a hypothetical energy of life, which occupies itself not only in sexuality but in various physiological and psychological manifestations such as growth, development, hunger, and all the human activities and interests. This cosmic energy or urge manifested in the human being he calls libido and compares it with the energy of physics. Although recognizing, in common with Freud as well as with many others, the primal instinct of reproduction as the basis of many functions and present-day activities of mankind no longer sexual in character he repudiates the idea of still calling them sexual even though their development was a growth originally out of the sexual. Sexuality and its various manifestations Jung sees as most important channels occupied by libido, but not the exclusive ones through which libido flows.
This is an energic concept of life; and from this viewpoint this hypothetical energy of life or libido is a living power used instinctively by persons in all the automatic processes of their functioning; such very processes being but different manifestations of this energy. By virtue of its quality of mobility and change people, through their understanding and intelligence, have the power consciously to direct and use their libido in definite and desired ways. In this conception of Jung will be seen an analogy to Bergson who speaks of "this change, this movement and becoming, this self-creation, call it what you will, as the very stuff and reality of our being."
In developing the energic conception of libido and separating it from Freud's sexual definition Jung makes possible the explanation of interest in general and provides a working concept by which not only the specifically sexual but the general activities and reactions of man can be understood. If a person complains of no longer having interest in his work or of losing interest in his surroundings then one understands that his libido is withdrawn from this object and that in consequence the object itself seems no longer attractive whereas as a matter of fact the object itself is exactly the same as formerly In other words it is the libido that we bestow upon an object that makes it attractive and interesting.
Please note that the spellings of "phantasy" and "energic" are the ones that Beatrice really uses in the book. I did take some liberties in adjusting pronoun and other genders in the quoted text.This is an energic concept of life; and from this viewpoint this hypothetical energy of life or libido is a living power used instinctively by persons in all the automatic processes of their functioning; such very processes being but different manifestations of this energy. By virtue of its quality of mobility and change people, through their understanding and intelligence, have the power consciously to direct and use their libido in definite and desired ways. In this conception of Jung will be seen an analogy to Bergson who speaks of "this change, this movement and becoming, this self-creation, call it what you will, as the very stuff and reality of our being."
In developing the energic conception of libido and separating it from Freud's sexual definition Jung makes possible the explanation of interest in general and provides a working concept by which not only the specifically sexual but the general activities and reactions of man can be understood. If a person complains of no longer having interest in his work or of losing interest in his surroundings then one understands that his libido is withdrawn from this object and that in consequence the object itself seems no longer attractive whereas as a matter of fact the object itself is exactly the same as formerly In other words it is the libido that we bestow upon an object that makes it attractive and interesting.
Love,
Metta
