Symbols of the Mother and of Rebirth - Carl Jung

The Symbols of Transformation (1912) represents a milestone in the rupture between Freud and Jung. Concluding that sexual desire is inadequate as a universal explanation for neurosis, Jung rejects Freud's "so-called Oedipus complex with its famous incest tendency." Instead he theorizes "a 'Jonah-and-the-Whale' complex, which has any number of variants, for instance the witch who eats children, the wolf, the ogre, the dragon, and so on."

The defining feature of this complex is the subject's irrational desire to regress to the safety of the womb, distinguished from Freud's Oedipus as a non-sexual reunion with the mother. But Jung's myth is also distinguishable by its optimistic (rather than tragic) resolution. Just as Jonah's internment in the belly of the whale incites repentance and restores his relationship with God, so the neurotic subject--through a radical confrontation with one's inner darkness--may gestate a profound psychological emancipation and "rebirth."

For Jung, then, religion is not a mere fugitive of Enlightenment rationality (ala Freud), but a custodian of symbolic stories to facilitate self-realization, constructively channeling instinctual forces into vital civil and spiritual purposes.

In "Symbols of the Mother and of Rebirth" (Part 2, chapter 5 of The Symbols of Transformation), Jung uses his case study of "Miss Miller" to analyze maternal imagery and motifs, and elaborates his theory of the "Jonah-and-the-Whale complex."

The Symbols of Transformation:

• pdf (see Part 2, chapter 5)

Symbols of the Mother and of Rebirth:

• Online and audio

Supplemental:

• Jonah and the Whale: A Dream for Our Time This Jungian Life podcast
• DRAGON: The Archetypal Monster and Ally Within This Jungian Life podcast
• Lecture on Abraham Maslow The Jonah Complex

Extracts:

• "Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever." (Moby-Dick, 1)

This meetup is part of the series In the Belly of the Whale.