The starting-point of our problem [the mana-personality] is the condition which results when the unconscious contents that are the efficient cause of the animus and anima phenomenon have become sufficiently assimilated to the conscious mind. This condition may be understood as follows:
(a)
These fantasies are not so wild and unregulated as a na;ve intelligence might think; they pursue definite, unconscious lines of direction which converge upon a definite goal. We could therefore most fittingly describe these later series of fantasies as processes of initiation, since these form the closest analogy CW7 ¶ 384
THE IMMEDIATE GOAL OF ANALYSIS
(b)
The immediate goal of the analysis of the unconscious, therefore, is to reach a state where the unconscious contents no longer remain unconscious and no longer express themselves indirectly as animus and anima phenomena; that is to say, a state in which animus and anima become functions of relationship to the unconscious. So long as they are not this, they are autonomous complexes, disturbing factors that break through the conscious control and act like true “disturbers of the peace” CW7 ¶ 387
POSSESSION BY `COMPLEXES'
(c)
Because this is such a well-known fact my term “complex,” as used in this sense, has passed into common speech. The more “complexes” a man has, the more he is possessed; and when we try to form a picture of the personality which expresses itself through his complexes we must admit that it resembles nothing so much as an hysterical womani.e., the anima! CW7 ¶ 387
GET TO THE ROOTS
OF ONE'S COMPLEXES
(d)
But if such a man makes himself conscious of his unconscious contents, as they appear firstly in the factual contents of his personal unconscious, and then in the fantasies of the collective unconscious, he will get to the roots of his complexes. and in this way rid himself of his possession. With that the anima phenomenon comes to a stop CW7 ¶ 387
(e)
That superior power, however, which caused the possessionfor what I cannot shake off must in some sense be superior to meshould, logically, disappear with the anima. One should then be “complex-free,” psychologically house-trained, so to speak. Nothing more should happen that is not sanctioned by the ego, and when the ego wants something, nothing should be capable of interfering. The ego would thus be assured of an impregnable position, the steadfastness of a superman or the sublimity of a perfect sage. Both figures are ideal images: Napoleon on the one hand, Lao-tzu on the other. Both are consistent with the idea of “the extraordinarily potent,” which is the term that Lehmann, in his celebrated monograph, uses for his definition of mana. I therefore call such a personality simply a mana-personality CW7 ¶ 388
MANA-PERSONALITY AS
AN ARCHETYPE
(f)
It [the mana-personality] corresponds to a dominant of the collective unconscious, to an archetype which has taken shape in the human psyche through untold ages of just that kind of experience. Primitive man does not analyse and does not work out why another is superior to him. If another is cleverer and stronger than he, then he has mana, he is possessed of a stronger power; and by the same token he can lose this power, perhaps because someone has walked over him in his sleep, or stepped on his shadow CW7 ¶ 388
IDENTIFICATION WITH THE
MANA-PERSONALITY
(g)
Historically, the mana-personality evolves into the hero and the godlike being, whose earthly form is the priest. How very much the doctor is still mana is the whole plaint of the analyst! But in so far as the ego apparently draws to itself the power belonging to the anima, the ego does become a mana-personality. This development is an almost regular phenomenon. I have never yet seen a fairly advanced development of this kind where at least a temporary identification with the archetype of the mana-personality did not take place. It is the most natural thing in the world that this should happen, for not only does one expect it oneself, but everybody also expects it too CW7 ¶ 389
POSSESSION BY AN ARCHETYPE
(h)
One can only alter one's attitude and thus save oneself from na;vely falling into an archetype and being forced to act a part at the expense of one's humanity. Possession by an archetype turns a man into a flat collective figure, a mask behind which he can no longer develop as a human being, but becomes increasingly stunted. One must therefore beware of the danger of falling victim to the dominant of the mana-personality. The danger lies not only in oneself becoming a father-mask, but in being overpowered by this mask when worn by another. Master and pupil are in the same boat in this respect CW7 ¶ 390
UNCONSCIOUS REACTS TO
THE EGO'S POWER
(i)
The dissolution of the anima means that we have gained insight into the driving forces of the unconscious, but not that we have made these forces ineffective. They can attack us at any time in new form. And they will infallibly do so if the conscious attitude has a flaw in it. It's a question of might against might. If the ego presumes to wield power over the unconscious, the unconscious reacts with a subtle attack, deploying the dominant of the mana-personality, whose enormous prestige casts a spell over the ego. Against this the only defense is full confession of one's weakness in face of powers of the unconscious. By opposing no force to the unconscious we do not provoke it to attack CW7 ¶ 391
DIFFERENTIATION OF THE EGO AND
THE MANA-PERSONALITY
(j)
In differentiating the ego from the archetype of the mana-personality one is now forced, exactly as in the case of the anima, to make conscious those contents which are specific of the mana-personality. Historically, the mana-personality is always in possession of the secret name, or of some esoteric knowledge, or has the prerogative of a special way of actingquod licet Jovi, non licet boviin a word, it has an individual distinction. Conscious realization of the contents composing it means, for the man, the second and real liberation from the father, and, for the woman, liberation from the mother, and with it comes the first genuine sense of his or her true individuality CW7 ¶ 393
SEVERANCE FROM
THE `CARNAL' PARENTS
(k)
This part of the process corresponds exactly to the aim of the concretistic primitive initiations up to an including baptism, namely, severance from the “carnal” (or animal) parents, and rebirth in novam infantiam, into a condition of immortality and spiritual childhood, as formulated by certain mystery religions of the ancient world, among them Christianity CW7 ¶ 393
(l)
It is now quite possible that, instead of identifying with the mana-personality, one will concretize it as an extramundane “Father in Heaven,” complete with the attribute of absolutenesssomething that many people seem very prone to do. This would be tantamount to giving the unconscious a supremacy that was just as absolute (if one's faith could be pushed that far!), so that all value would flow over to that side. The logical result is that the only thing left behind here is a miserable, inferior, worthless, and sinful little heap of humanity. This solution, as we know, has become an historical world view CW7 ¶ 394
MANA-PERSONALITY
MUST NOT BE CONCRETIZED
(m)
On psychological grounds, therefore, I would recommend that no God be constructed out of the archetype of the mana-personality. In other words, he must not be concretized, for only thus can I avoid projecting my values and non-values into God and Devil, and only thus can I preserve my human dignity, my specific gravity, which I need so much if I am not to become the unresisting shuttlecock of unconscious forces. In his dealings with the visible world, a man must certainly be mad to suppose that he is master of this world.Our bowing down before law and order is a commendable example of what our general attitude to the collective unconscious should be CW7 ¶ 395
(n)
The mana-personality is on one side a being of superior wisdom, on the other a being of superior will. By making conscious the contents that underlie this personality, we find ourselves obliged to face the fact that we have learnt more and want more than other people. This uncomfortable kinship with the gods, as we know, struck so deep into poor Angelus Silesius' bones that it sent him flying out of his super-Protestantism, past the precarious halfway house of the Lutherans, back to the nethermost womb of the dark Motherunfortunately very much to the detriment of his lyrical gifts and the health of his nerves CW7 ¶ 396
(o)
And yet Christ, and Paul after him, wrestled with these same problems, as a number of clues still make evident. Meister Eckhart, Goethe in his Faust, Nietzsche in his Zarathustra, have again brought this problem somewhat closer to us. Goethe and Nietzsche try to solve it by the idea of mastery, the former through the figure of the magician and ruthless man of will who makes a pact with the devil, the latter through the master man and supreme sage who knows neither God nor devil CW7 ¶ 397
DISSOLUTION OF
THE MANA-PERSONALITY
(p)
Thus the dissolution of the mana-personality through conscious assimilation of its contents leads us, by a natural route, back to ourselves as an actual, living something, poised between two world-pictures and their darkly discerned potencies. This “something” is strange to us and yet so near, wholly ourselves and yet unknowable, a virtual center of so mysterious a constitution that it can claim anythingkinship with beasts and gods, with crystals and with starswithout moving us to wonder, without even exciting our disapprobation. This “something” claims all that and more, and having nothing in our hands that could fairly be opposed to these claims, it is surely wiser to listen to this voice CW7 ¶ 398