In Jungian symbolic psychology, the concept of symbol is extended to
encompass the entire individual and collective psyche. Structuring
symbols, complexes, and functions are expressed as polarities that
include both the subjective and objective worlds.
Consciousness is described as the interaction of five archetypal forms
of intelligence. Among them, Carlos Amadeu Botelho Byington, M.D.,
introduces alterity, in which the anima and animus archetypes relate
dialectically, making it the archetype of democracy, of scientific and
artistic creativity, and of love.
Through this dialectic of opposites, analytical psychology and
psychoanalysis are analyzed as complementary approaches and used to
explicate shadow formation through fixation and defenses. In this
manner, ethics can be studied psychodynamically, and the shadow can be
equated with sin and evil within the individuation process. Through this
ample symbolic perspective, the psyche is conceived as being (following
Heidegger), with its three main polarities--mind-body, mind-nature, and
mind-emotions--expressed through symbols.
The matriarchal and patriarchal archetypes, along with the alterity and
totality archetypes, form the ruling archetypal quaternio, which is the
basis of symbolic elaboration to form the ego and consciousness.
Parallel to Jung's individuation process, Byington has conceived the
cultural Self and the humanization process based on Teilhard de Chardin
to describe an archetypal theory of history. This theory includes the
activation of the alterity archetype, whose mythological root is
expressed through the myth of Christ in the West and the myth of Buddha
in the East.
Jungian Symbolic Psychology concludes with an interpretation of the
Oedipus myth based on the dialectical relationship between analytical
psychology and psychoanalysis.
Carlos Amadeu Botelho Byington, M.D., is a psychiatrist and Jungian
analyst, graduated at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zürich and founding
member of the Brazilian Society for Analytical Psychology. He is the
author of numerous books, including Jungian Symbolic Education; The
Development of Personality; Structure of Personality: Persona and
Shadow; Symbolic Dimensions of Personality, as well as many articles.
