C. G. Jung discovered and explored
the reality of the psyche, an inner reality that is the complement
of the outer one, and for many of us, the more meaningful of the two.
However, before considering the inner world, we need to know where
we stand in the outer one. For Jung, understanding the constellation
of our conscious attitudes was important for the first process in
individuation - differentiation. This process is metaphorically described
in the alchemical process of separation and refinement of elements.
It is hard to begin anything if you do not know what you are beginning
with. There is also the fact that the way in which we relate to the
outer world is usually the opposite of how we relate to the inner
one.
You may be surprised to learn
that the terms introvert and an extrovert originated with Carl Jung.
Psychological Types was Jung's first book after his amazing
encounter with the unconscious - a period of waking dreams, conversations
with inner figures, and a creative outpouring of inner images. So,
you would probably expect him to include some of his experiences and
insights into the nature of the unconscious in it. However, it is
not about the unconscious at all, but about the dispositions of consciousness.
And the first half of the rather long book is taken up with an historical
contrasting of the two major distinctions, introversion and extroversion.
No two thinkers have had a greater
impact from the Hellenistic up through the Modern periods of history
than Plato and Aristotle. Aristotle was a student of Plato until the
old man's death. Then, after a tiff about not being made head of the
Academy, he wandered around a bit, eventually deciding to reject Plato's
philosophy, and formulate his own.
Where Plato had transcendental
Forms, which were primary to the objects that participated in them;
Aristotle had causes, which where the form, use, reason, and ultimate
purpose of objects. When the students at the Academy were studying
geometry, how idealized figures relate together; the students at the
Lyceum were studying biology, how parts and types of animals relate
together. Plato wrote dramatic dialogues using characters other than
himself. Aristotle wrote notes for his own lectures, and let others
write those down and systematize them.
Many people throughout that
long stretch of history have remarked on the fact that certain types
of people liked Plato, and other types Aristotle. While my own theory
involves masochism (at least in the case of Aristotle), Jung saw this
as the difference between the introverted and extroverted personalities.
The introvert's flow of vitality is inward, while the extrovert's
is outward. For Plato, a horse's existence flowed inwardly from the
external ideal Horse Form. For Aristotle, a horse's existence flowed
outwardly from its internal causes and purposes. Similar forms of
thinking, but moving in different directions.
This difference of polarity
is difficult to understand, our own direction seems as natural as
a river running downhill, while the other is as odd as a river running
uphill. For example: I can conceptualize the fact that extroverts
report feeling energized by attending parties, but it is a freakish
and unnatural thing. "Normal people" (read - introverts) should feel
drained by such functions, and spend a few days in solitary contemplation
- recovering.
To continue the river analogy,
these polarities are better represented by tidal rivers than mountain
rivers. Tidal rivers do at times flow backwards, and we all under
certain circumstances function as the other polarity. Introversion
and Extroversion are best seen as preferences, much like right or
left-handedness. In our extremely extroverted culture, for instance,
introverts must often learn to fill extroverted roles. Jung also saw
the life cycle as favoring extroverts in the first half of life, learning
how the world works, establishing a career and a family. And favoring
introverts in the second, where the search for meaning and purpose
are predominant. One solemn example of this being that suicide rates
are highest among white males over 50 in our society, many of whom
where very successful in the first half of life.
We usually think of introversion
and extroversion in terms of personality types, but both are also
attitudes. To illustrate: there is a temple with an idol in which,
and to which, people perform religious services. An extroverted attitude
would be that this is idol worship (and probably idle worship as well),
an introverted attitude would be that the idol is symbolic of the
inner aspect (meaning, or possibly divinity itself) that each person
brings.
Spend some time examining these
inward and outward flows in your life, particularly in how you understand
your self and others.
© -1996 Troy W. Pierce
