May 1, 1996
This research attempts to establish the possibility of a developmental
process that begins in the womb, based on the four psychological functions of intuition, sensation, feeling, and thinking as described by Carl G. Jung. Primary questions are the following: Do the four psychological functions occur in the individual human psyche in a given order? If an order exists, what would it be? What are the implications inherent in the possibility that an order can be said to exist? Mythology, religion, and various archetypes are utilized and interpreted to establish the hypothesis that an order exists, with intuition being the first psychological function in the human psyche occurring in the womb, followed by the functions of sensation, feeling, and thinking, which appear, in this order, at birth. Aspects of the transcendent function, or the union of opposites as described by Jung, are considered essential to the developmental process. The transcendent function is assumed to be linked to the four functions from the beginning of life. All four functions and their possible relationships to each other are discussed, but a special emphasis is placed on the function of intuition as the first (and last) psychological function and as the basis of the soul complex. The function of sensation is seen as the basis of the ego complex. This initial ordering of the functions, intuition as the beginning of consciousness in the unconscious, sensation as the beginning of consciousness in the ego-complex, is seen as universal, just as the myths which illustrate this process are universal in their distribution and in their application regardless of the local type emphases of particular cultures and the individual type preferences of the individuals in those cultures. To support this theory, myths that describe the interactions of these two archetypes leading to the coniunctio, as an expression of the Self, will be discussed. It is also postulated that the experience of being in the womb can be interpreted as the foundation for the paradise mythology of Genesis. Genesis can be seen as a metaphor for the womb experience and the Fall can be seen as a metaphor for the experience of birth. The motif of returning to the womb, or returning to Paradise, describes the experience of returning to the psychological state first experienced in the womb. Intuition leads to the original state of oneness, with this important difference: The ego or ego consciousness is aware of its awareness, whereas in the original womb experience, it was not. It is suggested that this research contributes to the literature of Jungian developmental psychology by linking elemental processes with the existing concepts of Carl Jung and those of the child analyst Michael Fordham. A connection can also be seen to exist with the work of Jean Piaget concerning the genesis of structures.
I would like to offer my thanks and appreciation for their help and support in the writing of my dissertation to Dr. Robert Romanyshyn, Dr. Barbara Lipinski, and Dr. John Beebe, my dissertation committee; to Dr. Lawrence Lenhart, my husband; and to our children, Scott, Laura, Colette, Mark, and Jennifer. Special thanks to Dr. Jean Kirsch, to Georgia Jackman, and to my son, Mark Lenhart, whose technical help with the computer was immeasurable.
Jung and the Four Psychological Functions - 1
The Irrational Functions of Intuition and Sensation - 30
The Rational Functions of Feeling and Thinking - 41
The Womb Archetype and the Psychology of the Child in the Womb as Metaphors - 59
Eros, Thanatos and the Desire for Paradise - 64
CHAPTER 2. Review of the Literature
Piaget and Genetic Epistemology - 70
Erich Neumann and the Primary Relationship - 96
Neumann, the Circle (Mandala), the Uroboros, and the Self-Ego Axis - 101
Frances G. Wickes, Participation Mystique, and the Inner World of Childhood - 126
Frances G. Wickes, David L. Kay and Foetal Psychology - 142
Alessandra Piontelli and Observations of the Child in Utero - 151
Michael Fordham and Jungian Developmental Psychology - 155
Fordham on the Child in the Womb - 156
Fordham on Cosmogonic Myths and the Womb as Paradise - 164
Archetypes, the Unconscious, and Mandalas - 175
More on Mandala Symbolism - 178
Primary Narcissism or Primary Love? - 182
The Self, Ego, and Individuation - 189
Fordham, Jung, and the Genesis Hypothesis - 198
Sumerian Archetypes and Symbols as Personifications of Archetypal Energy Patterns - 219
Moses as Divine and Human Child: The Hero Archetype, Confidant of Angels - 246
The Mythological Level: Creation of the Divine Child from the First Divine Syzygy in Genesis - 298
Eve or the Feeling Function as the Bone (Beginning) of Adam or the Thinking Function - 329
The Rope Image of the Hindu Bhagavao Gita: An Eastern Three-in-One Motif - 350
Note: The style in this dissertation is in accord with the Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association. (4th ed.,1994)
Figure - Page
1. Newborn, oil on canvas - xiii
2. Psychological Functions of the Child in the Womb - xiv
3. Psychological Functions (Introverted) of the Child at Birth - xv
4. The Psychological Functions as Psychic Energy - xvi
5. The Splitting of the Opposites Contained Within the Self - xvii
6. The Splitting of the Opposites Contained Within the Soul - xviii
7. The Merging of the Soul and Ego Archetypes - xix
8. The Splitting of the Opposites: Psychic Energy # 4 - xx
9. The Cosmological Myth of Genesis--Level One - 7
10. The Psychological Level--Level Two - 8
11. The Biological Level--Level Three - 9
12. The Union of Instinct and Archetype--Level Four - 10
13. Neumann's Self-Ego Axis and the Genesis Model - 102
14. Jung's Attitudinal Types of Introversion and Extraversion - 137
15. The First Transference--The Match of Soul with Ego and Ego with Soul - 138
16. Mother and Child--Squaring the Circle - 139
17. Mandala of a 3-Year-Old Girl - 141
18. Circle of Fire--The Experience of the Living Mandala - 208
19. The Maria Axiom or, the Feminine Principle - 209
21. The Golden Triangle of the Child - 211
22. The Differentiation of Jung's Four Psychological Functions without Mythology - 212
23. Four Creating Gods of The Sumerian Pantheon: An, Ki, Enlil, and Enki - 214
25. The Serpent Lord and Lion-Birds Image - 216
27. Myth of the Fallen Angel: Lucifer, the Bringer of Light - 237
28. Moses (Child) Taken from the Water - 248
29. Birth of the Tragic Hero Archetype - 249
30. The Four Archangels as Archetypes of Neutral, Psychic Energy - 260
31. The Four Apostles as Archetypes of Psychic Energy - 261
32. Eight Energy Patterns within each Function - 262
33. The Morning Star: Symbol of Love - 263
34. Michelangelo's Creation of Adam - 292
35. The Genesis Myth of Paradise - 295
38. Rope Image from the Bhagavao Gita and the Four Functions - 351
39. The Serpent Mound, Tokchi'i, Guardian of the East: Archetype for Ego, Soul, and Self - 353
40. Jung's Four Psychological Functions and the Medicine Wheel - 357
41. Symbols and Archetypes of the American Indian Medicine Wheel - 358
42. Philosophorvm: King is Ego, Queen is Soul - 361
43. Apuleius's "Wheel" of Cupid and Psyche - 366
44. Left/Right Brain Inside the Womb, Genesis and the Four Functions - 378
45. The Path of Consciousness and the Path of Unconsciousness: Eating the Apple - 385
46. The Holy Trinity of the Cross and the Four Psychological Functions - 399
47. Dante's Three-in-One Rainbow 400
48. Four Psychological Principles: Wisdom, Love, Knowledge and Innocence - 401
1. Newborn, oil on canvas (Click for full size image ~100K)
2. Psychological Functions of the Child in the Womb
3.Psychological Functions (Introverted) of the Child at Birth
4.The Psychological Functions as Psychic Energy
5. The Splitting of the Opposites Contained Within the Self
6. The Splitting of the Opposites Contained Within the Soul
7. The Merging of the Soul and Ego Archetypes
8. The Splitting of the Opposites: Psychic Energy # 4
Passage indeed O soul to primal thought,
O soul, repressless, I with thee and thou with me,
Walt Whitman
Not lands and seas alone, thy own clear freshness,
The young maturity of brood and bloom,
To realms of budding Bibles.
Thy circumnavigation of the world begin,
Of man, the voyage of his mind's return,
To reason's early paradise,
Back, back to wisdom's birth, to innocent intuitions,
Again with fair creation.
Leaves of Grass
Passage to India, verse 7
1981, p. 383