THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SATANIC CULT INVOLVEMENT: AN ...

198
rest ofthe psyche. These complexes "behave like independent beings, a fact especially
evident in abnormal states of mind ... An intensification of complexes leads to morbid
states which are extensive multiple dissociations endowed with an indomitable life of
their own" (Jung, 1936, p. 121). Jung saw the process of dissociation as extending
along a continuum between normal and pathological. Multiple personality disorder, a
condition of which Jung was well aware, is an extreme example of pathological
dissociation. (NolI, 1989).
Two important conclusions follow from Jung's later emphasis on the dissociability of
the psyche. Firstly, it challenged the supposed superiority and influence of the ego
complex in psychic life; and secondly, it called into question the belief in an "a priori
unity of the person" (Frey-Rohn, 1974, p. 33). In other words, dissociation is an
inherent psychological tendency, and Jung notes that iftendencies towards dissociation
were not inherent in the human psyche, fragmentary psychic systems would never have
been split off, and "neither spirits nor gods would have ever come into existence"
(lung, 1958, p. 36). The central meaning of the self archetype is that psychic unity,
rather than a given, is a developmental accomplishment that proceeds through a
gradual process of integrating split-off unconscious aspects. The fact of our inherent
psychic dissociability has been addressed by contemporary analytic psychologists (NolI,
1989; Redfearn, 1985, 1994), and the significance oftheir work will be discussed in the
following section.
11.7 Subpersonalities
Jung's concept of complexes, and their implications for personal identity, has been
developed by Redfearn (1985, 1994) in his work on "subpersonality theory". This
elaboration of Jung' s notion of autonomous complexes begins with the thesis that the
individual must be seen "both as a singular self-organization and as having multiple
self-concepts" (Redfearn, 1994, p. 292). The ego-self relationship is a fluid one
between restricted conscious identity, and a broader identity represented by our
psychic totality, with its assorted personal and collective unconscious components.
How and where one draws the boundary between "I" and "not-I" determines the
nature of personal identity at any time. What makes our identity a multiple one is the