Digesting Jung: Food for the Journey - Inner City Books

8
The Value of Conflict
If a man faced with a conflict of duties undertakes to deal
with them absolutely on his own responsibility, and
before a judge who sits in judgment on him day and night,
he may well find himself in an isolated position. . . .
if only because he is involved in an endless inner trial in which
he is his own counsel and ruthless examiner. 20
Any conflict situation constellates the problem of opposites.
Broadly speaking, “the opposites” refers to ego-consciousness and
the unconscious. This is true whether the conflict is recognized as
an internal one or not, since conflicts with other people are almost
always externalizations of an unconscious conflict within oneself.
Because they are not made conscious, they are acted out on others
through projection.
Whatever the conscious attitude may be, the opposite is in the
unconscious. There is no way to haul this out by force. If we try, it
will refuse to come. That is why the process of analysis is seldom
productive unless there is an active conflict. Indeed, as long as
outer life proceeds relatively smoothly, there is no need to deal with
the unconscious. But when we are troubled, it is wise to take it into
consideration.
The classic conflict situation is one in which there is the possibility
of, or temptation to, more than one course of action. Theoretically
the options may be many, but in practice a conflict is usually
between two, each carrying its own chain of consequences. In such
cases the psychological reality is that two separate personalities are
involved. It is helpful to think of these as different aspects of oneself;
in other words, as personifications of complexes.
20 Memories, Dreams, Reflections, p. 345.
37