Chicken Little: The Inside Story (A Jungian ... - Inner City Books

68 Chicken Little: The Inside Story
“It became clear to me that beside Jung the others—including,
alas, the three close to my heart—fell far short. Indeed, the primary
limitations of every other commentator on the subject—and I think
this is still true—were two-fold. First, they did not discriminate between
ego consciousness and the unconscious; and second, they did
not take into account the difference between the ‘I’ that bespeaks a
socially-conditioned persona and a potentially more authentic ‘I’
behind it. This is not to mention the added nuance of the ‘I’ who
nightly participates in dreams. 78
“Of course, there was also the matter of conflict, which everybody
else sought utopian ways to get rid of, while in Jung’s view—
amply supported by my own experience—conflict was extremely
positive in terms of the relationship between the higher Self and
what we think of as ‘I.’ 79 We needn’t, I think, go into that today.”
It was early afternoon as Brillig concluded an historical sketch
of depth psychology—from shamanism to the present—with a
thumbnail analysis of Jung’s profound theoretical differences with
Freud and Adler. 80 “I trust that by now,” he said, “the analogy between
my pursuits and those of the alchemists will be obvious.”
He pulled a large red and white handkerchief from his trouser
pocket and blew his nose. “I thank you for being attentive,” he
bowed. He drained the water in his glass and abruptly left the
room. No one said a word as we followed the sound of Brillig’s
halting steps mounting to the third floor.
Sunny heaved to her feet and shook herself. She ambled over to
Rachel, begging for a scratch. I looked at my notes and wondered if
they’d make sense later. 81
“I expect he’s going for a nap,” remarked Norman, putting
things away. “He tires easily these days, you know.”
78 There is a section on this in James A. Hall, Jungian Dream Interpretation: A
Handbook of Theory and Practice (pp. 107-108), a book Brillig may well have
chanced upon in his early morning jaunt in the basement.
79 See Memories, Dreams, Reflections, pp. 344ff.
80 Much of Brillig’s source material was familiar to me, being readily available in
Henri F. Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious.
81 They didn’t, but I didn’t need them anyway, thanks to Norman’s tape (see
above, note 70).