The Reality of the Psyche- A Philosophical and Psychological Exposition

Jung, in one discussion with Von Franz, mentioned a patient, who asserted that she has been on the moon where she had to fight a demon. So vividly was she talking as though this woman had really been on the moon. Marie-Louise von Franz, somehow irritated, objected that this young woman might have dreamed or fantasized that she was on the moon. Hereupon Jung looked at her very seriously and replied: “No, she was on the moon!” Throughout his work Jung variously refers to the psyche as “… reality par excellence,” the “auctor rerum… the ground and substrate” of reality, “…the greatest of all cosmic wonders and the sine qua non of the world as an object.” Accordingly, when coming to any encounter with the unconscious, be it mystical ecstasy  or psychotic torment, the images erupting into view are taken as holding ontological status, as being real. This seminar will explore both the psychological and philosophical grounds of such a claim, aiming to explore the ontic ‘reality of the psyche’ and the deep underworld of the unconscious.