This is a key concept of Jung’s and he may be seen
to have approached it in different ways; as experience, as IMAGE, and
as suggesting the nature and function of the PSYCHE (see OBJECTIVE
PSYCHE).
As experience, psychic reality embraces everything that strikes a
person as real or with the force of reality. According to Jung, one

experiences life and its events in terms of narrative truth rather than
historical truth (the ‘personal MYTH’). What is experienced as psychic
reality may be a form of self-expression and, ultimately, contribute
in a cybernetic manner to the accretion of further layers of psychic
reality. A specific illustration of this is to be found in the tendency
of the UNCONSCIOUS to personify its contents (see PERSONIFICATION).
The resultant figures become real in the sense that they have an
emotional impact on the EGO and undergo change and development.
Personification was, for lung, an empirical demonstration of psychic
reality.
The existence of opinions, beliefs, ideas and fantasies does not
mean that what they refer to is accurate to the degree and in the
manner which may be claimed. By way of illustration, the psychic
realities of two people will differ markedly. And a delusionary system,
psychically real, will not have objective validity. Nevertheless,
that is not the same thing as saying that nothing exists or is true.
In this first usage (that of a subjective level of reality), the relation
of psychic reality to a hypothetical external or objective reality is
relevant from a clinical rather than a theoretical viewpoint.
As image. It is now generally agreed that the structure of the BRAIN
(its neurophysiological make-up) and the cultural context affect what
is perceived and, still more, interpretations of those perceptions. Personal
bias and desire also play what can be seen as a distorting role.
These factors bring the conventional distinction between ‘reality’ and
‘fantasy’ into question and, in doing this, lung stands in the Platonic,
Idealist philosophical tradition. He may also be contrasted with
Freud, whose idea of ‘psychical reality’ never overcame his belief that
there was an objective reality which could be discovered and then
measured scientifically.
lung was among the first to point out that all CONSCIOUSNESS is of
an indirect nature, mediated by the nervous system and other
psycho-sensory processes, not to mention linguistic operations. Experiences,
e.g. of pain or excitement, reach us in secondary form.
In lung’s lexicon, this immediately suggests images and that both
inner and outer worlds are experienced by and as imagery (see
METAPHOR).
The notions of inner and outer worlds are themselves images, here
used metaphorically. Such spatial entities have no existence save as
psychic reality permits. Here lung is using the term ‘image’ in an
inclusive manner to denote the absence of a direct link between
stimulus and experience. When using the word this way, somatic
manifestations may also be seen as images along with the whole
physical world as it is experienced in consciousness (see below). The
image is what presents itself to consciousness directly. Put another

way, we become aware of our experience through an encounter with
an image of it.
These arguments led lung to conclude that, because of its imaginal
composition, psychic reality is the only reality we can experience
directly, a view which serves to introduce the third way in which
‘psychic reality’ is employed.
As suggesting the nature and function of the psyche. According
to lung, the psyche (and psychic reality) function as an intermediate
world between the physical and spiritual realms, which may meet
and mingle therein (see SPIRIT). Problems of translation from German
intrude here and it is necessary to add that by ‘physical’ is meant
both the organic and inorganic aspects of the material world and
that ‘spiritual’ includes developed thoughts and cognitions. This
means that the psyche appears to stand midway between such phenomena
as sense impressions and plant or mineral life on the one
hand and, on the other, intellectual and spiritual ideation (see FANTASY,
also said to function as a ‘third’ factor between intellect and
the material/sensual world). Acceptance of the idea of psychic reality
brings to an end the easy acceptance of an inherent conflict between
mind and matter or spirit and nature in which these are looked upon
as radically different.
By way of example, lung suggested a comparison between the fear
of fire and the fear of ghosts. In terms of psychic reality, fire and
ghosts (apparently quite different) occupy identical positions, activating
the psyche in the same way. He is careful to point out that
this argument says nothing about the ultimate origin of matter (fire)
or spirit (ghosts); these remain as unknown as before. While lung
would not dispute that the negative consequences of contact with fire
are usually different from those of contact with ghosts, it is the phenomenon
of fear which leads us to an understanding of psychic reality.
In its acceptance of matter without distinction of its organic and
inorganic aspects, this view of psychic reality is more comprehensive
than Jung’s suppositions about the PSYCHOID UNCONSCIOUS or
SYNCHRONICITY. In the former, the overlap between psychological
and physiological processes is highlighted. In the latter, it is the
psyche and inorganic matter that are discussed as if enmeshed.
Though the organic/inorganic distinction is a matter of emphasis, the
all-embracing nature of psychic reality, as a metapsychological
category, may more accurately be compared with the idea of the UNUS
MUNDUS.