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JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY:
CONSCIOUSNESS, THE PSYCHE, AND “AT-ONE-MENT”

Andrew P. Johnson, Ph.D.

Minnesota State University, Mankato

CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE PSYCHE

Consciousness is awareness. To expand consciousness means to bring into awareness of
a wider variety of stimuli, both internal and external. This includes incorporating unconscious
material into personal consciousness. It also involves becoming aware of things of a higher
spiritual dimension. Here one begins to sense the subtleties of the spiritual dimension, to hear
the still small voice within and feel the gentle prompting of the angels. This article seeks to
further illustrate this process.
Psyche or Soul
But first a little background: The term ‘psyche’ comes from the name of the Greek
goddess Psyche who started life as a beautiful mortal woman. There are variations on this myth,
but the basics are that Psyche became a goddess when she married the Greek god Eros (or Cupid
in Roman mythology). However, before this happened, Aphrodite, the mother of Eros put
Psyche through a series of almost impossible tasks which involved much suffering. One of her
tasks was a journey into the underworld. This was done in order for Psyche to prove herself
worthy of becoming a goddess and marrying her true love, Eros. Because of the insights gained
she earned the title as the Goddess of Soul.
This myth represents the inward journey of self-discovery and growth available to us all
as we experience and confront the dark and mysterious places of our soul. This is the journey
that leads to transformation and wholeness just as Psyche was transformed from mortal woman
to goddess.

Figure 5.1. The goddess Psyche

Soul Study
The word ‘psyche’ has come to have two meanings. The first meaning is soul. Spiritual
people believe this to be the immaterial part of the human experience. It is the divine spark or
life force that exists within our physical self and which continues after the death of our physical
body. Thus, the term ‘psychology’ literally means study of the soul.

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The second meaning is mind or that part of us that contains both our conscious and
unconscious thoughts and feelings. The mandala in Figure 2 (one of the most common sacred
symbols found throughout the world), can be used to illustrate the nature of the psyche and how
it interacts with the physical and non-physical world. In this figure the circle is the psyche.
Inside are the ego, the unconscious, and the Self.

Figure 2. Mandala as psyche

Collective Unconscious
shadow
Allah

God

physical ego Christ

reality Consciousness
Holy Spirit
Divine Essence
Wa
Atman
Self
Soul
Ground of personal

All Being
unconscious Brahman

The ego. The ego or conscious mind (ego consciousness) is that part of our thinking of
which we are aware. It contains perceptions of the exterior physical world as well as the
emotions and images burped up from the unconscious mind. The ego interacts directly with the
physical world and is responsible for logical thinking.
The unconscious. The unconscious or personal unconsciousness is that part of the mind
of which we are not immediately aware. Contained here are the semantic, episodic, and
procedural memories stored in long term memory (LTM) that are not readily accessible to us It
is here as well that The Universe leaks into us. This Divine leakage creates splatter drop images
and impressions in the unconscious. As we choose to become aware of the pictures painted on
the canvas of our mind we can feel, hear, and see God. This is where we have direct access.
However, two things keep us from this, the first is disbelief. By dismissing the Divine
these images become nothing more than imaginary cartoons. But by attending to and validating
the images, they speak to us.
The second is logic or the type of thinking that is germane to our ego. Our human minds
are powerful instruments. We are able to use logic and reason to know and manipulated things
in the external world. However, the rich, divinely-painted pictures within are accessed not by
logic, but by intuition. You must go beyond logic in order to move God from a description to an
experience. It is only by recognizing the limitations of the hyper-rational mind that we are able
to plumb the depths of the Universe. Zen Buddhists living five hundred years before the time of
Jesus understood this and created koans or problems with no logical solution as subjects for

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meditation. The most well-known of these is, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”
These were designed to transcend the limitations of the ego and the intellect and in order to get to
a higher part of self or Self.
The Self. Whereas, the ego is the center of one’s personal consciousness, the Self
coordinates all parts of collective and personal consciousness and unconscious. As can be seen
in Figure 2, the Self is found at the intersection of four lines. These are true lines that extend on
into infinity, into the far reaches of the Universe. The Self touches the Universe and at the same
time the Universe touches the Self and thus, it becomes the portal between one dimension and
the next. The Latin term is spiraculum aeternis, window of eternity, the air hole through which
eternity breathes through to the temporal world.
Because of this link between realms, the Self is aware of things that are beyond the usual
perceptions and experiences of the conscious mind. It has the ability to transcend personality,
time, and space and to sense things beyond the limited perception of our five senses. In myth,
religion, literature, movies, and dreams the Self is often experienced as a sage, a wizard, or a
god/goddess figure.
Super-consciousness. This is part of the Divine that leaks into our unconscious mind.
While the Self has awareness of Super-Consciousness, it is not the Super-Consciousness. It is
that spiritual part of us that is connected to all. It is Interconnectedness, Divine Essence, the
Ground of All Being.

EXPANDING CONSCIOUSNESS
The term “expanding consciousness” is not merely a quaint term left over from the 60s.
It denotes a real and powerful endeavor. As said above, expanding consciousness means to
enable the ego consciousness to become aware of more things. Expanding ego consciousness
beyond its normal limited boundaries enables you to perceive more things in the external
physical world as well as internally in the realms of the unconscious (see Figure 2 above). It also
allows you to perceive of the Self, and the Super-Consciousness within.
To expand ego consciousness, you must do three things: First, recognize that there are
dimensions beyond conscious thinking. Second, validate the images, dream patterns, metaphors,
and feelings that shoot across the cosmos of your mind like comets during quiet times. And
finally, trust that these internal stimuli are of Divine origin and have meaning for you. Only then
will you able to see the applications they have for your life. This allows you also to integrate
conscious and unconscious thinking. This integration is the atonement or at-one-ment of the
subjective and objective, the inner and the outer, the logical and the intuitive, the dark and the
light.
As you move from double-mindedness to single-mindedness (the curtain becomes torn),
your conscious mind embraces the great depth within as readily as it does the things of the
perceptive, outer world. This singularity of the objective and subjective, of logic and intuition
opens your ears to the grand Universal symphony of synchronicity that has been and is playing
within and around you. You see the spirit world and the temporal world as one. You walk in
both at the same time. The ego and the Self, the conscious and unconscious, the spiritual and
temporal are two tones in the same musical chord that must be played together in order to create
magical harmonies.

© Andrew Johnson, Ph.D. – www.OPDT-Johnson.com

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REFERENCES
Bruner, J. (1960) the process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Goleman, D. (1994). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.
Grof, S. (2006). When the impossible happenes: Adventures in non-ordinary realities. Boulder,
CO: Sounds True Inc.
Pfeiffer, S. (2000). Emotional intelligence: Popular but elusive construct. Roeper Review, 23,
138-142.
Tart, C.T. (2008). Accessing state-specific transpersonal knowledge: Inducing altered states. The
Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 40, 137-154.

© Andrew Johnson, Ph.D. – www.OPDT-Johnson.com