The "daimon" or creative impulse, a Carl Jungian concept

The "daimon" or creative impulse, a key concept in Jungian psychology.

Life is a continuous flow of decisionssome with trivial implications, such as the clothes to wear each day or the dish on a menu; and others that can change the meaning of our lives. others that can change the meaning of our existence, such as the choice of a career.such as the choice of a career, a partner, a country of residence, having or not having a child.

Sometimes even the smallest decisions can be a source of anxiety for many people.

Choices and circumstances

When making a decision, we can be concerned about the ethical implications related, or what people may think of us if we take a certain action, the satisfactions or responsibilities surrounding it. Many times also, what can even torment us, is the thought that the option we do not take may turn out to be better than the one we have chosen, or that the fact of deciding may prevent us from choosing something better that may come along later (a partner, a job, a house). In the latter case, the saying "a bird in the hand is better than a hundred in the air" is reversed and we prefer a hundred birds flying rather than deciding on something, often because of fear of assuming the commitments that such a decision implies.

Besides being a continuous flow of decisions, our life is conditioned by multiple factors, our life is conditioned by multiple circumstances. Some of these circumstances precede us, such as the genetics provided by our parents, their expectations of us, and the socioeconomic and socialization context in which we live. We are also presented with circumstances throughout our lives, many of which do not give us a choice, but are presented to us (illnesses, job opportunities, encounters, accidents). So we live between what we choose and what is presented to us.

In various cultures and moments in the history of mankind, it has been considered that in moments of indecision, especially in the most significant ones, a kind of "force" operates that induces us to act in one direction or another. To this force is also attributed the responsibility to propose and induce the circumstances that allow the expression of the "deepest being" of the person. In many occasions the circumstances that this force proposes or imposes are not to our liking, nor are they part of the ego's expectations, the latter being understood as the most superficial aspect, the most infantile part of each person.

We can consider this "force" as an archetypal element, in the sense that it has had diverse manifestations at different times and places in the imagery of humanity.

The daimon and destiny

The Greeks called it DaimonThe Greeks called it Daimon, the Romans recognized it as "the particular genie", in Egyptian mythology it may correspond to the Ba. In shamanic cultures it was called the "free soul", the personal animal, the "nahual". nahual. It was considered as a linking element between gods and mortals, with both beneficial and destructive attributes. In a celestial hierarchy, they could be catalogued as demigods. In Christianity, depending on the luminous or dark connotation attributed to them, they could correspond to angels or demons. These images can be related to what we are currently referring to when we express the need to listen to our heart, feeling, intuition, soul, and from a more rational perspective, conscience.

The existence of a "force" that leads us along certain paths is related to the notion of destiny; a concept that has also had and has multiple perspectives.

It is popular the phrase of the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitusfor whom man's destiny is his character. This sentence can be interpreted as meaning that what we are accustomed to do, that is, our way of being, our habitual behaviors, are what forge the circumstances that we encounter in our lives.

In a somewhat similar way, for Sigmund Freud, the apparent fatal destiny is self-induced in an unconscious way by the individual.. He gives as an example those people whose friendships always end in betrayal, philanthropists to whom their protégés return anger instead of gratitude, relationships that go through the same phases and end in the same way. From this perspective, people repeat over and over again in an "eternal return" lived experiences that have not been sufficiently elaborated, and that have been repressed because they are not compatible with conscious values. One of the premises of psychoanalysis is the "psychic determinism" of our actions and thoughts by unconscious contents.

Along similar lines, Carl Gustav Jung considered that what was not made conscious in the psychic realm, was lived on the outside in the form of destiny. However, for Jung, the "compulsion to repetition" to live certain types of circumstances, are an attempt of the psyche to lead us towards the realization of our "deepest being", towards the singular expression of our soul, of our potentialities. It is in this last sense that James Hillman, the greatest representative of archetypal psychology, a continuation of Jungian approaches, takes up the myth of the acorn of the soul.

The myth of the acorn of the soul

This myth alludes to the fact that in the same way that the acorn contains the pattern of the oak tree, each individual already has within himself his own potential of unique and singular possibilities.

Hillman highlights the presence in different religions, mythologies and current and past systems of thought, of the image of a unique soul "energy" of each individual, which seeks to unfold throughout life and which manifests itself as a "call", a vocation, a "destiny". This unique energy is a third factor that joins nature and nurture in understanding the growth of individuals. Hillman argues that in order to respond to this call it is necessary to "grow downward" as trees do with their roots, and thus be able to reencounter the "true self", the "true self".true self"the deep needs of the soul.

For Hillman, the motivation for self-realization is not given by the outside but by the inner "Daimon" of each one. The daimon manifests itself in the circumstances of life, in the opportunities that present themselves, in the doors that close, in the setbacks and setbacks, in the triumphs and defeats; in our fears, our phobias, our obsessions, our illusions, in the synchronicities. In everything that leads us to express our most genuine aspect, that for which we have been "called", and that many times does not go in the same direction of our ego's expectations, which looks for security and recognition.

A privileged means that our Daimon has to express itself are dreams, and that is why they are a fundamental part of Jungian psychotherapy. Jungian psychotherapy. In certain moments of life, it is common to have dreams in which we lose or damage our cell phone, or we try to dial and the numbers vanish. These images may perhaps be indicative of the difficulties our soul is having in attending to or fulfilling the particular "call" for the realization of our "deepest self", of our vocation.

The vocationthis singular aspect that our soul seeks to unfold, manifests itself in our talents, in our most pressing needs, in that which cries out for expression and which perhaps we have neglected because of mockery or because it does not fit in with our conscious plans. Vocation may or may not coincide with a profession. Hillman points out that for example there are people who were born for "friendship" or for aspects that are not sufficiently valued because they are not productive in our society.

The conception of destiny, depending on how it is approached, can be a toxic idea, paralyzing, inhibiting action, but from the Hillmanian perspective it is a creative and stimulating idea. a creative and stimulating idea. Thus, for Hillman, "catching the furtive winks of the daimon" is an act of thought and reflection, of seeing beyond appearances, of delving into the depths of events, and requires careful reasoning. For his part, he considers fatalism to be a state of abandonment of reflection, which explains life as a whole from a broad generality. Fatalism, Hillman emphasizes, does not raise questions, and it comforts because it wields the need to examine how events are articulated.

Jungian psychotherapy and the daimon

Jungian psychotherapy promotes dialogue with our own "daimon" as a symbol of a factor that operates in us and leads us to be what we have always been, to unfold our best version. We can only feel truly satisfied when we listen to our daimon, who takes care of us, sometimes slaps us, destroys our plans, facilitates encounters, presents us with opportunities.

The myth of the acorn is taken up again in Jungian psychotherapy, also in the sense that just as the acorn possesses a wisdom that allows it to build the tissues, leaves and fruits of the oak tree; the individual possesses a "wisdom" to develop its own uniqueness and potentials. Jungian psychotherapy does not pretend to change a person or to adapt him or her to socially acceptedIt is not intended to change a person or to adapt him or her to the socially accepted, just as one cannot ask an apple tree to produce pears. The aim is to provide the best conditions for each person to unfold his or her unique fruits. It is not possible to intervene in a seed so that it becomes what it is not, but to promote its own potentiality.

Jungian psychology, when referring to gods, daimons, soul, deep being, etc., is not presupposing the existence of metaphysical entities, nor reflecting on their nature, which is the domain of theology or other areas of knowledge. In the context of analytical psychology, such terms should be conceived as concepts related to images or psychic factors, which can be observed in clinical practice, as well as in symbolic manifestations present in mythologies and artistic expressions of different places and times. Analytical psychology makes use of phenomenological observation and reflection for the understanding of psychological phenomena, as well as for the application of such knowledge, as a therapeutic method aimed at the well-being of the patient. therapeutic method aimed at the well-being and mental health of people..