Jung and Sex
I had the opportunity to interview Ed on his latest book titled Jung and Sex: Re-Visioning the Treatment of Sexual Issues
Excerpt from the chapter Sex and Individuation:
"Though sexuality can be difficult terrain to explore, it is necessary for individuation. Personal development is not advanced by a segmented, sheltered, or undervalued orientation toward the sexual aspects.In addition, analytical and therapeutic relationships that lack openness or focus in this critical area of a patient's individuation leave a significant gap in the treatment. Integration of the erotic is essential for fostering new levels of #consciousness. Without special attention to this area of already weak collective and cultural adaptation, one may be left vulnerable to the power of sexuality's unconscious effects and demands, and about this Jung was clear. One of the most significant barriers to wholeness is rooted in the conflict between instinctual demands and morals, yet this conflict receives little focus during many treatments.Widespread social problems extending over many centuries hand us the important modern task of addressing issues of gender, sexuality, diversity, and moral conflicts as an essential component of our psychological work, both individually and culturally. The least addressed or adapted elements within us compel a more conscious engagement with the unexamined areas of life and to cultivate a more receptive attitude toward any undervalued or unrecognized elements, be those sexual or otherwise. Individuation requires a dynamic engagement with what is least accessible, least adapted and most foreign. What is wholeness without exploration of our erotic imaginings or without venturing into the unexplored areas of the psyche, our animal instincts, and our physical experiences? These elements are essential for individuation and wholeness, and cannot be ignored without risking a one-sided and isolated, intellectual individuation safeguarded from certain contents."
