In 2006, Quadrant published a paper I wrote together with James Hall, 'The Complex and the Object: Common Ground, Different Paths,' based on my book The Complex: Path of Transformation from Archetype to Ego.

The next issue will feature another essay of mine, 'The Human Soul (Lost?) in Transition, at the Dawn of a New Era,' which will be part of a forthcoming book of that name.

The Complex and the Object: Common Ground, Different Paths —
Erel Shalit and James Hall

While complex and object are part of everyday psychoanalytic discourse, the meaning of the terms varies with different approaches, and the relationship between the concepts is far from apparent. Specifically, in this paper the Jungian complex and the Kleinian internal object are compared. It is the view of these authors that the internal object is primarily related to the archetypal image, and the internalized object to Jung's concept of imago. The complex is the central concept that in a well-defined model of the psyche dynamically unites the phenomena described by these concepts. Furthermore, while in neurotic conflict the struggle between the ego and autonomous complexes takes place on the battlefield of the subjective psyche, in the personality disorders the complex is projected “wholesale” onto the external object, turning the other into a “complex-object.”

The Complex is available on Amazon.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Kafka’s (Never Sent) Letter to Father

An excerpt from the beginning of the chapter 'Kafka's (never sent) letter to father,' in The Complex: Path of Transformation from Archetype to Ego:

"A more vivid description of a negative father-complex than Kafka’s (Never sent) Letter to Father can hardly be conceived of. Mairowitz refers to it as an “uncanny level of self-revelation.” Kafka had intended to actually hand over the letter to father by means of his mother, hoping to clear up their relationship. Max Brod , however, makes it unmistakably clear that

in reality the opposite would probably have happened. The explanation of himself to his father that the letter aimed at would never have been achieved. And Franz’s mother did not pass on the letter but gave it back to him, probably with a few comforting words.

Kafka primarily identified with his maternal ancestors, the Löwys, whom he saw as representing sensitivity and intelligence. However, he also found in himself

a certain Kafka foundation [shrewd and aggressive in business] that, however, just isn’t set in motion by the Kafka will to life, business and conquest, but by a Löwy spur that operates more secretively, more timidly, and in a different direction, and which often fails to work at all. (Italics mine)

That is, his father identification was not activated, due to his lack of extraverted (business) and aggressive (conquest) energy (will to life). While Franz Kafka was extremely sensitive and introverted, his father, on the other hand, was extraverted, depicted by Franz as

a true Kafka in strength, health, appetite, loudness of voice, eloquence, self-satisfaction, worldly superiority, stamina, presence of mind, knowledge of human nature, a certain generosity.

Lest we be tempted to believe Franz idealized his father, he quickly corrects this erroneous impression, adding that father also possesses “all the failings and weaknesses that go with these advantages, into which your temperament and sometimes your violent temper drive you.”

Max Brod and others have pointed out and criticized Kafka’s description of his father for being exaggerated. He says,

Here and there I feel the perspective is distorted, unsupported assumptions are occasionally dragged in and made to fit the facts; on what appear to be negligible, immediate reactions, a whole edifice is built up, the ramifications of which it is impossible to grasp as a whole, which in fact in the end definitely turns on its own axis and contradicts itself, and yet manages to stand erect on its own foundation.

Of course Kafka’s description is exaggerated, self-contradictory and yet “stands erect on its own foundation!” This merely reflects that we are dealing not with a scientific description of the object, as if there were such a thing, but with Kafka’s imago of his father, and seemingly unbeknownst to himself Brod here draws the very contours of an autonomous complex.

Kafka’s father is perceived through the tinted lens of his complex, and as complex and object interact in the psyche, perceptions will be drawn into the complex and cluster around its core. This does not necessarily mean that Kafka’s view of his father is entirely wrong or distorted. Portraying his father, Kafka himself says, “I am speaking only of the image through which you influenced the child.”

....

Contents:

I. Complexes - The Historical Link

Introduction

The Complex in the History of Psychoanalysis

A Plenitude of Complexes

Jung’s Personal Complexes

Complex Psychology

The Complex as Path and Vessel of Transformation

The Complex – Cluster, Core and Tone

Archetype and Ego

II. Oedipus – The Archetypal Complex

Freud, Jung and Oedipus

Oedipus - The Myth

Hero and Complex

Mars and Eros – the Drive of the Complex

Mother Self – Father Ego

The Primal Scene

The Sword and the Shield

The Complex Path – From Archetype to Ego

The Wounding of Oedipus – Ego Defences and the Autonomous Complex

Oedipus’ Journey

From Delphi to Thebes - From Archetype to Ego

Patricide at the Cleft Way Crossroad

The Riddle

The Cancerous Complex

III. The Complex in the Shadow

The Autonomous Complex

The Complex and the Call

The World Parents

The Archetypal Core of the World Parents

The Abandoned Child

A Mother Complex

Kafka’s (Never Sent) Letter to Father

The Tower of Babel

Inflation

Hubris

The Tower of Babel

The Inflated Ego - The Emptied Self

Integration of the Complex

Castration at the Gateway to Individuation

References

Available on Amazon

Friday, April 1, 2016

The Cycle of Life - David van Nuys interviews Erel Shalit - transcription

You can now listen to David van Nuys from Shrink Rap Radio interviewing Erel Shalit about

The Cycle of Life

You find the audio interview on the Shrink Rap Radio website.

A transcription of the interview has now also been uploaded, here.

Painting by Benjamin Shiff

A Magnificent Book for All Interested in the Journey of Life

by Lori Goldrich, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst and Clinical Psychologist

It is with great pleasure that I review Erel Shalit’s marvelous book. To begin, I feel so moved by the synchronous events that led to his finding of the book’s cover, or “face.” Benjamin Shiff’s painting “Life” and the meaning he gives for this marriage of book and painting are quite exquisite. “The candle’s soft light of life is poised against the painful inevitability of burning out. Yet, as long as they burn, there are shades and colors; there are the distinct faces of transient existence, and there are those of obscurity, hidden in distant nature; there is a lyrical melancholy, as well as a tense harmony…Only an unlit candle will never burn out. A fully lived life extracts the awareness of its finality.” These words are like pearls for the journey he takes us on in The Cycle of Life.

I also appreciate the ground he creates by discussing fate and destiny as a “primary tenet,” or underpinning of his book. When we let the tides of our fate and our destiny flow together into a union of opposites, meaning can be found. What begins as our fate can so often become a part of our destiny, which he so aptly discusses in his book. I have found this to be an important foundational principle, both personally and in my analytic work with patients. “On our journey through life, an incessant tension prevails between predetermined fate and free will, between archetypal patterns as opposed to individual distinctiveness.” So well stated!

Erel Shalit truly succeeds in describing the different stages of life in a way that keeps the reader interested and engaged. The weaving of psychological and theoretical perspectives from Freud to Klein to Winnicott to Neumann to Jung, and others, along with the wisdom from various disciplines including philosophy, literature, religion, and myth, is presented in such a way that both clinician and layperson can deepen in experience and knowledge. I especially appreciate his discussion of how the focus on archetypal images and experience can release the energy that lives in the deeper stratas of the psyche to assist in the transformation of psyche, body and spirit.

I also want to share a personal delight while reading Erel’s book. I always enjoy exploring the precise meaning of Hebrew words, and I so enjoyed his inclusion of this for select words and names. It “makes the connection between word and image comparatively close.” It is also reflective of the depth of attention he brings to his writing.

Erel Shalit has written a truly magnificent piece of work. It is a book for all those interested in the Journey. At the beginning of his book, he offers us the image of the “river” and writes from Plato, “While the river preserves its identity, it is incessantly moving and changing, simultaneously being and becoming.” As I read his book, I can truly experience the being and becoming on the journey of life.

'Life' by Benjamin Schiff