Bridges Metaphor for Psychic Processes

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B R I D G ES
Rosemary Gordon
B R I D G ES

Metaphor for Psychic Processes
Rosemary Gordon
Foreword by
Mario J a c o by
Preface by
Michael Fordham
London
K A R N AC B O O KS
Copyright acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Carl Gustav Jung, Paris: Editions de THerne, 1984; by permission.
Chapter 3: Guild of Pastoral Psychology, pamphlet 116; by permission. Chap­
ter 7: reprinted from Archetypal Processes in Psychotherapy, © Chiron Publi­
cations, 1987; by permission of the publisher. Chapter 8: Guild of Pastoral
Psychology, pamphlet 212; by permission. Chapter 17: The Forbidden Love,
edited by William Kraemer. London: Sheldon Press, 1976; by permission.
Chapter 24: Harvest 8, 1962; by permission. The following were adapted by
permission from the Journal of Analytical Psychology: chapter 6, JAP 8 (1),
1963; chapter9, JAP30(3), 1980; chapter 11, JAP 12(1), 1967; chapter 12, JAP
10(2), 1965; chapter 13, JAP13{2). 1968; chapter 15, JAP25(3), 1980;chapter
16, JAP32{3), 1987; chapter 18, JAP24(3), 1979; chapter23, JAP23(3), 1978.
First published in 1993 by
H. Karnac (Books) Ltd,
118 Finchley Road,
London NW3 5HT
Copyright © 1993 by Rosemary Gordon
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
in any form, by any process or technique,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
Gordon, Rosemary
Bridges: Metaphor for Psychic Processes.
I. Title
ISBN 978-0-946439-89-8
Printed in Great Britain by BPCC Wheatons Ltd, Exeter
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would never have got down to preparing and writing this book
had I not been pushed, cajoled, and pushed again and again by
three people: Cesare Sacerdoti, Andrew Samuels, and Peter
Montagnon. Now that the book is there and my labour and battle
with it is completed, I want to express to them my deep and
sincere gratitude. I want to thank them for their trust in me, and
for their valuing both my experience and my attempts to use my
experience in order to advance, by a few points, our understand­
ing of some of the psychic processes that affect our relationship
both to ourselves within us and to the 'others' without us. This
work has also given me the chance to build on and to re-examine
some of Jung's concepts which have been the point of departure
for my perceptions, my feelings, my reflections and thoughts that
have gone into the making of this book.
I am grateful to Christine Murdoch, who helped me with much
of the preparatory work. But I want to thank quite especially J im
Seddon, who has helped me over many years to get my papers
and articles typed and into a publishable form, and who finally
took on the mammoth task of following up and checking out the
bibliography. My thanks also go to Ian Fenton who cast his
editorially skilled eye over the final shape of this book and then
fed it all into the twentieth-century scribe, the computer. Finally,
v
Vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am most grateful to Mara King and to Eric King, who so carefully
and affectionately attended to the final editing and to the typo­
graphical work for this book.
I owe muc h gratitude to the editors of the Journal of Analytical
Psychology, who have given such caring and nurturing concern to
the papers I had submitted to them for publication; I am here
thinking in particular of Michael Fordham, who quite early on
recognized and encouraged my interest in writing, and of Judith
Hubback, m y predecessor as editor of the Journal of Analytical
Psychology, who always received and dealt so creatively with my
papers whenever I sent them to her.
I also want to thank m y patients, who may not always have
known that, in seeking my help, they also helped me to discover
some new questions and some new answers. Some of these new
questions and answers have at times led me to new insights into
myself.
I have been fortunate and indeed feel very thankful to the
many colleagues who, through discussions and a much sharing
of ideas and experience, have stimulated and enriched me, often
at a time or in a manner that neither they nor I could have been
aware of.
Finally I acknowledge my gratitude to Chiron, The Guild of
Pastoral Psychology, Harvest Editions de l'Herne, and Sheldon
Press for giving me permission to include in this book, in a more
or less modified form, some of my papers and chapters first
published by them.
CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V

FOREWORD Xi

Mario Jacoby
PREFACE XV

Michael Fordham
Introduction 1

PROLOGUE
1. Jung: rebel son or prophet? 11

2. Conflict: combat or dance of the soul? 24

3. The role of self-awareness in a changing culture 36

4. Moral values and analytic insights 50

vii
Viii CONTENTS
PART ONE
BRIDGES:

INTRAPSYCHIC STRUCTURES AND FUNCTIONS

5. Penis as bridge 69

6. Gods and deintegrates 85

7. Archetypes on the couch 104

8. The location of archetypal experience 128

9. Big self, little self, and individuation 142

10. The drive towards death: a vector of the self 161

11. Symbols: content and process 189

PART TWO
BRIDGES BROKEN:

CLINICAL EXPERIENCE AND PRACTICE

12. Projective identification 213

13. Transference as fulcrum of analysis 235

14. Countertransferenc e:

the twinning of Eros and Agape 245

15. Narcissism and the self:

who am I that I love? 257

16. Masochism:

the shadow of veneration and worship 274

17. Paedophilia: normal and abnormal 289

18. Curing and healing 299
CONTENTS lX
PART THREE
BRIDGES BUILT:

CREATIVITY AND THE ARTS

19. Birth and creativity 313
20. Creativity and therapy 324
21. Creativity and archetype 33 7
22. Theatre:
out there and in here 352
23. Look! He has come through! 361
D. H. Lawrence's conflicts

as pathfinders towards individuation

24. Jung's concept of synchronicity 382
25. Creativity in the second half of life 400
A Last View—Over the Bridge 406
REFERENCES 409
INDEX 420