The Function and Composition of the Ego

For Jung, the ego is a conglomerate of associated elements. These elements are organised in a linear structure which gains its coherence due to a central interpretative perspective provided by a central complex around which all elements gravitate which is referred to as the ego complex (Jung, 2019, pp. 354-356): One metaphor capturing this mechanism is to think of this central complex to be posing as the ambassador of all elements. Surely, this ambassador somehow represents what the elements are like but it will appropriate what they are under the gaze of its own interpretative framework.

I therefore speak of a fictionalised central narrative that creates a fictional sense of coherence in the ego. The most important characteristic differentiating it from the non-ego is this organisational structure4. Another key difference is that the ego is representational, i.e. expressing a certain Anschaulichkeit (Jung, 2019, p. 357). That means, the ego’s direction is the other, it represents an associated web of information. To whom? To both, itself, i.e. the recognising, recalling component of its function, and the other subjects it interacts with. Jung thus posits a fundamental split between the psychic contents that the ego participates in and the ego itself. The ego itself thus seems to be reduced to its function: Its structure contents into a continuous and coherent narrative. Jung writes:"It is the nature of the conscious mind to concentrate on relatively few contents and to raise them to the highest pitch of clarity” (Jung, 2017a, p. 162; Kastrup, 2021, p. 20). It is crucial to note that the psyche contains other centres of gravity. The ego is only the dominant centre at a given moment in time.

In reference to these competing complexes5 Jung writes: “Ihre Vielheit bildet tatsächlich eine Einheit, indem die Bewusstseinsbeziehung wie eine Art Schwerkraft die einzelnen Teile in der Richtung auf ein vielleicht virtuelles Zentrum zusammen zieht. Ich spreche daher nicht bloß von dem Ich, sondern von einem Ichkomplex” (Dynamik des Unbewussten, p. 355). Elements can be more or less affected by this gravitational centre and vice- versa, each element exercises a more or less large influence on the composition of the entire gravitational complex.

What is central to note is, while the complex is determined by the entirety of its parts, the image it portrays, i.e. the narrative is tells about itself, is one-dimensional, simplistic and ‘controlled’ by its (imaginary) centre. This centre influences the portrayal of the elements to the outside and the inside. Notwithstanding this influence on the surface, the autonomy of the elements remains untouched.

This does not mean, however, that the association 4 The collective unconscious also retains a level of organisation (Jung, 1973, p. 86) and, as we will see, “contributes” to the organisation of the ego. 5 A complex is an assemblage of elements. The Ichkomplex is the dominant complex at a given moment, i.e. the governing narrative of the ego. of the egos with the elements does not have an impact on the element’s content. However, we cannot assume that one ego “owns” an element, instead many egos exercise their influence of autonomous elements that are accessed by multiple egos. The figure below (fig. 1) illustrates this dynamic: Fig. 1: Two egos accessing and assembling elements into a representational linearity. The fictionality of the structure is further highlighted by the autonomy and thus a certain numinous propensity to be experienced as “truth” that Jung posits each element to retain in itself. This is because, as we will see, these elements do not belong to the individual. They are collective elements - Jung refers to them as Geister (i.e. spirits but I’d prefer to say ghosts to create a distance to Hegel; Jung, 2019, pp. 335-339). We will explore this in more detail.

For now, let us remain with the structure of identity, i.e. the structure of the Ichkomplex. As we have seen, it is characterised by the creation of a fictional, unifying narrative that subverts multiple autonomous components under its reign by more or less integrating them into a corpus of coherent assumptions that it then imagines to be “Ich”. I refer to this as the narrated body - the axis that is at the centre of an individual’s self-understanding.

Again, we must emphasise that this does not mean every component of this structure is conscious to the subject neither does it mean that every component belongs to the subject. This structure comprises components that are both, conscious and unconscious (on the personal level - or what Jung calls Seelenteile) and components that are impersonal (what Jung calls Geist). In a letter to Jung, Wolfgang Pauli speculates: “[…] insofern nämlich der Tod des Einzelnen in gewisser Hinsicht immer eine zeitgeschichtlich bedingte Notwendigkeit ist, da dieser Einzelne stets auch solchen psychischen Einflüssen unterworfen ist, die zu seinen Lebzeiten nicht vollständig dem Bewußtsein assimiliert werden können” (Meier, 1992, p. 24).

Aspects that reach beyond death continue to influence the individual, foreshadowing his own passing. This interplay between the temporally limited aspects of being on the one hand and its atemporal “So Sein” (von Franz, 2003, p. 66) on the other is directly at stake here. As we will see, Jung seems to imply a mutual constitutiveness of the two realms which points towards their underlying unity.

While the Ichkomplex in the present dictates identity by constructing a web of association that hangs together, this interpretative map may be overthrown by contemporary developments. That means, while the dominant network must always make sense at least on a day-to-day level the totality of the ego does not necessarily have to be - and probably never is - without contradictions. In this way, we construct a story about who we are that corresponds and incorporates our physical body: “The lardy bib I keep beneath my shirt is not so much a body part yes it is a psychological flaw that's become material – shame that I can touch. My wait till the story of who I am: the person who likes to spend weekends sunk into the sofa surrounded by pizza boxes, sticky-fingers and burping, a grown man who might as well be wearing a nappy.

My fatness, the outline of my body, can make me feel as if I'm guilty of a moral transgression” (Storr, 2017, p. 54). The autonomous elements retain their autonomy and this may contradict the dominant framework of the narrated body. Quite the contrary, these autonomous elements may act upon this dominant corpus and force it to reconsider itself to ultimately drive part of its change.

As we will see, there are essentially two types of change inflicted on the ego: First, change originating in the autonomous elements within the ego. We will consider this type of change to originate in the enforcement of the debt owed to these elements (or the subjects they appear to have their origin in). The second way change can be inflicted is via ruptures of the collective unconscious into the ego - that is, the ego’s confrontation with something radically different, perhaps transcendent, to itself. Now that we have set the groundwork by understanding the ego’s structural and functional composition, let us continue to further examine its narrative structure.

Sources

Jung, C. G. (1973). Briefe I: 1906–1945. Olten: Walter-Verlag.

Jung, C. G. (2017a). Die Archetypen und das kollektive Unbewußte. Ostfildern: Patmos (Edition C. G. Jung).

Jung, C. G. (2019). Die Dynamik des Unbewussten. Ostfildern: Patmos (Edition C. G. Jung).

Kastrup, B. (2021). Decoding Jung’s Metaphysics. Winchester: iff Books.

Meier, C. A. (Ed.) (1992). Wolfgang Pauli und C. G. Jung: Ein Briefwechsel 1932–1958. Berlin: Springer.

Storr, W. (2017). Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It’s Doing to Us. London: Picador.

von Franz, M.-L. (2003). Psyche und Materie. Einsiedeln: Daimon Verlag.