The question is sometimes asked in an accusing tone which seems to say: Jungians talk as though they knew the answer to everything, but if you ask them anything they say, ‘Oh, if you haven’t had analysis you can’t really understand.’ It is this kind of attitude which has helped characterize Jungian psychology as something for an elite. If, for instance, you cannot get into the Analytical Psychology Club of New York until you have had one hundred hours of Jungian analysis, then some people feel discriminated against. And you hear remarks such as, ‘Jungians want to make a god out of Jung and a religion of analytical psychology,’ or ‘Jungians want to keep their psychology to themselves as though it was too good for just anybody,’ or ‘Only the rich can afford to be Jungians!’
As a result of all this, one can become a little defensive about Jungian psychology, because therapy—which is costly, at least in this country—does play a very central role; and it is true that, just as you can’t really know what being in love is like until you’ve been there, you can’t know what therapy is like until you’ve had some. But if, in spite of that, the work of C. G. Jung attracts you, you might understandably ask: ‘What can I get out of analytical psychology if there is no Jungian analyst in my neighborhood?—or if there is one but I can’t afford to pay what analysis costs?’
That isn’t so easy to answer. I think some attempt at an answer is needed, however, because it is a legitimate question, it’s a serious question, and—I suspect, from the frequency with which it occurs—an important one for many people. In order to answer it, I think we ought to consider briefly what analytical psychology is—what its basic realities are—and then how these realities might become a conscious part of the experiences of an individual who cannot take advantage of analysis."
The above is a tantalizing beginning to the article by Vernon E. Brooks that we'll be discussing. It was originally published in "Quadrant: Journal of the C. G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology", Volume 8, Winter, 1975.
