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By Root 5254 0

their psyche continue to work naturally in concert with each other. The way they relate physically to the world around them; the way they organise their mental perception of the world; their sense of fellow-feeling with each other and their natural surroundings; their intuitive sense of belonging to some indivisible spiritual whole: all these modes of psychic operation remain so closely interwoven that it is hard to separate them. But as civilisation evolves and humanity becomes ever more separated from a state of nature, the more these psychic functions tend to become differentiated from one another. And it is here the imbalances arise which become a key factor in the emergence of different types of human personality, because there is then a tendency in each individual to rely more on some forms of consciousness than others. Those functions which are more strongly developed become superior, the others remain inferior. And, where consciousness becomes unbalanced in this way, people tend to become caught out by those functions in which they are less developed.

We are all familiar with some of the more obvious of these forms of imbalance. A 'sensation type, for instance, someone who primarily relates to the world in a physical way, may be highly practical but not over-endowed with intellect. Those who are primarily physical may also be caught out by their underdeveloped 'feminine' functions, by a lack of feeling for others or of imaginative understanding. We similarly recognise that `thinking types, those who one-sidedly relate to the world through their intellect, may be caught out by their inadequacy in relating to the physical world. This deficiency in consciousness renders them uncoordinated and impractical. They may also find it hard to relate to their emotions, making them cold and unfeeling. Even their strongest function, their power to think, unless this is balanced by intuitive understanding, may simply get lost in abstract pattern-making: as we recognise in such stereotypes as the pedantic lawyer, the dry-as-dust academic or the unfeeling bureaucrat.6

Wherever people's consciousness becomes too one-sided in this way, their thinking and behaviour become unconsciously influenced in a negative way by those functions in which they are not consciously developed. And in this respect we have to think of unconsciousness in two ways. On one hand there are the deep structures of our unconscious proper, the foundation of our psyche, that 'collective unconscious' which we share in common with the rest of humanity. On the other there is that personal element of unconsciousness made up of the areas in which our own individual functioning is deficient.

Not only do these deficiencies unconsciously influence our thinking and behaviour, because they themselves are not operating to full effect. The resulting imbalances can also interfere with the workings of those functions in which we are more strongly developed. This applies equally to the `feminine' functions, which cannot find proper expression unless they have the strength and discipline of their 'masculine' balance. Someone who relies primarily on feeling but is weak and lacking in rationality becomes chaotically emotional, lacking the power and discipline to direct their feelings effectively. Someone who is highly intuitive but without controlling reason or a sense of the practical may fall prey to irrational misjudgements, losing precisely that power of understanding which can only be achieved when intuition is disciplined.

There is no one whose personality cannot be analysed in terms of the balance between its `masculine' and `feminine' components in this way. A man who is strongly `masculine' must inevitably, unless this is balanced by the feeling and imagination which represent his anima, his `inner feminine, remain limited, insensitive and self-centred. He is thus likely to become a bully or a tyrant. Conversely, a man weak in his masculinity, a'mother's boy, cannot develop either side of his personality properly. Taken over by his `negative anima', he becomes, as we