Dry Fire - The Self

Dry Fire—The Self

In the previous two chapters, I discussed the communication between psychological states in Conscious and Unconscious Triangle.

When such communication is fully open and runs freely in all directions, our psyche can develop better and better: It means:

  • Communication can develop between all main psychological states, that is:
    — Conscious State,
    — Unconscious State (or Complementary State),
    — Power State (or Strong Self-Esteem State), and
    — Vulnerable State (or Soft Self-Esteem State).
  • Through psychological states can develop communication between Conscious and Unconscious Triangles, that is, Consciousness and Unconsciousness.


Above we have a diagram of Mandala of Characters for Dry Fire type.

Now, please pay attention to the arrows connecting psychological states. And please imagine that the psychic energy flows freely between states in all possible directions.

In such a situation, we have free and equal communication between psychological states. Then, also, Conscious and Unconscious Triangles can communicate freely and equally. Thus, Consciousness and Unconsciousness have free and unlimited access to each other, and they can work closely together.

Conscious and Unconscious Triangle in such a situation together forms one square.

This square can, therefore, illustrate the connection or union of Consciousness and Unconsciousness. In that case, this square can symbolize our psyche's fullness, or its unification, reconciliation, fusion, integration, consolidation, etc.

I think that this square we can describe as—The Self Square.

In Dry Fire's case, the square of The Self will look like on the diagram below.



Now we can see the symbolic square of The Self of the type—Dry Fire.

In the Mandala of Characters, The Self as a square includes:

  • psychological states,
  • connections between psychological states,
  • and Conscious and Unconscious Triangle.

The above The Self square is also inscribed in Mandala of Characters and inclined at an angle that corresponds to the Dry Fire type.

Shortly speaking, we have—The Self of Dry Fire.


“The Self” is a concept taken from Jungian psychology. I combined Mandala of Characters from several personality theories. The foundation of the Mandala consists of three theories, namely, Ancient Typology, Enneagram, and Jung’s typology. Carl Gustav Jung presented his theory of personality in his book “Psychological Types”.

Jung writes a lot about The Self in his works, exploring it in many different ways. Below, for example, I use quotes from Jung’s books:
— “Psychological Types”, and
— “Memories, Dream, Reflections”.


46. SELF.72 As an empirical concept, the self designates the whole range of psychic phenomena in man. It expresses the unity of the personality as a whole. But in so far as the total personality, on account of its unconscious component, can be only in part conscious, the concept of the self is, in part, only potentially empirical and is to that extent a postulate. In other words, it encompasses both the experienceable and the inexperienceable (or the not yet experienced). It has these qualities in common with very many scientific concepts that are more names than ideas. In so far as psychic totality, consisting of both conscious and unconscious contents, is a postulate, it is a transcendental concept, for it presupposes the existence of unconscious factors on empirical grounds and thus characterizes an entity that can be described only in part but, for the other part, remains at present unknowable and illimitable.

Just as conscious as well as unconscious phenomena are to be met with in practice, the self as psychic totality also has a conscious as well as an unconscious aspect. Empirically, the self appears in dreams, myths, and fairytales in the figure of the “supraordinate personality” (v. ego), such as a king, hero, prophet, saviour, etc., or in the form of a totality symbol, such as the circle, square, quadratura circuli, cross, etc. When it represents a complexio oppositorum, a union of opposites, it can also appear as a united duality, in the form, for instance, of tao as the interplay of yang and yin, or of the hostile brothers, or of the hero and his adversary (arch-enemy, dragon), Faust and

Mephistopheles, etc. Empirically, therefore, the self appears as a play of light and shadow, although conceived as a totality and unity in which the opposites are united. Since such a concept is irrepresentable—tertium non datur—it is transcendental on this account also. It would, logically considered, be a vain speculation were it not for the fact that it designates symbols of unity that are found to occur empirically. The self is not a philosophical idea, since it does not predicate its own existence, i.e., does not hypostatize itself. From the intellectual point of view it is only a working hypothesis. Its empirical symbols, on the other hand, very often possess a distinct numinosity, i.e., an a priori emotional value, as in the case of the mandala,73 “Deus est circulus . . .,”74 the Pythagorean tetraktys,75 the quaternity,76 etc. It thus proves to be an archetypal idea (v. Idea; Image), which differs from other ideas of the kind in that it occupies a central position befitting the significance of its content and its numinosity.

Source:
Carl Gustav Jung
Psychological types
Pages 422, 423
Published September 26, 2016 by Routledge

Self. The central archetype (q.v. ); the archetype of order; the totality of the personality. Symbolized by circle, square, quaternity (q.v.), child, mandala ( q.v.) , etc.

C. G. JUNG: ". . . the self is a quantity that is supraordinate to the conscious ego. It embraces not only the conscious but also the unconscious psyche, and is therefore, so to speak, a personality which we also are. . . . There is little hope of our ever being able to reach even approximate consciousness of the self, since however much we may make conscious there will always exist an indeterminate and indeterminable amount of unconscious material which belongs to the totality of the self."

(Two Essays on Analytical Psychology, CW 7, par. 274)

"The self is not only the centre but also the whole circumference which embraces both conscious and unconscious; it is the centre of this totality, just as the ego is the centre of consciousness."

(Psychology and Alchemy, CW 12, par. 44)

". . . the self is our life’s goal, for it is the completest expression of that fateful combination we call individuality . . ."

(Two Essays on Analytical Psychology, CW 7, par. 404)


In Mandala of Characters, our main psychological states, (that is, Conscious, Unconscious, Power and Vulnerable States) are located on the Mandala's circumference. The Self is the square that connects these four main psychological states. They are the elements of The Self, and The Self unites them within itself.

The elements of The Self as a square, are also Conscious and Unconscious Triangle. And The Self also unites them within itself.

The Self, then, as I mentioned earlier, can influence both psychological states and Consciousness with Unconsciousness.

In a sense, The Self is simply a union of our Consciousness, Unconsciousness and psychological states. Thanks to this union, we can become fully aware of the activity of psychological states, Consciousness and Unconsciousness.

In everyday life, The Self may show itself, for example, in the following ways:

  • We differentiate our psychological states, and we know which one has the greatest influence on us at any given moment.
  • We do not succumb too much to any of them, nor we do not underestimate or neglect any of them.
  • We maintain a balance or a compromise between them.
  • We give our every state equal rights.
  • We accept our mental states, all together and individually.
  • We allow speaking each of our psychological states.
  • Consciously, we allow each psychological state to act and influence us. And we allow for it in both situations:
    — when one of our states prevails,
    — and when individual states interact with each other in various possible combinations.
  • We respect and accept each state’s influence on us, knowing that each state is equally important. In life, it will be beneficial for us when we let work for us every our state. For example, thanks to this, in various life situations, we will not simply “overdo” something, because one of our states dominates too much over other states.
  • We take all our states seriously. And we appreciate the role they are playing and the contribution, which they bring to our psyche.
  • Etc.

To the above list, surely we can add many more ways in which The Self can work in our life.

I think that now it becomes clear this—why it is said that The Self is a look from two perspectives. It means the look from a distance is coupled with a very close look.

The self, therefore, is very mysterious and fascinating.

Looking at Mandala of Characters, we can say that The Self corresponds to a situation where our psychic energy is free to flow around the entire square of The Self. Thanks to The Self, we also do not lose touch with our Conscious State. And we can consciously influence other states, or we consciously allow other states to influence our Consciousness when other states need to manifest and realize in our lives.

The Self helps us greatly understand ourselves, our Consciousness and Unconsciousness, and helps us accept ourselves more and more.

The Self also helps us to get to know our individual psychological states better and better. Thanks to this, we can accept each of them separately and face the fact that we have our own (characteristic for ourselves) psychological states, not others. Also, thanks to these specific psychological states, which we have, some things will be easier for us to do for us than for other people. And other people will be better at doing other things than us.

Thanks to the increasing acceptance of our psychological states, in turn, we will not blame ourselves for the fact that we have such psychological states and others. We just have our own characteristic states. In this case, it is better to learn to live with them and use them effectively than blame ourselves that we do not have the psychological states, which others have. Other people also have their own specific states, which are also very specific. Everyone has what has, and everyone does not have what does not have. Everyone has a unique personality, temperament, and character. Thanks to The Self, we can also accept the criticism of others more easily. For example, criticism that we are not, what they say we should be. Thanks to The Self, we will be able to have more distance from this kind of criticism. Because thanks to The Self, we will know that we cannot change our character just like that. Or just because someone thinks that his point of view is good for us. Even when someone has good intentions, and he is convinced that he has the best option.

Among many other people’s advice, therefore, through The Self, we will be able to choose what suits our character, and we will not do what does not suit us. The Self can also help us in giving advice and helping others. It is because we will accept that our advice is not necessarily good and helpful for someone. Besides, we will accept that someone else may also be pleased with the advice that in our opinion, is completely useless.


The Self makes us aware of the enormity of our psyche. At first, we may even be dissatisfied with it. Because many things are no longer as simple to judge and easy to predict as before. And our valued system and worldview may gradually change. For example:
— we can become more open,
— it will be easier for us to agree with someone,
— we will be less confident in our opinion on various topics,
— we will have doubts or second thoughts more often,
— etc.

We can also use phrases such as:
— “I do not know”,
— “I need to think about it”,
— “It is interesting, I have not heard about it yet”,
— etc.

At first, we may not like the fact that we will know less, and we need to think more. On the other hand, however, the great world of our psyche opens up before us. We can travel through this world, discover new things and places, and find there new and amazing experiences and adventures. These experiences and adventures can sometimes be enjoyable and sometimes unpleasant, depending on what we discover. For example:
— Pleasant when we discover something nice in us, what we can be proud of.
— And unpleasant when we discover something not nice in us, what we cannot be proud of.

However, in the journey through our psyche, we will be in a place between what we know and what we do not know. When we accept this place, it will turn out that it is exciting and fascinating.


What I wrote above, please treat as an introduction to The Self of Dry Fire. I am planning and hoping to write a broader study about The Self of this type. Now, however, it is hard for me to say when this study will be published, because so far I am only a great personality typology enthusiast, and working on the Mandala of Character is my hobby.




Jacek Błach


References:

Carl Gustav Jung
Psychological types
Pages 422, 423
Published September 26, 2016 by Routledge

Carl Gustav Jung
Memories, Dreams, Reflections.
Page 398
Publisher: Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, Inc. New Jork, April 1989


Please note that texts and images created by me (that is Jacek Błach) in the chapters describing the theory of Mandala of Characters (The Mandala of Characters — Theory) are marked with:
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To other texts and images that I used as quotes, additional terms may apply.