Carl Jung's Personality Theory Contrasted with Christian Personality Theory

Unlike his mentor, Freud, who was an atheist, Carl Jung saw spirituality as the defining trait of personality and human nature, manifested as a mysterious presence found in all cultures. Jung held the conviction that God existed and that in all important matters a human being was alone with God.

Jung developed the idea of the collective unconscious as a repository of universal archetypes like the divine child, the old sage, and the primordial mother. These archetypes and the symbols they elicit in dreams and through intuition, he surmised, are meant to guide people through an individuation process, offering fulfillment through reconciling opposing forces within the psyche. Jung saw a person's destiny as the result of a collaboration between the conscious and the unconscious.

While agreeing that spirituality is indigenous to human nature, compass personality theory more explicitly affirms the Trinity as the ontological foundation of personhood, Jesus Christ as the God-human mediator, and the Holy Spirit as the source of wisdom within the spiritual core. Rather than cultural symbols to guide people toward individual fulfillment, compass theory emphasizes the Word of God as the objective revelation of the Trinity without equal in revealing what people are called to become. 

Without this framework, the Bible says, “there is a way that appears to be right to a person, but its end is the way to death” (Prov 14:12). In other words, symbolic interpretation of psychic and cultural processes is insufficient in itself to establish communion and communication with the Creator, for this requires conversion of the heart, regeneration of the spirit, and living in existential responsiveness to the Trinity. 

Of all Jung’s concepts, introversion and extroversion have gained the widest general acceptance. Introverts focus on their own thoughts and feelings, recharging their psychic batteries through interior reflection and recollection. Extroverts focus on social stimulation, recharging their psychic batteries through interaction with others. Introverts see the world in regard to how it affects them, whereas extroverts are more concerned with their impact upon the world. 

In compass personality theory, introverted personality patterns include the  Avoidant Worrier, Schizoid Loner, Dependent Pleaser, and Compulsive Controller. Extroverted patterns include the Histrionic Storyteller, Paranoid Arguer, Antisocial Rule-breaker, and Narcissistic Boaster.

Perhaps what characterizes Jung’s theory more than anything else is his emphasis on polarities within personality as the key to understanding individual differences and helping people make progress in individuation. To Jung, the self can have  no reality without polarity.

Both Jungian and compass personality theory see the development of personality and relationships as a goal-directed enterprise, marked by the balanced development of all parts of personality, utilizing a free flow of energy between conscious and unconscious processes. Thus, the differentiation of opposites needs consistent integration within the self-system throughout the lifespan.

For Jung this means venerating what is God-like in the self, but also respecting what is most base, one’s shadow side, and learning how to give equal place even to the seemingly contradictory aspects of human experience. 

Compass personality theory is anchored in God’s invitation to trust in the Trinity as an edifying presence for developing healthy personality and relationships. Personality health is achieved through growth in developing a Christlike Self Compass as a person learns to recognize and dismantle the manipulative trends arising from dependency, aggression, withdrawal, or control. 

For more, read:

CHRISTIAN PERSONALITY THEORY:

A SELF COMPASS FOR HUMANITY 

 

How Does Prayer Work?

I can't speak for other world religions, even though I respect aspects of what they teach and uphold. But I can speak for Christianity because I met Jesus Christ fifty years ago. If it wasn't for Jesus, Christianity would be just a religion, and I wouldn't have much interest in it. My lifetime work as a psychologist for Lord has only intensified my fascination with prayer.

What does Jesus teach us about prayer? First of all, he teaches us that through the doorway he provides, God the Father becomes our personal Father. Christ teaches us to pray to God like he did, which means to pray all the time, everywhere, about anything that truly concerns us. And he teaches us to pray in his name, which means that we submit to his authority and trust in his guidance.

How does this translate into practical prayer? Wonderfully. You see, I was trained as a scientist in my graduate and undergraduate education, and I learned to have an inquisitive mind, to try out novel experiments and gather research about how the natural laws of the universe work.

So when I met Jesus, when I asked him to enter my life and reveal more about God to me, I found a freedom to pray in his name and see how prayer works. One of my first prayer experiments got an unexpected answer. My girlfriend, who had graduated from high school a year ahead of me, fell in love with a college guy, a beefy football player whom I personally detested.

The week of their marriage I stood in my bedroom and lay my broken heart before the Lord. "I can't stand this pain, Lord, and I can't stand losing this woman I love. Will you please show me how to get through this?"

I waited. Nothing seemed to happen. But when I turned around, my eyes fell on a Bible sitting on my dresser. I felt compelled by an invisible force to cross the room and placed both hands upon the Bible. With that action a peace infused my whole being, and a calm inner voice said, "Dan, you can stand it, because I am standing with you."

When we enter conversation with God, we can actively expect his attentiveness, and trust in the great care with which he will answer us, sometimes immediately, sometimes within the week, and sometimes twenty years later.

Go ahead and pray about anything that brings you anxiety, depression, or stress. Ask for God's divine intervention. For his wisdom to flow into a situation and change the outcome in constructive ways. For his presence to positively influence a troubled relationship. For his will to be done in your life.

And don't forget to thank him for all the good things he does. It warms his heart, just like his companionship through the years warms yours.

For more about prayer and companionship with God, read  

Trusting In The Trinity: Compass Psychotheology Applied

Will God Take Care of Me?

Christianity is at heart a mystery. I don't pretend to fathom its depth that reaches down into the fabric of being, encompassing the salvation of those who trust in Christ and the divine purpose of the cosmos.

For the two billion plus individuals who identify ourselves as Christian, the mystery of Christ's atonement for sin speaks to our personal depths, the discovery of grace and love as a foundation for living, and the emerging selves in Christ that we are becoming.

I lay on a sofa pondering this mystery one night, while also worrying that my wife Kate and I had little money to live on, barely paying the rent, food and gas. Yet at the same time, I realized, we were fully surrendering to the task at hand: writing the next book in our Compass Series.

On the one hand, unexpected reversals had financially devastated us. On the other hand, the anointing of the Holy Spirit had placed fire in our bones to write a book called, Trusting in the Trinity.

On this very night, with our faith in God tested to the max, and mood alternating wildly between psychological anxiety and spiritual ecstasy, a sentence composed itself in my mind—a sentence about the atonement of Jesus Christ for human sin and doorway to God's grace. I got up from the sofa, wrote the sentence on my laptop, and pondered its meaning, still not knowing how we would survive next month's bills.

Here is that sentence:

"Knowing that human beings learn from practical object lessons, God called a people to himself after their deliverance from slavery in Egypt, a people now living in tents below Mount Sinai, a newly constructed tabernacle with its Holy of Holies in their midst, with Aaron, the high priest divinely appointed to fulfill God’s instruction through Moses that once every year on the day of atonement, he would select a bull without spot or blemish, which would represent the people, and sword in hand, he would lay hands on the bull’s head, a picture of vicarious identification with the children of Israel, followed by a sharp slash to cut the bull’s throat; a bowl underneath filling with spurts of blood, Aaron would sprinkle this blood on the mercy seat atop the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies, specially crafted for the purpose that without blood there is no remission of sin; a blood offering given in obedience to God’s command that by faith in the sin offering the people would find forgiveness, the bull dying in place of the nation, the blood holding a historical place until, in the fullness of time, Jesus Christ offered his own blood, our hands upon his head, his throat figuratively slashed like the bull’s, a vicarious atonement for the sins of the whole human race, and the curtain in the Jerusalem temple separating humanity from the Holy of Holies rent from top to bottom, signifying that through the sacrifice of Christ for the Trinity’s love of humanity, individuals can become sons and daughters of the living God (Heb 10)."

I left a note on the kitchen table, asking Kate to read it the next morning, and see if it made any sense to her. The next day she responded positively, and we both agreed that it helped us see the connection between the Old and New Testaments, and between the Jewish sacrificial system and the new covenant that came through the death and resurrection of Jesus, our personal Passover Lamb.

Not only this, but it seemed to offer us emotional comfort, because it somehow conveyed that delivering human beings from the penalty of sin cost God everything, yet opened the doorway to full and liberating fellowship with God.

Now about the bills. We ate a lot of oatmeal and beans, and received two years of free housing in a very gracious friend's retirement home. We gave away most of our worldly possessions, but were happy in this monastic existence, knowing that we did have food, shelter, and gas, and just as important as these earthly provisions, we had the peace of Christ in our souls. We knew that God was taking care of us—we had what we needed.

 For more help in understanding the atonement of Christ:

Trusting in The Trinity: Compass Psychotheology Applied

How To Trust God and Feel God's Love

Whatever chaos is in the world, whatever governments are in power, and whether Christianity is in or out of favor, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit invite you to walk and talk with them every single day.  

Your communication with the Trinity is not contingent upon external factors, but internal ones. Your whole personality and human nature are the means of communion with God, and that communication is a spontaneous ongoing interaction.

What a pleasure.

What a mystery.

What an adventure!

In developing your individuality in Christ, you speak your mind to God, disclose feelings of every sort, and surrender your life and body to his care. 

The Lord, in turn, may respond by composing sentences in your mind, hugging your heart with tender care, or imparting serenity to your body, a tangible peace that calms your nervous system and melts your muscles.

As in any close bond, conversation with God sometimes sings like poetry, and other times feels uncertain and awkward. If you come to a place where God seems distant and your burden heavy, get back to the basics. Kneel at your bedside for several nights, praying for the rejuvenation of a lively faith. 

The Lord is right there with you. He will help remove any obstacles and rouse your awareness of the Holy Spirit’s power and presence, for “we know that all things work together for good for those who love God,who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).

There's more on how to trust God and feel his love consistently: 

Faith Beyond Church Walls: Finding Freedom in Christ.