Jung on Transcendence

ABSTRACT Throughout this essay the author analyzes the concept of transcendence in Jung’s theoretical corpus with a focus on its philosophical parameters and therapeutic efficacy in promoting a category of value. Although Jung did not precisely define the terms transcendence, transcendent, and transcendental, it is necessary to tease out these features in order to illuminate the varieties of transcendence in Jung’s thought. Distinctions are made between the ontological, epistemological, and phenomenological dimensions of transcendence, including the structure, method, form, and process of mediating, transitioning, and transforming inner experience. Jung’s notion of the dialectic operative within the transcendent function is specifically critiqued. Here the author explores the possibility of a synthesis of internal opposition that leads to a greater principle of unity through the sublation of psyche. He further examines the transcendent function in the process of active imagination by drawing on patient material derived through associations in the analysis of the transference.