who am I

who are You

is this a course for You ?

credits (2 ECTS for >75% attendance, +1 for referat/experiment)

Hausarbeit possible

need help ? (tutor: a.terzieva@udk-berlin.de)

Leistungsnachweis

signature-related issues

Smartphone & Feedback box

Take a pen and piece of paper (or ask Your neighbor if You can borrow it)

Ask Yourself a question: "Does soul exist ?"

Wait a while (cca 3-5 inhale-exhale cycles)

Write the answer - either YES or NO - on the paper

Put the answer into feedback box

life

departed spirit, ghost

conscious self, personality

butterfly

main character of epos Eros & Psyche

Latin translation of the greek word PSYCHE.

The soul or animating principle of a living thing.

In Jungian psychology: Unconscious feminine aspect of the person.

Soul in judaic and islamic traditions

Emma Jung - On the Nature of the Animus and the Anima & The Anima as an Elemental Being

Sabina Spielrein - Destruction as the Cause of Coming Into Being - TAKEN

Eros and Tanathos in Era of Artificial Intelligence - TAKEN

Dark Triad

contribution to Atlas of Archetypes and Animal Spirits

Psychotherapeutic method / approach of Your choice

The Red Book - TAKEN

matryoshka

not material ? how to materialize it ? is it soft / does it break ?

soul can be (not be) influenced by experience

where is the soul ? (in whole body ? in head ? in heart?)

supposed to represent the Core

as a metaphysical existence, something very crucial

what the person "really" / "objectively" IS

person's way to go beyond

bridge between the one that sees and what is being seen

the whole is the ocean, the individual is the droplet

more abstract, not something You can fit into logical pattern, it's about experience of yourself and the world

when words soul comes up there is the ghost of something even higher

housed by the body

there's physicality to it (the soul)

soul only exists when we believe it and feel it

split - some people believe, some not, some unsure

lot of questions, no answer

can one have soul if You are not conscious ?

the essence of something, that's what makes something uniquely that - sorbian fable about the frog

don't believe in soul as something individual, tends to define it as something collective / floating

something given to animals to define feelings

doesn't exist

??? mind / consciousness ??? ant or bee HOPEFULLY has soul

Vṛtti (वृत्ति) – Fluctuations of the mind (thoughts, emotions, perceptions); most dynamic and gross.

Saṁskāra (संस्कार) – Latent impressions or mental habits left by past vṛttis.

Manas (मनस्) – The sensory mind, coordinating input and response; "inner instrument" of perception.

Citta (चित्त) – The storehouse of impressions, conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind.

Buddhi (बुद्धि) – Intellect, faculty of discernment, reason, and decision-making.

Ahaṁkāra (आहंकार) – Ego-identity, the sense of "I am this body/mind/personality" & "I do this".

Aham (अहम्) – The primordial I-sense, pure self-reference, "the strange loop" symbol.

Jīva (जीव) – The embodied self, individual, distinct soul undergoing experience, transformation and change.

Ātman (आत्मन्) – The true Self, pure consciousness, transcendental soul, unchanging, infinite, witness of all.

Vṛttis are mental waves — thoughts, emotions, memories, and perceptions constantly rising and falling. Cognitive events (thoughts, perceptions, emotions) / contents of working memory.

Manas is the part of the mind that collects sensory data and handles attention — like a gatekeeper deciding what to focus on. Working memory / attention / sensory integration.

Citta is the overall field of mind-stuff: it stores memories, habits, and deeper patterns.  Long-term memory / unconscious processing.

If the mind were a lake, vṛttis are the ripples, manas is the surface movement reacting to wind, and citta is the deep water reflecting everything.

The capacity to discriminate, reason, judge, and make decisions. It evaluates inputs from manas and chooses a response.

Cognitive Science Correlates: Executive function / decision-making / Analytical reasoning /Cognitive control & inhibition

The function that identifies the pure “I” (aham) with thoughts, roles, body, emotions — forming the personal identity and ego. It says “I am this.” and "I do".

Cognitive Science Correlates: Narrative self / autobiographical identity, Self-concept and ego structure, Ego-identification / default mode network (DMN) activity

Definition: The bare, pre-reflective sense of being a subject — “I am.” Not yet identifying with roles or narratives .

Cognitive Science Correlates: Minimal self / self-referential consciousness, First-person perspective, Sense of agency

The deepest layer of identity — pure awareness, witness of all experiences, beyond mental content and roles. In some philosophical traditions equivalent to substrate of the universe.

Cognitive Science Correlates: Pure consciousness / background awareness, the ultimate substrate

"That which lives" or "the living being"

Jīva is the individualized expression of consciousness that experiences and engages with the world as a distinct center of awareness. Localized, embodied soul undergoing experience and change.

Does this Platonic myth appear in current art, culture ?

Is it somehow relevant to You ?

With which psychological concepts which were already introduced could be this myth associated ?

Soul (ψυχή) often equated with life-force or breath.

"all things are full of gods" Aristotle, De Anima 411a7, quoting Thales

Heraclitus: the soul has a deep, unexplored structure and needs to be “kindled” like fire to become wise

Pythagoreans: soul is immortal and transmigrates (metempsychosis).

Empedocles and Anaxagoras introduce NOUS (mind) as a soul-like power.

No strict separation yet between physical and spiritual dimensions.

ΤΟ ΕΠΙΜΕΛΕΙΣΘΑΙ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ ΕΣΤΙΝ ΕΠΙΜΕΛΕΙΣΘΑΙ ΤΗΣ ΨΥΧΗΣ / To care for oneself is to care for the soul.

ΟΥ ΤΑ ΧΡΗΜΑΤΑ ΥΜΑΣ ΠΟΙΕΙΝ ΑΛΛΑ ΤΗΝ ΨΥΧΗΝ ΩΣ ΑΡΙΣΤΗΝ ΕΙΝΑΙ / Care not for your bodies or your wealth so much as for the best possible state of your soul.

the concept of EPIMELESTHAI ("care for one's self / care for the soul) is key concept of classical philosophical tradition

Aristotle’s theory of soul is grounded in hylomorphism, the idea that all living beings are composites of matter (hyle) and form (morphe).

• The body is the matter, the potentiality.

• The soul is the form, the actuality of a living body.

• The soul is not a separate substance, but the essence that gives life and organization to the body.

The soul is the actuality of a body that has life potentially.” (De Anima, II.1)

Nutritive Soul (Vegetative Soul):: Found in plants :: Nutrition / Growth / Reproduction :: most basic type of soul

Found in animals. :: Includes all the capabilities of the nutritive soul, plus: Sensation (sight, hearing, etc.) / Appetite and desire / Locomotion (movement)

Rational Soul :: Unique to humans, able to universals and is capable of theoretical knowledge. Includes both the nutritive and sensitive capacities, and Reason (logos) / Abstract thinking / Deliberation and choice

+ intellect (NOUS) composed of passive intellect (NOUS PATHETIKOS) and active intellect (NOUS POIETIKOS)

Epicureans: soul is material, composed of fine atoms.

No afterlife: soul dissolves at death—no reason to fear it.

Stoics: soul is PNEUMA, a fiery breath pervading the body.

Soul contains HEGEMONIKON (governing principle) in the heart.

Ethics grounded in cultivating (EPIMELESTHAI) rational soul in accordance with nature.

Soul is a lower emanation from Nous (divine Intellect), which in turn comes from the One (the ineffable source).

Soul is the mediator between the intelligible world (Nous, Forms) and the sensible world.

Soul is partly divine but also linked to matter, and some souls descend too far and forget their origin.

The ultimate aim is the return (epistrophē) to the One via inner purification, contemplation, and ascent.

Soul (نَفْس, *nafs*) is a spiritual, immaterial substance.

Influenced by Aristotle, Neoplatonism, and Qur’anic revelation.

Avicenna: soul is simple, incorporeal, and individuated at creation.

Soul progresses through stages: vegetative, animal, rational.

Mystical traditions (e.g., Sufism) focus on purification of the soul.

Philosophical arguments for immortality and resurrection abound.

Soul is created by God and infused at conception.

Augustine: soul seeks rest in God; image of God within the soul.

Soul is immortal, destined for salvation or damnation.

Soul's faculties: memory, understanding, will (trinitarian analogy).

Union with God is possible through grace and charity.

Body-soul dualism often influenced by Platonic models.

Thomas Aquinas: soul is the form of the body (via Aristotle).

Soul has vegetative, sensitive, and rational powers.

Immortality of the rational soul is demonstrable by reason.

The soul subsists independently and survives bodily death.

Heavily influenced by Aristotle and Christian doctrine.

Debates on when and how the soul is infused in the embryo.

Renewed interest in Platonism and Hermetic soul cosmologies.

Descartes: radical dualism—soul (res cogitans) and body (res extensa).

Human soul seen as seat of reason, will, and self-consciousness.

Debates emerge over animal souls and mechanistic bodies.

Mystical and esoteric views on soul persisted alongside rationalism.

Soul increasingly tied to the concept of personhood.

Soul increasingly reduced to observable mental or bodily processes.

Locke: denies innate ideas—soul as tabula rasa, a passive receiver.  Start of the NATURE / NURTURE debate.

Hume: rejects a persistent self; mind is a bundle of perceptions.

La Mettrie: human soul is an effect of bodily mechanisms (*L'homme machine*).

Diderot and French materialists view soul as an illusion of matter in motion.

Mind-body dualism increasingly replaced by monist materialism.

Soul or mind functions through the association of ideas.

David Hartley: vibrations in nerves correspond to mental associations.

Mind explained through natural laws, not metaphysical substances.

Emphasizes memory, habit, and experience over rational soul.

Bridge between empiricism and early psychology.

Shift from soul as essence to mind as structure of learned relations.

Soul is active, not passive—central to constructing experience.

Kant: we can never know "soul" as a thing-in-itself.

Fichte: ego (Ich) posits itself—soul as dynamic self-consciousness.

Schelling: soul and nature are aspects of the Absolute unfolding.

Hegel: soul partakes in Spirit (Geist), unfolding historically and dialectically.

Emphasis on development of the soul through culture and reason.

All matter possesses some form of experience or consciousness.

William James: stream of consciousness is continuous, plural, and lived.

Rejects both materialism and soul-substance dualism.

Radical empiricism: consciousness is a basic feature of reality.

Panpsychism redefines soul not as a separate entity, but as pervasive sentience.

Mind is not isolated; world is interwoven with subjectivity.

The four temperaments originate in Ancient Greek medicine.

Hippocrates (5th century BCE) proposed that health and personality are governed by four bodily fluids or “humors.”

Later, Galen (2nd century CE) systematized this theory and linked the humors to psychological traits.

Each temperament was thought to result from an excess of one humor: blood, yellow bile, black bile, or phlegm.

Though outdated medically, the four types—Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholic, and Phlegmatic—remain influential in personality theory.

1. Energy Direction (E or I):

E = I gain energy from being active, social, or in groups.

I = I gain energy from being alone, quiet, or reflective.

2. Response Style (F or A):

F = I react quickly, outwardly, and emotionally.

A = I stay calm, take time, and keep emotions inside.

EF → Sanguine: Energetic, social, expressive

EA → Choleric: Driven, assertive, action-oriented

IF → Melancholic: Reflective, sensitive, thoughtful

IA → Phlegmatic: Calm, steady, harmonious

Element: Water Qualities: Cold and moist Humor: Phlegm

Personality: Calm, kind, peaceful, reliable

Behavior: Avoids conflict, patient, compassionate, steady, sometimes passive

Modern comparison: Relaxed and agreeable

Element: Earth Qualities: Cold and dry Humor: Black bile

Personality: Thoughtful, introspective, detail-oriented, serious

Behavior: Prone to sadness, perfectionistic, loyal, needs solitude, deep thinker

Modern comparison: Introverted and analytical

Element: Fire Qualities: Warm and dry Humor: Yellow bile

Personality: Ambitious, leader-like, passionate, easily angered

Behavior: Goal-oriented, confident, aggressive, impatient, not easily discouraged

Modern comparison: Assertive, dominant, sometimes aggressive

Element: Air

Qualities: Warm and moist

Personality: Social, energetic, talkative, lively, optimistic

Behavior: Enjoys people, easily distracted, creative, forgets obligations

Modern comparison: Extroverted and emotionally expressive

Renewed interest in Platonism and Hermetic soul cosmologies.

Descartes: radical dualism—soul (res cogitans) and body (res extensa).

Human soul seen as seat of reason, will, and self-consciousness.

Debates emerge over animal souls and mechanistic bodies.

Mystical and esoteric views on soul persisted alongside rationalism.

Soul increasingly tied to the concept of personhood.

Soul increasingly reduced to observable mental or bodily processes.

Locke: denies innate ideas—soul as tabula rasa, a passive receiver.  Start of the NATURE / NURTURE debate.

Hume: rejects a persistent self; mind is a bundle of perceptions.

La Mettrie: human soul is an effect of bodily mechanisms (*L'homme machine*).

Diderot and French materialists view soul as an illusion of matter in motion.

Mind-body dualism increasingly replaced by monist materialism.

Soul or mind functions through the association of ideas.

David Hartley: vibrations in nerves correspond to mental associations.

Mind explained through natural laws, not metaphysical substances.

Emphasizes memory, habit, and experience over rational soul.

Bridge between empiricism and early psychology.

Shift from soul as essence to mind as structure of learned relations.

Franz Joseph Gall proposed that mental faculties were localized in the brain.

Bumps on the skull supposedly indicated personality traits.

Phrenology gained popular appeal in 19th-century Europe and America.

Although flawed, it encouraged anatomical and neurological research.

Foreshadowed modern brain imaging and cognitive neuroscience.

Gustav Fechner studied the quantitative relationship between stimulus and sensation.

"psycho-physics is an exact doctrine of the relation of function or dependence between body and soul" (Elemente der Psychophysik, 1860)

His law: sensation increases logarithmically with stimulus intensity.

Considered one of the founders of experimental psychology.

Merged philosophy and empirical science through measurement.

Inspired later studies of perception and thresholds.

Hermann Ebbinghaus pioneered systematic study of memory.

Used nonsense syllables to avoid prior associations.

Identified the forgetting curve and spacing effect.

Demonstrated that memory could be studied experimentally and quantitatively.

His methods set standards for future cognitive research.

Discovered by Hermann Ebbinghaus and later formalized by modern memory researchers.

Describes how the position of an item in a sequence affects its likelihood of being recalled.

Primacy effect: early items are remembered better due to more rehearsal time.

Recency effect: late items are remembered better because they are still in short-term memory.

Items in the middle are most likely to be forgotten.

This effect creates a U-shaped curve when recall probability is plotted against position.

Describes how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it.

The curve shows a steep drop in memory shortly after learning, then a slower decline.

After about 20 minutes, around 40% of new information is forgotten.

After one day, more than 60% can be lost without review.

The curve flattens over time—what is retained tends to stay longer.

Regular review or reinforcement can drastically reduce forgetting.

Romantic thinkers revived interest in dreams as gateways to the soul and creativity.

The boundary between pseudoscience and emerging science of psychology remained blurred.

Embracing Freud’s emphasis on the unconscious Carl Gustav Jung (CGJ) was initially a close collaborator and admirer of Freud.

Jung proposed a broader concept: the **collective unconscious**, shared by all humans and soon started challenging Freud’s sexual theory.

Emphasizing spirituality, mythology, and the process of self-realization (#INDIVIDUATION#), CGJ introduced archetypes—universal symbolic images and motifs that shape human experience. He .

Jung's break with Freud marked the birth of **analytical psychology**, a distinct school.

Alfred Adler was an early member of Freud’s psychoanalytic circle in Vienna. He initially supported Freud’s ideas but disagreed on the centrality of sexual drives.

Adler emphasized social interest, community feeling, and the drive for superiority. Focus shifted to conscious goals, lifestyle, and purposeful behavior.

His break with Freud led to the founding of **individual psychology**, a rival school.

Born in 1856 in Příbor, Moravia (then part of the Austrian Empire), into a Jewish family.

Moved to Vienna at age four, where he lived most of his life.

Studied medicine at the University of Vienna, eel-cutting internship at Trieste (Italy).

Worked with Ernst Brücke and later studied hysteria under Jean-Martin Charcot in Paris.

Developed the method of free association and the concept of the unconscious.

Published *The Interpretation of Dreams* in 1900, initially ignored, later celebrated.

Gradually became a central figure in Viennese intellectual life and founder of psychoanalysis.

Fehlleistungen, or parapraxes, refer to slips of the tongue, memory lapses, or unintended actions.

Freud argued these “slips” reveal unconscious thoughts or desires breaking through repression.

They are not random mistakes but meaningful clues to hidden conflicts.

in German language, such Fehlleistung are often described by verbs with prefix VER- (e.g. "versprechen", "verlesen", "vergessen", "verlieren", "verschreiben" etc.)

Common examples include saying one thing but meaning another (Freudian slip).

Fehlleistungen also include forgetting names, misplacing objects, or bungled actions.

These acts expose the tension between conscious intention and unconscious impulses.

Studying Fehlleistungen helps psychoanalysts understand repressed material in the psyche.

Freud’s *The Interpretation of Dreams* (DIE TRAUMDEUTUNG, 1899) revolutionized dream theory.

He proposed that dreams are wish-fulfillments rooted in unconscious desires.

the famous narrative of "Irma's Injection"

Freud introduced concepts like manifest vs. latent content, dream-work, and symbolism.

Transition from mystical to psychoanalytic approaches to dreams (REALLY ?)

In the early 1900s, Freud began hosting weekly discussions at his home — the "Wednesday Psychological Society." (evolved into the core of the **Vienna Psychoanalytic Society** in 1908)

First invitees: Alfred Adler, Max Kahane und Rudolf Reitler

discussing weird theories, listening to stories about dreams...

**Lou Andreas-Salomé** joined later, bridging literary and psychological realms; she brought philosophical depth and was close to Freud, Nietzsche, and Rilke.

Freud envisioned psychoanalysis as a scientific method for probing the unconscious — but tensions soon emerged.

Later, **Alfred Adler** and swiss crown-prince of psychoanalysis, **Carl Gustav Jung** began questioning Freud's sexual theory and his claim to interpretive authority.

Freud redefined *libido* as a psychic energy derived from instinctual drives — primarily sexual but also life-affirming (Eros).

This energy powers the psyche and can be actualized, redirected, repressed, or sublimated.

The *Id* is the primal, unconscious source of drives — impulsive, irrational, and governed by the pleasure principle.

The *Ego* mediates between the Id and reality — rational, aware, and ruled by the reality principle.

The *Superego* represents internalized norms and morals — the voice of conscience and societal expectations.

Mental conflict arises (Libido can become "stuck") from clashes among these three systems, often leading to anxiety, defense mechanisms, or neurosis.

Divides mental life into three domains: the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious.

• The conscious contains immediate thoughts and perceptions — what we are aware of.
• The preconscious holds memories and knowledge that can become conscious with effort.
• The unconscious houses desires, drives, and memories repressed from awareness.

Most mental activity, Freud argued, occurs outside of conscious awareness. Metaphorically represented as an iceberg: the CONSCIOUS MIND IS JUST A TIP ABOVE THE WATER.

Take home lesson: We already had a sort of ""MODEL" for the study of the soul but Freud went one step further: he introduced the notion of "MODULARITY" and did so on multiple levels of abstraction (structural, functional, etc.)

Analytical Psychology is Carl Jung’s system for understanding the human psyche through symbols and deep unconscious processes.

It distinguishes between the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious, the latter being shared across humanity.

Core concepts include Individuation, Projection, archetypes (Shadow, Anima/Animus, the Self), Psychological types (introvert/extrovert) and functions (sensation, intuition, thinking, feeling) and Synchronicity.

Analytical Psychology values dream interpretation, active imagination, and symbolic amplification as tools for self-realization.

Projection is the unconscious transfer of one's inner content onto others or the outer world.

It externalizes traits, desires, fears, or conflicts the ego cannot accept.

Common targets include partners, politicians, enemies, spiritual figures, and social groups.

Projection shapes relationships, perceptions, and emotional reactions without conscious awareness.

Withdrawing projections is key to individuation—becoming more whole and self-aware.

“Everything that is unconscious in ourselves we discover in our neighbor.” — C.G. Jung

Transference is the unconscious redirection of feelings from early relationships onto a present figure.

In therapy, it often surfaces as intense emotions projected onto the analyst.

Jung saw transference not only as distortion, but as meaningful symbolic expression.

It may involve archetypes like the Parent, Anima/Animus, or the Self.

Exploring transference helps reveal unconscious complexes and relational patterns.

Handled consciously, it becomes a vehicle for transformation and individuation.

Active imagination is a conscious method of engaging with the unconscious.

It begins with a dream image, fantasy, or emotion and unfolds through inner dialogue or creative expression.

The ego participates without controlling—allowing unconscious figures to speak for themselves.

This process can take the form of writing, drawing, movement, or visualization.

It deepens self-knowledge and integrates Shadow, Anima/Animus, or Self aspects.

Jung called it a “confrontation with the unconscious” and practiced it extensively in his Red Book.

Now starts a brief experiment in active imagination — not to ‘invent’ something, but to let an inner image speak. Don’t force it. We’re not interpreting, just meeting the unconscious with curiosity.. Sit comfortably and close Your eyes (or soften Your gaze)....

Now take your sketchbook, journal, or tablet — and respond from the image, not about it. You can sketch what appeared, write a phrase it spoke, draw the emotion, or, abstract form or color...

The Shadow is the unconscious part of the personality rejected by the ego.

It contains traits we consider undesirable—aggression, envy, weakness—but also creativity and vitality.

The Shadow is not inherently evil; it becomes dangerous when ignored or projected onto others.

Meeting the Shadow evokes resistance, but it is the first step toward real self-knowledge.

Shadow figures appear in dreams, myths, and relationships—often as enemies or rivals.

Integration of the Shadow is a key stage in the process of individuation.

The Trickster embodies the unconscious psyche in its raw, instinctual, and amoral form.

In Native American mythologies, the classical Trickster figure —chaotic, clever, and contradictory - is the Coyote.

He breaks rules, lies, mocks the gods, and often causes trouble—even when trying to help. He reveals what culture hides—our shadow, our hunger, our foolishness, our creativity...

Though destructive, he is also a culture-bringer, shaping the world through mistake and improvisation.

In Jungian terms, the Trickster is an archetype of transformation—a prefiguration of the Self in primitive form.

how do these archetypes express themselves in myth / book / movie / artpiece of Your choice ?

is/are these archetypes somehow relevant to image encountered during the active imagination exercise ?

The Shadow is the unconscious part of the personality rejected by the ego.

It contains traits we consider undesirable—aggression, envy, weakness—but also creativity and vitality.

The Shadow is not inherently evil; it becomes dangerous when ignored or projected onto others.

Meeting the Shadow evokes resistance, but it is the first step toward real self-knowledge.

Shadow figures appear in dreams, myths, and relationships—often as enemies or rivals.

Integration of the Shadow is a key stage in the process of individuation.

The inner voice saying “I’m a fraud” masks unconscious fear of owning one’s power.

The ego clings to a self-image of inadequacy, while projecting competence onto others.

Impostor syndrome often reflects a disowned positive Shadow—unacknowledged strengths and capabilities.

Feelings of unworthiness signal a split between the ego and the fuller Self.

Recognizing impostor feelings as projections allows for reintegration of inner authority.

Individuation requires reclaiming not only the dark Shadow, but also our light and potential.

Traumatic bonding occurs when intense fear and dependence fuse with emotional attachment.

“In some cases, the victim may unconsciously internalize or merge with the abuser’s Shadow, leading to dissociation, guilt, or distorted loyalty.

The ego identifies with the abuser’s power, disowning its own instincts for anger, survival, or autonomy.

This creates a psychological complex that traps the person in cycles of guilt, loyalty, and fear.

Traumatic bonds often form around archetypes of the Punishing Father or the Devouring Mother.

Healing requires confronting the projected Shadow, re-owning one’s strength, and breaking the illusion of dependence.

The Trickster embodies the unconscious psyche in its raw, instinctual, and amoral form.

In Native American mythologies, the classical Trickster figure —chaotic, clever, and contradictory - is the Coyote.

He breaks rules, lies, mocks the gods, and often causes trouble—even when trying to help. He reveals what culture hides—our shadow, our hunger, our foolishness, our creativity...

Though destructive, he is also a culture-bringer, shaping the world through mistake and improvisation.

In Jungian terms, the Trickster is an archetype of transformation—a prefiguration of the Self in primitive form.

how do these archetypes express themselves in myth / book / movie / artpiece of Your choice ?

is/are these archetypes somehow relevant to image encountered during the active imagination exercise ?