Anger as Inner Transformation

8/3/2019 Anger as Inner Transformation

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U^DJournalf theC.G.J*gFoundation

forAnalyticaluy.holo6yFEAR OF THE FEMININE

Erich Neumann

Anger as Inner TransfbrmationStephen . Manin

Thc HcalingNightmarc:A Study of the War Dreamsof VictnamCombatVcteransHarry A. Wilmer

$10

REVIEWSDonald E. Kalsched. Patricia Finley . Sherry L. Salman

Alan M. Jones. BarbaraKoltuv

SPRING1986


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ANGERAS INNERTRANSFORMATIONSrepHeNA. Menrn

THE IMIoRTANCEFanger or thepsyche. specially sa fearfulexperienceI capable f destroying he orward movementof life, is nonew discoveryThe Latin scholarsand poets Senecaand Plu tarch wrote extensivelyonanger.rln more recent times, Averill reports hat about 90 years ago theeminentAmerican psychologistG. S. Hall collated from his researchonemotionsome2200 descriptions f angry states.2 oday the variousschoolsof psychologyare busy dissectinganger and counselinghow to deal withit , how to getrid of it, and how to use t. Given that anger s a basic,humanexperience,t is time for a Jungianassessmentnd an appreciation f anger'svital role in the processof inner transformation alled ndividuation.In my clinical work I havecome to seean essential ichotomy n thearchetypal omplex of anger. This dichotomy has opposingdimensionsofintrapsychicexperience.One aspectof this dichotomy s characterized ya seething, ed-hotemotionality hat pumpsblood into our facesand handsand pushesus ever closer toward impulsive and regrettableacting-out. tscomplement s a quite different hardness f heart, a disturbingstillnessoficy emotionalwithdrawal hat shutsus down and n, trappingus n fantasiesof revengeandpassiveaggression.Despite heir obviousdifferences, heseopposingstatessharea secret elationship.There are a number of other significant markers on the road to under-standing nger. t becomesncreasingly lear o methat within the archetypalSrBpnnN . Mnnrn, Psy.D. s a Jungian nalyst nda clinicalpsychologistivingandworking n the Philadelphiarea.He is a facultymember f theC. G. Junglnstitute n New York City and a clinical assistantrofessoreachingn the arttherapy ndclinicalpsychology raduate rograms t Hahnemannniversity.

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32 QUADRANTcomplexof angerare wo different psychologicalexperiences.One is rage,an nstinctive eactionwhich happens utomaticallyand unconsciously, yp-ically in response o someperceived hreat. The other s anger,a consciousfeeling state which has about it a senseof judgment, choice, and differ-entiation.Rage overwhelms he ego, while angercommunicates omethingvital and essential o it. The passionof rageobliterates he symbolicprocessand blurs boundariesbetweenourselvesand others. Anger, on the otherhand, leads o greater self-awareness nd an appreciationof intrapsychicdynamicsand interpersonal elationships.Yet anger and rage are relatedthrough a processof psychological ransformation.Rage s the instinctivebasisof anger,while anger s thehumanized,symbolic mage of ragewhichevolves n egoconsciousnesssa resultof reflectionupon andunderstandingthe rageful state.This reflectionmay include affective, cognitive (or idea-tional), and imaginal elements.A second ssentialmarker s that angerand aggression re not identicalpsychologically,as Senecanoted when he wrote:

. . . this point mustnow be considered, hether hosewho are habituallycrueland ejoice n humanblood areangrywhen heykill peoplerom whomthey have neither received njury nor think . . . that they have receivedone. . this s not anger,t i s brutality; or it does ot harmbecauset hasreceivednjury. . . . itspurposen desiringo beatandmangles notvenge-ance utpleasure.

Angry and enraged eoplemost certainlymay be aggressive r sadistic,butthey are not implicitly so.3Furthermore, esearch hows hat the disinhibited catharsisof ragefuland/or aggressive eelings does little to eliminate or transform rage intoanger.a n fact, wholesale catharsis s more likely to lead to feelings ofloweredself-esteem nd depressionhan to enhanced elf-image.This find-ing is in direct contrast o what will be outlined below; that is, that angeras a conscious eeling greatly enhancesone's sense of self. Ironically,catharsisperpetuatestself as a mode of handling rage. Nothing changes,and to make matters worse, such catharsis may even intensify our ragefulfeelings.Repetitiveexpressions f thoughtless agedo little except o trapone in an unconscious ycle of tension elease,conditioningus to becomemore rageful, more often, more easily. Rage remains instinctual, or inJungian erms, an archetypalpossession, ecause here s no room for con-scious eflectionon the symbolic meaningembeddedwithin it. Rage doesnot becomehumanized nto anger.A third significant marker is that anger and depressionare not mirrorimagesof one another.Depression s not simply the hackneyedpsychoan-alytic truism of "anger turned inward." Depressionmay indeed emergewhen anger s unsuccessfuln avertingobstacles hat stand n the way oflife, yet depression,ust like anger,may also be a learnedcoping strategyof thekind outlinedby Seligman n his work on learnedhelplessness.sne's


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ANGER AS INNER TRANSFORMATION

choice of coping strategiesmay depend upon cultural, constitutional,oreven archetypal actors.Moreover, I have discovered hroughcareful clinical questioning hatmost patients are able to differentiate the rageful state rom the feeling ofangerand.with few exceptions,iterallychooseo remain n rageor permitreflection n order to transform his raw material nto anger.This decision-makingprocess,which can occur n a split-second, have chosen o defineas the momentof greateror lesserconsciousness. arying among ndivid-uals, t may be terribly shortor comfortably ong. Thereforebetweenactionand reaction here s a psychic spaceand time when a person chooses obecomeknowingly involved to whateverextentpossible n his or her ownfeeling ife. It is almostas f rage has within itself the consciousness f itsown transformation, transmitted o the egoby the awareness f this momentof choice.Supportiveof this notion is the ancientwisdom that by avoiding thetwo extreme esponseso rage,unrestrained entilationandcompletedenial,this emotionalstatewill cool and clarify into anger,completewith differ-entiated houghts, antasies,magery, deas,and nterpretations. his naturalprocess s ego consciousnessaining distanceand achievingdifferentiationfrom rageful emotionalarousal.This distancingand cooling is the naturalgroundwork or rage's transformation nto anger.The cooling process hat transmutes age'sheat into the meaningful,conscious xperience f angerdepends pon self-reflection.Self-reflectionfacilitatescommunicationamongour various nner partsand betweenour-selves ndothers.Because f the connective ualityof self-reflection. ngercan becomea creativeexperience, ringing togetherhitherto splitoff partsor split-apartpeople. As such, anger is fundamentallyerotic, helping tobind what has not yet been bound and helping to know what has not yetbeen known.One morepoint must be raised:What are he origins of the rage/angerspectrum?The answers eveal a greatdiversity of opinion. Some expertsandpatientsascribe ts origin to frustrationand stress,others o deprivationand injustice. Here is how I see t: Born as rage, anger ariseswheneverindividuation,that innateurge towardsself-realization,s blocked or con-stricted n anyseriousway. Rageeruptsasa symptomof this nnersplitness,this pain of exile from oneself and the other, in the form of emotionalwithholding, righteous ndignation,or passionate evenge. n the transfor-mation of rage into anger the psyche's urge for personalcompletionandmeaningful elationshipo one's nner centerand o the ivesof othersmakesitselfknown.

JJ

THE MWH IN ANGER"S ?RAT/SFORMATIONLike any complexhumanexperience, ngerhasmany symbolic mages,but one mytheme is strikingly congruent o the basic facts about anger


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34 QUADRANToutlined above: anger'sdistinctivenessrom rage, the two implicit energyflows within the archetypal omplex of anger, he need or containment ndreflection f rage s to transform nto anger,and anger's undamentally roticcharacter. That congruent mytheme is the story of two irascible and argu-mentativebrothers,sonsof Hera, loversof Aphrodite, and both fathers oEros: the godsAres and Hephaestus.As the Greek god of war, Ares displayed many qualities of theragelanger pectrum,so that being enraged s said o be like being "on thewarpath." Mythographers6 nd poetsT like saw little dignity in Ares andportrayed im asa detestable, ellicosebully. He hailed rom ancientThrace,a land, says Robert Graves, hat "made war a pastime."8 t was easy orthe ustice-lovingclassicalGreeks o prefer Athena's brand of aggression,presumablyundertaken n defenseof liberty, over Ares's, which was forthe ove of a good ight. Athena'swarlikeness ad about t an air of restraintand direction, while Ares seemed o become lost in impulsivenessandtumult. Even Zeus, who at times is recognizedas Ares's father, despisedhim for takingpleasure nly in "warfare and discord. e More contemporarywriters, such as the greatmythographerWalter Otto, insult Ares by callinghim a braggart,a passionate avage,and a bloodthi rstypresence.ro erhapstheseauthorsare unconsciously ommunicatinghe need o fear hegod andthe destructive orce of unreflected age. A more balancedand completepicture of Ares's nature s hard to find.Little is recorded n myth about he god's childhoodand youth. He isconsistently resented s Hera's son, usuallysaid o havebeenspawnedbyher alone o competewith her philanderinghusband,Zeus, and his single-handedproductionof Athena from his brow.rr As such, Ares is the childof Hera's rejectionby Zeusand he unmitigated ury it caused er. To makemattersworse, Ares becamea threat o Zeus; some of Hera's earlier Titannature esurfacedn her son, remindingZeusof the eternalenmity betweenthe raceof proud giantsand the Olympian immortals.12With thesebegin-nings he fate of Ares as divine outlaw and contentiousmisfit was assured.Yet there s evidenceof anotherside to this archetypal mage. Ares'snamehas meaningfuletymologicalconnectionso the ancientGreek wordsfor "masculine" (arsen)and "masculineseed" and seems elated o wordsmeaning lively movement," "t o be enraged," "t o race," and "to bestirredup."13 Thus described, he psychologicalstateof libido in the Aresconfiguration s, on the one hand, flowing and moving as the active mas-culine impregnator, and on the other, possessed f the energiesof thedisruptiveaggressor.When constellated s an archetypalpattern n humanbehavior,Ares s capableof moving us dramaticallyandcreatively nto life.Anotherexample of his beneficentside s found in the ancientGreekpoem"Homeric Hymn to Ares. ra Herehe s called he "father of victory,""the helperof justice," and "the rampartof Olympus," all of which speakto his natureas a progressiveorce in life. One supplicateso him in orderto be rid of the possessiveush of fury during the "chilling din of battle,"


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ANGERAS INNERTRANSFORMATIONas f inherent n his archetypal onfiguration s the very oppositeof rageful,furious warlikeness. n Ares is the very capacity for inner restraintandtranscendencever rage's mpulsiveness nd passion.The Etruscansand Romansalso saw in Ares/Marsa more gentle sortof procreativity. To them this god fertilized everything rom corn to vine,and they named he vernal month of March after him.Consideration f the morepositivequalitiesof Ares doesnot minimizehis love of war. Yet it is intriguing how Westernconsciousnessas chosento emphasizebut one aspectof this archetypal mage. This one-sidednessmay reflectour culture'sdifficulty with a creativeappreciation f rage andanger.Rather han successfully xploringrage and integratinganger'scre-ative andconnectivevaluethrough he exerciseof insight, we have earnedto indulge in violence and meaninglessaggression.Such violence andaggressions Aresuntransformed, nd t is our task o containand ransmutethe nstinctivepotential hrough he attentive nvolvementof consciousness.But what of the otherplayer n this brotherly andem,who is so centralto anger'smystery? t was the lameHephaestus,he many talentedgod ofthe forge, who fashioned he palacesand playthingsof the Olympians.Despitehis critical role, he does not fare much better than Ares at theirhandsor in the imaginationsof the ancient Greek mythmakers.As the"quintessentialringe personon Olympus,"15Hephaestus,ike Ares, wasa misfit and an outsider,especiallydespised rom the start by both Heraand Zeus. Like his brother, Hephaestus as said o have beenborn of Heraalone and to be yet another attempt o meet Zeus's challenge n Athena.And again Hera's efforts were no match for her husband'ssuccess, orfatherless,deformedHephaestus id not enhanceHera's statureas Athenahad done for Zeus. Thus as an offspring of rageand incompleteness, e-phaestus ame orth crippled and misshapen,with his feet on back-to-front.To rid herselfof this embarrassment, era cast he defenselessnfant fromthe rampartsof Olympus. The self-esteemof the orphanedHephaestusplummetedalong with his broken body to a deep depression eneath heoceanwaves.Many of the stories hat speakof Hephaestusnd his exploitsemphasizehis surly and vengeful nature.This is nowherebetter llustrated han n hisrevengeon his mother. Deprivedby his shamedparentof his paternityandrightful placeon Olympus,he retaliated y tricking Herawith the anonymousgift of a mysteriousgolden throne. Hera was delightedwith its beautyandinnocentlysat on it, whereuponher arms were boundby invisible shacklesand the throne evitated nto mid-air, leaving her turning in space, o themirth of the other immortals .16Only when promisedravishingAphroditeas wife did Hephaestuseleasehis mortified mother.Hephaestus lso ook revengeon Ares for cuckoldinghim with Aphro-dite. Informed of this infidelity by Helios, the sun, Hephaestusashioneda goldennet "fine as a spider's web so that not even a god" could see t,and captured he lovers "in flagrantedelicto,"rT thus proving himself onceagain a brooding and clever adversary.'8

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36 QUADRANTNevertheless, s with Ares, there s anotherside to Hephaestus.Hisname s said o mean"fire,"re and he was called he "ruler of fire"-termsthat speak o the powerful andpassionate nergyhis archetypal mage con-tains. His fire can transform raw or base material nto things of sublimebeauty and, in combination with Ares, forms the alchemical principle"Mars," which to thegreatalchemistParacelsus as he ire that "quickensnature" and fuels the "great work of the opus" or of individuation.2oTo someextent Hephaestus'salent softenedhis role as hideousout-sider.Therewas agreatdemand or his beautifulandusefulcreations-servantsmadeof gold and magnificent ewelry and armor in which entire universescame o life (sucharmorwas made or Achilles).'' On Zeus's commandhecreated he ill-starredPandora n order to subvert and complicate he lifeof Prometheus nd avenge he theft of fire. Hephaestus's stonishing rod-ucts show the creative magination hat belongs o his archetypalpattern.The Greekshonored t in the "Homeric Hymn to Hephaestus,"22n whichtheysangabouthow he "taught men to work," andBoccaccioechoed hesesentiments y calling Vulcan (the Latinized Hephaestus) the foundationof civilization.23When viewed as two sides of an archetypal mage of the instinctual

in rage and anger, Ares and Hephaestus eveal a potential for creativetransformation. rom our perspective,heir natures eflect hepsychologicalpossibility of transformingrage into anger, an accomplishment hat hascivilizing and humanizingeffectson the psycheas a whole.In order to ground thesearchetypalcharactersn human experience,one must ask how they manifest n our lives. The Ares in us is the fiery,reddened ulse of rage'spassionate ctiveness,ts red-hotemotionality.Attimesnegativelyaggressive, is energy s also he penetrating ssertivenessof creativechange.Ares and his libido disruptold valuesand igid defenses,making way for newer, more fertile psychologicalattitudes.This is Aresthe quickener, irst destroyingwhat is worn-out and obstructive,and thenrenewingour sense f strengthand ife. In so doing, Ares plantsus squarelyinto life in order to be known and recognizedby our own sleepingselvesand by those around us. Moreover he is in the grief and anguishwe feelwhen our finer naturesgo unseen, eaving us excludedand unappreciated.Through his rage we come to know our need to battle back into life andbecomewhat and who we are.Hephaestus, n the other hand, brings to rage its inventive. image-makingpossibilities.WhereasAres combusts n outer activity, Hephaestusburns nternally, in the imagination.During rageful arousalwe experiencehis archetypalnfluence n the agonizingand shameful houghtsand eelings,fantasies nd uries hat burn n our minds, drawingus nward anddestroyingour sense f well-being. We come o know the poundingof his anvil in oursoul n a variety of ways, throughwavesof humiliation, from overpoweringfantasies f revengeor passive-aggressive anipulation n the heated,ob-


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ANGERAS INNERTRANSFORMATION 37sessed earch or the causesand meaningsof provocativeand disturbingevents.His effect can ultimatelybe the stillnessof emotionalwithdrawal.To some, the in-drawing of libido that occurs when we are capturedby this proto-imageryof angerappearso be depressive, ut that is not thewhole siory. Like Hephaestus,who broughtto humanity the tools of civi-lization, such nward-turning ibido holds the promiseof creativeand in-novativeself-understanding, hich may leadto transcendencever instinctualrage. Yet we seeagainhow in these wo brothers, n their passionate riefand anguished xile, are the very seedsof a deeperconnection o life.But they alonecannotbe the midwives of the creativepotential inherentin their natures.The reason s that they themselvesare the products of"halfness," of a "drive for onenesshat is thwarted."2aThis is Kerenyi'sanalysisof Hera, whose fullest expressionof symbolic meaning s in themarital couple, when she s estranged rom Zeus, leaving themboth incom-plete and the psychological totality of their marriage hopelesslyfractured.the descriptionappliesequally well to her sons.All threecarry within theirarchetypalconfiguiations a gnawing senseof deprivation, of being split-offfrom iome essentialpart of their natures.What issues rom this splitnessis rage, he overpoweiingexperience f unacceptability, nrelatedness' ndisolaiion. The lack of fulfillment of the queen by the king could not helpbut lead her and her sons to rage, that destructive emotion arising fromincompletenessnd blocked ndividuation.But what of redemption or this afflicted lineage?The myths againprovide he answer, or the charmingand harmonizingAphrodite, goddessbf beautyand love, embodies he archetypalbalanceand container or thehot, furious energiesof the Ares-Hephaestusandem. She is the goddesswho "makes pale every sort of partialness"and "dissolvesoppositesntounity."25Theie capacitiesbelong to her nature,because heherself s thechild of wildly divergent orces. Accordingto the most popularaccountofher birth, Aphrodite emerged from the foamy conjunction of the genitalsof her fathei Uranus,which were severedn hateby his son cronus, andthe cool, maternal sea into which Cronus flung them.26Arising in thismanner,Aphrodite s no strangero violentaggression, or is sheunfamiliarwith dark depression,or it was maliciousUranuswho, in a grotesque ctof inward-turning ibido, stuffed his many childrenback into their motherGaea'swomb.27The motif of binding and being bound play an important part in thedynamicsof rage and anger, but to this point in a most negative way.Remember t wis Hephaestuswho bound his mother, Hera, in the goldenthrone and who netted the illicit lovers, Ares and Aphrodite, in their in-criminating embrace.And wasn't it Hera's lack of the bond of maritalfidelity thit was responsibleor her torturedhalfnessand insane ealousy?1[le r"" this thime amplified further in the etymology of the word"anger." Its rootsar e n such magesas "drawing tight,","constriction,"and;'strangulation," and in suchpowerful emotionsas grief and anguish.


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38 QUADRANTHere t becomes lear hat n thephenomenology f the rage/angerontinuumthere is an experienceof psychologicalnarrowing, as-if inner and outerfreedomswere being squeezed o death. In the midst of rage, consciousflexibility is lost, and the ego's senseof psychologicaldistince and per-spectivecompresses,eaving little space or dispassionateelf-reflection.This tighteninghappensphysically, too; it attacki the chest n the twistinepain of angina(Aristotle defined angeras a warm fluid or blood boilinlaround he heart)28r torments he gut in the crampsof colitis. It is presenlas well in the tautness hat overtakes he skin of our handsand facei whenwe becomeenraged..In. way,,our physiology speakselegantly,wearingthis emotionalconstrictionand hardness ike armor that mieht have beeifashioned or Ares by his clever brother.- Aphrodite'sbinding is utterly different. Hers can be the gentle bondof the love embrace, which does not isolate people but obliterates heiropposition.Her charm and beauty oosen he conitricting shacklesof de-jection and quell the brother's conflictual energies.Aphiodite brings intolife the pleasureand joy we experiencewhen we are completely ac-ceptedby ourselves r by another,an experiencehatsingsabout he ntrinsicvllueof our souls. she accomplisheshis miraclebecause he s the goddessofco.mmonove (Aphrodite Pandemos), ours for the asking, even for suchmisfit gods as Ares and Hephaestus.Aphrodite as a funttion of psycheepitomizeshe desire o bind the nstinctual o the world of humanexperience!1. eiving,personalizedorm and direction to the brothers' wild #ergy.2eIt is shewho gives o the nascentmageryof rage'schaos ts sensual ,rluiityand nner allure, thus enabling his imageryto become"meaningfuliy anipsychically eal"r0 o ego consciousness.

^ By infusing the archetypal ossession f ragewith thepromiseof hopefor a p.ersonal onnection to its hidden healing imagery, Aphrodite mak'esit^possible-or the ego to open to, touch, andbe moue-d y the experienceof the soul, and_to ive form and body to thosemisunderstood ndiejectedaspects.f rage. Ultimatelythis is a meansby which rage's ittle appreiiatedcreativitycancome o consciousness. or these easonJ, erhaps, 4phroditebelongedboth to Hephaestus, s his lawful wife, and to Arei, as his pas-sionateequalon the battlefieldof love.out of this triangular iaison emergeda child, born to Aphrodite butclaiming two fathers.His namewas Eros.3roriginally a creativedaimon,or creatorspirit, instrumental n the birth of the world at the beginningoftim9,3lEros, by the later, additionalascriptionof his paternity o the twogods, s someone pecial n the Greek pantheon.He is i link bltween suchimpersonal orcesas the beginningsofthe world and the more human-likeandpersonalworld of the godsandgoddesses. ros'sdual nature s criticalto the transformationof rage nto anger.The process nvolvesthe birth ofconsciousorder out of the chaosof archetypaipossession, task for Erosin the role of creatorspirit, and the connectionbetween ire archetypalorimpersonal spects f tl]j : psvcheand he morehumanizedworld of personal,consciousnteraction,Eros's forte as eod of relatedness.


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ANGERAS INNER TRANSFORMATION 39As a psychological unction, Eros mediatesbetween and relates hedifferent realmsof inner being for the ego. He facilitates and presidesoverthe integration of our diverse personalities and over the process of thehumanizationof archetypalenergies.He is therefore he intrapsychicmeansby which we enter nto self-consciousness.33n effect, he is alive in whatI have called the moment of greateror lesserconsciousness. s mediatorEros constellates very specialsort of psychic readinessand space.His

activation n thepsychecanbe felt whenbehavioralor instinctualexpressionis internally interrupted and redirected towards symbolic experienceandawareness uite without our conscious ntention.This redirectionmay besuddenanddisconcerting, akingplace n the very midst of somebehavior,stoppingour actingout or acting n during ragefulmomentsso that we maytakenoteof or reflect upona particularheated hought,vivid image, leetingfeeling,or intricate antasy.On theone hand,we might attribute his suddenbirth of awareness rom hitherto instinctive expression o Eros as creatorspirit. On the other hand, it might just as well stem rom his kinship withHephaestus,who alsoworked the formlessor chaotic nto the formed, theraw into therefined. A similarduality s at work in Eros's successn drivinga psychologicalwedgebetweenaction and reaction. His ability to intrudehimself actively into automatichappeningsand bring forth consciousnessis evidenceboth of Eros's superiorcommandover natural orces,as wouldbefit a creatorspirit, and his strongresemblanceo Ares, who impells usto penetrate nto life consciouslyand fully.But as Aphrodite's son,Erosmakes"direction action' . ' indirect andimaginative" and "through this developmentof inner space, time andimagination. . . the psychic world comes nto actuality":+ In so doing hefurthers he work of his mother, that of making inner imagesmeaningfullyandpsychically eal by relatingego consciousnessvenmore clearly to theintrinsicmessagen the chaosof rage.He expands agefulconstrictionandembodies he kind of consciousnessn which we more directly perceive'interactwith, andsymbolicallydecipher he mageryAphroditehas mbuedwith sensualityand allure.ln Eros's world of psychicreality, the reflexiverelease f ragecan behalted and angercan be distilled as a purposeful, conscious eeling state.lnstinct andarchetype ecomemorepersonal,made nto a conscious umanevent hroughour full erotic involvement,which includesseeingandhear-ing, feeling and knowing, suffering and accepting age's essence.35nlythen, after fully taking this essenceo heart, doesmeaningbecomeclearand constrictiondisappear.Eros helps us to love the image in rage, which is at first so hard toknow or tolerate.Aphroditebegins hisprocess y encircling hese eeminglyunlovablebrotherswith her acceptingembrace.Shecools heir furiousheatinto more palpable,discernablemagery.Then Eros setsour souls o workcomprehendingwhat she has done. While Aphrodite gives the energy ofAreJ and Hephaestusts psychological iveliness, imaginal urgency, and


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40 QUADRANTpeculiarbeauty,Erosreveals ts inspiredmeaningfulness,husgranting hishitherto rejectedcreativity an access nto conscious ife. This s how raseis redeemednto anger.

THE IMPLICATIONSBefore considering he clinical implicationsof the ideaspresented,etme restate he central hesis.Underlyingthe feeling statecalledanger s anarchetypal aradigm nvolving several odsandgoddesses. hesear-hetypalpersons re hebasisofthe emotionalexperience frage and,consequently,of anger.Centralto anger'sessences the theme of being the miifit, theunlovedone. Hera, the forsakenqueenof olympus, and her two irasciblesons, Ares and Hephaestus,are principal players. Hera, becauseof herestrangementrom a rejectingZeus, s the origin of this sense f misfitness,while Ares and Hephaestusepresent he two major polesof this archetypecontinuum.Ares personifies he aggressive mpulsion of rage to becomemanifest n life, and Hephaestusncarnates ts opposing, inward-turningmovement.where Ares is the physical drive in our rage, its "dynamic;aspect,36ephaestuss its psychologicalpossibility or crafting hii passioninto meaningful mage, its formal component.3T o transform, these wocharactersequirecontainment, or alonethey remain instinctualand pro-tosymbolic.Aphrodite, as the archetypalvessel,and Eros, as the a"ceiso.into consciousness,rovide he enablingspace or the humanization f rageinto anger.The contentof rage'salienation akeson symbolic orm andcinbe related o the consciousnessf the individual.So far as I have observed, this transformation occurs in a three-partsequenceemarkablysimilar to the threestages f thealchemicalopus-thenigredo, hen the albedo,and finally the rubedo-the symbolicsyitem thatdescribeshe growth and development f our inner life. In the nigredo, hephaseof overwhelmingdarkness,one first confronts he chaoscalled ase.In therapeuticwork, this is the time when the patient'spersonaanddefeisemechanisms egin to crumble and the wild and shadowypresence hat is

rageblackens onsciousness ith Phobos, ear, and Deimoi, terror, Ares'sother children. The patient is capturedby the grief and anguishof lostreality-testing nd maisive projectiron nto others6f the rageful"inn".chaos.Duringthis ime, whether he ndividual s workingon rageTangersa centralissue n his therapyor is moving through a situationaf ageiul experiencethat may occur in any life, rage may manifest in a vaiiety of somaticcomplaints. t may be aimless,unconsciousagitation,peruasivemusculartension,cardiovascularrregularities, rritabrebbwels,hot flashes,poundinghead, or poundingfists. other manifestationsmay be violent temperout-bursts directed at innocent bystanders,passive-aggressive anipulations,obsessive elf-blame,self-righteousness,r evenbbutsof forgetfulness ndsomnolence.n all of thesesymptomswe may recognize hE nfluenceof


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ANGER AS INNER TRANSFORMATIONthe outcast brothers: Ares who entraps us in the desire to strike out andHephaestus ho imprisonsus in deep dejectionand slowed aliveness.Often thesehounding symptoms close all psychologicalexits. Thereseemsno way out for the patient;everythingseemspollutedand everyonestinks,and not even he analystcan be trusted o fulfill long-deprivedwishesor fill the agonizingemptiness.This is the chaosof the alchemical primamateria, which ragedeposits o nelegantlyon our psychological oorstep.Only when this utter lonelinessand ou ter chaos are faced, accepted,andintegrated an any relief take placeand meaningemerge.It is not uncommon for this state of affairs to frighten and stimulatetheunintegratedageofthe analyst/therapist.nstead ffacing this challenge,the analystmay defendagainst he explosiveness f this nstinctual,alienatedstateby denying ts potentialmeaningfulnessor the patientand by actingout the role of the good mother, offering the panacea f loving acceptancefar too quickly and ndiscriminately. ntegrating age doesnot meanwhite-washing t in this manner. t means ittingwith it, lookingat t, and honoringits reality by listening o its furious, deprivedcries. In most cases his hasnever been done for the patient or the analyst, and their rage has becometwistedanddetestable, eprivedof its opportunity o reveal ts creative olein their ndividuation. This creativeside of the archetypal onfigurationhasbeen repressed, o that Ares and Hephaestus ave been consigned o theirhellish,unconscious,nstinctualsolitude,unredeemed. he words"Be nice,don't fight, don't say hosenasty hings" are he itany that maintains age'sdeprivation.What is really meant s, "I don't want to hearaboutor see hisragebecause can't handle ts numinosity and power."At this point, the analystmust not sidestep age but wi tnessand en-courage this archetypal outpouring and mirror it with the operationsandtechniques t his or her disposal, n order o bring consciousnesshat muchcloser o its concealedmeaning. This mirroring is not the mirroring of themotherbut the ncarnationof the Aphroditic attitude n the analyst,enablinghim or her to see hrough the frightening and unattractive symptomatologyto its core of meaning.As such his attitude s the incarnationof AphroditePandemos, hat aspectof the archetypal mage of Aphrodite as "commonlove," whose compassion or and desire o connectwith the other extendsto every elementof psychic ife, including the hideousand he condemned.The presence f her archetypalcharm and beauty n the therapeutic esselcompensatesor and embraces he ugly, inner splitness hat is the essenceof rage, not in a motherly holding fashion, but with the empathic nten t tounitewith and createnew life from the furiousenergies f the two brothers.In alchemical erms,Aphrodite s Venus, he coolingsalt, who balancesthe effects of the fiery sulfur of red Mars, the condensation of the twobrothers, during the opus. As Jung pointed out, she elicits the symbolicmeaning concealed n rage's instinctuality by "turning body into light"through the medium of Eros, "the principle that brings everything intorelationship."38Aphrodite and Eros make whole what has been divided.

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42 QUADRANTWhen constellatedn the analytic vessel,Aphrodite leads the therapeuticwork into the albedophase,whereproto-imagerymay more and more takeshapeand where consciousnessas the opportunity o conjoin with rage'smeaning.Aphrodite's nfluencemanifests irst as a sense f trust n the analyticprocessand in the compassionof the analyst, so that crumbling defensesand persona ragmentsmay be let go, allowing the stinings of meaningwithin rage's instinctuality to rise to the surface of consciousness. heanalyst n turn reflects his trust back to the patientby empathizingwith theanguishof rage, by believing in the healing nature of this process,byencouraginghe patient o make contactwith the emergent magery, and byoffering his own ego and insight as an integrating ool. This is Aphroditeas one aspectof anima consciousness hich, "embodying the reflective[and]minoring activityof consciousness," akespossible experiencingthrough palpably eal and emotionally mmediate] mages. 3eThese magesare healing, and the interactionwith them permitsthe patient o achieveavital senseof psychological nteriority. She heralds he birth of a flexible,self-aware onsciousness, herebefore herewas only the mprisoningandfrustratingconstriction hat is the unconsciousnessf rage.Albedo consciousnessifferentiates nd humanizes y helping the pa-tient to constructa conscious elationship o his other symptoms and tounderstandhat they do not happen o us but within us. Without this insightthepatient emains emotionally stuck" in instinctual age, orced o repeatthe symptoms n an automaticway.ouAlbedo consciousnessreatesa shiftaway from unconsciousacting out or acting in of rageful impulses o therecognitionof the value of its hidden magery. As Hillman says, he albedois the "phasecalledwhitening and] efers o the emergence f psychologicalconsciousnessnd to [the perceptionofl fantasycreating eality."ar This isthe creationof symbolic consciousness. y embracingand integrating hecompellingly real imagery, whether through dream, fantasy, thought, oridea, the brothers' rage is "betrothed" to Aphrodite, and isolationgivesway to erotic elatedness,irst betweenpatientand analyst,and henbetweenpatientand self.

The numerousparadigmatic echniquesor tools in which this devel-opment s implemented ypically involve differentiation of inner materialand reflection, two activities intimately associatedwith the albedophaseand critical to the humanizationof instinctualenergies.Someof these ech-niques, ike ancientrituals, conta in the "archetypal drives" in order "tocarry consciousnessmore deeply into the substrataof the drive."a2 Theyinclude active imagination,guided imagery, Gestalt work, psychodrama,painting,sculpture,and even dance. All tap into the deeper ayersof rageandpermit a oosening f theemotionalbondednesso instinctualexpression,for often he chaosof ragedoesnot permit adequate onceptua l erbalization.Through hese echniquesmeaninghasa chance o bypass erbal congestionandenter hepat ient 's onsciousness.


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ANGERAS INNERTRANSFORMATIONAnother ool is the analyticdream which may incorporate omeof theabove techniques).Working with dreams s the natural channel throughwhich the symbolic meaningunderlying rage is revealed. t expands hepatient's maginationregarding he intricaciesof rage and the archetypalpersonsand factors at work in it. Dreams differentiatewhere and howindividuation s blocked, not so much by answeringquestionsabout rageas by posingthem. The dream mageryconditioned o this archetypal on-

figuration can be infinitely rich and dependsupon the individual context,yet some noteworthy markers are: fires and forges, rednessand blood,lameness nd swiftness,miscreants nd missedopportunities, andemsandtriangles, abid dogs and hungry wolves, tight placesand tight spots, and,of course,enraged haracters f every lk and description.Suffice it to saythat by openingup to the image as carrier of rage's potential and by per-sonalizing t through reflective and attentive or "loving," in Aphrodite'slanguage) mplification, association, nd inner dialogue, he misfit in ragebegins o find its placewithin the family network of the psyche.A third tool that hasprovenhelpful is called cognitiveappraisal.a3hisis the objective, step-by-step valuationof the patient'srageful experienceand ncludesan appreciation f his contribution, he involvementof othersand he situational ealities.This reality-orientednvestigation f the ragefulprojectionsandmechanisms t work in the chaosof events orces he patientto confront the concrete eality and to account or reasonable nd unrea-sonableexpectations. t is a painfully candidprocesswhich holds a starkmirror up to the patient'srage and enableshim or her, for better or worse,to see t directly and frankly.The final tools I will mention are humor and laughter n the albedophase.They are perhaps he most delicate of all, and in fact may not betools at all, but theclearest ndicationofhow successfulhe other oolshavebeen.Only when the patienthas truly detached hrough therapeuticworkfrom the blinding, unconsciouspossessivenessf rage and differentiatedfrom its emotional chaos may there be genuine aughter. Prematurelyorinsensitivelyemployed by the analyst,humor will only increase he senseof a lienation hat ragecreates.But at the right moment, the invocationofhumorand aughterby analystor patientcanhumanize age.Humorexpandsconsciousnessy grounding he ego. It is the recognitionof the other sideof the feeling of angerand of its potential or bringing the oy of releasefrom unconsciousnesso the patient. Humor's earthy etymologybearswit-ness o this: humor, humus, humble, human. Through humor we touch ourhumanitymost concretely,scalingdown archetypal nflation so hat we mayappreciatehe modestyof our being. Aphroditedoes his by being aughter-loving" throughout the Odyssey;Hephaestus,with his waddling, funnyshufflewhich was at times all tha t could distract he gods rom "each other'sthroats;"aa ndAres in his compromised ositionas he golden-nettedoverof his brother's wife, which brought the gods great delight. More thananything else, therefore, therapeutichumor represents he psychologicalfreedomgained hrough he therapeuticwork.

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44 QUADRANTThe third and final phase in anger's transformation from rage, therubedo, or phase of redness, s scantilycovered n the Jungian iteraturebecause, think, it is the most individually actualizedphase. It seemspossible,however, that the rubedo signals he transition n the opus and nindividuation rom being solely nner-directedo anevergreater nvolvementin life.as n the rubedo the patient's transformingpersonality s no longerblocked,no longercut offfrom the world because f archetypalnterference.

The insights won and the ins tinctual energy harnessed hrough consciousintegrationare applied to life in a most deliberateand consciousway. Atthis stage, he personality s no longer "shut. . out from the world, butgathers he world to [him or her] self."a6The patient'ssense f relatednessto self and other is no longer distortedbecause age has been transmutedinto the conscious,differentiated eeling stateof anger.This anger acts asa lodestone,guiding the individual in a most personalway to where ndi-viduation is blocked and to those aspectsof life that require explorationandreconciliation.Anger as humanized age harnesseshe energies f Ares andHephaes-tus, redeeming nd ntegrating hem nto conscious ife. Their redness, ncecausticand destructive,has now become he warming andcatalytic ednessof the rubedo.Hephaestusnforms our consciousnesss we continue o doinner work with anger, with its imagery, its fantasy, and ts purpose.Aresis present n the urgency angerbrings to engage he other and also o becomeinvolved n the wider human community. Aphrodite s present n the cool,cleansingpleasureof anger worked through and resolved.Ultimately, however, the rubedo belongs o Eros, whose nfluence sthe subtlestof all. His enthusiastic reativespirit is at the very core of oursense f personal iberation when, brought nto closer ouch with ourselvesand the other through integrating the meaning of anger, we no longer feelthe outsideror misfit. Instead,what emergess the inspired relatednessolife all around, and a new dignity. What better way could there be to endanger's ong exile?

NOTESPlutarch,"O n th e control of anger," tr anslated y W. C. Hembold, in Moralia, VI (Cambridge:HarvardUniversity Press, 1957), pp . 90-159; Seneca, De Ira," translated y John W. Basore,in Moral Essays Cambridge:HarvardUniversity Press,1958)pp . 106-355.JamesR. Avelill, Anger and Aggression (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1982), p. 149.Solomon Schimmel, "Anger and Its Control in Graeco-Roman and Modern Psychology," in Psy-chiatry (42), Nov. 1979, pp.322ff.Carol Tavris, Aveirll, Anger: the Misunderstood Emotion (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982).Martin E. Seligman, Helplessness: On Depression, Development and Death (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman,1975)Karl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks London: Thamesand Hudson, l96l), p. 150;Walter Otto,The Homeric Gods (London: Thames and Hudson, 1979).Homer, The lliad, translatedby E. Rieu (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1966).Robert Graves,The GreekMyths, Yol I (Baltimore:PenguinBooks, 1972),p. 74 .

2.3.A5.o.7.8.


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ANGERAS INNER TRANSFORMATION9. Kerenyi, . 150;Homer,BookV, 890.10. Otto,pp. 47-48.11. Homer. ook V. 441.12. Kerenyi, . 150.13. ReneMalamud, The AmazonProblem," n Spring19'11Zuich: SpringPublications), p. l-21.14. Charles oer trans.), heHomericHymns Dallas: pringPublications,970)' .60'15. Munay Stein, "Hephaestus: Pattemof Introversion," n Spring1973(a)Ztnch: SpringPub-lications), . 36.16. Kerenyi, . 157.17. PaulFriedrich, heMeaning f Apollo-(Chicago:niversity f Chicago ress, 978), p. 62-63.18. Homer,TheOdyssey,ranslatedy E. Rieu Baltimore: enguin ooks,1946), ookVII, 265.19. Stein, . 38 .20. C. G. lung, "The Secret f theGoldenFlower," 195'7,CW 13(Princeton: rincetonUniversityPress, 970), . 141n.21. Homer, oo kXVIII , 4l7ff . ; Stein, . 41 .22. Boer,pp. 84-85.23. Stein, . 41.24. Kerenyi, Aphrodite," nThe GoddessesDallas: pringPublications,979), ' 4l -25. Kerenyi, p. 58-59.26. Ibid.27. Stein, The DevouringFather," n FathersandMothers Zurich:SpringPublications, 973),pp.64-'74.28 . Averil l , . 113n.29. JamesHillman,TheMyth of Analysis Evanston: orthwestem niversityPress,1972),p. 60.30 . Ibid,p. 101.31 . Kerenyi, . 71 .32. Ibid.p. 17 .33. Hillman,p. 70.34. Ib id. ,p. 71.35. Ibid.,p. 74 .36. Jung, .OntheNature fthe Psyche," w 8 (Princeton:rinceton niversity ress, 970), . 244.37. Ibid.38. Jung,MysteriumConiunctionis,W 14 Princeton:rinceton niversity ress, 970)' . 244.39. Hillman,Re-visioningsychologyNewYork:Harper& Row, 1975), . 43.40. Hillman, silver and hewhire Earth," n spring 98 l (Dallas: pring ublications,98l), p. 25.41. Ibid.42. EdwardC. Whitmount, On Aggression," n Spring1970 Zuich: SpringPublications), p. 49-50 .43. Schimmel,p. 33lf f .44. Stein, p.cit .#15, p.36.45. Jung,op.cit. #38, p. 229;Maie-Louise onFnnz,AlchemyToronto:nnerCityBooks'1980),o. 227.46. iung,op. cit .#36, p.226.

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Anger as Inner Transformation

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