“Man needs to have secrets, and… the real ones come to him out of the depths of the unconscious,…”[1]
“It is not we who have secrets, it is the real secrets that have us.”[2]
“Nothing makes people more lonely, and more cut off from the fellowship of others, than the possession of an anxiously hidden and jealously guarded personal secret. Very often it is “sinful” thoughts and deeds that keep them apart and estrange them from one another.”[3]
“Anything concealed is a secret. The possession of secrets acts like a psychic poison that alienates their possessor from the community.”[4]
“A secret shared with several persons is as beneficial as a merely private secret is destructive. The latter works like a burden of guilt, cutting off the unfortunate possessor from communion with his fellows.”[5]
“To cherish secrets and hold back emotion is a psychic misdemeanor for which nature finally visits us with sickness – that is, when we do things in private.”[6]
“The experience of the unconscious is a personal secret communicable only to very few, and that with difficulty; hence the isolating affect we noted above.”[7]
“… the whole raison d’être of a secret society is to guard a secret that has lost its vitality and can only be kept alive as an outward form.”[8]
“… secrecy is antisocial, destructive, a cancer in our society.”[9]
“This possession of a secret had a very powerful formative influence on my character; I consider it the essential factor of my boyhood.”[10]
The last quote above is Jung’s own description of the role secrets played in his youth as he grew up. He never told anyone–not his mother, his father, or anyone else–about his dream of the phallus in the basement,[11] or of the Jesuit who terrified him,[12] or his creation of the little manikin which he hid in the attic,[13] and he knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that there was no way he could tell his father about his secret vision of the turd crushing Basel cathedral.[14]For most of his childhood, in the face of so many secrets, Jung had to resist
“an overwhelming urge to speak… to hint that there were some curious things about me which no one knew of. I wanted to find out whether other people had undergone similar experiences. I never succeeded in discovering so much as a trace of them in others.”[15]
Jung’s penchant for seeking confirmation of his own experiences in the lives of others arose early in his life and became a life-long habit,[16] one he was not always able to satisfy, as Jung here admits. Perhaps it is not surprising that Jung became a psychiatrist: his experiences as a boy informed his professional life as the holder of others’ secrets.[17]
Aware of the prominent role secrets played in Jung’s life and work, I decided to scour his writings to see if he had more to say about this key theme. In the dozens of citations, Jung speaks of the many types of secrets to be found in therapy, in alchemy, in religion and in ordinary reality. He also came to understand how secrets and secrecy can at times be dangerous, while at others, be desirable, essential, even protective, and he provides us with good advice on how, when and where to keep or reveal secrets.
Types of Secrets
Real vs. fake secrets. Jung distinguished “real”[18] secrets, “which come to men out of the depths of the unconscious,”[19] from “esoteric secrets [which] are mostly artificial secrets, not real ones.”[20] Jung notes that “man needs to have secrets, and since he has no notion of the real ones he fakes them.”[21] The fakers, Jung felt, were “esotercists”[22] who got into “mystification,”[23] without realizing that “real secrets cannot be revealed”[24] by the conscious mind.
Conscious vs. unconscious secrets. “Conscious”[25] secrets are those we know we are concealing, while “unconscious” secrets Jung describes as “hidden content”[26] which “we are concealing even from ourselves,”[27] i.e. it is repressed information. From his clinical work, Jung knew that repressions can be problematic, even injurious, as they hold the “real secrets that have us.”[28]
Jealously guarded vs. shared secrets. Jung lived for years anxiously hiding many secrets, feeling unable to share the truths of his life with anyone in his family or circle of friends. He knew how “nothing makes people more lonely, and more cut off from the fellowship of others, than the possession of a jealously guarded personal secret.”[29] Conversely, revealing a secret to another–friend, confessor, analyst–“has a truly redeeming effect”[30] by readmitting the “lost sheep into the human community.”[31]
Vital vs. weak secrets. From his immersion in history and alchemy, Jung knew that, over hundreds of years, some ancient secrets had lost their vitality, and were now being sustained only in secret societies.[32] Such groups kept the secret alive “as an outward form.”[33] One example Jung cited was the Rosicrucian society which, during the Renaissance, tried to keep alive secrets “borrowed from the alchemical tradition.”[34]
Ineffable vs. communicable secrets. Some secrets can be expressed in words, but some are “dumb,” secrets “hidden in silence,”[35] secrets that exist in “spiritual not carnal”[36] language. Such secrets become known only to the alchemist (or, in our modern reality, to the mystic or meditator) who can access “the imaginative faculty of the soul”[37]so as to “give a clear indication of the secret of the art.”[38] Lest we moderns find this so much mumbo jumbo, we can recall those times when we have been in the hypnopompic state in a dream, and woke up, but then could not find the words to describe the experience.
When Secrets are Dangerous or Desirable
Devoted as he was to Heraclitus,[39] Jung always tried to spot and hold the tension of opposites, and this was true in his assessment of the phenomenon of the secret. In some contexts secrets could be dangerous, while in others, having secrets could be desirable.
Secrets can be dangerous or have a negative nature when:
the secret has us, i.e. the secret is buried in a repression,[40] lying in the depths of the unconscious, beyond the conscious control of the ego mind, potentially causing neuroses
the secret was “anxiously hidden”[41] and guarded as a “personal secret”[42] that could cause us embarrassment or being labeled “crazy,”[43] and by our conscious guardedness, the secret becomes “a psychic poison,”[44] cutting us off from others or estranging us even from family and friends
the secret becomes tormenting, fostering the conviction of sin, shame or guilt in us, which can cause all sorts of disturbing effects, even sickness[45]
the secret can “bring about a momentous alteration of the personality, due to how they alienate us from our surroundings and animate the psychic atmosphere;”[46] in serious cases, Jung felt this can lead to “illusions and hallucinations”[47] due to the retention of energy which then creates “an equivalent substitute”[48] in the sensations of being haunted
the secret can make us worried about our sanity, if “from the point of view of the conscious mind”[49] a situation we are in seems highly irrational: we feel we cannot find words to describe it
the secret must be maintained with a force “so compelling”[50] that we find ourselves “involved in ideas and actions for which” we are no longer responsible: we are in a situation of dire necessity which we cannot apprehend[51]
the secret has an antisocial, destructive effect in our collective circle or society, and the secret-holder suffers, knowing the negative implications of turning one’s back on fellow beings[52]
Secrets can be desirable and important for our health when:
the secret is “beneficial to the conduct of life”[53] when it hints at something hidden in the unconscious, which then comes to light, e.g. the patient tells a dream to the analyst, who then draws the secret out of the patient and helps him/her become more conscious[54]
the secret helps to foster individuation by goading the person to recognize “the demands of conscience,”[55] i.e. to live true to one’s nature and values
the secret helps to cement the bond between analysand and analyst via the sharing of the secret. Jung notes that “Anyone with psychoanalytic experience knows how much the personal significance of the analyst is enhanced when the patient is able to confess his secrets to him.”[56]
the possession of a secret can help in the process of individual differentiation, by reminding the person that s/he has a secret no one else has, i.e. holding on to the secret (assuming it is not a destructive one) can safeguard the person “from dissolving in the featureless flow of unconscious community life”[57]
a secret shared with several people can help to bond them more firmly together,[58] by reminding them they have something others do not have
secrets help to translate natural secrets lying in the unconscious into the language of consciousness[59]
secrets can help us become aware of the wisdom lying in our human bodies,[60] if we ask for these secrets to be revealed to us
secrets can give us “a kind of distinction,”[61] much as Jung felt as a young person, aware of the many secrets he held which others knew nothing about
the secret an analysand brings into analysis can be “the key to the treatment”[62] the analyst can use to foster healing
”the possession of a secret which an individual is pledged to guard”[63] can provide “no better means of intensifying the treasured feeling of individuality”[64]
membership in a secret society can serve as “an intermediary state on the way to individuation”[65] for the individual who is “still relying on a collective organization to effect his differentiation for him”[66]
a secret which an individual cannot betray can serve, in certain situations, to prevent a retrogression[67]
for indigenous people, like the Pueblo Indians, Jung felt that their preserving their religious secrets could give them the “pride and power to resist the dominant whites”[68] and “…that the pueblos as an individual community will continue to exist as long as their mysteries are not desecrated.”[69]
Tips on Handling Secrets
Some suggestions are standard Jungian advice, e.g. become conscious of the unconscious, which Jung felt was our task as human beings.[70] More specifically, this involves:
developing a regular practice of working with your dreams, recording them and taking time to reflect on their content[71]
entering the imaginal realm, “that intermediate realm of subtle reality,”[72] via Jung’s method of active imagination, by dreaming a dream forward
being humble and open to the guidance of the Self,[73] which can show up via dreams, synchronicities, flashes of intuition, or physical sensations
avoiding group think and mass movements,[74] focusing instead on your uniqueness as an individual
Other ways to handle secrets are especially helpful for those, like Jung, whose early life held loneliness and traumas, e.g.:
listening to your body, which can hold secrets, often repressed and full of healing potential if recognized and worked through[75]
observing yourself, noting words, acts, and life situations that have a “charge” to them[76]
reviewing your history, as traumatic experiences often contain secrets[77]
working with a Jungian analyst trained in both sensitive listening and dream interpretation[78]
Conclusion
On the subject of secrets Jung had many decades of both personal and professional experience, giving him insights into how secrets could harm and help us get through life, wise up to ourselves, and become more conscious. Over his eighty-plus years, Jung came to know that “Nature doesn’t like secrets and forces us to talk, everything comes to light sooner or later.”[79] Knowing this, and being proactive in bringing secrets to light, we can foster community, “for the more secrets one has the more one is isolated.”[80]
Bibliography
Edinger, Edward (1984), The Creation of Consciousness. Toronto: Inner City Books.
________ (1999), The Psyche in Antiquity, Book One: Early Greek Philosophy. Toronto: Inner City Books.
Jung, C.G. (1960), The Psychogenesis of Mental Disease, Collected Works, 3. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
________ (1961), Freud and Psychoanalysis. Collected Works, 4. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
________ (1970), Civilization in Transition. Collected Works, 10. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
________ (1953), Psychology and Alchemy. Collected Works, 12. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
________ (1967), Alchemical Studies. Collected Works, 13. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
________ (1963), Mysterium Coniunctionis. Collected Works, 14. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
________ (1954), The Practice of Psychotherapy. Collected Works, 16. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
________ (1976), The Symbolic Life. Collected Works, 18. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
________ (1965), Memories, Dreams, Reflections. New York: Vintage Books.
________ (1984), Seminar on Dream Analysis. Princeton: Princeton Univerity Press.
Van der Kolk, Bessel (2014), The Body Ke
[1] Collected Works 10 ¶886. Hereafter Collected Works will be abbreviated CW.
[2] Ibid.
[3] CW 4 ¶432.
[4] CW 16 ¶124.
[5] Ibid. ¶125.
[6] Ibid. ¶132.
[7] CW 12 ¶61.
[8] Ibid. ¶515.
[9] Jung (1984), 23.
[10] Jung (1965), 22.
[11] Ibid., 12, 13.
[12] Ibid., 11, 17.
[13] Ibid., 21.
[14] Ibid., 36-41.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid., 56, 59-61.
[17] Ibid., 117.
[18] CW 10 ¶886.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Ibid.
[25] CW 16 ¶125.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] CW 10 ¶886.
[29] CW 4 ¶432.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Ibid.
[32] CW 12 ¶515.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Jung (1965), 342.
[35] CW 12 ¶550.
[36] Ibid.
[37] Ibid. ¶396.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Edinger (1999), 32. Heraclitus was Jung’s favorite pre-Socratic philosopher.
[40] CW 16 ¶125.
[41] CW 4 ¶432.
[42] Ibid.
[43] Jung (1965), 344.
[44] CW 16 ¶124.
[45] Ibid.. ¶132.
[46] CW 12 ¶57.
[47] Ibid.
[48] Ibid.
[49] Ibid. ¶118.
[50] Jung (1965), 344.
[51] Ibid.
[52] Jung (1984), 24.
[53] CW 14 ¶312.
[54] Jung (1965), 117.
[55] CW 14 ¶312.
[56] CW 4 ¶433.
[57] CW 16 ¶124.
[58] Ibid. ¶125.
[59] CW 13 ¶395. By “natural secrets” Jung referred to those secrets found in myths and alchemical texts.
[60] Ibid. ¶242.
[61] Jung (1965), 41.
[62] Ibid., 117.
[63] Ibid., 342.
[64] Ibid.
[65] Ibid.
[66] Ibid.
[67] Ibid., 344.
[68] Ibid., 250.
[69] Ibid.
[70] Edinger (1984), 17.
[71] Jung described his method of working with dreams in CW 18 ¶s416-607.
[72] CW 12 ¶400.
[73] CW 13 ¶73.
[74] One of the major themes in Jung’s work was the value of small groups/organizations/cities and the dangers to the individual in big groups; cf. CW 10 ¶718 & CW 18 ¶s 1301, 1377, 1378, 1387.
[75] CW 12 ¶421.
[76] Cf. CW 3 ¶93, CW 13 ¶s 73 & 199, and Jung (1965), 344.
[77] Van der Kolk (2014), 205-206, 215, 219.
[78] Jung (1965), 117.
[79] Jung (1984), 402.
[80] Ibid., 705.
