The World Within - C.G. Jung in His Own Words

Carl Jung was born on July 26, 1875, in Kesswil, Switzerland. Jung believed in the “complex” or emotionally charged associations. He collaborated with Sigmund Freud, but disagreed with him about the sexual basis of neuroses. He founded analytic psychology, advancing the idea of introvert and extrovert personalities and the power of the unconscious. He wrote several books before his death in 1961.

Jung's growing reputation as a psychologist and his work dealing with the subconscious eventually led him to the ideas of Sigmund Freud and the man himself.

Over a five-year period, beginning in 1907, the two men worked closely together. Jung was widely believed to be the one who would continue the work of the elder Freud. Viewpoints and temperament ended their collaboration and later their friendship. In particular, Jung challenged Freud's beliefs around sexuality as the foundation of neurosis. He also disagreed with Freud's methods, including his assertion that the elder psychologist's work was too one-sided.

The final break came in 1912 when Jung published, "Psychology and the Unconscious," which took head-on a number of Freud's theories.

After a pause during World War I, Jung picked up his work again, and for the next four decades traveled the globe to study different cultures. His later work led him to what he called "individuation," a process he described as being a melding of the conscious and unconscious. Through it the person develops into his her own "true self."

In 1932 Jung was awarded Zurich's literature prize. Six years later he was elected honorary fellow of England's Royal Society of Medicine. In 1944 he was named an honorary member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences.