The Ego Should Be Strengthened, Not Dissolved

Demystifying Jungian Psychology #3

Demystifying Jungian Psychology is a series dedicated to unraveling common misconceptions surrounding Jungian theories. Each installment explores a key concept, clarifying its core meaning and relevance, while shedding light on how these ideas can be applied to inner work.

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Landscape with Classical Ruins and Figures by Marco Ricciand Sebastiano Ricci

“The important fact about consciousness is that nothing can be conscious without an ego to which it refers.”

— C.G.Jung, The Tavistock Lectures

Misconception: A strong ego is associated with self-centeredness and is an obstacle to psychological growth.

Actual Theory: The ego, our conscious sense of self, is responsible for maintaining a cohesive identity and is the center of action for individuation efforts. The goal is to strengthen it by integrating unconscious material, which fosters psychological resiliency, flexibility, and agency.

The ego (Latin for “I”) is the center of the field of conscious awareness. Our sense of identity, personality and continuity is one of the great tasks that the ego is charged with. It shines a light in the psychological space so that we can grapple with, order and understand the thoughts, memories, images, emotions and sensations constantly flowing within.

Due to its limited scope, the ego has a tendency to measure self-knowledge by the contents that fall within its illuminated boundaries, overlooking the hidden drives and influences that are the source. The goal of individuation is to bridge these seemingly disparate realms, creating a personality that welcomes the contents of the unconscious.

This act cannot be done without a volitional force, a point of reference by which we orient. A strong ego performs this task with relative ease, allowing aspects of the identity to shift as it engages with the unconscious. A weak ego resists this task, struggling against the tides of the shadow. This has a corrosive effect, causing fragmentation within the psyche. These rejected contents do not disappear; they build in intensity over time, demanding attention through symptoms, dream images, or recurring patterns of behavior.

For example, someone who consciously identifies as a highly independent person repeatedly suffers from broken relationships. When considering the issue, they attribute it to their wayward partners or their lack of need for romantic connections. However, a recurring nightmare of an abandoned, crying child and the intensity of emotion that comes up when their friends point out their tendency to push partners away speaks to deeper unconscious factors. A strong ego position would be curious and open, taking these dynamics into therapy to work through, reconciling unhealed wounds and developing new attitudes towards life. A weak ego position perpetuates the denial due to their inability to hold painful and contradictory realities (My independence is an adaptation to unmet childhood needs).

What’s difficult is that we are rarely instructed on how to facilitate this process. Left to its own devices, our personality grows, dominated by an egoic drive that holds onto its illusion of power and autonomy at all costs. Or, under resourced, the ego becomes easily overwhelmed by the unconscious contents it cannot integrate. Without guidance and a holding container, we risk falling into one extreme or the other.

Strengthening the Ego

The École de Chirurgie under Construction by Hubert Robert

What does progress look like? How can we measure something so nuanced? What indicators tell us that the intricate web of the ego complex is actually strengthening? In Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology, Marie Louise von Franz shares,

“The rock stands for the steadfastness of the personality, which comes from a long process of assimilating the unconscious. If one has experienced for long enough those great ups and downs which are entailed by the meeting with the unconscious, then slowly an unshakable kernel is formed.”

I take this image further, not just a rock, but a psychological fortress of marble and limestone that is in constant states of construction. When a weak part of the foundation is uncovered, a rebuilding process begins. Pillars of the personality fall, attachments and beliefs that have worn their use are discarded and in their place, new ones are built. When a storm of emotion breaches defenses, an opportunity to shore up psychic structures arise.

This process is facilitated by engaging with the unconscious, resulting in increased psychosomatic resiliency whereby the ego becomes more adaptable and anchored within the unfolding path of individuation.

Engagement with the unconscious

Meeting the unconscious inherently challenges the ego to acknowledge and integrate inner material that is hidden, repressed or antithetical to its current image of self. Through this, we learn that there are greater forces within the psyche, and how to be in relationship to them.

Consider these practices:

• Dreamwork¹ taps us into the innerworkings of the psyche, giving us direct access to unconscious influences and dynamics that are needing our attention.

• Active Imagination² allows us to dialogue or creatively engage with the inner figures, symbols or elements of the unconscious for guidance and insight.

• Tracking somatic impulses reveals how the unconscious expresses itself in the body’s autonomous movements.

• Archetypal systems like tarot, mythology or alchemy re-contextualize personal experience against the core psychological frameworks that inform them.

• Shadow work³ challenges us to recognize our disowned or hidden aspects of self, often found in projected material, inner conflicts and compulsive actions.

Psychosomatic resiliency

A strong ego is reflected in both psychological and somatic resilience, giving us the ability to endure challenges, hold tension and maintain balance while developing the personality.

Potential indicators include:

• Increased capacity to experience, hold and explore a fuller spectrum of emotions, sensations, thoughts and images.

• A sense of objectivity that gives perspective, pause and time to reflect before action.

• Greater awareness of bodily sensations and the emotions/meaning they carry.

• Acceptance of feedback, criticism, or challenging truths with composure and less reactivity.

• Ability to self-regulate by calming the nervous system and moving through (rather than avoiding) overwhelming experiences.

• Heightened sensitivity to the expressions of the unconscious, such as dreams, intuitions, or synchronicities, with openness to integrate their insights.

Long has the ego been demonized as an antagonist to our psychological and spiritual development. Rather, it is the protagonist of our life’s story, the one facing the perilous journey up the mountain of individuation. When we tend the ego with care, we harness a psychic force that moves with the cycles of creation and destruction, holds strong in the great challenges of life, and willingly acknowledges its shortcomings.

Join the conversation

How do you relate to the ego? What practices do you utilize to develop and strengthen it? Which Jungian concept should I explore next?

1. See my class on Jungian Dreamwork for further instruction.

2. See the Active Imagination guide for more.

3. See the Shadow Work guide for more.