Complexes
I went to a seminar at the Jung Society where Paula McKinnon talked about complexes. I would like to recount the information here.
We started out by naming what we’ve heard: father complex, power complex, inferiority complex, oedipus complex, money complex, etc, etc. We know we have a complex when there is an extreme emotional response to a situation in life.
Complexes form in childhood, in parent relationships, and in relationships we’ve had with others. They are the result of conditioning childhood experiences pertaining to instinctual patterns and survival; events, traumas and difficulties.
They can be explained in terms of cause and effect. Complexes are pieces of ourselves that were split off from the ego and driven into the unconscious through acts of repression.
When complexes are unconscious and unrecognized, they drive us. Furthermore, what we don’t acknowledge, we become more of! However, when we name them, we can take control, instead of letting the complex control us. When such an intense feeling arises, and we can identify the complex, we can have an “aha” moment, and rationally recall a strategy that we may have formulated regarding the action we wish to take in response instead of reacting blindly. The power of the complex can only be broken by making conscious what is repressed in the shadow, unknown part of our psyche. However, the complex resists! We cannot resolve them by the intellect alone: we must utilize our feelings, the body, and emotions.
We also know a complex is present when there is a gap, or pause of silence and searching during an association test, versus a rapid, prompt response such as “black, white.” “Cat, dog.” Also, if there is a different choice of response a couple of days later. They are found in slips of the tongue, dreams, and blanks in memory.
We cannot live without this shadow and the complexes: they are inner experience from which life flows. They provide opportunities to raise the level of consciousness in a being. They are reflected in Fairy Tales, which in theory illustrate processes of the psyche. Intensity of moments tells us of them. They are energies that are the roads to the unconscious, without which the psyche can’t function. They are feeling-toned contents, these complexes. They are a habitual attitude, acting like an animated foreign body.
There is a nuclear element to complexes, and an element of constellated associations. Regarding the nuclear aspect: it is a factor determined by experience and that is causally related to the environment. Also it has an innate individual character determined by millions and millions of generations of human experience regarding aspects of existence like father, mother, child. Complexes have a personal shell, that is, a cover woven from concrete, personal experiences, and an archetypal core at the level of the collective unconscious. We all have had experiences relevant to the above mentioned aspects of being human. We all have experienced Child, Father, Mother in some way, throughout our entire existence, both individually and as a collective.
Psychologically, we work from the personal level to the archetypal core. We must sweep our own doorstep instead of blaming the world around us for being dusty. What we can’t see in ourselves we project out into the world. For instance, as in Paula’s example of her friend’s daughter, who had commented on a dream that she had had the night before. The friend’s daughter dreamed that her boyfriend had cheated on her. Do you think he would he ever cheat on you? Paula asked. No, said the girl. Would you ever cheat on him? asked Paula. The girl flushed bright red, apparently because the cheater was actually the dreamer herself!
The ego has four attitudes towards the complexes:
1. It is unconscious to its existence. It is let out in forgetfulness, slips of the tongue, etc.
2. It identifies with the complex. This results in OCD behavior, multiple personalities.
3. It projects the complex out into the world, and
4. It confronts the complex. Only love helps the ego deal with the complex effectively. However, here one must be in a place to be able and willing to deal with suffering.
Nina Lois is a graduate student at the University of Colorado at Denver obtaining a Master's Degree in Humanities with a B.A. in political science. Her passions are broad when it comes to the human condition. She is deeply interested in philosophy, psychology, environmental and social justice, peace studies, music, nutrition, tradition, and progress. 
Upon her imminent graduation, she wishes to contribute to the health, wealth, and happiness of the community through involvement, writing, and research. For goodness's sake, love the body, cultivate the mind and a garden, and feed the soul!
Thanks again