> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.descentpress.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Conflict - URL: https://www.descentpress.com/index/conflict/ - Published: 2026-09-05T04:40:52.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-11T20:07:48.000Z - Description: Conflict — Descent Press Index (entry forthcoming). - Author: Jae Botávn - Tags: #index, #Import 2026-09-04 23:45 ## 1\. Etymology **Conflict** names a **state of indecision accompanied by inner tension**. Related: [opposites](https://www.descentpress.com/index/opposites/); [transcendent function](https://www.descentpress.com/index/transcendent-function/); [ambivalence](https://www.descentpress.com/index/ambivalence/); neurosis vs developmental tension. --- ## 2\. Plain summary **Conflict** is not automatically pathology. Some tension between [opposites](https://www.descentpress.com/index/opposites/) is desirable; without it development stalls. Conflict becomes neurotic when it interferes with the normal functioning of [consciousness](https://www.descentpress.com/index/consciousness/). The way to the [self](https://www.descentpress.com/index/self/) begins with conflict—the self shows in the coincidence of opposites. Stirred conflict engenders fire: combustion and light. Unconscious conflict often shows as body symptoms (stomach, back, neck); conscious conflict as moral or ethical tension. Serious love-or-duty clashes often track disparity between [thinking](https://www.descentpress.com/index/thinking/) and [feeling](https://www.descentpress.com/index/feeling/). Related to [adaptation](https://www.descentpress.com/index/adaptation/) when an outdated attitude breaks down. **Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common conflict motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):** indecision + inner tension; hallmark of neurosis yet not invariably neurotic; desirable developmental tension; way to self begins with conflict; coincidentia oppositorum; Luciferian stirring / fire of affects; unconscious → somatic; conscious → moral/ethical; thinking vs feeling disparity; [transcendent function](https://www.descentpress.com/index/transcendent-function/) as bridge; [ambivalence](https://www.descentpress.com/index/ambivalence/) kinship; [opposites](https://www.descentpress.com/index/opposites/) field. --- ## 3\. Academic elucidation --- ## 4\. Lexicon **Sharp (1991)** > Conflict. A state of indecision, accompanied by inner tension. (See also opposites and transcendent function.) … Conflict is a hallmark of neurosis, but conflict is not invariably neurotic. Some degree of conflict is even desirable since without some tension between opposites the developmental process is inhibited. Conflict only becomes neurotic when it interferes with the normal functioning of consciousness. … The self is made manifest in the opposites and in the conflict between them… (Sharp, 1991, p. \[provisional — unverified\]) **Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986)** — no dedicated *conflict* head; related discussion under *transcendent function* / *opposites* (page provisional / unverified this pass): > … The word transcendent is expressive of the presence of a capacity to transcend the destructive tendency to pull (or be pulled) to one side or the other. … Jung considered the transcendent function to be the most significant factor in psychological process. He insisted that its intervention was due to conflict between the opposites… (Samuels, Shorter, & Plaut, 1986, under *transcendent function*) — provisional page pending vessel stamp. --- ## 5\. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive > The self is made manifest in the opposites and in the conflict between them; it is a coincidentia oppositorum. Hence the way to the self begins with conflict. > (Jung, 1944/1968, CW 12, p. 186, ¶259) > The stirring up of conflict is a Luciferian virtue in the true sense of the word. Conflict engenders fire, the fire of affects and emotions, and like every other fire it has two aspects, that of combustion and that of creating light. > (Jung, 1938/1968, CW 9i, p. 95, ¶179) --- **See also:** [opposites](https://www.descentpress.com/index/opposites/); [transcendent function](https://www.descentpress.com/index/transcendent-function/); [ambivalence](https://www.descentpress.com/index/ambivalence/); [adaptation](https://www.descentpress.com/index/adaptation/); [self](https://www.descentpress.com/index/self/); [consciousness](https://www.descentpress.com/index/consciousness/); [feeling](https://www.descentpress.com/index/feeling/); [thinking](https://www.descentpress.com/index/thinking/). ## References Jung, C. G. (1968). Psychological aspects of the mother archetype. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), *The collected works of C. G. Jung* (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 95, ¶179). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1938) Jung, C. G. (1968). Psychology and alchemy. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), *The collected works of C. G. Jung* (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (Vol. 12, p. 186, ¶259). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1944) Samuels, A., Shorter, B., & Plaut, F. (1986). *A critical dictionary of Jungian analysis*. Routledge. Sharp, D. (1991). *Jung lexicon: A primer of terms & concepts*. Inner City Books. ---