Unconsciousness

1. Etymology

Unconsciousness names a state of psychic functioning marked by lack of control over the instincts and identification with complexes. Related: unconscious; consciousness; suggestion / mass psychosis; Logos vs primal sin.

2. Plain summary

Unconsciousness is not the same word as the unconscious as a psychic system—it is the state of being overrun by instinct and complex-identification. Extreme unconsciousness looks like a waking dream: compulsive antitheses, little will. Extremely high consciousness can starve naturalness and leave the unconscious at an animal level. The great practical danger is suggestion and psychic infection—mass psychosis when the split between conscious and unconscious widens. For Logos, Jung can call unconsciousness the primal sin.

Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common unconsciousness motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):
lack of control over instincts; identification with complexes; primal sin for Logos; dream-state level vs will/rational height; suggestion / psychic infection; mass psychosis; distinct from unconscious as system.

3. Academic elucidation

In analytical psychology unconsciousness is the state-name for insufficient differentiation from instinct and complex, complementary to the structural lemma unconscious. Lexicon Sharp supplies the head; stamped Sharp-cited sample loci (UNCONS-1–3) plus dual UNC. Concordance remains PAUSED beyond sample.

4. Lexicon

Sharp (1991)

Unconsciousness. A state of psychic functioning marked by lack of control over the instincts and identification with complexes. Unconsciousness is the primal sin, evil itself, for the Logos… An extreme state of unconsciousness is characterized by the predominance of compulsive instinctual processes… The greatest danger about unconsciousness is proneness to suggestion…

(Sharp, 1991) — cites CW 9i ¶178; CW 8 ¶249; CW 9ii ¶390 in Sharp’s lemma (vessel-stamped below).

Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986) — no dedicated unconsciousness head located this pass; route via unconscious pp. 155–157 dual.

5. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive

There is no consciousness without discrimination of opposites. This is the paternal principle, the Logos, which eternally struggles to extricate itself from the primal warmth and primal darkness of the maternal womb; in a word, from unconsciousness… Unconsciousness is the primal sin, evil itself, for the Logos.
(Jung, 1954/1968, CW 9i, p. 95, ¶178) Dual opposites OPP-2 same ¶ untouched.

An extreme state of unconsciousness is characterized by the predominance of compulsive instinctual processes, the result of which is either uncontrolled inhibition or a lack of inhibition throughout. The happenings within the psyche are then contradictory and proceed in terms of alternating, non-logical antitheses. In such a case the level of consciousness is essentially that of a dream-state. A high degree of consciousness, on the other hand, is characterized by a heightened awareness, a preponderance of will, directed, rational behaviour, and an almost total absence of instinctual determinants. The unconscious is then found to be at a definitely animal level.
(Jung, 1936/1969, CW 8, p. 164, ¶249) Dual psychization essay neighborhood untouched.

Traditionally, the snake stands for the vulnerable spot in man: it personifies his shadow, i.e., his weakness and unconsciousness. The greatest danger about unconsciousness is proneness to suggestion. The effect of suggestion is due to the release of an unconscious dynamic, and the more unconscious this is, the more effective it will be. Hence the ever-widening split between conscious and unconscious increases the danger of psychic infection and mass psychosis.
(Jung, 1951/1968, CW 9ii, pp. 247–248, ¶390 n.79) Vessel OCR breaks ¶390 as “39” before “We shall…”; sequence ¶389→¶390→¶392 confirms. Dual quaternity / circumambulation essay region untouched.

Dual via unconscious (UNC-1–3 already stamped; no rewrite): 1921/1971 · 1931/1969 · 1947/1969.

See also: unconscious; consciousness; complex; union-of-opposites; unus-mundus; shadow; inflation.

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.) (2nd ed., Vol. 9i, p. 95, ¶178). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1954)

Jung, C. G. (1969). Psychological factors determining human behaviour. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 8, p. 164, ¶249). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1936)

Jung, C. G. (1968). Aion: Researches into the phenomenology of the self [The structure and dynamics of the self]. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 9ii, pp. 247–248, ¶390 n.79). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1951)

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.