Carl Jung's theory of wholeness best describes the internal force that drives human development. The core concept of Jung's approach was that each person possesses two separate personalities: an outer public self and a hidden, inner self that felt a special closeness to God. The interplay between these two selves affected the individual's striving for integration and wholeness.
Jung was fascinated by death, nature, and philosophy even as a youth. As Douglas (1995) notes, "Jung received a thorough education embedded not only in the Protestant theological tradition but also in classical Greek and Latin literature" (p. 99). Born in 1875 in Switzerland, Jung experienced striking mythological dreams and visions during his childhood. Jung's parents were a dysfunctional couple, and the youth reported terrifying dreamlike phenomena related to his mother, who suffered from emotional disorders and depression.
Even at an early age, Jung envisioned himself as being essentially two different entities: "Beside the world of the first personality, the schoolboy, there existed within Jung another world, the magical, mysterious realm of what he called the second self" (Staude, 1981, p. 23). The reconciliation of these separate entities was to become a central theme of Jung's psychological theories.
Jung developed an intense interest in the theories of one of his eminent contemporaries, Sigmund Freud. Their subsequent professional friendship lasted from 1907 to 1913. Initially, Freud, as well as Jung, benefitted from the alliance: "Freud regarded Jung as the successor who could help him carry his revolutionary theories to a wider audience" (Goode, 1992, p. 66). Jung, however, considered himself Freud's collaborator, not his disciple. Theoretical disputes eventually created an irreparable rift between the two psychiatrists.
Both Jung and Freud considered dreamwork important to psychoanalysis, but each held divergent views a...