The song of songs: A discourse on psychic transformation and the path to individuation from the depth psychology perspective.

摘要

This study of the Song of Songs is, at its root, an explanation of the power of love, the pleasure, and the shadow aspects of eros manifesting as psychic growth or love sickness symptoms and their links to the development of Self. The focus is on the ontology and formation or constellation of a healthy psychic entity that can create harmony and balance between the conflicting elements that generate a sense of desire, longing, pleasure, or separation. Modern psychological perspectives are employed to decipher the archetypal patterns pertaining to the psychic elements embedded in the text. The core of this investigation centers on the psychological concepts that explain eroticism and the pathology of love, and their implications for human psyche as related to the Jungian themes of individuation, self-actualization, anima-animus or masculine-feminine relationship, and alchemical transformation. Bion's psychoanalytic concept of the container and the content will also be applied to add to the extent of analysis of this text. Furthermore, to shed light on the complexity of love affliction and its impact on the development of ego and Self, comparative examples from literature, art, and religion will be discussed.