ABSTRACT
Ralph Waldo Emerson's writing after Nature amplifies this sense of rift - of the alienation of consciousness from unconscious power - as the occasion of reflection. Emerson takes as his point of departure a sense of divergence between power and being, between inspired consciousness and quotidian care. The unconscious, for Emerson constitutes a reservoir of power, of tappable psychic energy, and not an antagonist to the ego's security. Unfolding from an unseen center, psychic energy - for both Emerson and Carl Gustav Jung - emerges into the light of consciousness. Emerson's comments, in "The Philosophy of History," reveal a similar awareness of interpretation. Just as Jung interprets his patients' symptoms and dreams, Emerson infers "human character" from "the most fugitive deed and word". At the heart of Carl Jung's psychology lies a profound understanding of the dialectical relationship between projection and interpretation.
