ABSTRACT
It is certainly true that on the surface of late modern societies, myths and symbols do not play a major role. Postmodern cultural conditions are characterized by the loss of adherence to common symbols and meanings. Individuals today are confronted with the liberty – but also the necessity – to create their own identities. At the same time public culture via the media now offers a tremendous overload of possible orientations, ideologies, belief systems, fashions etc. for individuals to choose from. The resulting personal self-constructions seem to be not only flexible and multifaceted, but also short-lived and fragmented. Jungians nowadays are confronted with the question: how does this fit with Jung’s concept of the Self as an autonomous and preformed force from within, which is grounded in eternal archetypes, directing the individuation process towards unity of the person? Facing the conditions of late modern culture, can Jungians still claim that Jung’s ideas of the individuation process, the Self and the archetypes describe psychological realities?
