ABSTRACT
Triangularity and thirdness is significant developmentally. On the one hand, triangularity and thirdness relates to the capacity of the ego to acknowledge opposites and move beyond them, and on the other hand, triangularity and thirdness is the developmental achievement and capacity to separate from duality and face and manage triangular relationships with the parental couple. This chapter examines Jung's concept of the transcendent function, symbol formation and the importance of this in enabling movement beyond the dynamics of the opposites to achieve the capacity to manage triangularity and complexity. This perspective is compared with psychoanalytic theory and post Jungian ideas. The chapter goes on to consider the importance of ego capacity in this process and a brief clinical example is included.
