The Law of Compensation
Jung’s Great Principle of How the Psyche Works:
The Law of Compensation
5 consecutive Mondays, 7:00 – 8:30pm
Eastern Time, USA. Beginning April 12, 2021
Instructor: David Rottman, MA
7.5 CE contact hours for licensed NYS Social Workers,
Psychoanalysts and Creative Arts Therapists.
Before Jung, we knew a lot about the principles of how things work in the outer world, such as the laws of motion, the laws of electromagnetism and so on. What remained to discover were the laws of the human psyche. Through his pioneering and epochal work, Jung introduced us to the laws of operation of the human psyche, in particular the Law of Compensation, which describes the relations between consciousness and the unconscious.
In this course we will take a fresh look at many of the basic elements of our own lives through the lens of the Law of Compensation. We will see how the psyche operates to send “course correction” messages through fantasies, dreams, relationships, the individuation process, synchronicity, as well as outer political life. Our goal will be to become as familiar as possible with this Law, so that we can “catch” how it is operating in our own lives, and benefit from its potential for revitalizing and vivifying our experience of being alive.
Supplementary Texts:
Two Essays in Analytical Psychology, C.G. Jung
The Way of the Image, Yoram Kaufmann
The Symbolic Quest, Edward C. Whitmont
Learning Objectives:
On completion of this class, you will be able to:
Describe the nature of the relations between the persona and the anima/animus.
Discuss the principles of psychological balance and homeostasis, and the role of the polarization, wholeness and psychic opposition from a Jungian point of view.
Outline the tasks and requirements for processing compensatory messages from fantasies, dreams, and outer life.
Summarize the role of compensation in personal, social and political life.