Confronting Age, Technology, and My Inferior Function

Abstract

Ever since Jung wrote Psychological Types, analysts and laymen alike have attempted to apply his theory, in a non-pathologizing way, to better understand differences in personality development. Jung proposed two attitudes (introvert and extravert) and four functions (thinking and feeling; intuition and sensation). He claimed that one function dominated, while the others were less developed, i.e., less conscious. The least developed he called the inferior function, and claimed that it was the source of much distress in a person’s life; however, it also carried the potential for wholeness. This article describes how the author experienced her inferior function on a trip which demanded its constant use. Though humbled by it, she also gained an intimate understanding of why analyst John Beebe believes that the shadow of the inferior function carries the demon/daimon archetype, and why Jung suggested that through our struggle with the inferior function we glimpse wholeness, or God.