The Symbolic Identity Technique

Abstract

The role of symbols in attaining total psychic growth is explained by applying concepts of C. Jung, R. Assagioli, and L. Kubie. A new strategy, the symbolic identity technique, is described.The center of the fountain is bubbling at a furious pace. There is constant movement and thousands of bubbles. It was me a few years ago as a parent frantically trying to meet the many needs of my children. Today, I am no longer in the center of the fountain, no longer the center of my children's lives. I am slowly sliding to the outer edge of the fountain where the water is calmer. Life at the outer edge requires another approach, another identity. I am changing: new friendships, new places to explore, and new ways to relate to my husband. A new life.On campus there is this pedestrian walkway over a busy street. It is tunnel shaped with a clear plastic enclosure. I was walking through this tunnel and gazing at the traffic passing below, couples walking hand‐in‐hand on the paths and people hurrying to classes. It was then that I realized I was living my whole life in a tunnel. A big project had consumed so much of my life for over a year that I could only observe, but not participate in a full life. I was like one of the characters in Hemingway's story In Another Country: “In the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it any more.” I, too, was there in real life but did not go to it any more.—Journal entries from graduate students