Libido can never be apprehended except in a definite form; that is to say, it is identical with fantasy-images. And we can only release it from the grip of the unconscious by bringing up the corresponding fantasy-images. [“The Technique of Differentiation,” CW 7, para. 345.]Jung specifically distanced his concept of libido from that of Freud, for whom it had a predominantly sexual meaning. (Sharp, 1991)
All psychological phenomena can be considered as manifestations of energy, in the same way that all physical phenomena have been understood as energic manifestations ever since Robert Mayer discovered the law of the conservation of energy. Subjectively and psychologically, this energy is conceived as desire. I call it libido, using the word in its original sense, which is by no means only sexual. [“Psychoanalysis and Neurosis,” CW 4, para. 567.] [Read more]
Libido: "In the analytic psychology of Jung [. . .], the term “libido” is deployed to denote a more generic psychic energy or life force that propels the personality towards individuation through the enlargement of the “self.” For Jung libido has a spiritual dimension which did not exist for Freud or Klein. In this way, Jung proposes that libidinal energy is invested in all forms of intentional activity, from individual developmental “tasks” such as symbolism and the acquisition of language, to increasingly complex creative activities, including art, science and religion, that aid increased psychological and spiritual integration. Libido is depicted as a benevolent force which invests both subjectivity and the world around us with the intentional activity of life itself." (p. 519) [Read more]
Jung, C. G. (1967). The theory of psychoanalysis (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 4. Freud and psychoanalysis (pp. 83-226). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1955) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850938.83
Jung, C. G. (1967a). The concept of libido (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 5. Symbols of Transformation (2nd ed., pp. 132-141). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1952) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850945
Jung, C. G. (1967b). The transformation of libido (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 5. Symbols of Transformation (2nd ed., pp. 142-170). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1935) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850945
Jung, C. G. (1969). On psychic energy (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 8. Structure and dynamics of the psyche (2nd ed., pp. 3-66). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1928) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850952.3
Jung, C. G. (1969). Instinct and the unconscious (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read et al. (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 8. Structure and dynamics of the psyche (2nd ed., pp. 129-138). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1948) https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850952.129
Journal articles available from the library:
Figlio, K., & Jordanova, A. (2005). The first formal reaction to C G Jung’s departure from psychoanalysis: Sándor Ferenczi’s review of Symbols of Transformation. Psychoanalysis and History, 7(1), 51–62. https://doi.org/10.3366/pah.2005.7.1.51
Abstract: "Since the time when Jung and Freud severed their friendship and their collegial relationship, the details and the causes of the rupture have occupied both clinicians and scholars. The intensity of their relationship, and the pain that its breakdown caused them, seem to have driven much of this work, and it remains difficult to understand and assess the differences between them, in theory and in practice. In the service of assessment, we provide here an English translation of Sándor Ferenczi's review of the work by Jung which symbolized the break, his Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido (1911/1912). It was the first, and the most thorough and systematic, treatment of Jung's work, written by one of Freud's star followers. We also provide an introduction, which overviews the preparation for a psychoanalytic reply to Jung, based heavily on correspondence, and suggests the need to attend to the differences in clinical methodology implied in the different concepts of the libido held by Freud and Jung."
Hill, B. (2015). Uroborus: A review of Jung’s thinking on the nature of the psyche and the transformation of libido. Psychological Perspectives, 58(1), 72–94.
Abstract: "For Jung, the nature of the psyche derives from its containment within the opposites of biological instinct and archetypal spirit. Jung describes the energy generated by this opposition as disposable psychic energy, and gives it the term libido, another word for which is will. Will denotes consciousness, so Jung concludes that psyche, that which is contained within the opposites of instinct and spirit, equals consciousness. The archetypes are 'instinctual images' that organize and regulate consciousness. Their nature is that of spirit, and they form the counter-pole to the biological matter from which the instincts arise. The intimate relationship between instinct and archetype is resolved in the central archetype of wholeness, the self, imaged by Jung as both a color wheel, in which the ultrared of instinct merges into and joins with the ultraviolet of the archetypes, and the uroborus, the tail-eating serpent, in which the spiritual archetype, the head of the serpent, feeds off of and is nourished by instinct, the serpent's tail. Jung postulates that within the individual psyche, libido arising from instinct is transformed away from its original instinctual object by its canalization into an analogue of that object. These analogues arise in the psyche as symbols, and their source is the sphere of the archetypes. The instinctual analogues in the form of symbols are projected upon the environment, and individuation is the process of becoming conscious of the archetypal psychological source of one's projections."
Zabriskie, B. (2014). Psychic energy and synchronicity. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 59(2), 157–164.
Abstract: "Given Jung's interest in physics' formulations of psychic energy and the concept of time, overlaps and convergences in the themes addressed in analytical psychology and in quantum physics are to be expected. These are informed by the active intersections between the matter of mind and mindfulness re matter. In 1911, Jung initiated dinners with Einstein. Jung's definition of libido in the pivotal 1912 Fordham Lectures reveals the influence of these conversations. Twenty years later, a significant period in physics, Wolfgang Pauli contacted Jung. Their collaboration led to the theory of synchronicity."