Inflation, Grandiosity and the Denial of Human Limits

Deborah Stewart (0:00)

They're bigger than human. They are inflated.

And of course, because everything that is psyche seeks a proper balance underneath that, our feelings of inferiority, one's own mortality, vulnerability, weaknesses, you know, a kind of the human condition, which the inflated person is seeking to deny.

Lisa Marchiano (0:35)

Welcome to This Jungian Life, conversations with Jungian analysts on the unseen forces shaping our lives and what it means to be truly human in today's complex world. I'm Lisa Marchiano, and I'm a Jungian analyst in Philadelphia.

Deborah Stewart (0:50)

I'm Deborah Stewart, a Jungian analyst on Cape Cod.

Lisa Marchiano (1:06)

Today, we're going to be talking about psychological inflation, which is a term that Jung used. He used it many times throughout his writings. It is an idea that has important links to other concepts in psychiatry. It has practical applications in our lives. We see it in the stories of celebrities, politicians, and also in myth and fairy tale. It is a truly archetypal experience. None of us are immune from inflation. And as we'll talk about today, it's not always negative, but it can be.

So let's do what we do and circumambulate inflation.

Deborah Stewart (1:52)

Oh, my goodness. You know, I think in terms of our developmental history, and the very first task in life is differentiating our ego from being immersed in what we would call the self, being immersed in a larger, somewhat unconscious whole. But it is whole, and that it takes a certain amount of inflation, even for a two-year-old, to stamp his feet and say no. And yet it's developmentally necessary, and in a way we could say the whole first half of life is a process of differentiating and developing ego from this mass of selfhood with which we were born and were originally immersed in. And so we want a certain amount of inflation that says, I'm going to try out for the football team. I'm going to be the first one in my family to go to college.

I'm going to take a trekking trip through India, let's say, of developing that sense of I and ability to get out in life, ability to take risk.

I think that the idea of a little bit of a big thing requires a little inflation to offset the anxiety that always comes from disobeying parents, differentiating from a culture, maybe questioning one's religious traditions and beliefs, and staying safe in the realm of childhood. But as you mentioned, the problem is we can get identified with archetypal energy, and then that's where pride goeth before a fall.

Lisa Marchiano (4:05)

Hello, I want to let This Jungian Life listeners know about a very special opportunity. This winter solstice, the Kosmos Institute will convene its inaugural residential colloquium in Ascona, Switzerland, in a magical landscape where Monte Verita and Aeronos rose to legendary prominence as centers of artistic, spiritual, and intellectual life. An intimate company of scholars and participants will gather at Hotel Ascona, high above Lago Maggiore for five winter days of exceptional depth and beauty. Distinguished speakers, including Gary Lockman and Lawrence Hillman, will offer extended lectures while shared meals, unhurried conversation, and time for reflection sustain the life of the gathering. I will also be among those presenting. A highlight will be a visit to Aeronos where Jung, Marie-Louise von Franz, Mircea Eliade, Henry Corbat, James Hellman, and others developed work that profoundly shaped depth psychology, archetypal thought, and symbolic imagination. Registration closes November 21st, and you can visit kosmosinstitute.org to learn more. That's Kosmos with a K. We'll put that in the show notes, and you should know that listeners of This Jungian Life get a 15% discount on registration. So I hope to see some of you in Switzerland this December. Right. So if we're just going to define it in a Jungian way, inflation is an exaggerated sense of self-importance. There's often a kind of, and we can talk about this more in a minute, but it's often accompanied by an unconscious sense of inferiority. But specifically in Jungian terms, it often means a kind of identification with an archetypal energy, and that is very, very dangerous. The archetypes are huge energy centers. When the ego becomes identified, says, I am this, not I'm in contact with this, or this is a beautiful thing and it's moving through me, but I am that, that can be very dangerous psychologically. So it's related to inflation is related to the kind of psychiatric idea of grandiosity.

That's a term in the DSM-5 that describes a certain mental state that you sometimes see, and for example, manic episodes.

If someone comes into your office and they're like, yeah, I'm going to run a marathon next week and then I'm writing this book, and this book is going to be really good and it's going to make me a million dollars, and they're kind of doing all this, you're like, okay, grandiosity, check.