Jung and Fun

By Andrew Chung
May 16, 2005

In the novel, Diary by Chuck Palahniuk, there's an interesting chapter where Peter Wilmot plays a game with his wife Misty and asks her a series of questions. The game is a psychoanalysis that involves Carl Jung's beliefs on archetypes and is supposed to help one discover their unconscious views and feelings. Being skeptical (in my typical fashion), I tried it on myself to see if it might have any validity. And it proved very telling, for me at least. So I thought it might be fun for all of you to try the test out on yourselves.

The test is as follows:

1. Name any colour, and identify three words that describe that colour.

2. Name any animal, and identify three words that describe that animal.

3. Name any body of water and identify three words that describe that body of water.

4. Now imagine you are in a room with completely white walls and no doors or windows. Identify three words that describe how you feel in that room.

Although I've studied psychology quite a bit throughout university, I was never aware of this test. Thus, I was still skeptical whether it was something Jung actually used or simply a tool for Palahniuk's story. So I did a little research and it is indeed a test based on Jung's theories, but not created by Jung himself. It is based on his theory of archetypes, which are basically ideas or feelings that are not learned from life but something inherent from the day we are born and have a universal meaning. For example, the mother archetype is our innate capacity to recognize the required relationship between a nurturer and nurtured. Thus, from birth we seek a 'mother' figure for survival. In the test, each of the four questions involves archetypes with different meanings.

Now this test has slight variations, which are not always consistent. The meaning I found of the above archetypes slightly differs from test to test. Palahniuk's is most likely one version of this test. Overall however they get across the same ideas with very similar interpretations. But the variations may be a testament to the apparent dilution of the test over time, thus it may not be very precise in accordance with Jung's beliefs. Still, it appears to have some insight if you at all believe in the legitimacy of Jung's psychoanalysis.

Anyhow, I'm not going to bore you with any further details. I know I'm teasing you since I still haven't given the meaning behind the above questions according to Palahniuk's book. Without further ado:

1. The colour chosen represents how we view ourselves. Therefore the three words identified describe this view.

2. The animal chosen represents how we view other people.

3. The body of water represents how we view our sex life.

4. The white room represents our feelings toward death.

Insightful or a load of bullshit? Either way I found it to be an amusing game to pass the time.

On that note, I recommend reading Diary. It too contains some intriguing insight. Insight on the life and behaviour of an artist that is. Being an artist myself, perhaps the Jung test was not the only thing that proved very telling for me.