There are a number of definitions and descriptions of giftedness. This article provides five markers of giftedness which orient from Jungian theory. Each theme is addressed in turn, providing examples of how these markers express in the gifted.
Transcendentalist educator Amos Bronson Alcott believed that truth is spherical
(Nichols, 2006, p. 61).
It is an interesting image, one which suggests we can circumambulate truth, regarding it from a moving, meditative stance.
Alternatively, we might consider truth as a globe we can hike, each new destination rife with fresh viewpoints. The sphere image might also remind us that there are surface truths, as well as core truths.
The concept of giftedness, too, may be spherical. It is a mental image we can walk around, muse on, and consider from different angles. To Jacobsen, for instance, the hallmarks of giftedness include intensity, complexity and drive
(1999a, pp. 253-286). Lovecky, meanwhile, cites divergent thinking ability, excitability, sensitivity, perceptivity, and entelechy
(1990, p. 66). Also dotting the giftedness sphere are IQ-related theories, theories of asymmetry,
questions of nature, nurture, and even privilege (Silverman, 2013, pp. 28-32, p. 43, pp. 21-22, p. 197). But however many ways we contemplate the sphere of giftedness, surely there are still more points we can make, more perspectives
we can take.
The starting point for this article is the idea that Jungian psychology has something important to offer giftedness studies. In particular, I will attempt to formulate an image of giftedness using Jungian concepts. Given Jung’s rich vision of the psyche, how might we envision the gifted experience?
Jung and giftedness
In 1942, Jung presented a paper entitled The Gifted Child
(1946/1954). In it, Jung responds to an inquiry made by the Basel School Council concerning gifted students: Should they be educated separately from their cognitively
normal peers (1946/1954, p.135)? Jung opposes the proposition (1946/1954, paras. 246-247), a preference which runs counter to much contemporary research (e.g., Neihart & Yeo, 2018, pp. 504-505). In fact, Jung gets
a few things ‘wrong’ in the article. He certainly misses the mark on giftedness and the early development of morality (Davis et al., 2017, p. 25), expressing concerns about the potential for moral laxity in the gifted
(Jung, 1946/1954, para. 240).
If Jung seems to drop the ball on some points, however, it is important to recall that he did not have access to the wealth of research and dialogue that we enjoy today. Still, his paper offers us a few intriguing tidbits.
The first is the very fact of its existence. Even admirers of analytical psychology are often surprised to discover that Jung wrote on giftedness. The Gifted Child,
in fact, marks Jung as one of the early, Phase One
thinkers
in giftedness studies (Dai, 2018, p. 15). Also of special interest is a passage in which Jung indirectly but clearly ‘comes out’ as gifted, himself (1946/1954, para. 246). Given that Jung identified as gifted, and given that he
posited that every psychology is a subjective confession
of its founder (1931/1967, para. 774), we must consider that Jungian psychology has been, since its inception, a psychology of giftedness. This point, I feel,
is especially pertinent as we approach the idea of a Jungian image of the gifted. Jungian markers of giftedness are relevant because Jungian thought is gifted thought. More, Jung’s psychology is deep, enchanting, and
gives us fresh images for the exploration of giftedness.
Of Jung’s works, I will focus primarily on two essays which address the nature of the artist, but which open doors of insight for the broader gifted psyche, as well.[1]
These are On the Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetry
(Jung, 1922/1966a) and Psychology and Literature
(Jung, 1950/1966b). Jung, however, is not the only Jungian to have spoken on giftedness. James Hillman, Jungian analyst and the founder of archetypal psychology, authored the
extraordinary The Soul’s Code (1996), an arguably neo-Platonic examination of entelechy in extraordinary individuals. Also of special importance for this discussion are Erich Neumann’s Art and the Creative Unconscious (1974),
Creative Man (2017a), and The Place of Creation (2017b). Neumann, a philosopher and Jungian analyst, also drew deeply from the well of his Judaic roots, creating a body of work that is both psychological and spiritual.
five markers of the gifted psyche
In creating a Jungian image of giftedness, I propose five markers of the gifted psyche:
- The gifted have a rich, often highly reflexive experience of their internal world.
- The gifted experience the daimon intensely.
- The gifted are opus-centric.
- The gifted are often torch-bearers.
- The gifted have a pronounced connection to unitary reality.
Let’s consider each in turn.
• The gifted have a rich, often highly reflexive experience of their internal world.
One upon a time, the Oracle at Delphi proclaimed that there was no man wiser than Socrates[2] (Plato, 1989, p. 7). Socrates, baffled by this proclamation, set out to discover if the Oracle was correct. After speaking to a number of apparently wise and knowledgeable men, Socrates concluded that he was indeed wisest, if only because:
Here, Socrates has scrutinized his inner experience. How is his thinking like that of others? How is it different? In fact, Socrates might be understood as an early advocate for a life of metacognition,
the practice of watching one’s own thought processes
(Daniels, 2009, p. 22). Far from exclusive to the philosophically learned, metacognition is among the essential components of giftedness
(Zhang, 2021, pp. 492-493).
From a gifted child’s inquiry as to why the inner world does not manifest visibly in the outer world — Why can’t I see what I’m thinking? —
to the mature meditator who observes the subtle processes of consciousness,
metacognition is a more than a tool. It is a way of being.
There are, of course, many other forms of rich inner experience. The traits that accompany Dabrowski’s imaginational overexcitability certainly qualify: vividness of imagery, richness of association, liking for the unusual,
and a facility for dreams, fantasies, and inventions
(Piirto, 2010, p. 73). Speaking specifically to the inner lives of gifted children, Jung takes particular notice of intelligent fantas[ies] which demonstrate
originality, consistency, intensity, and subtlety
(1946/1954, para, 237). Such experiences become reflexive when we keep dream journals, write poetry about our intrapsychic experience, ask questions about the nature
of the internal world — all practices which, anecdotally speaking, are common among gifted individuals.
Yet another form of rich inner experience among the gifted, I suggest, is a sensitivity to one’s own psychic plurality. In reviewing the literature of giftedness, one finds numerous accounts of multiplicity of mind. We see this in ‘Tracia,’ who observed:
Gifted authors like Philip K. Dick echo similar sentiments:
In Jungian thought, psychic plurality is largely an expression of the personal complexes, those subpersonalities within us which we often experience as the ‘parts’ of ourselves (Harkey, 2022). So foundational
to the operation of psyche are the complexes that Jung considers them to play the most important part
of all functions in the internal world (Jung, 1921/1971, para. 923). Further, it is through a process of reflexivity,
of bringing the unconscious contents of the complex into consciousness, that we begin to undertake the most important of Jungian journeys, that of individuation (Samuels et al, 1991, p. 76).
• The gifted experience the daimon intensely.
Here we turn to Hillman’s work, in which he cites a deep connection with the daimon — one’s genius — as a source of high levels of creativity and eminence (1996). The ‘noteworthy,’ however, are not the only ones to
experience the daimon. Every single person,
Hillman writes, is born with a defining image
(1996, p. 11). More, he posits, Individuality resides in a formal cause
(Hillman, 1996, p. 11). Whether we call that cause image, character, fate, genius, calling, daimon, soul, destiny
(Hillman, 1996, p. 10) — or even view it as a mythological flourish on the gifted trait of entelechy
(Lovecky, 1990, pp. 79-80) — the daimon has [our] interest at heart
(Hillman, 1996, p. 12).
Dr. Anne Rudloe, marine biologist and Zen practitioner, also experienced a voice:
For David Lynch, the polymathic film director, daimonic communications are unvoiced but distinct, guiding him to certain projects. Offered the director’s chair for a particular film, he had this experience:
For others, the voice of the daimon speaks in sudden silences. Dr. , an astronomer, recalls:
Jung, too, was in possession of — or was perhaps possessed by — a daimon which expresse[d] itself absolutely and ruthlessly
(Jaffe, 2023, p. 77). Gently or forcefully, the daimon impels the gifted forward, often
expressing itself as a powerful drivenness.
• The gifted are opus-centric.
If the daimon is a driving force, then the opus — the work — is the focus of that drive. The opus,
writes Neumann, is its creator’s child; it is the product of his individual psychic transformation and wholeness,
and at the same time a new objective entity which opens up something to mankind … a form of creative revelation
(1974, p. 166).
For Socrates, we might consider that the love of wisdom, philosophy, was his opus:
For others, the opus may be less concrete, perhaps a life-long process — for instance, the ongoing pursuit of arete, or excellence. It may be the creation of a supportive, nourishing home or community. Or the opus can be a series of smaller projects which, taken as a whole, evoke a greater, perhaps ineffable, truth.
Whatever the opus, the unborn work in the psyche of the artist [or gifted person] is a force of nature that achieves its end either with tyrannical might or with the subtle cunning of nature herself
(Jung, 1922/1966a, para. 115).
In the face of such a powerful force, the gifted may experience themselves as subordinate to [their] work,
even as the opus has escaped from the limitations of the personal and has soared beyond the personal concerns of its creator
(Jung, 1922/1966a, para. 110, para. 107). Such observations sympathize with Jacobsen’s reflection that, for the gifted, personal interests can come to feel like a holy mission
(1999b, p. 19).
It may be the demands of the opus, in fact, which generate some of the more challenging traits of giftedness: ruthlessness, selfishness, vanity
(Jung, 1950/1966b, para. 158), as well as stubbornness … egocentrism, discourteousness,
[and] indifference to convention
(Davis et al., 2017, p. 36). When the work stands out as the most important thing, other considerations — from self-care to tending our relationships — can fall away.
something profoundly alive in the soul(Jung, 1950/1966b, para. 159). It is through dedication to the opus that the gifted make their offerings to the higher self and to the world.
• The gifted are often torch-bearers.
In the final sentence of his essay, The Gifted Child,
Jung writes: The gifted ones … are the torch-bearers, chosen for that high office by nature herself
(1946/1954, para. 252). This powerful image suggests that the gifted are
individuals who lead, guide, or light a path.
Under the sway of their native humility (Neumann, 1974, p. 194), I suspect few gifted individuals would identify themselves as torch-bearers. With that in mind, the question of whether Socrates was a torch-bearer might best be answered by considering his effect on the generations that followed him:
Given the hundred-plus generations of Western philosophers since Plato’s time, not to mention all the writers, artists, and theorists he has inspired, it seems fair to say that Socrates bore a torch that burned brightly, indeed. How can we account for such profound influence?
Lovecky’s writings suggest that the gifted trait of entelechy is often accompanied by a propensity for torch-bearing. People … seek [such people] as friends and mentors
(Lovecky, 1990, p. 80). They [give] others hope and
determination to achieve their own self-actualization
(Lovecky, 1990, p. 79). Through their dedication to the opus, the entelechic gifted evoke similar commitment in others, drawing others to strive toward something greater.
• The gifted have a pronounced connection to unitary reality.
Socrates mused:
He believed that learning is recollection
(Plato, 1989, p. 364), suggesting that, in some way, we are each connected to a vast store of knowledge. Further, Socrates considered that there is a certain realm where all
truths reside — and that through our reason, we can develop an understanding of these truths (Plato, 1989, p. 494). Such a domain might be understood as a form of unitary reality,
a term which springs from the work of Erich Neumann.
In Neumann’s view, unitary reality is that state in which the spiritual coalesces with the psychic and the reality of the world to form a single, unitary whole.
(Neumann, 2017a, p. 224). He also argues that creative
persons — the gifted — have a special relationship to this deeper, more primordial, and at the same time, more complete reality
(Neumann, 1974, p. 181, p. 177). The gifted are captivated
by unitary and return to it over and over again
during their lives (Neumann, 1974, p. 181).
While Neumann’s image may resonate for many, I would also suggest that the unitary reality may ‘look’ different for different people. For instance, while Neumann’s unitary reality carries a distinctly spiritual tinge, a materialist scientist might embrace a unitary reality in which all things can be understood, if only we perceive them from the proper vantage point. A person with a strong imaginational overexcitability might perceive such a reality as an integration of dream, fantasy, and waking realities.
Annemarie Roeper, too, envisions a unitary reality:
Ultimately, of course, a truly unitary reality would embrace all of these things and more — yet another expression of Alcott’s spherical truth. Yes, we are all part of a vast wholeness, but each of us interprets that totality through our unique, personal lens.
Perhaps even more essential than the gifted person’s special relationship with unitary reality is the way unitary reality and opus interact in the gifted psyche. Neumann posits that the gifted feel drawn
to reunite the split world through the formative power of [their] creative Eros, and in this way to restore a fragment of the unitary reality
(2017b, p. 178, italics added). We live in a world of schism —
mental and material, cultural and political, personal and interpersonal. But the projects of the gifted — be they artistic, scientific, activist, or otherwise — often have a direct or indirect aim of re-establishing
a sense of connectedness. Jung’s psychology, for example, pointed toward a unity of psyche, conscious and unconscious. Einstein strove for a unified field theory. George Washington Carver unearthed a universe of treasures
within a single object: the simple peanut. The impetus to restore a fragment of unitary reality may, in fact, be one of the most fundamental manifestations of giftedness — an inescapable call to recall our
source, whatever we understand that source to be.
our spot on the sphere
In keeping with the tradition of Carl Jung, the image I offer here stands as an as-if
(Jung, 1951/1969, para. 265), a model rather than a certainty. For some, the image may not feel like a ‘fit.’ Still others will
decide that it is spot-on — except that it needs just … one … tweak. For those inclined to tweak, perhaps they will be interested in Neumann’s Jung-influenced snapshot of creative man,
which observes the presence of
an intensified psychic tension that is present … from the very start
(1974, p. 180; pp. 177-205 for complete passage) of gifted life. The creation of a contemporary, developmental Jungian image of giftedness is a promising space for future exploration.
A Jungian model is especially valuable, first, because it provides a fresh angle on the sphere of giftedness and, second, because Jung’s psychology respects the core truth that creative giftedness is a mystery
(Roeper, 1991, p. 27, italics added). There are many things we may never know, but can only dream and imagine about. Such a mystery is exciting, I think. It keeps us questioning. And the more we explore deep into the heart
of our experience, the closer we come to embracing the full sphere of giftedness. As Jungian Russell Lockhart observes, Everything belongs
(1987, p. 99).