Art & The Transcendent Function
Art as the Transcendent Function, where Two become One through Art
Art, image, mask, and symbol are metaphors for transforming the psyche through the activation of the transcendent function. The image is born out of the somatic unconscious, through tending the embodied image over time, the new life of the image emerges into the possibility of being.
“My approach is deeply rooted in the connection between the creative imagination, the body and the unconscious, bridging the unknown to the known through the embodied creative process we may arrive on new ground, revealing and integrating the emerging new life in the image into the possibility of being.”
The Transcendent Function
The transcendent function can be defined as a psychic function that bridges the gap between two conflicting opposites within the psyche, holding the tension of these two opposing forces, such as conscious and unconscious, until a third or new attitude emerges.
If the conscious and unconscious contents in the psyche are held without becoming one-sided, a new attitude or new ‘third’ is then integrated into ego consciousness.
‘Either/or become both/and’, the transformation of one attitude to another occurs through integrating both perspectives (Chodorow, 1997, p.4). At the core of Jung’s concept is the transformational quality of the symbol as transcendent function.
Jung maintains that the transcendent function is the necessary movement within the psyche that sustains psychological growth; without it, the psyche becomes fixed or rigid. It can be argued that the archetypal process of initiation within rites of passage occurs when one goes through the transitional stage of liminality, leading to an altering of identity from one state to another, “The transcendent function is a psychological expression of those archetypal processes” (Miller, 2004, p.108).
The language that describes both the transcendent function and liminality has many similarities. “Liminality is a phenomena that allows us to enter an either/or space, that allows the reformulation of the old into the new.” (Miller, 2004, p.108) Many authors have recognised the correlation between the transcendent function and liminality (Miller, 2004; Hall,1991; Sharp, 1991). One of which writes, “what Turner’s concept of social liminality does for status in a society, Jung’s psychological concept of transcendent function does for the movement of the person through the life process of individuation” (Hall, 1991, p. 34). Miller (2004, p.108 ) concurs with Hall’s statement when stating that, “Liminality is the archetypal wellspring from which the transcendent function emerges.”
Jungian analyst, Marion Woodman, when writing on rites of passage, concurs with Miller, recognising the correlation between image, liminality and the birth of the new attitude through the transcendent function when stating;
“Rites of passage are accompanied by image. The image partakes of spirit and matter, belongs to neither, is possessed by neither. The image is the map for the new country. We hold the tension until the new image comes; if we do not the gold is lost, the initiation fails.”
The embodied transformational process in the approach I use in art therapy and mask work can be considered alchemical, as psyche enters matter through embodied engagement with the unconscious, unity of psyche and matter births the new embodied imagined self through mask or image, Jung termed this the “Coniunctio” - Literally, “conjunction,” psychologically, it points to the union of opposites and the birth of new possibilities.”
Creative expression in this way can manifest as the transcendent function, emerging out of the unconscious into consciousness. The embodied dialogue that may be encountered through my therapeutic approach to art therapy engages the potentiality of the creative unconscious, bringing this new life into the possibility of being.
My approach to mask work in art therapy incorporates an embodied approach through the use of influences of Jungian psychology, neurobiology and the expressive arts, i.e., artmaking, movement, enactment, breathwork. It offers the possibility to deepen the potential of a transformative process when the image or mask is viewed as a symbolic representation of the transcendent function. The possibility for unlived potential coming into form through Art, Image, Symbol, Mask, has the capacity to enhance self-agency in the development of a solid identity that is grounded in the body.
“Image is psyche.”
CARL JUNG
