Human Development
Reflection
Description:
The process of reflection is a turning inwards of the mind on itself so that a deliberative step intervenes between a stimulus and reaction to it. At the instinctive level this is a compulsive act but is transformed, when raised to conscious awareness, to be purposive and individually oriented introspection. This consciousness, being recognized as more than just knowledge, makes possible the balancing of opposites and seeing within. To Jung, reflection is the culture instinct demonstrating and maintaining its position as superior to nature, a capacity demonstrated by the animus which, in confrontation and integration with the anima giving relatedness, is manifest creatively in transformation of their relationship.