Vas Bene Clausem - A Dynamic Frame Image.docx

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The Vas Bene Clausem
Morgan Stebbins
JPA, New York
One of the foundational images in alchemical literature is the vas bene clausem, or well sealed vessel. The image of the vas provides analytical psychology with its version of the analytic frame. Although the vas is unique to Jung's model and has its own particular emphases, it should be said that almost all models of depth psychology have some similar concept. The development of concepts such as the field or container indicate that analysis takes place in a specifically demarcated conceptual and physical area outside social convention. Although it subsumes aspects of the so-called frame that appear in common psychological understanding, the image of the vas as model of analytic method, perceptual field and rhetoric far surpasses the model conjured by the word frame and deserves direct exploration. In fact, the vas is a formal model of the analytic symbolic mode itself. Because of the hermeneutic subtlety of this model and because it diverges from the standard frame model in certain respects, there is a need to clarify our foundational image of the analytic container – part of which project is to let it inform us rather than the other way around.
General Ethical Considerations
The original conception of this project was as a response to the norm within the psychoanalytic world of publishing patient material. It has grown substantially since then to include many more of the formative dynamics of the vas. As such, this paper is not meant as an exercise in formal ethics, but rather as an exploration of perhaps the central image of the analytic container in Jung's work. This is also not meant to be an exhaustive exploration of the many functions and levels of the vas image. Rather, it begins a discussion of an important image and its implications. Ethically speaking we might take a note from Lacan in understanding that the factor most critical to the analysis is the desire of the analyst. (Lacan 1981) He concludes that to the extent that an analyst needs to gets something other than payment from the analytic encounter, there is an objectifying of the patient and a hidden agenda at work. That is not to say that various other kinds of experience may not occur (such as satisfaction for a job well done, or the inevitable change of both parties) but rather that if the analytic space is where the analysts looks for those experiences, there is an ethical issue and a misuse of the vas.
In a subtle but related sense, Jung proposes that a clinician may not be engaged in building (or confirming) a theory while engaged in the practice of analysis. That is, there should be no theorizing on patient time. One of Jung's less understood and less popular stances has to do with the moral imperative that any point of view carries – and how critical this is in a process of soul-making. Latter parts of this paper suggest some creative ways around this potential roadblock to theorizing and publishing – since both of those activities are critical to the ongoing relevance and liveliness of analytic work.
Finally, if the reader has been in analysis him or herself, then personally imagining the various emotional impacts of the disclosure of one's own analytic material (or of any secret well and truly vouchsafed to another) will enhance the reading of this paper.
Part II: The Texts and Images of The Vas Bene Clausem
It should be enough to say that in trying to conceptualize the dynamics of containment, transference, and transformation we are continually reaching in to a conceptual area that is not transparent, and perhaps will never be. It is also understood that every clinician employs a model of some sort which includes a set of assumptions and an agenda; furthermore this model grounds the analytic work every moment of each clinical hour. However not all clinicians are aware of this: models are either more or less well-thought-out and more or less consciously held - but either way the model is there, and it should be obvious that the clearer it is, the better. Any statement implying that one has no model is an admission that the model is being hidden or is unconscious. In other words, if there is anything that the subjectivist and close-reading theories have shown us, there is no such thing as an absolutely neutral stance, and claims to hold such a stance are dangerously naïve. However, the logic of Jung's notion of the collective aspect of the transference allows us a way out of a solipsistic subjectivity.
The Vas as a Cornerstone Concept
In Psychology and Alchemy, Jung quotes the Rosarium Philosophorum: "one is the stone, one the medicine, one the vessel, one the procedure, and one the disposition... Let all be one in one circle or vessel." This passage shows the interwoven or ultimately undifferentiated level of the psychological process as well as five conceptual lines of demarcation. We could consider a number of psychological parallels to these alchemical terms such as the idea of goal (or fantasy of there being a goal), the interpretation and its poison/panacea aspect, the vas as psyche and frame, the solve et coagula of our spagyric art, and of course the symbolic attitude.
Maria Prophetessa, one of Jung's favorite alchemists and the author of the Axiom Mariae claims that the concept of the vas is so central that it is the area of knowledge reserved for the true adept. In fact, "Maria Prophetissa declares that the whole of the secret lies in knowing about the Hermetic vessel. 'Unum est vas' (the vessel is one) is emphasized again and again" (Jung, Vol 12). Similarly, Mylius indicates that the vessel is the root and principle of our art and furthermore that God created the vas cerebri or cranium in order to catch the soul.
Finally, Gerhard Dorn, perhaps the most psychologically oriented of all alchemists indicates that the vas pellicanicum "is the lapis and its container." For Jung, the duplex nature of the vas is critical since ultimately it is the self that contains itself. Thus we may show that the vas that has formed in the analyst from his or her own experience and encounters with images allows the true vas of the analysis (held and understood by the analyst, as the analyst) and is then the primary model for the development of the vas of the analysand. I think it is clear that the term temenos is no exaggeration when the frame is thought of in this way.
Jung explains it clearly: "…it is essentially a psychic operation, the creation of an inner readiness to accept the archetype of the self in whatever subjective form it appears" (p87f.).
In short, the vas allows us to do psychology. It is the soul-catcher, the symbolic process, the capacity for reflection, and the goal. This is what indicates that we are not, while practicing analysis, in a normal or normative social setting. Symbolic interpretation and the analysis of the transference would be ludicrous in any other context. The vas marks off a space for the analyst's protection as well as for the patient's, and, as we will see, for the benefit of the transformation of mercurius itself. To look at it the other way around, the introduction of social and non-symbolic attitudes into the process is certainly, from the alchemist's point of view, ruinous.

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Texts of the vas bene clausem
Although the vas and its synonyms are discussed throughout Jung's mature works, there are three places in the Collected Works where the vas bene clausem is specifically discussed. All are found in Psychology and Alchemy and each will be briefly discussed below. Each example illustrates an aspect of the vas and will be presented in order of increasing complexity. The various synonyms emphasize one aspect or another, but all participate in the following dynamics.
Example 1: Paragraph 347
In this section of Psychology and Alchemy, Jung discusses the dynamic of projection. Projection is a nuanced concept which describes the connection between our ideas and perceptions of psyche and matter. Projection, in a sufficiently adapted form, acts as perception, or to put it another way, if there is a good enough fit between a projection and its hook then psychological and physical life activities are unhindered. However, when confronted by a lack of adaptation or a situation that is both unknown and of interest (the fascinans), then there occurs a projection that can be re-collected (a la Von Franz) to the benefit of increased consciousness.
This is of course why the alchemists were of such interest to Jung. Each one "experienced his projection as a property of matter; but what he was in reality experiencing was his own unconscious" (par. 346). The way to see the projective quality of experience, and therefore to see the unconscious material, was to enclose it. For example, "Take of common rainwater a good quantity, at least 10 quarts, preserve it well sealed in glass vessels for at least 10 days, then it will deposit matter and faeces on the bottom…"
The vessel is glass so that we can witness what is going on, and the sealing allows a process of differentiation to occur so that prima materia, the basis of all deep work, can precipitate. Without this precaution the unconscious material, being unconscious, "would escape for precisely that reason" (par 347).
We can also see from the illustrations in this section that being well sealed is a consistent element. All of the following illustrations show different aspects or phases or levels of the process – and it is easy to get carried away with the content: but the context is that of a process being contained in a transparent experimental vessel. If this can be accomplished, then a miraculous differentiation occurs. Where once there was purity and inoffensive natural water there is now a differentiation and precipitation of the dirty and material aspects of one's personality. The art-ificial process can begin.
Example 2: Paragraph 167
Our next example develops the theme of containment and expands it to include the prima materia, the dynamics of the mercurial substance and the miraculous nature of transformation. The latter appears as the equivalence of the vas with the alchemically paradoxical fiery water.
Again Jung quotes from the Rosarium: "And take care that thy door be well and firmly closed, so that he who is within cannot escape, and - God willing - thou wilt reach the goal... be guided by nature and use true not fantastic imagination."
Two different points are made here (or three if you count the deo condescente). One is the reiteration of the need to prevent what is inside from escaping, the other is the distinction between true and fantastic imagination – these are two of the major procedural modes of analysis: the container must be closed because it, of itself, is trying to escape, and stick to the specificity of the image regardless of the anxiety (or the more usual tendency to valorize any imagination whatsoever as creative). Jung is quite clear about the latter point in paragraph 219.
The differentiation between true and fantastic imagination is a critical analytic endeavor. There is not room here to discuss this, but it is well covered by Salman (2003). For our purposes we can see that this differentiation is possible only once the door of the container is well closed. It is easy to imagine the problems of doing analysis on a street corner or with the door to the waiting room open.
Jung explains that "The vas bene clausem is a precautionary measure mentioned very frequently in alchemy, and is the equivalent of the magic circle. In both cases the idea is to protect what is within from the intrusion and admixture of what is without, as well as to prevent it from escaping".
The footnote to this section clarifies the importance of the problem of contamination: "Nothing enters into it [the stone] that did not come from it; since, if anything extraneous were to be added to it, it would at once be spoilt." This point is really a derivative of symbolic specificity, meaning that one must use only what is inside the container. This can be grounded by thinking of the times an intervention seems so perfect that it needs to
Jung continues, "Another, no less important, idea is that of the Hermetic vessel (vas Hermetis) typified by the retorts or melting-furnaces that contained the substances to be transformed. Although an instrument, it nevertheless has peculiar connections with the prima materia as well as with the lapis, so it is no mere piece of apparatus. For the alchemists the vessel is something truly marvelous: a vas mirabile" (par. 338).
This quotation shows the connection between the vessel, the material, the goal, and the transformation. "Thus we hear that the vas is the water or aqua permanens, which is none other than the Mercurius of the philosophers. But not only is it the water, it is also its opposite: fire." This is, indeed, our "true hidden vessel" (par 338, note).
Furthermore, the vas must be completely round and is usually glass, so that "matter can be influenced by the heavenly bodies" (Dorn, Theatr Chem.). However we hear that it may also be egg shaped since it is the matrix from which the filius philosophorum is to be born. "One naturally thinks of this vessel as a sort of retort or flask; but one soon learns that this is an inadequate conception since the vessel is more mystical idea, a true symbol…"

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Example 3: Paragraph 146, On the process
This final example shows the tendency of the analytic material to escape (on its own, so to speak) and the precautions necessary to prevent that. This is very important – if it is trying to escape then we cannot assume it is contained by our habitual actions. That is, habit understood as unconscious norm acts in collusion with the habit that mercurius employs to escape. In other words, the natural order of human interaction is social, collective, and therefore unconscious of itself. In this light, the description of alchemy as an opus contra naturam makes even more sense.
The analytic work is in fact contra naturam in many subtle ways that contradict and, at times, actively question the socially accepted modes of behavior; these same habituated modes may compromise our analytic integrity. After all, it is a truism that the analysand is unconsciously motivated to remove the analyst from any analytic stance, and so is the analyst! Later we will consider some findings from cognitive science and evolutionary anthropology that will help us see the collective gossip-oriented potency of our non-analytic, socially conditioned behaviors.
As Jung says: "… if the life-mass is to be transformed a circumambulatio is necessary, i.e., exclusive concentration on the centre, the place of creative change. During this process one is "bitten" by animals; in other words, we have to expose ourselves to the animal impulses of the unconscious without identifying with them and without 'running away'; for flight from the unconscious would defeat the purpose of the whole proceeding." Flight from the unconscious takes many forms – in this case it is a reversion to social norms and the gratification of the analyst's non-analytic agenda.
This much is well known and is common to most psychodynamic modes. One important facet of any symbolic work is the excruciating task of facing our impulses, tolerating the suffering this can cause and understanding their symbolic meanings in order to, ideally, assimilate them. This process may become quite arduous and there is a limit to how much can be faced at any given point. How we envision this limit is key to our theory and has dramatic practice considerations. Many schools employ a concept of resistance. Jung, however, attributes the tendency to "run away" to the transformative agency itself:
"…the warning about "running away" [has] clear parallels in the opus alchymicum: the need to concentrate on the work and to meditate upon it is stressed again and again. The tendency to run away, however, is attributed not to the operator but to the transforming substance. Mercurius is evasive….the vessel must be well sealed so that what is within may not escape" (Italics mine).
Jung emphasizes the importance of this in quoting Philalethes, from Ripley: "You must be very wary how you lead him, for if he can find an opportunity he will give you the slip, and leave you to a world of misfortune."
The alchemists imagined that it was the substance itself that was running away, and Jung explains that as this tendency becomes conscious within analysis, it can become a moral question and therefore a conscious choice. Thus the patient's side becomes well explored, but one must ask if the analyst is taking as strong and protective a stance in terms of an adequate conceptualization of the process.
"Hardly have conscious and unconscious touched when they fly asunder on account of their mutual antagonism." Only by means of the container within which the process is held can this situation be overcome: the ability to fly off in "…the opposite directions [has] to be removed, i.e. the conflict between conscious and unconscious is at once resolutely stopped and the conscious mind is forced to stand the tension by means of the circumambulatio. The magic circle just traced will also prevent the unconscious from breaking out again, for such a breaking out would be equivalent to psychosis."
This passage raises the stakes. The mutual antagonism of conscious and unconscious poles, and, I would say, the mutual seduction inherent in them puts pressure on the analyst's concept of frame dynamics from many sides; the patient's desire typically inclines toward fusion , social and archetypal behavior patterning shape conventional notions of compassion, mercurius is described as escapist, and the personal process of the analyst can push toward gratification. As Jung points out: "…the sensible world has an equally devastating effect on the deeper psychic processes when it breaks into them as a causa efficiens."
In this Jung implies that the center and the circumference of the vas are the necessary poles. The connection to the center is a bond, even a chain, which denotes guidelines and therefore boundaries: "and being chained to the arms and breast of my mother, and to her substance, I cause my substance to hold together and to rest." (Tractatus Aureus, ch. IV) A symbolic example of this is the appearance of prison imagery at just the moment when the vas as both guideline and container appears in the material of the patient for whom the lack of sufficient boundaries has been the norm.
"In the present case the point seems to be to capture and regulate the animal instincts so as to exorcise the danger of falling into the unconscious." This has a parallel as the analyst watches the vessel that is being created in the patient by the process itself, one that can be conceptualized as an attitude that does not let out (or concretize) projections. This may lead, deo condescente as always, to the extraction of the essence of the image or situation as manifested in the eighth Rosarium image.
So, "If reason is not to be outraged on the one hand and the creative play of images not violently suppressed on the other, a circumspect and farsighted synthetic procedure is required in order to accomplish the paradoxical union of irreconcilables." (par 186)
Some dynamics of the vas bene clausem
The dynamics discussed above can be somewhat abbreviated. The tendency for Mercurius to escape obviates the traditional Freudian concept of resistance because the escape attempt is not only symbolic and purposive, it is not concerned with ego dynamics in any case (nor is the Freudian concept except in its misuse). Therefore the analyst cannot contain the process merely by an act of will or a piece of discourse; rather if the process is seen as and through the vas then so-called frame breaks take on a different character altogether. The concept of resistance models the common tendency for the subject of analysis to insist on a concrete referent in the dialogue – if this is seen as a gateway rather than a hindrance (and actually understood as well) then analyst's move, contra naturam, to respond or at least imagine the situation symbolically becomes situated within the concept of telos.
Next we see that nothing can or needs to be added without spoiling the process- this is perhaps not news but does have implications both for the use of counter-transference and for the exposure of patient material in any public context, spoken or written, as well as in the proper level of dialogue with training candidates. That is, analysis is wild to the extent that an interpretive remark is made outside of the vas. In addition, any comment by the analyst that is not derived from the symbolic text of the patient's unconscious material is likewise corrupt. It should be noted that this derivation is often quite subtle, fluid and creative, so it should not be thought of as any kind of one-to-one correspondence.
Finally we confront the concept that employing a well sealed container is something foundational to the practice of analysis. Analytic practice should not be determined by social convention even though social norms are strongly reinforced by archetypal forces. Best practice also would not include developing new theory at the expense of the sanctity of the temenos. Rather we could say that like the pelican, nurturing the image in situ and allows for true imagination. One notices as well that none of these observations are new, but they gain a level of importance when connected in this way to the image of the vas and clearly articulated in terms of their practice considerations.
Synonyms
The vas has many synonyms in alchemy. There is not space to review the dynamics implied in each one, but a simple grouping of them can show how each emphasizes and deepens a certain aspect of the concept of the analytic container that is referred to in our texts on the vas bene clausem: the Hermetic krater, cave, holy grail, fountain, and pool all emphasize holding, egg, furnace, pelican, retort, and virgin express both the well sealed but more importantly gestating elements. Mercurius, cerebri, cosmos, garden, round, and Unum variations of the vas-image point conceptually toward the totalizing aspect of vas dynamics, aqua permanens, lapis, Mercurius, (and to some extent fire) we see the vas as the method (with some fluid capacity to adjust intensity or heat) and the goal and finally, the mystic, mirabile, and temenos images emphasize the importance of the work by employing religious language as well as emphasizing indeterminate futurity along the lines of the Deo concedente principle in alchemy.

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Part III: Examples, Practical Considerations, and Consequences
Supervision and Case Seminar
Within analytic training, the vas includes extensions of the confidential, symbolic, and patient-oriented attitude in the form of case seminars and direct supervision. Both of these may be seen as analytic sub-containers; both are expressly for the good of the patient and forego either the possible further dissemination of information or the aggrandizement of the clinician's reputation. In either case the vas is seen as unbroken and the underlying message to the psyche of the patient is one of care and understanding.
Aliveness and teaching
Live images have energy. As Jung has shown, this energy is available to an analysand if the image is understood. Experience shows that images that are highly affectively charged are difficult to work with, but then using the same old tired examples can be a little flat. There is a large range from the experience of someone caught in a nasty complex all the way to a bland and lifeless abstract presentation. This quality of aliveness is probably one reason that clinicians use patient information in their presentations. However, once we consider the real implications, the question becomes one of how much work the analyst is willing to do to create a compelling dramatic narrative, leveled against the amount of care one invests in the vas and the seriousness with which one takes the idea of the temenos.
A bit more about the statistical nature of theory is necessary at this point. Jung is clear that there is nothing one can say about an individual that has relevance for another individual. In fact, each person is an absolute singularity about which the only approach possible is open exploration. On the other hand, it is clear from many years of cognitive research that humans have an automatic generalizing function that helps to classify and organize data.
Because of this generalizing function a specific example does not imply that this exact situation will reoccur and therefore be treatable, but that situations like this one may be approached from the same angle. This point will be taken up again in the section on teaching, but if the arduous extraction of the principle were done by the presenting clinician, there would then be an opportunity to fill it again with any number of exemplary typical situations, resulting in a much more instructive experience as well as maintaining the vas.
There are many other possible sources with more inherent vitality, each with pros and cons that should be weighed and debated in our communities of analysts. They include one's own analytic experience, publicly volunteered case material, carefully made-up cases (this is a good imaginal exercise in itself) and an emerging class: the active imagination clinical project. This last is a discipline in itself, but comes to working out a case situation with the autonomous aspect of one's own complex as the analytic subject.
In the same vein but less challenging is the task of making up a complete fictional character, or (because of the danger of possible unconscious reference to patients), to have a creative partner, preferably a non clinician, make up a character, and use their material. This ensures a high level of energetic engagement and promotes exploration without ever mentioning a patient. The downside, of course, is that it requires some work and creativity on the part of the clinician.
Teaching
The issue of how best to teach our next generation of analysts as well as how teaching can reflect and therefore model an analytic ethic is a relevant aspect of the general concept of the vas.
From the side of the teacher (or the public presenter as well) there are a few considerations implied by the image of the vas. Most importantly, all presented material is functionally fictional since there is no way to check the veracity, for instance, the patient's account of the same (in the same way that analysts do not check the literal veracity of patient's stories themselves), nor the outcomes. Case material is selected and edited as well as taken out of its total context. Therefore a presented study can be seen as a fictional narrative designed to make a point. Thus using a fictional source would in no way limit the conceptual quality of theory derived from it. In fact it would not be a big leap to directly study some of the many deeply developed characters from the world of fiction. Here is a ready-made source of commonly known narratives – the most famous of which are among the modern day pantheon of relevant imaginal characters.
In a class situation, it is usually the responsibility of the instructor to extract the generalized pattern from a given scenario or to show the common themes. If the candidate can do this already then he/she probably should be graduated. Also, one cannot memorize enough cases to manually select a response, as discussed above. The presenting clinician can avoid this problem by doing the work of generalizing first and then finding illustrative examples. This exercise also stimulates the creative application of a given psychological dynamic to various types of content.
This discussion suggests that one very dubious reason to use patient material is to avoid the work of generalizing while providing a simulacrum of objectivity. Not only is this faulty logic, the synthetic work of generalizing (and then differentiating, of course) is inherent in symbolic practice. The method would then become: extract the principle from the experience, then refill the dynamic with various different examples - if the pattern is sound then all of the examples will be instructive. In addition, this process mimics what the candidate would have to do in applying any given psychological principal at the level of analytic practice.
From the side of the student the picture looks a bit different. An analytic candidate cannot be expected to come up with fresh and neutral examples of a pattern that is as yet unknown, or that is inherent in a single difficult clinical situation.
This line of thought can be continued toward the symbolic understanding of severely impaired patients. It is not uncommon to hear about this or that 'crazy' person or situation. The discussion of the symbolic dynamics in patients with psychotic illnesses goes beyond our scope, but a line of Jung's comes to mind, …when a patient seems confused, it does not necessarily mean that he is confused, but that the doctor does not understand his material. (18:172) The recent upsurge in the use of the term borderline comes to mind. What is communicated, besides the rupture of the vas, is a lack of understanding of specific patient dynamics as well as an abandoning of the symbolic and especially teleological aspects of the symptomology.
Public Speaking and Publishing: Some Dynamics
There is a propensity in much of the psychological world to publish patient material – but why is this a given? Publication is a direct contradiction of the principle of confidentiality. Perhaps one could say that this attitude is part of a Freudian/materialist methodology that includes the fantasy of an analytic consciousness separated from the process and the patient. We know that this is a false haven and even that might be stretching the argument. However, there is no possible way that within a Jungian model of mutual involvement, responsibility, and protection of the process through the image of the vessel or temenos, that such a thing could be rationalized.
It would be hard to argue against the statement that publishing primarily serves the analyst. Even if one pointed to the development of theory as eventually for the good of the patient population, Jung admonishes us to do it on our own time. Or, in his usual pithy manner, Jaques Lacan has declared that, "the possible outcome for the patient is dependent upon the desire of the analyst."(Lacan 1981).
Seen through the lens of the vas, it becomes clear that publishing patient material (or including it in lectures, teaching, or conversation) allows the mercurial substance to escape. Not only that, the cause of the escape is also an incursion of something foreign (in the form of the agenda and changed attention of the analyst) into the container. The Rosarium indicates the repercussions well: "if anything extraneous were to be added to it, it would at once be spoilt."
At another opportunity it might be worthwhile to consider just why the publishing/confidentiality fracture has become such an unconscious double standard. One can only surmise that the archetypal pressures discussed above are just too forceful for individual analysts to handle without recourse to some other resource.
The Symbolic: Foreclosed
The image and dynamics of the vas are a model of symbolic interaction. Therefore, when these dynamics are overlooked, symbolization ends. In leaking or using patient information and certainly in asking whatever part of the patient's psyche is convenient for permission to speak/publish/use their secrets, we become un-symbolic. This request for permission can only occur on a totally veridical and concrete level. For any sort of depth practitioner, but certainly for any stripe of Jungian, this should raise the specter of the total loss of our art from its grounding in mythology to the work with fantasy and imagination.
In employing an un-symbolic attitude, we shut down the receptivity to the symbolic in our patients. Furthermore, to the extent that we live our theories and also to the extent that we are participants of some kind in the process, we also subvert the symbolic field in ourselves. The process at all levels becomes foreclosed.
Jung remarks that "no one else will have the same dreams, although many have the same problem". (Vol 11, par 88) That is, not only are problems collective, what is worse is that an individual will recognize his or her own dreams! Thus, even if the identity of the dreamer is not disclosed, revealing a patient's dream may give even the non-paranoid person a rather eerie feeling that critical information, or to use another lexicon, sacred and intimate material, is exposed.
Again, all of this could be avoided by doing a little extra work to extract the dynamic and collective issue from the personal material. This is the point of amplification in any case. The analyst can then clarify and test it by comparing the psychological dynamic with other sorts of narrative material. At this point many types of fictional examples can be applied so that the dynamic is useful for other clinicians. After all Jung reminds us that the specifics of a particular personality are only relevant to one person!
Loneliness, Sacrifice, and the Debt to the Collective
In the collection of essays Modern Man in Search of a Soul, Jung describes the lonely Promethean journey of the modern man [sic]. More cogently, he describes the debt to the collective incurred by individuation and terrible vengeance exacted should restitution not be made. This is a dire problem to which the clinician is directly exposed. The modern person and even more so the clinician removes him or herself from the collective to the extent that the analytic frame is held (including engaging in the practice of symbolization). That is, the very formation of the vas exacerbates this suffering. The pressure increases until the clinician can address this gap both individually and collectively.
Individually the task is to address aloneness and the possibility of loneliness. It is not that some clinicians get lonely, but rather that the very structures of frame and confidentiality that allow the symbolic attitude also remove the clinician from the collective norm; one could say they remove one from all of the conscious and unconscious gratification entailed in the participation mystique. Although it is a part of the sacrificial nature of the analytic practice to not reflexively engage in collective modalities of social interaction (without reflection, that is) as well as to avoid strictly personal gratification on behalf of the symbolic attitude, it need not be such a burden.
Of course, one psychological prophylactic (correctly suggested by A. Guggenbühl-Craig) is to have a full and interesting life outside of any clinical concern or clinical circle. Furthermore, although the discussion of temperament leads into a broader realm of ethics and individual suitability for the profession, it is safe to say that if too much of the libidinal needs of the clinician are satisfied by the work, there is bound to be some incursion of the analysts' agenda into the process.
On the other hand, clinicians need to progress in their art and to feel a level of support and vibrancy in the professional ranks. These factors, combined by the aforementioned need to fill the debt to the collective that is opened by this move toward individuation show the need to have a heart-felt, clinically sound and socially appropriate solution. That is, a clinical, personal and instinctual need is going to be consciously subverted and is bound to come out in some unsavory fashion if a conscious solution is not found.
The need to recompense the collective level can be seen in both the internal Jungian culture and in terms of the surrounding society. At the internal level, there is a need for clinicians to discuss their work in a rigorous and personally satisfying way. This develops ones practice, alleviates the archetypal aloneness of the work, enhances the notoriously lagging interpersonal skills of many analysts, and builds the kinship libido so important for fulfilling personal and social life.
At the collective level, the body of analysts can orient themselves toward the realm of social justice (Samuels 1993) as well as toward cultural applications of analytical psychology. This mode of practice has been amply demonstrated in Jung (Volume 16, for instance) and could be amplified by various practices that serve the public weal.

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Conclusions
What does it mean that the disclosure of patient material has been the norm? Can we apply a symbolic perspective even to this? If there is a way to understand this leakage that has proliferated so widely, it seems to me that, like all symptoms, it must contain the way forward, "after all attempts of a future personality (whose partial aspects they represent) to break through." (Jung Vol. 1) This pattern of disclosure indicates a need to communicate more robustly with each other at a theoretical level. The libido inherent in patient material shows a need to be as authentic and alive in our interactions with peers as possible, and the sharing of secrets shows a need to affirm and address the aloneness and sacrifice of the work.
Also, from the side of anthropology, I read this as a call for a social system which evaluates and safeguards our integrity. The push to publish patient material may also reflect an (especially American) romance with measurable data and pragmatic material solutions. Of course theory-making is entering a period in which a different model, neither mystical nor tautological, can be conceived. Perhaps we can develop toward Jung's statement that symbolic material directly provides us with "not only… an insight into the causes of neurosis, but … a prognosis as well. What is more, they showed us at what point the treatment should begin." (Jung, Modern Man, p. 5)
Whatever the disclosure of patient material means, and whatever the valid reasons for needing to change how we interact, the practice of disclosure is a manifestation of unconscious pressure that the analyst cannot tolerate. The consequences may be small or large but the dynamic is the same in all cases from benign-sounding analyst self-promotion to more virulent sounding but not necessarily more damaging cases of prurience or inappropriate action. Cracking the vessel spoils the process, it robs the analyst of the capacity to be symbolic, and it is a betrayal of trust in our professional method. It is time for us as clinicians to produce the kind of supportive and exploratory sub-containers that we need, to find more creative ways to further our collective professional development, and to stand for the unique and beautiful symbolic thought that is possible when employing the vas bene clausem.
Finis
I would like to acknowledge the support generously given by Ann Casement - both in terms of a shared position on the inadvisability of publishing patient material as well as for editorial assistance in bringing this paper to its current state in preparation for publication.
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