Carl Jung wasn’t just a psychologist. He was the liberator of the human psyche.
In a time where most people survived without any spiritual awakenings, he
put our soul in the epicenter of human priorities. This thought becomes all the more apparent to me
as I read the ideas percolated through his books. Especially in a book like
“Modern Man in Search of a Soul.” The book is a collection of essays that
highlight Jung’s most deep interests. He dives into topics like psychological types,
stages of life, the archaic man, religion and psychology, dream analysis, and many more.
The collection was published in 1933. Jung was 58 years old and most of his ideas had
crystallized into concrete theories. He sees the power of psychology and
how the modern man is lost without any psychological guidance in life.
Especially in the last essay of the book, he focuses on “the spiritual problem of the
modern man,” and he attempts to open our eyes to the responsibilities of the modern man,
and what constitutes spirituality in our modern epoch.
Jung isn’t just a psychologist. He is a philosopher, an exceptional writer,
a poet, and a great teacher. There is nothing more important
for the personal development of an individual than understanding even a modicum of his ideas.
In the beginning of the essay, Jung states the following: “I must say that the man we call
modern, the man who is aware of the immediate present, is by no means the average man.
He is rather the man who stands upon a peak, or at the very edge of the world,
the abyss of the future before him, above him the heavens, and below him the whole of mankind with a
history that disappears in primeval mists.” Here we can see the influence Nietzsche
had in the way Jung articulated thought. This passage could easily be confused for
a passage found in Nietzsche’s works. He uses grandiose and poetic language
to emphasize the importance and the responsibility of the modern man who,
as he says, is by no means average. Personally, I don't like the use of
the term average, but I understand that Jung uses it so we can take his words seriously.
Then he goes on saying: “The modern man—or, let us say again, the man of the immediate present—is
rarely met with. There are few who live up to the name, for they must be conscious to a superlative
degree. Since to be wholly of the present means to be fully conscious of one's existence as a man,
it requires the most intensive and extensive consciousness, with a minimum of unconsciousness.
It must be clearly understood that the mere fact of living in the present does not make
a man modern, for in that case everyone at present alive would be so. He alone is
modern who is fully conscious of the present.” Here we start to form a more concrete idea of
what Jung expects from the modern man archetype. The modern man is situated on top of two pillars,
presence and consciousness. To be conscious of oneself leads to presence,
but presence can also lead to consciousness. Jung is clearly affected by eastern philosophy,
and, as he ages, he sees an inevitable connection between eastern thought
and the development of the modern man. The idea of seeking presence and not
just just living in the present is central to the development of the self and,
going about our lives while ignoring this truth, clearly inhibits our potential for inner growth.
The 20th century was the century where science helped us realize that we can
“engineer” our destiny and religion started to degrade its role in shaping the fabric of reality.
“How totally different did the world appear to medieval man! For him the earth was eternally
fixed and at rest in the center of the universe, encircled by the course of a sun that solicitously
bestowed its warmth. Men were all children of God under the loving care of the Most High,
who prepared them for eternal blessedness; and all knew exactly what they should do
and how they should conduct themselves in order to rise from a corruptible world to an incorruptible
and joyous existence. Such a life no longer seems real to us, even in our dreams. Natural
science has long ago torn this lovely veil to shreds. That age lies as far behind as childhood,
when one's own father was unquestionably the handsomest and strongest man on earth.”
There is a slight sense of irony peppered over his words.
It is obvious that he is influenced by Nietzsche’s statement in “The Gay
Science” that “God is dead.” Nietzsche writes: “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed
him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?[..] Is not the greatness of this
deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”
Jung understands that responsibility and is unsure about how the modern man is going to
bear it on his shoulders. The plethora of psychological issues that affect us
leads to a collective shadow that manifests itself through wars, atrocities, and a general
discontent with our current state of being. We need to become gods in order to kill God.
How can we really become worthy of such an exigent task?
“How can I be substantial if I fail to cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also if I am to
be whole; and inasmuch as I become conscious of my shadow I also remember that I am a human being
like any other. In keeping the matter private I have only attained a partial cure—for I still
continue in my state of isolation. It is only with the help of confession that I am able to
throw myself into the arms of humanity freed at last from the burden of moral exile. The goal
of treatment by catharsis is full confession—no merely intellectual acknowledgement of the facts,
but their confirmation by the heart and the actual release of the suppressed emotions.”
Although we usually see the shadow as an
integral part of our existence, most of us are willfully blind to this existence.
Our dark side is concealed or camouflaged in a painful attempt to protect an image that
fits the narrative we decide to espouse. Through social conditioning, we come to construct a façade
that can keep the substrate of our constructed identity stable so that we can keep feeling safe.
Every aspect of our unconscious identity that cannot morph into
conscious judgment will perpetually impede our progress as individuals, for it is creating a
fantastic world that cannot synchronize with the frequencies of the real world.
In such a landscape, the real world, or at least whatever we can understand of it,
becomes an egotistical battleground that leads to collision and madness.
Psychology, during the time Jung expressed his ideas, was still at an embryonic stage.
Religion dealt with the psyche, but in an abstract and mystical way.
Psychology attempted to tackle the problems of the psyche through a more scientific lens.
“A spiritual need has produced in our time our "discovery" of psychology. There has never,
of course, been a time when the psyche did not manifest itself, but formerly it attracted no
attention—no one noticed it. But today we can no longer get along unless we give our best
attention to the ways of the psyche. It was men of the medical profession who were the first to
notice this; for the priest is concerned only to establish an undisturbed functioning of the psyche
within a recognized system of belief. As long as this system gives true expression to life,
psychology can be nothing but a technical adjuvant to healthy living, and the psyche
cannot be regarded as a problem in itself.” An adjuvant in pharmacology is a drug or
other substance, that is used to increase the efficacy or potency of certain drugs. He uses the
term here because it was about time to disengage psychology and the problems of the psyche from
religion altogether. As he says, the psyche needs to be regarded as a problem in itself
and only through an elaborate psychological process, instigated through different forms
of psychotherapy, can this problem ever be dealt with effectively.
A psychologist for Jung isn’t just a scientist. He is the purveyor of truth.
He looks deep inside the inner workings of the individual and helps him confront
the truth that was in a state of limbo. That’s why when Jung says, who looks outside
dreams, who looks inside awakes, he essentially points everyone to the reality of the inside.
An inside that can crystallize only through the proper introspection and analysis.
An inside that is the key to most of our spiritual enigmas.