The Undiscovered Self

The Undiscovered Self by Carl Jung, written in the mid-1950s during the time of the Cold War, is a fitting read for us today.  Struggling with global warming, warring countries, terrorism, and poverty … has anything really changed?  Swap out our issues with Jung’s concerns… communism, cold war (countries not speaking to one another), and the threat of nuclear war… hmm, history just keeps on repeating, huh?  Propaganda and manipulation of the individual by the “state” and demoralizing of society work against us as a community.  We shouldn’t rely so heavily on “science,” we need to remember the humanness of the individual, which makes up our society.  There are always “exceptions to the rules,” that’s what makes our world what it is. He challenges us to think about understanding the individual self, and not humanity as a whole (YES! Coming from a psychiatrist – well done!).  What is inside the psyche of an individual is complicated and as Jung states, “an insoluble puzzle” – spend some time with my kids and you will agree (Yes, I love them, but boy I don’t get them sometimes…)! Jung’s disagreement with Freud on the unconscious self is captured in the series of articles in the book.  A very well written, though pretty heavy, reading, well organized into a series of seven discrete articles: The Plight of the Individual in Modern Society; Religion as the Counterbalance to Mass-Mindedness; The Position of the West on the Question of Religion; The Individual’s Understanding of Himself; The Philosophical Approach to Life; Self-Knowledge; and The Meaning of Self Knowledge.  To get an idea on Jung’s thoughts on the West and Religion, “The West has unfortunately not yet awakened to the fact that our appeal to idealism and reason and other desirable virtues, delivered with so much enthusiasm, is mere sound and fury.”   He argues that the West is “all over the place” and not able to have influence in the political world... hmmm interesting thought, especially with separation of church and state in the US.  His last section, on the meaning of self-knowledge, hits home for me in that he asks how does the individual find happiness and contentment? Such a hard thing for an individual in this challenging time we live in with instant gratification, lack of commitment, stress, and all those other external factors how does one focus on being the best one can be for themselves?  Living the life we are supposed to live (whatever “supposed to” means?).  It would be impossible for me to scratch the surface of the depth of issues Jung presents in a paragraph or two, better if I had posed a series of questions, well maybe? But I will leave that for those who want to post on the blog.  Very philosophical and creates a series of questions for the reader to think about in understanding who “I am” and how do I live my life…  A great read to do in a book club, though I doubt many book clubs want to grapple with these issues without the pretense of characters, etc.  In a mood to think?  Pick up this very short series of seven articles and let me know how it goes.