There are billions of people on the planet
and many different personality types. Some
people are introverted, some extroverted.
Some are driven by logic and others by their
feelings. In a world of such diversity, how
do we learn to relate to those who are different?
And
how do we learn to understand and accept who
we are. People have a desire to know themselves.
People want to know "who I am" and "how do
I function?", "how do I think?". These questions
were at the heart of the pioneering work of
doctor Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychologist
who began working at the turn of the 20th
century. Despite the conformity and dress,
behaviour and attitude dictated by his time,
Jung championed individuality and he invited
his patients to embrace the unique person
each was meant to be. Jung said: "Ok, that's
what society tells you, that's what's expected
of you. But what do you think? How do you
feel?" He said that we all need to get to
know ourselves better and know our motives
better.
And if we could really look at that more,
then we would be able to be more accepting
of differences.
In his own life, Carl Jung embarked on a painful
journey of self-discovery and the lessons
he learnt provided inspiration for generations
to come. In 1909, at the age of only 34, Carl
Jung had succeeded in creating the life he'd
always imagined. Born a son of a poor country
minister, Jung married the wealthy Emma Rauschenbach. Together they built an idyllic home and
family. Jung had worked his way through medical
school and had become a world renowned psychologist
in Zurich. And as the chosen heir parent of
the
pioneering psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, Jung
was at the center of the revolution taking
place in the world of psychology. That revolution
was based on Freud's radical concept of the
unconscious. At a time when Victorian society
prided itself on being highly rational and
civilised, Freud argued that people were really
driven by repressed urges they weren't even
aware of. Jung was one of the few who had
embraced Freud's provocative ideas. The pair
quickly became partners in promoting psychoanalysis
around the world, and slowly they were gaining
the respect of the mainstream medical community.
In Freud, Jung had found not only an important
professional mentor but also a father figure.
own father died when he was just 20. The death
of Carl Jung's father ended any money coming
into the household and it was up to him then
- he was the only son - it was up to him to
take care of both his mother and his sister.
And so, keep in mind Jung was sort of an orphan.
He looked for a guy, the father. Jung said
he found that in Freud. Jung's future seems
secure but there was just one problem. Jung
had nagging doubts about some of his mentor's
theories.
For Jung, Freud was too closed, too narrow.
Jung was very open. He closed his eyes to
nothing. Jung spoke about Freud in a 1959
interview. I liked him very much. But I soon
discovered that when he had thought something,
then it was settled, while I was doubting
all along the line. Freud's theories on the
sex drive
were particularly troubling to Jung. While
Freud believed that sexual urges were
the sole driving force behind human behaviour,
Jung
believed that we are influenced by many other
factors like religious beliefs, the need for
approval and the drive for power. Freud said
in fact: "No, it's sex or nothing". And
Jung
said: "I can't accept this theory wholeheartedly".
And this is really what caused the rupture
between
them. Things came to a head in 1913 when Jung
published a book which directly contradicted
Freud's theories. Unwilling to tolerate dissension
in his ranks, Freud cut all ties to his former
protegé. Jung's mentor now became his most
outspoken critic. Carl Jung was ostracised
from the Psychoanalytic Movement he'd helped
to establish. It was a big blow to Jung. He
went through a period of disorientation and
a period when he wasn't really sure whether
he
had lost his sanity or not. The separation
was in
the coming. It drove Jung into a deep depression
which however, was beneficial. It was liberating.
He had to go on his own. The son has to do
his own thing. Ultimately, Jung would go on
to do his own thing but the years ahead would
be difficult. Just months after Jung's own
life had been shattered, the fabric of Victorian
society was also torn apart. As WWI exploded
across Europe, Jung retreated to his house
on lake Zurich to fight his own internal battle.
He went down to the beach in front of his
house and played with the pebbles and sand
and he said: "i don't know why I'm doing this
but this is the only thing right now that
will relieve the anxiety and the disturbance
that I'm feeling". From there, he went into
what he calls "the confrontation with the
unconscious". Desperate to find his way personally
and professionally, Jung began a process of
deep self-analysis. He spent hours alone recording
his thoughts, analysing his dreams and making
elaborate drawings as a way to express the
deepest parts of his unconscious. Jung used
this period to think about what he was going
to do with his life. He said to himself: "I
can't continue to practice psychoanalysis
if I use Freud's terms and Freud's methods.
I
have to create a system of my own." As he
prowled
deeper and deeper into his own psyche, Jung
became increasingly convinced that this unconscious
was driven by more than just sexual urges,
repressed
thoughts and memories. There was another influential
force that Freud had overlooked. The history
of civilisation. Jung had studied many of
the world's cultures and religions, and he
observed that even the most dissimilar shared
common ideas and behaviour patterns. He found,
for example, that native American Indians
had certain stories and rituals in common
with tribes in Africa and other cultures throughout
the world. And he said: "These things are
in common. And these people don't know anything
about each other, they have no way to communicate
with each other. How is it? Why is it that
they are all telling a very similar - if not
the exact same - version of the same story?"
Jung concluded that the unconscious is influenced
not only by our own experiences but by the
collective experiences of all people. These
common ideas are passed down through history,
religion and culture. He called this wealth
of inherited knowledge "the collective unconscious".
It is this collective unconscious that leads
human beings around the world to adopt similar
behaviour patterns without even realising
it. Every culture has certain classical,
typical behaviour modalities, like the hero.
You can go from East to West, North to South,
you can recognise a hero. You can recognise
a soldier. You can recognise a healer. Or
the father as the great good figure who dispenses
all knowledge and all wisdom. An unforgiving,
disapproving mother. These are universal behaviour
patterns. They just appear in different clothes
and different times.
