10-03-2010, 07:24 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-03-2010, 07:45 PM by David Guyatt.)
Peter Lemkin Wrote:Ironic, isn't it that the UK and the Americans like to think of themselves as the pinnacle of civilized behavior....what would Jung have to say...even Hitler?
Jung would say that Man is pitiful unaware of his psyche" (for which read shadow).
In fact he did say that.
One reason why I keep banging on about it.
By this statement he meant that we are all capable of the most prolific deceits, conceits and utterly inhuman and evil actions and that out way of dealing with the eye-popping hypocrisy of this is to irresponsibly project those attitudes and actions on to others. In other words they are to blame, not us. Until each one of us has confronted, absorbed and digested their own personal shadow this same action and reaction will continue on a collective level ad infinitum. Ergo, it is up to each one of us individually to engage in the shadow confrontation and withdraw our own projections. That is the only way we may impact the collective in any meaningful way.
Of course, few people ever wish to engage in this and prefer, instead, not to take it at all seriously. After all someone else will sort it out won't they - it's not really our responsibility is it.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14