“This is precisely the risk modern man runs:
he may wake up one day to find that he has missed half his life.” Carl Jung, Practice of Psychotherapy
Psychotropic drugs have become one of the most common forms of treatment for anxiety
disorders and depression. But these drugs are not very good at curing
people and often they just become crutches for lifelong psychological cripples. Fortunately, there are alternative ways to
treat anxiety and depression. In this video we are going to turn to Carl
Jung, one of history’s greatest psychiatrists, for drug-free advice on how to find a cure
to these psychological disorders. “. . . the elite still cling firmly to the
notion that [anxiety] disorders originate in alterations within the brain. Unfortunately many run-of-the-mill doctors
still swear by this gospel to the detriment of their patients, whom our age produces in
swarms. Nearly all these patients have been convinced
by the medical dogma that their sickness is of a physical nature.” Carl Jung, The Symbolic Life
Jung believed that most cases of anxiety and depression are not the product of a faulty
brain, but of a faulty way of life. The first step in Jung’s method of treatment,
therefore, was not a drug prescription, but a dose of psychological insight – insight
regarding what to expect from life and insight into what it takes to change. With respect to the former, Jung noted that
many people believe that life should be easy, suffering kept to a minimum and difficulties
avoided. But Jung would be blunt with his patients
telling them that life is not easy, and comfort and peace are not our natural state. Or as Jung wrote: “In the last resort it is highly improbable
that there could ever be a therapy that got rid of all difficulties. Man needs difficulty; they are necessary for
health. What concerns us here is only an excessive
amount of them.” Carl Jung, Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche
Accepting that difficulties are inevitable and nothing worth achieving comes easy, places
us on the firm ground of reality from which to change. For when we accept that life is hard, we will
also realize that only through a strengthened character do we have any chance of living
a good life. If, on the other hand, we remain caught in
the delusion that life should be easy, we will be less motivated to overcome a weak
character, as we will falsely hope that if we just give it time life will get easier. “Life is a battleground. It always has been, and always will be; and
if it were not so, existence would come to an end.” Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols
There is another piece of psychological insight that Jung saw as crucial for his patients
to understand – namely, that our problems exist in the present and that present problems
are not solved by digging into our past. Many people like to believe that only when
they have determined why they are the way they are, can they move forward in life. But Jung believed that an excessive fixation
on the past was merely an avoidance tactic used to evade the difficult task of facing
up to what needs to be done now. “People should know that not only the neurotic,
but everyone, naturally prefers never to seek the causes of any inconvenience in himself,
but to push them as far away from himself as possible in space and time. Otherwise he would run the risk of having
to make a change for the better. Compared with this odious risk it seems infinitely
more advantageous either to put the blame on to somebody else, or, if the fault lies
undeniably with oneself, at least to assume that it somehow arose of its own accord in
early infancy.” (V7) Carl Jung, Two Essays on Analytical Psychology
With these doses of psychological insight, Jung would turn to the first actionable step
in his method of treatment; and this was to help his patients face up to what he called
the shadow, for as he writes: “. . .the first requisite of any thorough
psychological method, [is] for consciousness to confront its shadow.” Carl Jung, Mysterium Coniunctionis
The shadow is Jung’s term for the elements of our character that we deny, and force into
the unconscious, due to shame, insecurity, or censure. It is, in other words, the side of our personality
we wish to hide from others, as well as from ourselves. “…there can be no doubt that man is, on
the whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants to be. Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it
is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.” Carl Jung, Psychology and Religion
Jung believed that facing up to the shadow was crucial in the process of self-change
for several reasons. Firstly, we do ourselves no favours by denying
the inferior parts of our personality, we merely lose control of how, and when, these
traits emerge. If, on the other, hand we acknowledge a character
flaw we can learn how to control its expression and so minimize the damage it does in our
life, or as Jung explains: “Anything conscious can be corrected, but
anything that slips away into the unconscious is beyond the reach of correction and, its
rank growth undisturbed, is subject to increasing degeneration. Happily, nature sees to it that the unconscious
contents will irrupt into consciousness sooner or later and create the necessary confusion.” Carl Jung, Mysterium Coniunctionis
But the shadow is not only made up of weakness, rather some elements of it are strengths which
we repressed in our youth because our peers, family members, or society at large, gave
us the false impression that these traits were bad. Some people, for example, repress the ability
to express anger or the ability to stand up for themselves. Another benefit of becoming conscious of the
shadow, therefore, is that we gain access to life-promoting character traits, or as
Jung writes: “. . .the shadow is merely somewhat inferior,
primitive, unadapted, and awkward; not wholly bad. It even contains . . .qualities which would
in a way vitalize and embellish human existence, but convention forbids!” Carl Jung, Psychology and Religion
One way to become conscious of the shadow is to observe the weaknesses, flaws, and insecurities
of those close to us. For not only do most of us repress similar
character traits, but we also tend to project elements of our shadow onto other people. If, therefore, we pay attention to which character
traits of our friends and family bother us, we may also gain a glimpse of our own shadow. In addition to observing others, another way
to bring the shadow into the light of consciousness is to reflect on the motives for our actions,
especially actions we are ashamed of, and to be open to self-criticism when it is warranted. For as Jung notes, often the only thing that
is preventing us from seeing our shadow is the ability to be honest with ourselves: “With
a little self-criticism one can see through the shadow” (Carl Jung Aion). Along with becoming more conscious of the
shadow, another integral aspect of Jung’s method of treatment was helping his patients
find a meaning to their lives. For Jung believed that when stuck in a deep
depression, or consumed by an anxiety disorder, to be cured necessitates discovering a “role
as one of the actors in the divine drama of life” (Carl Jung, The Symbolic Life). To understand what was meant by this we can
turn to an encounter Jung had with a chief of the Pueblo tribe in the first half of the
20th century. Jung was discussing with this man the traditions
of his tribe when the chief made the following remark: “Yes, we are a small tribe, and these Americans,
they want to interfere with our religion. They should not do it, because we are the
sons of the Father, the Sun. He who goes there”; (pointing to the sun)
– “that is our Father. We must help him daily to rise over the horizon
and to walk over Heaven. And we don’t do it for ourselves only: we
do it for America, we do it for the whole world.” (V18) Carl Jung, The Symbolic Life
Jung understood that to many in the modern day this statement would sound crazy and archaic. But as he further notes the members of this
tribe did not suffer like we suffer. They were not infected by neuroses, anxiety
disorders, or depression. They did not fill themselves with pills each
day, and they were not debilitated by addictions. Rather this tribe was composed of highly functioning
individuals who saw themselves as fulfilling their duty as an actor in the divine drama
of life, and their lives were rich in meaning and purpose. Or as Jung wrote: “These people have no problems. They have their daily life, their symbolic
life. They get up in the morning with a feeling
of their great and divine responsibility: they are the sons of the Sun, the Father,
and their daily duty is to help the Father over the horizon – not for themselves alone,
but for the whole world. You should see these fellows: they have a
natural fulfilled dignity.” Carl Jung, The Symbolic Life
Jung contrasts this way of life, with a Western woman he met. This lady, as Jung notes, was a compulsive
traveller, always running from one place to the next, always seeking, but never really
finding what she was looking for. “I was amazed when I looked into her eyes
– the eyes of a hunted, a cornered animal – seeking, seeking, always in the hope of
something. . . She is possessed . . .And why is she possessed? Because she does not live the life that makes
sense. Hers is a life utterly, grotesquely banal.
. .with no point in it at all. If she dies today, nothing has happened, nothing
has vanished – because she was nothing!” Carl Jung, The Symbolic Life
This compulsive seeking infects many in the Western world. Some run from one destination to another,
some chase romantic partners, others are compulsive seekers of money, prestige, fame, or recognition
on social media. But whatever the outward form it takes, the
underlying motivation is the same – the seeker is trying to run away from the banality
of their existence. They are seeking to fill the void of emptiness
that comes from living a meaningless life. But as Jung explains this void cannot be filled
with things, or even experiences, what fills this void is knowing that we are living in
a way that makes a difference, or as he writes concerning the woman he met: “But if she could say, “I am the daughter
of the Moon. Every night I must help the Moon, my Mother,
over the horizon” – ah, that is something else! Then she lives, then her life makes sense,
and makes sense in all continuity, and for the whole of humanity. That gives peace, when people feel that they
are living [as] actors in the divine drama. That gives the only meaning to human life;
everything else is banal and you can dismiss it. A career, producing of children, are all maya
compared with that one thing, that your life is meaningful.” Carl Jung, The Symbolic Life
Jung was not suggesting that we all adopt the Puebloan mythology, rather his point is
that many people suffer because their life makes no sense. And the task for those who want to be free
of anxiety or depression is to discover this sense. We must, in other words, find a way to justify
our existence, so that we, like the Puebloan, can believe that our life is meaningful. For some this can be accomplished through
religion, for others by contributing in a substantial way to the promotion of values
such as justice, freedom, or community, while others will find it through the creative act. But for those of us in the modern West, where
we lack a dominant mythology, it is up to us, and us alone, to discover how we can play
a meaningful role in the divine drama of life. For the few who accomplish this task, a fulfilling
life will define their future, for the many who don’t, years or decades of pointless
suffering and compulsive seeking will be their fate. “I am only concerned with the fulfilment
of that which is in every individual, . .That is the whole problem; that is the problem
of the true Pueblo: that I do today everything that is necessary so that my father can rise
over the horizon.” Carl Jung, The Symbolic Life
