۱۳۹۶ خرداد ۲, سه‌شنبه

on Jung

"Though aware that our species and our planet are in grave peril from our own unconsciousness, he remained cautiously optimistic to the end. He believed that nothing essential is ever lost because its matrix is ever present among us and can always be recovered by those 'who have learned the art of averting their eyes from the blinding light of current opinions and close their ears to the noise of ephemeral slogans'. In a letter to M. Serranno (14 September 1960) written during the last year of his life he quoted the consolation given by an old alchemist to his disciple: 'No matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you.' And a Chinese adage: 'The right man sitting in his house and thinking the right thought will be heard a hundred miles distant.'

The conclusion of the same letter provides a fitting epitaph: I tried to find the best truth and the clearest light I could attain to, and since I have reached my highest point and can't transcend any more, I am guarding my light and my treasure ... It is most precious not only to me, but above all to the darkness of the creator, who needs Man to illuminate his creation. If God had foreseen his world, it would be a mere senseless machine and Man's existence a useless freak. My intellect can envisage the latter possibility, but the whole of my being says 'No' to it."


Excerpt From: Anthony Stevens. “Jung: A Very Short Introduction.”