Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961) was a Swiss psychologist, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author of numerous works that are not easily categorized into existing categories. He spent his lifetime in self-examination, seeking connections between psychology, philosophy, religion, alchemy, dreams, archetypes, and symbols, deepening the path towards his own individuation – one of the key concepts in Jung’s psychology. Individuation is the process of growth and development of the personality through numerous experiences and life dramas until achieving maturity and wholeness.
Today, there are different viewpoints on Jung’s contribution to explaining the essential psychological processes of humans. Materialistically oriented scientists challenge his approach, while those with a more open mind still find inspiration, as well as numerous possibilities for applying Jung’s legacy to humanity (analytical psychology, interpretation of mythology, synchronicity, process psychology…).
In his lecture published under the title “Life’s Purpose,” “Crossroads, Jung discusses the issues of human life cycles, or more simply, the problems of human growth and maturity. Aware that these are questions that can have more than one answer, he aims to highlight the fundamental problems, difficulties, and doubts, and concludes that human development is based on psychological development, with the key being the development of consciousness.
Namely, the instinctive psyche of a simple person does not know questioning, doubts, shame, or attempts. According to Jung, instinctive living does not bring the possibility of humane development, while every problem or life situation that needs to be solved forces us to greater awareness.
Deviation and opposition to instinct create consciousness.
Every problem signifies the possibility of expanding consciousness but also of parting with that unconscious, childish part of ourselves.
Considering the general human approach to problems, Jung concludes that we often neglect our own difficulties, do not mention them, or deny them. and that is why problems are taboo. We want security, not doubt. We want results, not attempts. We fail to realize that security can only arise through doubt, and results can only come through attempts.
Why does a person have problems at all?
Jung reminds us that without consciousness, there are no problems. They are like fuel, necessary food for our real participation in life. The child’s level of consciousness, as Jung says, does not know problems because the child is completely dependent on the parents.
Only an adult can doubt themselves and therefore be internally inconsistent.
Summarizing the common characteristics of the inexhaustible diversity of youth problems, Jung states the basic problem of this stage of life – staying at the level of childish consciousness, resisting the fate forces within us and around us that lead us to grow up and mature through gradual assumption of responsibility.
Some part of our personality wants to remain a child. He rejects everything foreign or submits it to his will or does nothing. Resistance is directed towards expanding life (or consciousness), which is a significant characteristic of this phase.
Major life problems are never solved forever. It seems that their purpose is to continually work on them. That’s the only thing that protects us from stupidity and stagnation.
By pointing out the major turning point in life, sometimes referred to as the “mid-life crisis,” Jung warns of a significant change in a person’s soul.
The closer a person gets to the middle of their life and the more they have succeeded in solidifying their own attitude and social position, the more it seems to them that they have found the right path and principles of behavior. Here, it can happen that the pursuit of social goals comes at the expense of the totality of personality.
Statistics show an increased frequency of depression around the age of forty. In this phase of life between 35 and 40 years, a significant change in a person’s soul is being prepared. It is not a conscious or noticeable change. Sometimes, it is like a fusion. There are two options when it comes to changing character – either the traits that seemed lost in childhood reappear, or interests fade away.
Just as an immature person is horrified by the unknowns of life and the world, so too does an adult withdraw from the second half of life as if something unknown and dangerous awaits them there.
The spring or autumn of life are not just sentimental names, but psychological truths and even physiological facts, because the “midday revolution” in a person changes even their physical properties. These changes are not fatal but come naturally with the maturing of one’s personality.
The worst part, according to Jung, is that even intelligent and educated people live without knowing about the possibility of such changes. They mostly enter the second half of life unprepared. What is even worse is that this is done with incorrect assumptions about previous truths and ideals. What was valued as uniqueness, rule, or lifestyle in one phase of life can become an obstacle needing to be overcome in the other phase.
For a young person, it may seem like a danger or almost It is a sin to excessively preoccupy oneself with oneself, for older people it is their duty and necessity to subject their being to serious consideration. Instead, many older people prefer to become hypochondriacs, grumps, or eternal juveniles – all of which are the result of the madness of trying to govern the second half of life by the principles of the first half.
A person would certainly not reach their seventies and eighties if this longevity did not correspond to their species. Therefore, their afternoon of life must have its own meaning and cannot be a sad appendage to the morning.
Jung believes that the natural goal of the first half of life can be the development of the individual, securing stability, and concern for offspring.
Once this goal is achieved, should the pursuit of money, conquest, and expansion of existence continue beyond all reasonable sense? Those who carry this natural goal into the afternoon of life will be forced to pay for it with psychological losses. Just like a young man who wants to carry his childish egoism into adulthood, he will make the same mistake. The individual is burdened by social failures.
According to Jung, acquiring material goods, social status, and family are natural, “biological” factors, and their fulfillment should not be confused with the meaning of life. So what could be the meaning and goal of the second half of life?
Reflecting on human historical experience, Jung confirms that from ancient civilizations to “primitive” tribes, older individuals have always been the ones who held and transmitted knowledge and experience.
However, the situation is different in our society; older people prefer to identify with younger ones, with the almost ideal scenario being that a father becomes like a brother to his son, and a mother ideally becomes a younger sister to her daughter.
Jung finds the reasons for this deviation in flawed ideals, but also in the inability of science and religion to offer adequate answers to fundamental questions about life and death. Belief has become such a difficult skill that it has become almost inaccessible to the educated part of humanity.
In science, Jung sees a multitude of contradictory thoughts. Jenja, without convincing evidence. According to his own experience, Jung considers it important to view all the religions of this world from the perspective of mental hygiene, and he suggests that it would be good to see death as a transition, a part of the unknown, vast, and long process of life.
In discussing the limitations of thinking and intellect, Jung points out that there is something more than that, there is thinking in ancient images, in symbols, which are older than historical man, innate to humans from ancient times, and which outlive every generation, eternally living and fulfilling the depths of our soul.
A complete, whole, meaningful life is only possible in accordance with them, and wisdom is found in returning to them. Jung explains that it is not about faith or knowledge in reality, but about the alignment of our thinking with the primordial images of our unconscious that are the unrepresentable mothers of every thought our consciousness is capable of reaching.
One of the ancient images that exists in everyday life, and at the same time can serve as a symbol, There is the Sun. Jung compares the human being to the Sun. In the morning, it is born from the night (from the sea of the unconscious) and gradually rises (expands its influence, progresses) so that at noon it reaches the point of culmination, after which it starts to decline. The Sun then appears as if it is gathering its rays that it had previously emitted, and light and warmth decrease until its final extinction. The next day, it starts again, and so on… Although we humans are not the Sun, there is something sunny in us, and that is our consciousness which, like the Sun, dispels darkness, reveals deeper meaning of our life, and leads us to self-realization.