By “The psychology of the individual is reflected in the psychology of the nation. What the nation does is done also by each individual, and so long as the individual continues to do it, the nation will do likewise. Only a change in the attitude of the individual can initiate a change in the psychology of the nation. The great problems of humanity were never yet solved by general laws, but only through regeneration of the attitudes of individuals. If ever there was a time when self-reflection was the absolutely necessary and only right thing, it is now, in our present catastrophic eopch.”
~C.G. Jung, preface to On the Psychology of the Unconscious, 1917
Talk about words that echo into eternity…
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Quite so. One would have thought he said it with enough urgency back in the day, but it appears that it needs to be repeated, and then said again, and then people need to be reminded once more…
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We would have thought we’d have learned from the first world war as well. *shrug*
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In fact, Jung said we weren’t even through digesting the Middle Ages yet….. Much to do, much to do!
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He’s probably not wrong about that. WWI was the culmination of everything established in that era. Everything we’re going through now is the culmination of the fallout of WWI. From the larger perspective of history, it makes a lot of sense, even if people don’t in the moment.
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It does indeed.
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It obviously takes ages for a change …
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Yes indeed. Jung was good for opening one’s perspective to the simple fact that processes take A LOT longer than one would have thought.
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Unfortunately, our current society is now even more catastrophic and chaotic! We live in very precarious times and many people are not balanced or whole.
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