Doubt the Triumph of the Civilized Individual (Week 18 of Wisdom)

What Jung does when he compares primitive man with civilized man, is he gives a historical perspective of the situation of all of mankind in the current moment. This is opposed to taking a snapshot in time and comparing different groups of people together, such as different races or sexes.

Jung describes to us a much more general struggle that we can all relate to – it is both illuminating and familiar, but impersonal. Yet it is necessary if we want to understand our psyche – it allows us to observe how different economic and technological conditions re-configure our apprehensions, desires, and habits.

The presumption of the civilized individual is that in the world that he has occupied – the social and modern world – he has been freed from primitive superstitions that only disrupt one’s quality of life. The main criticism of religion is this – that it is a hindrance to progress, growth, and happiness.

But Jung challenges this creed on the basis that modernity has, instead of ridding mankind of its irrational fears and superstitious beliefs, has replaced them with new, more powerful ones. If progress has been made, it is an artificial and superficial kind of progress, that only gives us the illusion that we are moving forward, when in truth, the most important requisite for life satisfaction, our mental well-being and self-understanding, have been completely forsaken.

Read The Dichotomy of the Self

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Related posts:

1. The Politics of Social Media
2. The Procrastination Myth
3. The Denial of Death (Week 19 of Wisdom)
4. The Goals Versus The Process (Week 20 of Wisdom)