I have become more and more interested with Carl Jung's works. I wanted to share a piece of video that I found that I was able to connect and understand.
"They all seek their own existence and to assure their existence against that complete atomization into nothingness or into meaninglessness. Man cannot stand a meaningless life."
"The only real danger that exists is man himself." "...because we are the origin of all coming evil."
11 comments:
Glad to see at least one philosopher-type agrees with reality. Either way, what he says...does sound familiar if not entirely true. Thanks for sharing!
Oh, and I think a late happy birthday is in order! /sorry I missed the actual date/
First comment? O.o" Wow...I must really have nothing to do with my time. Being sick does that to people, I guess.
Serg,
Well Happy Belated Birthday. Carl Jung is very interesting to listen too. This video I believe he is right we all do seek our own existence. No one wants to live a life with out meaning. He is correct when he states we can not live a meaningless life. Man is not programed that way. Life has to have meaning or less it is boring and dull. Yes we do seem to not slow down and see the beauty in life but that doesn't mean we don't live a meaningful live.
Have a good Wednesday!
Shell
Wow, very thought provoking!
And its so very true..Without meaning, life would not be worth living. Therefore we would have a lot of suicidal people on this planet I think..I know that's a rather morbid thought, but think about it.
If man could not find a reason to keep going against all odds, then why wouldn't he give up?
Faith, hope, and love is what keeps man going...if those things did not exist, we would be lost!
On a side note: Found a "Calvin and Hobbes" Fan site on Facebook! Check out this cool collection of Calvin and Hobbes photos I found!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo_search.php?oid=16391535955&view=all
Enjoy the rest of your week and have fun in Gettysburg. Don't forget the Fangirl Spray! And double stock the spray for Ryan! :-/
I love Carl Jung. Back in the day(last semester) when I was working towards my undergrad in social work I prided myself on my Jungian philosophies and so did a lot of my teachers. He was a magnificent man, man.
I'm reading this book called "Down By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept" by Paulo Coehlo. It's a novel about forgiveness. I'm not that far into it but he's a fricking phenomenal writer and I highly recommend all of his books. You have to have a highlighter or something with you so that you can remember all his inspirational quotations. One of the interesting things I was reading in it this morning was that they visited an old Chapel in a small town in France. They went inside and the character noticed that the walls were crumbling but had obviously been reconstructed many times. And she thought about how in an old and insignificant town like this that has seen so much events in time pass that someone(s) came to this chapel so many times and found it to be significant and worth saving, enough to rebuild it's walls. Faith is where you find it.
I woke up this morning feeling really awesome which has been not true for me the last few months. It sucks when you realize the way you're living your life just isn't working and once you realize often times you have to summon the strength to rebuild what you've destroyed.
I'm taking an impromptu trip to the Chi and I'm going to walk around and imagine my life if I were someone else.... I think that by the end of the day I'll be thankful that I am who I am. I think we should all do something out of the ordinary today.
Thanks for sharing Serg. You're the greatest person named Sergey that there ever was.
Very true, WatchingStars. "Faith, hope, and love... If these things did not exist, we would be lost."
In fact, I question the automatic negative connotation of "evil," in this sense, anyway. Duality. Harmony. We need the balance. If man did not originate evil or at least contain a good bit, how could we appreciate love and hope? And why does seeking our own existence in this video sound like such a horrible thing? If man didn't seek himself individually, then we as a whole would not seek our-self as mankind. Without that collective need, there would be no abstracts like liberty, freedom, civil rights, or basic moral standards. By seeking ourselves and considering who we we are and who we want to be, not to mention what we want our legacy to be, we've given ourselves something to strive towards and live up to. A code that actually can exist outside institutionalized religion and so include everyone, but is seen inherently in religion because it itself is an effort to define us and actualize our existence on an eternal level. Because we are nothing if not afraid of not existing anymore.
We need meaning, even false meaning, just like false hope. Sure, we'll get some crazies along the way, but as most of us seek meaning and purpose, it tends to benefit at least one other person. Believe it or not, I think there's something to be said for anthropocentrism to a certain existent. If we spend ALL our time pondering the Universe or High Power, we'd become too immersed and drown. We need the balance - appreciate the higher consciousness but be able to compartmentalize so that we might actually do some good for others, and in so doing, define ourselves and find meaning.
Rachel
I was curious as to what year this interview had taken place and I think it's part of a BBC "Face to Face" interview done in 1959 (found on YouTube as well). The reason I care is because when he says we need more understanding of human nature, I wonder if he were still alive now would he be satisfied with our progress? He seemed to be pretty frustrated with our understanding of ourselves in 1959 (or sometime around there).
I'm very aware of meaningfulness in my day to day life. Seems like I search for meaning in everything, even down to the food I eat and products I use. I usually seek to buy from companies with a "story" and substance behind them because it makes me feel good. I'm also the kind of person who won't settle to simply sign my name to a card. No, I have to write something personal to whomever it is for. I feel when you only sign your name it is lacking meaning & emotion. And if it's a handmade card, all the better! Obviously, this is all due to human nature.
OH! And another great book to read while pondering this thought is "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl who created logotherapy. It's about trying to find a reason to live while being an inmate in a concentration camp in WWII. Really, really powerful book.
SarahMay, I feel the same way. But sometimes I think that if we search to hard to find meaning in something we will miss the point or it's real significance. And I'm the same way with cards...it's like your best friend giving you a gift certificate for your birthday... They know you so much better then that and it seems so impersonal. I try to let everyone in my life know how much I love them everyday because you never know what's going to happen next. It's the thoughtfulness in relationships that count and going the extra mile shows that to people, even if it's just writing something special in a card... I hope everyone's having a good day! =)
Happy Belated Birthday Serg!
I thought the video was very interesting. At first, Jung starts out talking about mans need for meaning outside of himself. I took that to mean that man continually looks to himself for meaning and finds none and therefore must look elsewhere (because we did not make ourselves). Then, it seems as though Jung does an about face and talks about how man needs to understand his own nature more, but the two really intertwine. Without an understanding of our nature, we can't understand what gives us meaning, and without meaning given to us from outside of ourselves, we can't understand our own nature.
Jung's take on the problem of evil is an interesting one and I agree with it partly, but I feel it is somewhat truncated. If you accept that man has to find meaning outside of himself, wouldn't that beg the question that there is something bigger and better than man to give him meaning? If so, and that thing that gives meaning is good, doesn't that imply that there is an opposite or antagonist that is just as big that is evil? So then you could not so easily say that the source of evil is man. Yes, part of mans nature is evil, just as part is good.
I'll admit, my interpretation of this is guided by my beliefs, but then again whose interpretation isn't?
Thanks for posting my blog on your blog list!
Courtney
Il semble que vous soyez un expert dans ce domaine, vos remarques sont tres interessantes, merci.
- Daniel
Hey, I am checking this blog using the phone and this appears to be kind of odd. Thought you'd wish to know. This is a great write-up nevertheless, did not mess that up.
- David
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