“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.”
This quote by Carl Gustav Jung is from his memoir Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who lived from 1875 to 1961. He founded the school of analytical psychology, and he wrote many books and articles about various aspects of it. Foundational to his psychological theory were his extensive clinical work with clients and his own inner work. He was also knowledgeable about a great many cultures, and that knowledge along with his travels to many areas of the world contributed to his understanding of the human psyche.
Jungian theory emphasizes integrating unconscious contents into consciousness which leads to better self-understanding, personal growth, and what Jung termed individuation. Individuation can be defined as the process of growing in consciousness and becoming more whole, thereby becoming the unique person each of us was created to be. Some of the ways unconscious contents become part of our consciousness are by working with our dreams to try to understand their guidance for us, endeavoring to recognize when projection has occurred and learning about ourselves when it does, and discerning possible meanings of synchronicities.
According to Jungian dream theory, the persons who appear in our dreams symbolize aspects of ourselves. When people who we know appear in our dreams, it is helpful to identify our associations to those people and then to see how those associations apply to ourselves. For example, when I had a dream where a politician who I do not respect appeared, I was reminded that I need to be more open-minded and selfless—two qualities that the politician clearly doesn’t have and two areas where I needed to improve. Identifying associations is just one of many ways that dreamwork helps us to incorporate information from our unconscious.
Projection occurs when we attribute to another person or group qualities and/or characteristics that are a reflection of something about ourselves of which we are not aware. Racial and other types of prejudice are often the result of projection. Projection is not something we do consciously and therefore we cannot cause it to happen. But we can become better at recognizing when it has happened and then learn from it. An example from my life is when I had an attraction to a coworker who was intelligent and self-confident. I automatically attributed many positive qualities to him even though I didn’t know him well. When I later learned about projection, I realized that through the projections my unconscious was helping me to see that I had accomplished things that were a basis for having more confidence in myself. Being reassured of this helped me to be less fearful of failure which had been holding me back from starting a new endeavor.
Synchronicities are meaningful, acausal occurrences; in other words, two things happen, neither causing the other, but those two things occurring lead to thoughts that are meaningful for us. One of the times I recognized a synchronicity was when in one day I had difficultly opening three doors in three different buildings that usually opened without a problem. I needed to pull one of the doors very hard for it to open, one scraped the floor as I opened it, and the other had a sign on it directing people to use a different entrance while repairs were being made. I had been feeling some “stuckness” in my inner work, and this synchronicity helped me to recognize that I had been making excuses for myself and helped me to move forward—a door opening certainly symbolizes “moving forward”!
Jung stresses how vital it is that we have meaning in our lives when he says it’s the sole purpose of our existence and that without meaning we only exist. Only existing is a very limited way of living.
Having a sense of meaning is essential to living life fully. The people whose words I have quoted in the other posts I’ve written reflect various aspects of living a meaningful life. Whether their words are about having courage, making sacrifices, growing in faith, acting with integrity, helping others, or appreciating nature–all of these and many other attributes add meaning to our lives. And growing in consciousness kindles a light of meaning, to use Jung’s words, that helps us to develop these and many other positive qualities.
