In “Man and his Symbols,” Carl Jung explores archetypes and intuition, highlighting how symbols once guided human beings before written language. Today, we’re disconnected from intuition, leading to burnout and societal pressures. Modern education and commerce prioritize memorization over natural instincts, creating a distinction between intellectual layers. Are we sacrificing true happiness for the “rat race”?
Picture: Parade
PictureJust as I was reading the book: “Man and his Symbols” by the Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (Kesswil, July 26, 1875 – Küsnacht, June 6, 1961) in which he explains the symbols (Archetypes) that he once created together with Sigmund Freud (Freiburg (Moravia), May 6, 1856 – London, September 23, 1939) I came across the promo of the one film about the Greek mythological hero “Orpheus.”
What do symbols tell us?
If I am to believe the reference books that I have now “devoured” in dozens, then the symbols were once indispensable for us as human beings, and we could not really do without them. After all, at the beginning of our existence we could still read nor write. In fact, we couldn’t even think about our own thoughts. In the very beginning of our existence, we lived as humans only from our subconscious. Like most animals around us, we also lived from our intuition.
Why don’t we listen to our intuition anymore?
Like me, you too probably suffer from the so-called “gut feelings”? You know the butterflies in your stomach when something unexpected happens to you, or when you have to do something difficult or scary? These were the things that the first man “blindly relied on”, and that we try to ignore in our present time outside of love. That sacred intuition that saved us from a lot of damage, allowing animals to still escape from the big forest fires. Imagine that you lived in that primeval time when you only had your feelings, you couldn’t think about your own thoughts.
Why is our knowledge sacred now?
In this day and age, we as children are already taught to learn everything by heart, but learning to trust nature and our intuition has not been there for a long time. Prehistoric man made murals in caves, sometimes in “hidden places” to ensure that the paintings in question could only be viewed by the “right” people. In this way, they made sure that there was no panic among children or the lesser. I have always found it funny that a university-educated person was naturally taught to look things up, and a less educated person was stuffed with almost complete books.
Why this distinction between the layers of the population?
It seems as if that distinction has been made consciously so that the “lesser” person can no longer or may no longer make optimal use of his or her brain capacity. Being stuffed with a lot of nonsense that you can or should forget a year after school, sometimes because you never need or use that knowledge, or simply because you have to cram new knowledge into that head of yours. I find it very funny to hear that in some companies in today’s world, the call center employees have to be able to answer 95% of the customer questions by heart? How did we come up with these ideas?
Is commerce more important than our existence as humans?
It may be a strange thought, but sometimes it comes to me, but aren’t we all user tools of the rich of our earth in this day and age? Has these people come up with a formula or instructions for use, at what price we would like to do things for them, so that we have just enough money left over to live, with a little pleasure? For example, I have met many people in my career who had a position as a manager, but did not enjoy it at all. The money they earned, but not the pain they had to inflict on others to stay in line.
Are you lucky if you can continue the “rat race”?
Have we become happier in the course of history? I too have told people in the past that the biorhythm is very important for people, but what is that, and is it still possible today? Many people in our time are taking more and more drugs, alcohol and sleeping pills, because they can no longer cope with their requested (work) rhythm. Our consciousness is becoming increasingly important, and the subconscious or our Archetypes named by Jung increasingly bother us in our dreams. Burnout and overstrain are increasing in these times, where more and more is expected of people.
Are you choosing your best rhythm?
In our past we ate when we were hungry or could find food, now most of us eat morning, noon and or evening at fixed or fixed times. We sleep when the boss needs us, or not because we think about what others say, or because we have trouble doing everything that is asked of us. In my view, despite our current knowledge about everything, and the fact that we can think about our own thoughts, our lives are no longer how they were once intended. We keep our intuitive thoughts to ourselves, imagine that others think something of it? For the outside world and our partners we keep up appearances, they should know what we really think and think, alone is also alone. Because you also know the fable that a human being is a social being, and cannot survive without others around him, don’t you?
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