The Enlightenment ignited reason, science, and individual rights, inspiring revolutions like the French Revolution. Thinkers such as Locke and Montesquieu reshaped society. Later, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) and Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) envisioned a new human awakening—uniting instinct, feeling, and logic. More people now challenge authority, seeking truth, equality, and a deeper human understanding in a rapidly changing world.
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Do you always follow your instincts?
Yesterday when I stood in front of the window of a large store, I suddenly realized the following: “Between dreams and reality it is unevenly distributed.” How wonderful it is that we as humans can dream away so wonderfully in our thoughts. That we can think about our own thoughts. According to many scientists, this is a huge difference between humans and animals on our planet, animals only react from their instincts.)
If I am to believe those same scientists, we as humans, like the animals around us, only followed our instincts in earlier times. But, what do you do with your instincts now, or do you also follow your reason much more these days? Did you know that: “we humans only started to use our minds more at the time of the Enlightenment?” This was an intellectual and philosophical movement that took place mainly in Europe in the 18th century. This period, also known as the “Age of Reason,” emphasized the use of reason, rationalism, and empiricism, which led to major changes in society.
Have you also started to ignore your instincts more?
The Enlightenment was a reaction to the centuries before, in which authority of the church and the state was often indisputable. Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke and Montesquieu advocated the separation of powers and the idea that the state is at the service of the citizens, not the other way around. Wonderful to think that the above was the reason to use our minds more. We all became more rational, the observations we made, and our experiences became much more important. We became, and felt ourselves becoming more important as individuals, and there was more recognition for our feelings, we felt we got more rights. We thought that through our minds we could make much more progress, which would allow us to create a better world.
Do you think the French Revolution changed much?
The ideas that came to us at that time had a great influence on various areas of our lives. Some fields in which it changed a lot included politics, science and art. All these changes, and the possibilities that people recognized as a result, changed society as a whole. Revolts arose among “the rabble”, which the aristocrats of the world at that time could no longer stop, think of the French Revolution (1789-1799). Tens of thousands of people were killed, mainly due to political violence and executions. Estimates of the number of victims vary, but are often estimated at 40,000 or more, including the execution of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, who went under the guillotine, and lost their heads as a result.
Do you also think that more people in our time appeal to their reason?
When I think back on all this in my mind, I believe that we are in our time, and at this moment, about the same time. In my opinion, fewer and fewer people are being bullied by the “rulers” of our (this) time. It seems as if a new time of “awakening” has arisen, it seems. In my eyes just as if more and more people in this world are reawakening, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was already talking about the awakening of man to: “Der Übermensch.” A person who, in his opinion, could handle much more, would be much more unruly, and would have much more knowledge. One of his early pupils, and followers, was the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), who in turn was a follower of Sigmund Freud (1856-1936) a neurologist from Austria-Hungary). Saw this development coming in humans as well, but expected that this development would take some time. But now, a little more than sixty years after Jung’s death, I see a clear movement in the development of humanity.
Do you also believe that “more understanding” is the answer to the development of our time?
In my opinion, there are still many “followers” in our time, people who believe that the governments in the country in which they live have their best interests at heart. The governments that keep calling for understanding and tolerance. But it is becoming increasingly clear that many people in this current time want more in their lives, and especially desire more from their lives. They see the bumbling of the politicians and leaders in their environment more and more clearly. Many people who are “awakening” are seeing more and more clearly what they are missing out on because of this bumbling of their so-called leaders. Our world is changing at an ever-increasing pace. The development of mankind in the 18th century, which I mentioned earlier, was in all probability a good one, but where does it lead us? Instinct, feeling, and reason carry us further and further, but at what cost, a new revolution, and many new victims? Or are we as humanity able to realize that the world belongs to all of us, and that we can also combine feeling and reason into a tool that we can use together to give humanity a better feeling, more equality and humanity: Semper Simul (always together)? Unfortunately, there are still too many people at the moment, who have awakened, but who enjoy the “sleeping” of the rest of the population, so that they can still benefit proportionately too much from this situation. I wonder what will happen to the world when these benefits disappear.
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