Carl Jung on the Average Normal Man
Modern Psychology: C. G. Jung’s Lectures at the ETH Zürich, 1933-1941
Chart V (p. 64) The average normal man.
In the first place the normal man is very egotistical – Schopenhauer goes so far as to say that man would kill his own brother if he were in need of fat to grease his boots – and in the second place he is primitive.
Cave men still exist in all ranks of society and the least loss of self-control brings up the barbarian.
Seventy or eighty per cent of the population today belong to the middle ages, so that very few people are really adapted to this year 1934, and of those few the majority have forgotten their shadows which trail behind their well-adapted personas!
So in Right I the normal man reaches a very high mark; he lives there with his body which is an animal.
In Right II the curve is also high, for he is entirely subjective.
In Right III, because of his own personalism, he is capable of being the loyal follower of a leader. The line is sinking.
In Right IV his consciousness has almost vanished, for it is very difficult indeed to be objective. Ideas presuppose an independence of mind and a self-discipline that only the few possess.
Right V is very weak indeed.
On the Left side, in Section I, the average man has a dim idea of the dark things lurking in the shadow, then the line sinks and consciousness reaches no further.
This chart is simply that of the average man, no allowance has been made for type; the field of the extravert lies more to the Right and that of the introvert more to the Left.
The latter is more aware of his shadow and consequently feels inferior, he cannot meet reality directly but has to meditate over it first; by this mechanism he avoids many pitfalls, but he also misses a great many opportunities.
The extravert, on the contrary, blunders from sheer ignorance of his shadow and is sorely handicapped when he is driven to discover his inner world.
The curve of the normal man undergoes changes according to the spirit of the times, as collective consciousness may move to the Right or to the Left.
With the rise of certain religious movements, when general consciousness soars, the curve will reach Right V.
To give an historical example I will mention the wave of ecstasy which swept over the ancient world with the rise of Islam.
In our present age there is an appreciable movement of consciousness towards the Left side, the interest shown in psychology, for instance, illustrates this. ~Carl Jung, Modern Psychology, Vol. 1, Page 68.
