Carl Jung: To be normal is a splendid ideal for the unsuccessful
Modern Man In Search of a Soul
Carl Jung: To be ” normal” is a splendid ideal for the unsuccessful… (2015-12-29 14:52)
In order to make clear what this fourth stage has in view, and to throw some light on the curious term “transformation,” we must first take account of those psychic needs of man which were not given a place in the other stages.
In other words, we must ascertain what could seem more desirable or lead further than the claim to be a normally adapted, social being.
Nothing is more useful or fitting than to be a normal human being; but the very notion of a “normal human being” suggests a restriction to the average-as does also the concept of adaptation.
It is only a man who as things stand, already finds it difficult to come to terms with the everyday world who can see in this restriction a desirable improvement: a man, let us say, whose neurosis unfits him for normal life.
To be ” normal” is a splendid ideal for the unsuccessful, for all those who have not yet found an adaptation.
But for people who have far more ability than the average, for whom it was never hard to gain successes and to accomplish their share of the world’s work-for them restriction to the n0rmal signifies the bed of Procrustes, unbearable boredom, infernal sterility and hopelessness.
As a consequence there are many people who become neurotic because they are only normal, as there are people who are neurotic because they cannot become normal.
For the former the very thought that you want to educate them to n0rmality is a nightmare; their deepest need is really to be able to lead “abn0rmal” lives. Carl Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul, Pages 47-48.
Normal – Anthology
If I get another perfectly n0rmal adult malingering as a sick patient I’ll have him certified! Carl Jung to Emma Jung. [Vincent Brome Biography]
Forgetting . . . is a n0rmal process, in which certain conscious ideas lose their specific energy because one’s attention has been deflected. Carl Jung; Man and His symbols; P. 20
If it has been believed hitherto that the human shadow was the source of all evil, it can now be ascertained on closer investigation that the unconscious man, that is, his shadow, does not consist only of morally reprehensible tendencies, but also displays a number of good qualities, such as n0rmal instincts, appropriate reactions, realistic insights, creative impulses, etc. Carl Jung, CW 9ii, Para 423.
To be “n0rmal” is the ideal aim for the unsuccessful, for all those who are still below the general level of adaptation. But for people of more than average ability, people who never found it difficult to gain successes and to accomplish their share of the world’s work-for them the moral compulsion to be nothing but n-rmal signifies the bed of Procrustes-deadly and insupportable boredom, a hell of sterility and hopelessness. Carl Jung; CW 16: The Practice of Psychotherapy; P. 161
…therefore I always feel very suspicious when somebody assures me that he is very n0rmal, too many n0rmal people are just compensated madmen. Carl Jung, Modern Psychology, Vol. 1, Page 41.
The war was an example of this on a ·grand scale, countless neurotics lost their compulsions and became perfectly normal during the war and did very useful work, work which they would have been quite incapable of in n0rmal circumstances. Carl Jung, Modern Psychology, Vol. 1, Page 132.
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