Carl Jung Depth Psychology Facebook Group
Modern Man in Search of a Soul
The morbid symptom in Freud’s psychology is this:
it is based upon a view of the world that is uncriticized, or even unconscious, and this is apt to narrow the field of human experience and understanding to a considerable extent.
It was a great mistake on Freud’s part to turn his back on philosophy.
Not once does he criticize his premises or even the assumptions that underlie his personal outlook.
Yet to do so was necessary, as may be inferred from what I have said above; for had he critically examined his assumptions, he would never have put his peculiar mental disposition naively on view, as he has done in The Interpretation of Dreams.
At all events, he would have had a taste of the difficulties which I have met with.
I have never refused the bitter-sweet drink of philosophical criticism, but have taken it with caution, a little at a time.
All too little, my opponents will say; almost too much, my own feeling tells me.
All too easily does self-criticism poison one’s naivete, that priceless possession, or rather gift which no creative man can be without.
At any rate, philosophical criticism has helped me to see that every psychology-my own included-has the character of a subjective confession.
And yet I must prevent my critical powers from destroying my creativeness.
I know well enough that every word I utter carries with it something of myself-of my special and unique self with its particular history and its own particular world.
Even when I deal with empirical data, I am necessarily speaking about myself.
But it is only by accepting this as inevitable that I can serve the cause of man’s knowledge of man-the cause which Freud also wished to serve, and which, in spite of everything, he has served.
Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also. ~Carl Jung, Modern Man in the Search of the Soul, Page 119