It is a privilege born of human freedom
The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche (Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 8)
“Reflection” should be understood not simply as an act of thought, but rather as an attitude.
It is a privilege born of human freedom in contradistinction to the compulsion of natural law.
As the word itself testifies (“reflection” means literally “bending back”), reflection is a spiritual act that runs counter to the natural process; an act whereby we stop, call something to mind, form a picture, and take up a relation to and come to terms with what we have seen.
It should, therefore, be understood as an act of becoming conscious. ~Carl Jung, CW 11, Para 235
There is no other way open to us; we are forced to resort to conscious decisions and solutions where formerly we trusted ourselves to natural happenings.
Every problem, therefore, brings the possibility of a widening of consciousness, but also the necessity of saying goodbye to childlike unconsciousness and trust in nature.
This necessity is a psychic fact of such importance that it constitutes one of the most essential symbolic teachings of the Christian religion.
It is the sacrifice of the merely natural man, of the unconscious, ingenuous being whose tragic career began with the eating of the apple in Paradise.
The biblical fall of man presents the dawn of consciousness as a curse.
And as a matter of fact it is in this light that we first look upon every problem that forces us to greater consciousness and separates us even further from the paradise of unconscious childhood. ~Carl Jung, CW 8, Para 751
