Our internal Journey

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This book is the story behind the man, Carl Gustav Jung, who lived from 1865 to 1961, and who has had such a profound influence on modern psychology. Written mostly by the man himself, this is not a list of dates and events, but a personal history of the internal images, thoughts and feelings that led Jung to develop the insights that have made him so famous. Born into a religious family, Jung at a very early age had dreams and visions that conflicted strongly with the religious beliefs and discussions that surrounded him.

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He describes the internal conflicts and the ways in which he dealt with them. He suggests that this conflict exists within all of us, but many people are not conscious of it.Jung’s appraoch to his patients was to listen carefully to their story – trying to understand the human background and the human suffering before offering any clinical diagnosis. He points out that the peril which threatens us all nowadays comes not from nature, but from man, from the psyches of the individual and the mass. He stresses the importance, for anyone working in the field of psychotherapy, of understanding themselves, not just the patient, because he believed that in therapy, the whole personality of both doctor and patient come into play. He found that his own dreams were often influenced by the course of therapy with a patient, and he gained many useful insights that way.

Jung describes man’s great gift as being that of consciousness, his ability to reflect and use his mind. To Jung, then, the prime goal of mankind is to develop that consciousness, through developing self-knowledge. ‘As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.’ Carl Gustav Jung was a man who certainly achieved that goal.