[Ni] My Favorite Jung Passage

[jamiek]

This passage inspires me, comforts me, and reminds me of the importance of self-discovery... I hope y'all enjoy it.

The words "many are called, but few are chosen" are singularly appropriate here, for the development of personality from the germ-state to full consciousness is at once a charisma and a curse, because its first fruit is the conscious and unavoidable segregation of the single individual from the undifferentiated and unconscious herd. This means isolation, and there is no more comforting word for it. Neither family nor society nor position can save him from this fate, nor yet the most successful adaptation to his environment, however smoothly he fits in. The development of personality is a favour that must be paid for dearly. But the people who talk most loudly about developing their personalities are the very ones who are least mindful of the results, which are such as to frighten away all weaker spirits.

Yet the development of personality means more than just the fear of hatching forth monsters, or of isolation. It also means fidelity to the law of one's own being.

But a man can make a moral decision to go his own way only if he holds that way to be the best. If any other way were held to be better, then he would live and develop that other personality instead of his own. The other ways are conventionalities of a moral, social, political, philosophical, or religious nature. The fact that the conventions always flourish in one form or another only proves that the vast majority of mankind do not choose their own way, but convention, and consequently develop not themselves but a method and a collective mode of life at the cost of their own wholeness.

To develop one's personality is indeed an unpopular undertaking, a deviation that is highly uncongenial to the herd… Small wonder, then, that from earliest times only the chosen few have embarked upon this strange adventure. Had they all been fools, we could safely dismiss them as… mentally "private" persons who have no claim on our interest. But, unfortunately, these personalities are as a rule the legendary heros of mankind, the very ones who are looked up to, loved, and worshipped, the true sons of God whose names perish not. They are the flower and the fruit, the ever fertile seeds of the tree of humanity.

Excerpt taken from: Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 17: Development of Personality.

 

[Kitsune413]

Thank you for posting that.

 

[jamiek]

Thanks for reading it and for acknowledging that you enjoyed it! I keep a framed copy of it on my desk and have given copies of it to my closest friends.

 

[garbage]

Yeah, nothing to say but that this is a good one and I hadn't seen it before. Thanks!

 

[highlander]

It doesn't inspire me but this is my favorite quote:

The peculiar nature of the introverted intuition, if it gains the ascendancy, produces a peculiar type of man: the mystical dreamer and seer on one hand, the artist and the crank on the other. The artist might be regarded as the normal representative character of this type, which tends to confine itself to the perceptive character of intuition. AS a rule, the intuitive stops at perception; perception is his main problem, and--in the case of a creative artist--the shaping of his perception. But the crank is content with a visionary idea by which he himself is shaped and determined. Naturally the intensification of intuition often results in an extraordinary aloofness of the individual from tangible reality; he may even become a complete enigma to his immediate circle. If he is an artist, he reveals strange, far-off things in his art, shimmering in all colours, at once portentous and banal, beautiful and grotesque, sublime and whimsical. If not an artist, he is frequently a misunderstood genius, a great man "gone wrong," a sort of wise simpleton, a figure for "psychological" novels.
(Jung, 401-03).

 

[Zarathustra]

That was a very nice passage. Thank you for sharing that.

 

[Esoteric Wench]

This passage inspires me, comforts me, and reminds me of the importance of self-discovery... I hope y'all enjoy it.

Thanks for posting! I found this passage particularly moving myself. It's the first time I've come across it. I shall reread and ponder.

I do think that one of the reasons I liked what Jung wrote here so much is that he captured the idea that understanding mastering MBTI theory and applying it to oneself for personal growth can be a terribly lonely journey. I don't know what I'd do without all my friends here on TypoC or as I like to call it: "Psychology Nerd Patrol". I have found out so much about myself, my strengths, my weaknesses, my relationships, etc. by studying MBTI. I wish I could talk about it with all my friends without their eyes glazing over. <Sigh.>

 

[Kitsune413]

I wish I could talk about it with all my friends without their eyes glazing over. <Sigh.>

I have one friend that is interested and as an nt is curious about the system it runs on... and know another ENFP who is glad I talk to him about it. But yeah. Otherwise its a pretty tough audience.

I had a boss once who I thought could stand to read Keirsey's 'Logistical' Leadership section so he might catch on that he could tick everyone off around him. But I know the danger of psychology is that alot of people believe it to be an effort at manipulation. (Which it is, perhaps. But not all manipulation is bad.) So I decide on this strategy to show him an MBTI profile of his boss. So I show him the book and the first thing he says to me is, "Is this the book you're trying to manipulate everyone with?"

I almost died laughing. Almost.

 

[Kitsune413]

As an ammendum I believe most ENFP's are interested in psychology for understanding. Rather than manipulation.

 

[Thursday]

Divinely inspired. Thank you.