31: The Same Old Question

31 

The Same Old Question 

“Thank God I’m Jung and not a Jungian,” Carl Jung, the founder of depth psychology, said in a moment of serious jest; but to fully appreciate the profound richness of Jung’s humor, one would have to have a healthy respect for the individual self, which Carl Jung certainly had; and that’s the subject of today’s spiritual musing… 

I admire and respect anyone, whether they succeed or not does not matter to me, who has the courage to pursue their dreams and live their own life; people who go against the logic of convention and do their own thing, because they reflect a certain quality that we all possess but are afraid to act upon for one reason or another. But what is this special quality, this certain je ne sais quoi that the great psychologist humbly deferred to?

“The acorn seed must become an oak tree and not a donkey,” remarked Jung in another moment of serious jest, with that same mischievous glint in his eye that spoke volumes about this certain quality that we’re all born with but need help to bring to light; but I knew where Jung was coming from, and I laughed at the irony of his playful humor.

That’s what inspired today’s spiritual musing. I saw a post on Facebook the other day that reminded me of Jung’s comment about how thankful he was for being himself and not a Jungian as many of his followers, because it spoke to the concept of individuation that is central to Jungian psychology and that special quality that makes us who we are.

David Brooks’ May 9, 2015 New York Times column “What Is Your Purpose?” was inspired by his promotion tour for his new book The Road to Character, which coincidentally addresses the issue central this spiritual musing; but as relevant as it may be to our fast-paced digital world, there is nothing new about man’s quest for meaning and purpose.

Brooks opens his column with the following words: “Every reflective person sooner or later faces certain questions: What is the purpose of my life? How do I find a moral compass so I can tell right from wrong? What should I do day by day to feel fulfillment and deep joy?” And he concludes his reflective article by saying that there’s a hunger out there for answers to these questions, but people don’t really know where to look; and so, to do his part, he opened up a dialogue online so people can draw inspiration from each other, which goes a long way to firming up today’s spiritual musing, “The Same Old Question.”

I’m being ironic; because like Carl Jung I’ve also been initiated into the secret way of individuating that special quality that makes us who we are, and I can afford to be lighthearted and cheeky like my hero because I know that an acorn seed has to become an oak tree and not a donkey just as I know that Jane Doe cannot become anyone else but Jane Doe.

This, obviously—pardon me; it’s not obvious at all, is it?—is the answer to the same old question that David Brooks sees hanging out there: What is the purpose of my life? The purpose is simply to become who you are meant to be, end of story; and that’s the irony of the human situation that neither the depth psychologist nor I could repress.

If this sounds conceited, I do apologize; but it is hilarious, if one only stops to think about it. It’s like the Sufi teaching story of that old trickster Mullah Nasruddin looking for the key to his house out in the daylight because the light is better outside than it is in his house where he lost it. Who has the courage to stare their shadow in the face?

And that’s the problem we’ve always had, which is more pronounced today than at any other time in human history, we’re always looking for magic solutions that will take away the responsibility of being who we are meant to be; until, that is, we can no longer suffer the angst of our own meaningless existence which clever philosopher’s like Sartre packaged into beautiful sounding phrases like, “life is a useless passion” and “man is condemned to be free,” and then one day like David Brooks we have a metanoic change of heart and start living by higher values that will pour meaning and purpose into our empty, distraught lives. As the French like to say, “Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.” 

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