America Facing Its Most Tragic Moment – Dr. Carl Jung
New York Times, September 29, 1912
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“When I see a man in a savage rage with something outside himself, I know that, in reality, he wants to be savage toward his own unconscious self.”
Carl Jung
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Highlights
America is the most tragic country In the world today. ‘
Prudery is always the cover for brutality.
The chivalry of the South is a reaction against its instinctive desire to imitate the negro.
American women have to work harder than any other women to attract the men of their country.
The reason American girls like to marry foreigners is not the love of titles but the love of men who are a little dangerous.
America is the most emotional country and the country with the greatest self-control.
The effort to maintain self-control in the face of, brutal instinct makes us a land of neurasthenics. (Beezone: At the time it was considered a condition characterized by chronic fatigue, weakness, and other symptoms, often associated with emotional stress or depression.)
In Africa, you distrust a man if he has more than one idea.
American wives have thrown themselves into social activity because they are not happy with their husbands.
Neither the men nor the women know this.
The regenerator of America depends on whether it has the courage to face itself.
Eliminate prudery, and America may become the greatest country the world has ever known.
American women rule the home because the American men have not yet learned to love them.
“When I see so much refinement and sentiment as I do in America,” said Dr. Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, “I always look for an equal amount of brutality. The pair of opposites—you find them everywhere.”
Dr. Jung was speaking while in the United States attending one of the many medical conventions.
“I find the greatest self-control in the world among Americans—and I search for its cause. Why should there be so much self-control in America?” he asked. “And I find, as an answer, brutality. I find a great deal of prudery. What is the cause of that prudery? Again, I discover brutality. Prudery is always the cover for brutality. It is necessary—it makes life possible until you discover the brute and take real control of it.
“When you do that in America, you will be the most emotional, the most temperamental, the most fully developed people in the world.
“It seems to me that you are about to discover yourselves. You have discovered everything else—all the land of this continent, all the resources, all the hidden things of nature which can serve you in the building of your nation. You have built your great cities, and crowded them with theatres, clubs, cathedrals, and schoolhouses. It is all ready and waiting for you to use toward some great end—when you discover yourselves.
“To do that, you will have to study your own self-control; you will have to analyze your own consciousness; you will have to admit that you have been hiding from yourselves ever since the Puritans and Huguenots came to this country.
“You will not be ashamed of the brutality when you understand it, and as soon as you understand it, it will be transformed into great emotions which shall give impetus to your national development far beyond what you now hope for. Your success in all the great things of art and literature will astound Europe, just as today it is astounded by your great systems of business and philanthropy.
“You Will Be the Greatest Nation When You Discover Yourselves” — Carl Jung
“When I see so much refinement and sentiment as I do in America,” said Dr. Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, “I always look for an equal amount of brutality. The pair of opposites—you find them everywhere.”
Dr. Jung was speaking while in the United States attending one of the many medical conventions.
“I find the greatest self-control in the world among Americans—and I search for its cause. Why should there be so much self-control in America?” he asked. “And I find, as an answer, brutality. I find a great deal of prudery. What is the cause of that prudery? Again, I discover brutality. Prudery is always the cover for brutality. It is necessary—it makes life possible until you discover the brute and take real control of it.
“When you do that in America, you will be the most emotional, the most temperamental, the most fully developed people in the world.
“It seems to me that you are about to discover yourselves. You have discovered everything else—all the land of this continent, all the resources, all the hidden things of nature which can serve you in the building of your nation. You have built your great cities, and crowded them with theatres, clubs, cathedrals, and schoolhouses. It is all ready and waiting for you to use toward some great end—when you discover yourselves.
“To do that, you will have to study your own self-control; you will have to analyze your own consciousness; you will have to admit that you have been hiding from yourselves ever since the Puritans and Huguenots came to this country.
“You will not be ashamed of the brutality when you understand it, and as soon as you understand it, it will be transformed into great emotions which shall give impetus to your national development far beyond what you now hope for. Your success in all the great things of art and literature will astound Europe, just as today it is astounded by your great systems of business and philanthropy.
“In America, as in all countries entered by a conquering race, the conquerors always tend to drop toward the level of the conquered, for it is much easier to go down ten feet than to climb up one. The whole effort toward human development is to push us up that one foot, and if we let go of any of the gains of civilization, we slip quickly.
“In South Africa, the Dutch, who were a civilized and developed people at the time of their colonizing, dropped to a much lower level because of their contact with the savage races. The savage inhabitants of a country must be mastered. In the attempt to master them, brutality rises in the master. He must be ruthless. He must sacrifice everything soft and fine for the sake of mastering savages. Their influence is very great; the more surely they are dominated, the more savage the master must become. The slave has the greatest influence of all because he is kept close to the one who rules him.
“In America, the Indians no longer influence you; they have fallen back before your power, and they are very few. But they influenced your ancestors. Today, you are influenced by the Negro race, which not so long ago had to call you master.
“In the North, the Negro’s influence is not great. In the South, where they are not given opportunities equal to the white race, their influence is very great. In fact, they are really in control.
“I notice that your Southerners speak with the Negro accent. Your women are coming to walk more and more like the Negro. In the South, I find what is called sentiment, chivalry, and romance to be a covering for cruelty. Cruelty and chivalry are another pair of opposites. Southerners treat each other with great courtesy, but they treat the Negro as they would treat their own unconscious mind—if they knew what was in it.
“When I see a man in a savage rage with something outside himself, I know that, in reality, he wants to be savage toward his own unconscious self.”
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