Lecture IV

Dr. Jung

Here is a question from Mrs. Crowley about the decrease of efficiency through the mirroring process. You remember our argument about the psychological effect of what we called the mirroring process, namely, the discovery of a new standpoint from which one can judge oneself by means of a newly acquired function—that is, the function newly detached from the unconscious. And we discussed the interesting fact that the more we are capable of mirroring ourselves, the more we get detached and the more general our insight becomes. That relatively universal insight leads necessarily to a sort of quietism, as it does in the East. The principle in Eastern philosophy which is connected with this process is wu wei ¹ —doing nothing or non-doing. That is the formula of the quietistic principle which is connected with the supreme insight. This comprised, formerly, not only this ethical principle but the Eastern political and strategic principles as well, though it is of course no longer valid since the East has become so europeanized. Now this “non-doing,” or lack of efficiency, is not necessarily destructive. Of course, it hinders efficiency as we understand the word; for instance, the American concept of efficiency would surely be rather injured by the wu wei principle. One can hardly imagine a greater contrast than these two, but the American efficiency is far more destructive than the Eastern lack of it.

Mrs. Crowley

It destroys the individual?

Dr. Jung

Yes, but it is not only the psychological destruction of the individual, it is also physiological. Look at the men in Wall Street! At forty-five they are completely exhausted. Modern life in America is more efficient than in any place in the world, but it completely destroys the man. Also it has a peculiar effect on the unconscious of the American woman; it stimulates her animus, as it likewise stimulates the anima in a man. When these figures prevail, it means just destruction. So if one added a bit of the Eastern wu wei to our Western idea of efficiency it would perhaps be helpful. Naturally our efficiency would suffer, but that is a monster, a dragon, which eats human life. Wu wei means a certain decrease of efficiency, but it is not as destructive to life. Up to a certain point it would be an excellent medicine for our psychological and also physiological existence.

Mrs. Crowley

I gathered from what you said the more removed you were, the less you could function.

Dr. Jung

Yes, according to the understanding of our Western world. But the East is not inefficient; the old Emperor ruling his Empire by wu wei was by no means inefficient in his own way, though he was very weak according to our ideas.

Mrs. Baynes

Could you say that the present situation in China, ² where millions of people have to die, is due to this idea of wu wei?

Dr. Jung

That might be true, perhaps, for the principle is obviously not ideal. The East certainly needs more of our technique, and we criticize the East for its quietism because it is a one-sided point of view. I don’t say that we should accept an Eastern philosophy. Many people do go in for Indian theosophy and such stuff, but I am an opponent of that because I know that for us it is not healthy. You see how this dreamer clearly develops in the direction which points ultimately to the East, but adding the East to the West does not suppress the West. The common result will be something quite different. It will be an effect of this mixture.

Question

It seems to me that if your formulation of the four functions as having existence both within and without must necessarily bring a dynamic factor into the functions, and would not that lead to introversion? I mean in a theoretical case?

Dr. Jung

One could say that Eastern psychology suffers from an introversion neurosis. All those terrible epidemics out there, or the awful famines, and the fact that the West is able to conquer those peoples, all that is a sort of rebellion of objects against their introversion. We have a Western neurosis based on extraversion. I speak of the East as a sort of compensatory symbol, but I would not identify our attempt at compensation with Eastern psychology as it actually is, because I reject the political and social conditions as they are in China or India, and I would not even like to have the same kind of mind. We speak of Chinese philosophy in terms of the highest appreciation but we forget how cruel the Chinese are. I am glad that such things do not happen with us, though since the Great War we can say nothing. We have organized cruelty; there they do it in a more dilettantic way.

Mr. Schmitz

I think we must make a point between the conscious and the unconscious application of the wu wei. In the great periods of Chinese philosophy, wu wei was a conscious purpose, but if wu wei works unconsciously it is nothing but a lazy and indifferent laisser aller, the kind of thing which has been going on in China for the last fifty years. But in Europe also a certain sort of wu wei has always been practiced. Of course, real statesmanship is not possible without it. What else is Talleyrand’s dictum pas trop de zéle, ³ or in English “Wait and see,” or “Never complain, never explain”? Especially the efficiency of English politics—I emphasize the efficiency—often comes from a very wise application of the principle of non-action. For instance, in the Great War, it is said that the sister ⁴ of the German Emperor gave him favourable astrological dates for starting attacks, and one supposes that the English knew that but could not help it. So they awaited patiently the end of the series of dates favourable to Germany and lost the battles and won the war. Psychology proved stronger than military efficiency. We can admit that, whether we believe in psychology or not.

Dr. Jung

That is very interesting. Well, I think we will now proceed with the next dream. You remember, from the dream we have just been dealing with, that we came to the conclusion that the child who remained alive was really the idea of the honest attempt—this man’s honest attempt to do something with psychology, so we could almost expect that the next dream would be busy with that. For the question left over is, what will his attempt be, how will he go about it, how is this child to be brought into the world? Because when a dream speaks of a child it is always a new attempt, some positive manifestation of life, or a new idea. When someone has written a new book, for instance, it is often expressed metaphorically as a child. So we may assume that the next dream will deal with the reality of that attempt. Now we shall see whether that hypothesis is good or not.