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Carl Jung did not rule out the end of civilization — and his psychology was, in part, a preparation for it. This lecture from Academy of Ideas examines Jung’s darkest prophecies. In 1913 he foresaw a monstrous flood over Europe, a vision that preceded World War I, and on his deathbed he left a sketch reading ‘the last fifty years of humanity.’ His fear was that psychologically unstable people would hold nuclear power and ignite a third world war. But Jung offered a path as well: individuation — bring order to your own psyche, and build a fortress of spirit that the storm cannot reach.
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The spiritual decline of the earth is so far advanced that people are in danger of losing their last spiritual strength.
The strength that makes it possible even to see the disintegration and to recognize it as such.
Carl Jung held a pessimistic view of the future of Western civilization.
He believed it was in a state of decline, destined for collapse,
and he did not preclude the possibility of an apocalyptic event ending the lives of billions of people.
In this video, we explore the source of Jung’s pessimism
and examine a disturbing vision Jung had just prior to his death
that paints a bleak picture for the future of the West.
As the end of the second millennium draws near, wrote Jung,
we are again living in an age filled with apocalyptic images of universal destruction.
Jung lived through two world wars, saw the development and use of the atomic bomb,
and witnessed the rise of totalitarianism in Europe and Asia. With such world-changing
events going on around him, it is not surprising that he was pessimistic about the future.
Jung’s pessimism, however, was not only rooted in the external horrors of war,
totalitarianism, and nuclear destruction, but also in his diagnosis of the psychological state
of modern men and women. Through clinical work with his patients and an extensive study of the
human psyche, Jung concluded that most people are psychologically sick and that many are flirting
with outright madness. To make matters worse, in the modern day there are a vanishingly small
number of people who possess the wisdom, strength, and courage needed to keep us safe in an age where
we possess technologies capable of global destruction and mass enslavement. Or as Jung
wrote, Is everything right with the human mind? The benevolent god of science that had done such
marvelous things for the benefit of man had uncovered his dark face. He produced the most
diabolical war machinery, including the abomination of poison gases, and human reason got more and
more obscured by strange and absurd ideas. Jung’s pessimism did not subside following the close of
world war ii the war of man against man may have ended but the inner war between man and his demons
remained and jung saw most people losing this battle in a letter written to the analytical
psychologist esther harding in 1947 he stated it seems to come to a general showdown where the
question shall be settled whether the actual existing man is conscious enough to cope with
his demons or not. For the time being it seems to be a losing fight.
One of Jung’s deepest fears was that psychologically unstable individuals would rise to power in
nuclear-armed nations, triggering a third world war and the collapse of civilization.
Or as he warned, the unleashing of atomic energy has given the human race the power
to annihilate itself completely. The situation is about the same as if a small boy of six
had been given a bag of dynamite for a birthday present. How can we save the child from the
dynamite which no one can take away from him? In his book Catafalque, Carl Jung and the End of
Humanity, the philosopher Peter Kingsley goes as far as to suggest that Jung’s pessimism led him
to develop a psychology that is a preparation for the end, and not simply the end of an individual’s
life, but the end of civilization. For during a civilizational collapse, the social value system
becomes corrupt, and the myths that once gave meaning to life become impoverished and stale.
Conformity, therefore, leads to sickness. And for this reason each person must seek their own
inner salvation, and Jung’s psychology is oriented toward this task.
Psychology like mine prepares for an end or even for the end, writes Jung. The question is only,
what are we going to kill, ourselves or our still infantile psychology and its appalling
unconsciousness. Sometimes Jung held out a cautious optimism that if enough people faced
their demons and brought order and harmony to their psyches, then society could be saved.
But by the end of his life, he seems to have lost hope completely. Just prior to his death,
Jung had a haunting vision about the future of the West, and this was not the first of his visions.
Rather, Jung’s life was peppered with visions. Some of these visions helped Jung with the
development of his psychological theories, such as his theory of the collective unconscious,
while others were prognostic in nature. For example, in October of 1913, Jung had a vision
that foresaw the outbreak of World War I. In October, while I was alone on a journey,
I was suddenly seized by an overpowering vision. I saw a monstrous flood covering all the northern
and low-lying lands between the North Sea and the Alps. When it came up to Switzerland,
I saw that the mountains grew higher and higher to protect our country. I realized that a frightful
catastrophe was in progress. I saw the mighty yellow waves, the floating rubble of civilization,
and the drowned bodies of uncounted thousands. Two weeks passed, then the vision recurred,
under the same conditions, even more vividly than before, and the blood was more emphasized.
An inner voice spoke, look at it well, it is wholly real and it will be so, you cannot doubt it.
But the vision Jung had in 1961, just prior to his death, was even more apocalyptic than
his 1913 vision, and if we are to believe Socrates, visions that come to those approaching
death should be taken seriously.
People prophesy especially just before they die, Socrates is reported as saying.
Marie-Louise von Franz, one of Jung’s students and closest collaborators, discussed the content
of his deathbed vision in an interview she gave two decades after Jung’s death.
I don’t want to speak much about it.
But he tried to convey to his family some things when he was right dying, and they didn’t
get the point, so he called for me, but they wouldn’t let me be called.
But one of his daughters took notes, and after his death she gave them to me.
There is a drawing with a line going up and down, and underneath is,
The last fifty years of humanity, and some remarks of the final catastrophe being ahead.
But I only have those notes.”
When asked what she thought about the vision, she said,
One’s whole feeling revolts against this idea.
But since I have those notes in a drawer, I don’t allow myself to be too optimistic.
Some will claim that Jung’s prognostication has proven false, as no apocalyptic event
has occurred.
But we should not be too quick to dismiss Jung’s vision, as often when a civilization
collapses, those living through the decaying times fail to realize what is occurring around
Furthermore, the psychological state of the average person may be more disturbed today
than it was in Young’s day.
The events surrounding COVID prove the susceptibility of most people to a mass psychosis, and the
actions of our politicians reveal that they are not of sound mind.
A sick population governed by sick rulers is a recipe for disaster, and so perhaps it
is only a matter of time before an apocalyptic event brings about the end that Young witnessed
in his vision.
Or as Peter Kingsley writes,
Just the same as those cartoon characters who race out into the void and don’t notice they
are right above the abyss, we go on trying to think everything is normal. For a few unreal
moments we are running above empty space, although there is nothing anymore, no foundation or support
to hold or take us forward. We are simply being carried by the ghost-like residue of that original
movement which is nothing more, now, than the momentum of our unconscious habits. But even
that will fizzle out, come to a stop until everything drops, which is when there is chaos.
The great 20th century American educator Edith Hamilton wrote that,
When the world is storm-driven, and the bad that happens and the worst that threatens are so urgent
as to shut out everything else from view, then we need to know all the strong fortresses of the
spirit which men have built through the ages. At Academy of Ideas, we explore these strong
fortresses, that is, the philosophical and psychological insights that strengthen the
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Source: Academy of Ideas