Wars and Rumors of War: Conflict’s Influence in the Life of CG Jung

C.G. Jung was born into a world recovering from the effects of the Franco-Prussian War, the restructuring of empires, and a rising tension between European powers. The Panic of 1873, a major international financial crisis that triggered a years-long global economic depression, had only just ended its acute phase. Jung’s descent into his creative illness occurred at the brink of the outbreak of the Great War, and in the aftermath of World War II, in his essay After the Catastrophe, he emphasized humankind’s need for psychic renewal and symbolic reckoning.

How might the presence and effect of wars have influenced Jung? How might they influence us now? As Europe began its long recovery after WWII, Jung wrote that effective analytic work requires mutual transformation, wherein both practitioner and patient are open to being transformed throughout the process. This necessity for mutual influence reflects how we are never isolates, but rather, we live within, and are affected by, wheels within wheels of personal, cultural, and political dynamics.

This presentation and participant discussion will invite us to explore how the presence and effects of war marked each of these three pivotal moments in his life: his birth, his descent, and his reflections on war. In exploring how war may have influenced Jung’s development and his perspectives, participants will be invited to discuss how, in kind, the presence and effects of war – whether it is an internal, interpersonal, cultural, or international war – are influencing their own lives.