Everything, Ultimately, Depends on the Quality of the Individual.

It was a book that I read into the wee hours of the morning on a Friday night a few years ago. It’s not a long book, but its depth and enduring salience meant that I took my time reading it. First published in English in 1958, Carl Jung’s The Undiscovered Self was one of the last books he wrote. As such, it’s part reflection and part prognostication about western society’s direction of travel. Its prescience is impressive.

Jung wrote about the dangers posed by resentful fanatics to those who lack self-knowledge and, by extension, society as a whole; the insufficiency of scientific rationalism and how it robs the individual of both foundation and dignity; the value of the individual’s anchoring in God; the state’s replacement of God; the hostility of the mass towards the individual, and much more besides.

I was reminded of this gem of a book this week when someone posted about it in a book club that I belong to on social media. One particular passage has always stood out to me about the significance of the individual – one who is able to step into who they are and think for themselves – especially vis-à-vis the mass. Jung saw society’s composition of “de-individualised persons” as a dangerous risk, making it vulnerable to “ruthless individualists”.

He elaborates on this risk, as follows:

“A million zeros joined together do not, unfortunately, add up to one. Ultimately everything depends on the quality of the individual, but the fatally shortsighted habit of our age is to think only in terms of large numbers and mass organizations, though one would think that the world had seen more than enough of what a well-disciplined mob can do in the hands of a single madman.”

Jung wrote this having lived through two world wars, witnessing the rise of Naziism and communism. There are clear parallels today, as ideological mobs assemble on each side of the political spectrum and beyond to aggressively promote their agendas.

We live in a time in which the traditional institutions to which previous generations looked for guidance and direction are no longer trusted; others have rushed in to fill the void and claim the moral high ground. Thus populism abounds, shaking the foundations of global institutions that have helped keep the world in order, for the most part, since World War II. It’s certainly no exaggeration to say that we live in a time of flux, turbulence and even confusion. The steady hands that led us in the past are steady no more – their fallibility is all too apparent.

The time has come for each individual to step into their true identity, beyond the mass, and discover the role that they are to play in their communities and societies, being guided by divine providence in the process. For it is only individuals, not mass organisations or mobs, who are truly qualified to win hearts and minds in helping others to rise.

As Jung also wrote in the book:

“It is, unfortunately, only too clear that if the individual is not truly regenerated in spirit, society cannot be either, for society is the sum total of individuals in need of redemption.”

Now is the time for the individual’s redemption from the enslavement that can be brought about by addictions, lusts and resentments.

For, ultimately, everything, including society, depends on the quality of the individual.

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