Carl Gustav Jung

Emphasizes the necessity of self-knowledge to counteract the unconscious forces responsible for contemporary social and political crises

The Undiscovered Self

Laura Mei

Most people confuse "self-knowledge" with knowledge of their ego-personalities. But the ego knows only its own contents, not the unconscious and its contents. People measure their self-knowledge by what the average person in their social environment knows of himself, but not by the real psychic facts which are for the most part hidden from them. What is commonly called "self-knowledge" is therefore a very limited knowledge, most of it dependent on social factors, of what goes on in the human psyche. In this broad belt of unconsciousness, which is immune to conscious criticism and control, we stand defenseless, open to all kinds of influences. 

The devaluation of the psyche and other resistances to psychological enlightenment are based in large measure on fear — on panic fear of the discoveries that might be made in the realm of the unconscious. It is this fear of the unconscious psyche which not only impedes self-knowledge but is the gravest obstacle to a wider understanding and knowledge of psychology. Often the fear is so great that one dares not admit it even to oneself.

The Undiscovered Self quotes

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