The old-time psychologist Carl Jung said a lot of things that were not well received, maybe not even true, but he did say a lot of things that were spot-on.*see note
Carl Jung on disorder
One of the things he talked about was that sometimes we carry life with us as we’re doing life. In other words, it’s kind of like we carry our life with us in a backpack behind us. And people come along and criticize certain aspects of us.
For instance, I liked baseball growing up. I liked San Francisco. I love San Francisco. I’ve also been thinking of pursuing a doctorate in the future.
However, all those things can be criticized by others and put aside. So if we try to throw those things over our shoulders and get rid of those things in life, then they just wind up going down in that backpack because they’re still ours.
As that backpack becomes heavier and heavier, that becomes the source of dysfunction and disorder in our lives, if we’re not careful.
Let’s break it down further . . .
There are plenty of ways to integrate Carl Jung’s idea with Biblical truth, maybe even Theology. One thought that has been coming to mind as I have been planning this short video is that Christians are notorious for being givers. We often offer ourselves, our time, and our resources freely to others and to the people of God without considering what is needed for ourselves to continue on a path of growth. We may often be so selfless that we seldom ever ask what or who feeds us?
Jesus said the two greatest commandments are love God and love others, right? At least that’s it in a nutshell, right?
No, if we look closely at the Scripture we see that our Lord instructs us, “love others as you love yourself” (Deuteronomy 6.5; Leviticus 19.18; Matthew 22.34-40; Mark 12.28-34; Luke 10.25-28).
Do you see what we often omit?
If we pair the Scripture with the thought of Carl Jung we see opposite pictures, health and disorder.
Disorder arises from a real lack of self-love. Sometimes we offer ourselves so much to others, even in good ways like serving them, that we lose track of the innate themes of our soul.
We try to cast pieces of ourselves over our shoulders for the sake of others, only to feel the burden of the weight of these fragments of ourselves as they fall into our soulish backpack.
On the other hand, Jesus commands us to love God with everything we have and to love others as we love ourselves. Sure, we love others. However, there is another implication that’s subtle, but it is still a command . . .
Love yourself.
Keep track of the themes of your soul.
Who’s to say your Creator didn’t give them to you?
note
* Granted there are modern ways of diagnosing and treating disorder and dysfunction, however Jung’s theory has also stood the test of time as an alternative to consider.
Rev. Jared Ingle
Minister | Supervised Therapist
Teacher | Author
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