“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.”
Martin Heidegger, Introduction to Metaphysics
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, we are again living in an age filled with apocalyptic images of universal destruction.”
Carl Jung, The Undiscovered Self
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 marvellous 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.”
Carl Jung, Collected Works Volume 18
Jung’s pessimism did not subside following the close of WWII. 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 show down, where the question shall be settled, whether the actual existing man is conscious enough to cope with his own demons or not. For the time being it seems to be a losing fight.”
Carl Jung, Letter to Esther Harding, July 8, 1947
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?”
Carl Jung, Epilogue to “Essays on Contemporary Events”
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. The question is only, what are we going to kill: ourselves or our still infantile psychology and its appalling unconsciousness.”
Carl Jung, Letter to Cary Baynes, April 12, 1959
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 1:
“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.””
Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections
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 have only those notes.”
Marie-Louise von Franz Interview in Matter of the Heart Documentary
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.”
Marie-Louise von Franz Interview in Matter of the Heart Documentary
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 recognize what is occurring around them. Furthermore, the psychological state of the average person may be more disturbed today, than it was in Jung’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 Jung 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 ghostlike residue of that original movement which is nothing more, now, than the momentum of our own unconscious habits. But even that will fizzle out: come to a stop until everything drops, which is when there is chaos.”
Peter Kingsley, Catafalque
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