The Paradox of Happiness

01/06/22 • 25 min

In this episode:
We talk about happiness, and discover why Jung believed it was better for us not to pursue it.

Let's make this a conversation:
Do you have a comment or question about this episode, or about something you would like me to address in a future episode? Please contact me on Instagram (@digital.jung), Facebook (facebook.com/jungiananalyst), or Twitter (@Jason_E_Smith).
For more on living a symbolic life:
Please check out my book, Religious but Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life, available from Chiron Publications.
Sources for quotes and more:

Except where otherwise noted, all quotes from Jung are taken from The Art of Living in 'C.G. Jung Speaking.'
'Tao Te Ching,' Translated by Red Pine.
'A Wrinkle in Time' by Madeleine L’Engle.
'A Room of One's Own' by Virginia Woolf.
“The challenge I face is how to actualize the quiet eminence of our being.” ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel, 'I Asked For Wonder.'
Letter to Harriet Hardy from C.G. Jung ("Carl Jung on Happiness")
“...a civilization that has forgotten that man’s life should be sacrificial, that is, offered up to an idea greater than himself.” ~ C.G. Jung, in 'Collected Works, vol. 11.'
“Again and again I therefore admonish my students both in Europe and in America: ‘Don't aim at success..." ~ Viktor Frankl in 'Man's Search For Meaning.'

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...or support the show with a donation at Buy Me a Coffee (link below)

Music:
"Dreaming Days," "Slow Vibing," and "

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Connect with me:
Instagram (@digital.jung)
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Bluesky (@digitaljung.bsky.social)
Subscribe to the Digital Jung Newsletter (https://digitaljung.substack.com/)
For more on living a symbolic life:
Please check out my book, Religious but Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life.

Send us a text

In this episode:
We talk about happiness, and discover why Jung believed it was better for us not to pursue it.

Except where otherwise noted, all quotes from Jung are taken from The Art of Living in 'C.G. Jung Speaking.'
'Tao Te Ching,' Translated by Red Pine.
'A Wrinkle in Time' by Madeleine L’Engle.
'A Room of One's Own' by Virginia Woolf.
“The challenge I face is how to actualize the quiet eminence of our being.” ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel, 'I Asked For Wonder.'
Letter to Harriet Hardy from C.G. Jung ("Carl Jung on Happiness")
“...a civilization that has forgotten that man’s life should be sacrificial, that is, offered up to an idea greater than himself.” ~ C.G. Jung, in 'Collected Works, vol. 11.'
“Again and again I therefore admonish my students both in Europe and in America: ‘Don't aim at success..." ~ Viktor Frankl in 'Man's Search For Meaning.'

Like this podcast?
Please consider leaving a review at one of the following sites:
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Podchaser
...or support the show with a donation at Buy Me a Coffee (link below)

Music:
"Dreaming Days," "Slow Vibing," and "

Support the show

Previous Episode

The "Foolishness" of Dreams

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In this episode:
We look at how the attitude we take towards our dreams changes our experience of them, and affects our relationship with our inner lives.

"The psyche is indistinguishable from its manifestations. The psyche is the object of psychology, and — fatally enough — also its subject. There is no getting away from this fact.” ~ C.G. Jung in 'Collected Works, vol. 11.'
S1 Ep. 20: Taking Dreams Seriously
"I share all your prejudices against dream-interpretation as the quintessence of uncertainty and arbitrariness. .." ~ Jung in 'Collected Works, vol. 16.'
"It is on the basis of theory, for instance, that I expect dreams to have a meaning. I cannot prove in every case that this is so.... But I have to make such an hypothesis in order to find courage to deal with dreams at all." ~ Jung in 'Collected Works, vol. 16.'
The Peddler of Swaffham from 'English Fairy and Other Folk Tales.'
“I must content myself wholly with the fact that the result means something to my patient and sets his life in motion again. I may allow myself only one criterion for the result of my labours: does it work?” ~ Jung in 'Collected Works, vol. 16.'
“In many ways the journey seems to be a foolish gamble...” ~ Thomas Merton in 'New Seeds of Contemplation.'
“The right way to wholeness is made up, unfortunately, of fateful detours and wrong turnings.” ~ Jung in 'Collected Works, vol. 12.'
“Mistakes are, after all, the foundations of truth...” ~ Jung in 'Collected Works, vol. 9ii.'
“Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things.... A certain lightness of heart seems healthier than this excessive nervousness on their behalf.” ~ William James in 'The Will to Believe.'

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Next Episode

Letting Ourselves Be

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In this episode:
We talk about the value of letting things happen and why Jung felt it was essential for the task of individuation.

'The Integration of the Personality' by C.G. Jung.
'Tao Te Ching,' Translated by Richard Wilhelm.
'Some keep the Sabbath going to Church' by Emily Dickinson.
'The Spiritual Life' by Evelyn Underhill.
'The Wisdom of Insecurity' by Alan Watts.
'Religious but Not Religious' by Jason E. Smith.
'The Cloud of Unknowing.'
'Lost' by David Wagoner.
'Oceans' by Juan Ramón Jiménez.
'Love in the Void,' a collection of writings by Simone Weil.
'Encounters with the Soul' by Barbara Hannah.
'Visions Seminars' by C.G. Jung
Transformation Symbolism in the Mass from 'Collected Works, vol. 11' by C.G. Jung.

Like this podcast?
Please consider leaving a review at one of the following sites:
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Podchaser
...or support the show with a donation at Buy Me a Coffee (link below)

Music:
"Dreaming Days," "Slow Vibing," and "The Return" by Ketsa are licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Support the show