Jung, Maslow & The Mechanics of Meaning - Gary Lachman

Get early access to our latest psychology lectures: Jung famously remarked that the majority of people who came to him were not suffering from any neurosis or other psychological disorder, but from a lack of meaning in their life. This, he said, was the central question in the second half of life, after one has already established oneself in the world. Material comfort and a high standard of living did not necessarily lead to happiness; indeed they often got in its way, and it was not unusual for seekers of meaning to put themselves in uncomfortable circumstances, because of an unconscious instinct that comfortable ones would kill them. But the challenge of meaning concerns our inner life, and Jung believed he had hit upon the mechanism through which a “flat, stale and unprofitable” life could be transformed into one of purpose and growth. This required a new alignment of the polarity between our conscious and unconscious minds, which would make things “just right.” Jung