The phrase ‘Modern Man’ is used frequently, sometimes in the form of praise, others to be disparaging, for example, ‘people are now upset if I shout abuse at them, when I was young I’d have a tea cup smashed around my face to say good morning, modern people are so soft’, but, interestingly, fond reminisces of abuse, egoism and the use of technology are not what is meant by ‘Modern Man’ by the pioneering psychologist Carl Jung (you may have noticed that this is a name which has cropped up frequently over the last few weeks. This is simply because I was reading one of his books- monkey see, monkey do).
In his book of essays, Modern Man in Search of a Soul, Jung defines the ‘Modern Man’ (note: ‘man’ is used in the generic term to mean humans) as someone who doesn’t quite fit in. ‘Modern Man’, says Jung, is someone who knows the history of the human race. He knows the development from monkeys to people, he knows the history of the early civilisations and he/she can see how this has led to the creation of the world in which he/she lives. However, ‘Modern Man’ does not fit in with the zeitgeist of their times, as with knowledge of the past and an eye to the future, the ‘Modern Man’ is ‘ahistorical’ by which I think Jung means removed from history (note: history does not repeat itself, yes there are natural cycles such as day and night, however, it would be more accurate to say that human nature is so limited people make the same bad decisions over the course of history). This, of course, is impossible, as history is time and we all must exist within spacetime. Yes, Einstein showed that time is relative and high gravity can slow down time, yet, there is no way to break free from time. Before birth we exist within time as the latest in a line of humans and once we die we still exist within time as a memory or statistic. And so, we must consider that what Jung means is one who does not fit within the culture, i.e. within his/hers ‘Times’.
A great example of this can be found in literature. The German philosopher Nietzsche in his book Thus Sapke Zarathustra speaks of the coming of the Ubermensch. The Ubermensch, or superior being, often translated as Superman, is, in my opinion, a phantasy of Nietzsche’s of a time when the pettiness of humans will be replaced by a higher, loftier, spirit. Ironically, given Nietzsche’s dislike of Christianity, Jesus Christ may be seen as a Nietzschean Ubermensch, which is not really ionic if one looks at Nietzsche’s work as it seems clear that Nietzsche’s dislike was of the institution and not of the man himself. Yet, is the Ubermensch or Christ the ‘Modern Man’? In a way Christ is as the Ubermensch is not. The Ubermensch, according to Nietzsche, will be preceded by one who will bridge the chasm of where people are and where people should be. This can be seen as a Prophet as the historical figure of Zarathustra was whose identity Nietzsche embodies and turns into his mouthpiece as Plato did with Socrates to express his own views and indeed, whatever divinity Jesus may or may not have had, the likes of him and the Buddha, Moses and Muhammed, can be seen as preparing the way for the superior state of being, that, ironically, not being an Ubermensch, rather as being more human that those who have come before.
I used the phrase ‘more human’ as a polemic against not only my times, but those which have come before and those which will (likely) come after. If one looks at history one can se that the basics of being human, of compassion, kindness, love, or in other words, humanity, has been woefully absent. If one is human, one cannot commit genocide. If one is human, one cannot abuse those who are almost identical but slightly different (ethnicity, gender, skin colour etc.), if one is human, one cannot stand by as the Good are crucified for the very humanity they embody. Or as the American writer, Hemingway (when he wasn’t drunkenly beating his wives) put it,
‘The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed’
Or in other words, the ‘Modern Man’ is an ironically Heroic figure, the one who can embody the greatest qualities of being human and, being ahistorical, finds his/her self attacked by those to whom life is nothing more than a dark pit of despair and suffering, most of which is self-inflicted.
‘till next time
thegreaterfool2016 