"Any person who has reached forty years of age and who still has no means of comprehending who he is, where he is, or where he is next going, cannot avoid becoming a neurotic - to some degree or other. This is true whether his youthful drives for sex, material security, and a place in society have been satisfied or not satisfied." Carl Jung
I think the idea here is that Jung believes that some kind of faith in something bigger than oneself is important to anyone who is trying to achieve some peace of mind. Or trying to avoid clinical paranoia and depression. Pretty weighty recommendation from one of the founding father's of modern psychiatry. To be fair we also hear from Freud who thought God was an infantile desire for a dominant father figure and was really only necessary to curb violent urges in early civilization which can now be abandoned for science and reason. Ima gonna go with Jung on this one . . .
SuperK and I are both quite proficient in the passive-aggressive interpersonal technique. I like being passive-aggressive. It allows me to act like a dick while maintaining that I'm not a dick at all. It's a win-win. When one of us gets irritated at the other and makes a passive-aggressive stand, it's uncomfortable enough that this question comes up: "Are you mad at me?" Half the time I don't know what I did that was so offensive. The other half of the time I allow her to explain why she's upset and apologize while hopefully altering my behavior so that I don't do the irritating thing again.
I told a friend in A.A. about this, a guy with 40 years of sobriety, a good, decent guy. He said: "Huh. I don't think I've ever said that." He was married once, briefly, a long time ago. He was wise enough to never marry again and I don't say that as a criticism. I believe some of us aren't cut out to be married or to have children. It's ok. He's a very happy man.
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