Carl Jung: Love is both light and dark, and no one can escape this mysterious power!
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“I am small, the world is big” is one of the most common visions (internal pictures) of the relationship between a person and the world, which is characteristic primarily for people with a psychotherapeutic attitude. The “world” usually means: the external objective world, the inner world of feelings, the deep area of the unconscious, the Higher forces (the Universe, God, Karma and other Fate).
The vision “I am small, the world is big” has many different manifestations. This is the theme of the Unconscious in the mental life of a person with the thesis that the mind and awareness are only puppets in the hands of the elements of the Unconscious. This is the theme of Desires as the basis of motivation and mental health in general, with the thesis that the struggle with one’s own desires ends in a severe internal conflict and inevitable loss. This is a topic of problematic Inner Feelings, which is also very dangerous to fight and almost impossible to subdue. They need to be understood and accepted. Throughout the history of mankind there is the motive of Love as a great mysterious force, which cannot be avoided and with which nothing can be done. Just like with your destiny. Everyone has his Destiny. The one who is friends with her, Fate leads, and drags everyone else.
Other themes of the approach “I am small, the world is big” are already practically adjacent to spontaneous religiosity, which, however, is also widespread in the practical psychology of the psychotherapeutic wing. This is a representation of the Universe, which manages human lives and sends us Signs of Peace. Nothing in our life happens just like that: The world gives it to you for some reason, for some lesson. If you guess — well done, if you don’t guess — it’s worse for you: you will be punished for not completing the lessons. Purpose is also part of the design of the universe, which governs the life of each person. Only by guessing and finding his Destiny (what the Higher powers conceived a person for), a person can find his happiness.
Such an approach logically ends with conversations about survival — not about creation, which would be characteristic of the worldview of a strong person — but about survival, the only possibility of the task of a small person in this big and dangerous world.
The inner picture “I am small, the world is big” is suggested by many practicing psychologists sometimes randomly, from inattention, but sometimes quite consciously. The fact is that this installation has its advantages and its attractiveness. This attitude reassures many anxious clients (especially women) because it convincingly explains that her problems are quite natural and understandable. She’s fine, that’s the world. At the same time, in combination with the “Universe is friendly” attitude, such an attitude can give additional strength and confidence: if my Unconscious takes care of me, if Fate guides me and the Higher Forces protect me, I can count on everything to be fine with me.
Unfortunately, the older the clients, the more this setting begins to provoke negative effects. The fact is that with age, for most people, the emotional tone decreases, when the world begins to be perceived rather as hostile, the picture “I am small, the world is big” gives rise to the position of the Victim and becomes a source of horror: “What can I do?! This is my Destiny… — for more details on what relationships can be between a person and his life world, see Life worlds and axes of the tone scale»
A vicious circle arises: the psychotherapist forms the attitude “I am small, the world is big”, after which this attitude itself, after some time, turns a previously healthy person into a client of the psychotherapist.
Strong people prefer to nurture the vision of «The world is big, I’m big», set big goals for themselves and train themselves to cope with them. At the same time, it must be taken into account that the other extreme, namely the psychology of omnipotence, is no less erroneous. The uncritical use of the notion “I am big, the world is small” also leads to controversial results. “Everything is poison and everything is medicine,” and any tool must be used appropriately to be useful.