As Far As We Can Discern

From Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962), Chapter 11, p. 326. Jung dictated this autobiography to his colleague Aniela Jaffé beginning in 1957, at age 81, continuing until shortly before his death in 1961. The full passage argues that modern secular society, by dismissing transcendence, had robbed humanity of its deepest vocation: "man's task is the exact opposite — to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious." For Jung, "kindling a light in the darkness" is not a metaphor for moral virtue but a precise description of the individuation process — the lifelong work of bringing unconscious contents into conscious awareness.