Facs
Transcript
Lutheran; and in consequence, of Cartesian development of the Renaissance, namely the philosophy of consciousness.
On this basis an ideal of personality has appeared which looks like this: the individual is a strong, directed character, dependent on the universal structures of reality; dependent in religion, in Protestantism, on the divine law; dependent, in humanism, on the law of reason, determined by it, self-controlled, conscious and suppressive, namely suppressing those elements in oneself which are given on the basis of our vital existence, repressing the dynamics of vitality, and cutting off the relationship not only to one's own vital and unconscious tendencies and realities, but also to the others and also to nature as a whole. This ideal of personality you find in these two developments: in the later development of Calvinism and in the later development of bourgeois society.
Now let us think a little about the implications of this idea of personality which is still alive in some parts of your own conscience, and which on the other hand is in the process of explosion. And out of this double fact – that it is still present and that it is not really accepted any more – most of the disturbing consequences of the present situation have arisen. One of these consequences is the immense increase in mental disease, or at least mental distortedness. This morning I went through the mail of a few days, with my secretary, and as always, when we do this, there are a few letters where she immediately tells me, “I suppose this belongs into the folder of 'Crazy People.'” – and this folder is increasing. [laughter] Now but this is terrible! I am really appalled, each time this happens, by the proportion of healthy letters to crazy letters