All the greatest problems are unsolvable.

December 13, 2012 8:53 AM

Can someone help me find the source of this quote attributed to Carl Jung?

"All the greatest and most important problems are fundamentally unsolvable. They can never be solved, but only outgrown. This out growing proves on further investigation to be a new level of consciousness. Some higher or wider interest appears on the horizon, and the unsolvable problem loses its urgency, fades out when confronted with a new and stronger life urge."

It sounds like Jung, but I'm beginning to suspect this is a bogus attribution. Jung's writings, I realize, extend to several shelves full of books, and the original is probably in German, which would make finding it a little harder.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

posted by feelinggood to Religion & Philosophy (6 answers total)

According to this:

Jung, C.G. (1929) Commentary on the Secret of the Golden Flower, Collected Works 13. London. Routledge and Kegan Paul.
posted by griphus at 9:00 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

This management paper attributes it to Jung, C.G. (1923). Psychological Types, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
posted by DaveZ at 9:01 AM on December 13, 2012

Note that the quote in the document linked by griphus (on p. 10 of the scribd document) is similar in spirit, but phrased differently:

As has been indicated, the reason for looking for a new way was the fact that the fundamental problem of the patient seemed insoluble to me unless violence was done to the one or the other side of his nature. I always worked with the temperamental conviction that fundamentally there are no insoluble problems, and experience justified me in so far as I have often seen individuals simply outgrow a problem which had destroyed others. This 'outgrowing', as I formerly called it, on further experience was seen to consist in a new level of consciousness. Some higher or wider interest arose on the person's horizon, and through this widening of his view the insoluble problem lost its urgency. It was not solved logically in its own terms, but faded out when confronted with a new and stronger life-tendency.

This is probably due to differing translations, a paraphrasing on the part of whoever wrote your original quote, or some combination of both.
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:55 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't think that specific quote is from "Commentary on the Secret of the Golden Flower," which you can find text of if you search. There is a paraphrase of a similar idea phrased differently, and without quite the specific sense of the quote:

As has been indicated, the reason for looking for a new way was the fact that thefundamental problem of the patient seemed insoluble to me unless violence was done to the oneor the other side of his nature. I always worked with the temperamental conviction thatfundamentally there are no insoluble problems, and experience justified me in so far as I haveoften seen individuals simply outgrow a problem which had destroyed others. This 'outgrowing',as I formerly called it, on further experience was seen to consist in a new level of consciousness.Some higher or wider interest arose on the person's horizon, and through this widening of hisview the insoluble problem lost its urgency. It was not solved logically in its own terms, butfaded out when confronted with a new and stronger life-tendency. It was not repressed and madeunconscious, but merely appeared in a different light, and so did indeed become different. What,on a lower level, had led to the wildest conflicts and to panicky outbursts of emotion, viewedfrom the higher level of the personality, now seemed like a storm in the valley seen from a highmountain-top. This does not mean that the thunderstorm is robbed of its reality, but instead of being in it, one is now above it. However, since we are both valley and mountain with respect tothe psyche, it might seem a vain illusion to feel oneself beyond what is human.

I also don't think it's from Psychological Types which I just word searched and I found no uses of the word "urgency," no uses of "unsolvable," one non-matching use of "horizon," and two non-matching uses of "problems." It may be that the quote itself is a poor paraphrase, or a poor translation (or this one is) of the "Golden Flower" quote I put here, although in that Jung says that he "formerly" spoke about this outgrowing.
posted by OmieWise at 9:59 AM on December 13, 2012

Oh, oops. Nevermind.
posted by OmieWise at 9:59 AM on December 13, 2012

Response by poster: The Golden Flower Commentary is good enough for me. It's on page 10 of the PDF.
Thanks.
posted by feelinggood at 10:48 AM on December 13, 2012