The Consequences of Ignoring an Inner Calling

March, 2011 by Matt Laughlin

Carl G. Jung once cut short a cycling trip through Italy with a friend to immediately return home to Switzerland.

Why?

Was there an emergency in his family? No. Any unfinished work projects or deadlines to meet? Nope.

Jung had a dream. And in this dream he received a profound inspiration to set to work - immediately - on a new creative endeavor. Rather than finish out the final three days of his bike trip in the beautiful countryside of Florence, Jung left straightaway.

Now pause with me for a moment to appreciate the full significance of this.

Picture yourself in a simpler era on a bike trip in rural Italy with a good friend. The joy of moving your body...the sky...the beauty of the countryside. And then you have a very powerful dream. If you're like most people you would definitely notice such a dream. You would probably enthusiastically share the details with your friend as you peddled along. You might even carve out 30 minutes in the evening to journal about it over wine and cheese. You would inwardly promise yourself to act on it once you arrived home. But, of course, you must tend to all the business that has piled up while you were away. Before you know it, weeks would pass without so much as taking one measurable step toward fulfilling the guidance you received from within.

What struck me about Jung's decision is how much reverence and respect he had for the nature of the unconscious and how precious he viewed his time in life. It seems to me that Jung's view of the unconscious wasn't simply the repository of repressed feelings or the place where dreams arose. It was something greater than that. It was the manner through which he received Divine guidance.

Like Socrates, who surrendered his life entirely to the guidance of his inner daemon - a Greek word to represent a sort of intermediary between the Divine and man - Jung, too, had a remarkable depth of devotion to his own inner callings. As a psychiatrist, he was also well aware of the consequences of ignoring one's highest and innermost inspirations.

Jung's bike trip took place in the noon-time of his life. Though philosophers of old have written about the natural evolution of a man's character as they age, Jung was one of the first to layout a theoretical understanding on the psychological and spiritual significance of life stages, and the consequences of failing to heed the call of each of life's chapters. If late life is a time to explore one's "inner being," as Jung described it, midlife is the time to have the courage to fulfill one's creative potential, a life stage Erick Erikson described as "generativity vs. stagnation."

What does stagnation look like?

To be stagnant is to become increasingly narcissistic and isolated. This isn't easy to identify within oneself, and requires a sense of compassion and honesty to approach. It is probably one of the more painful yet liberating processes I witness people work through in psychotherapy. To feel as though you are not contributing to life, much less fulfilling an inner creative potential, is so painful that the ego, by nature, defends against confronting these feelings.

Some signs that you're stagnant might be the experience of difficult interpersonal relationships. In response to certain people or situations you may feel uncomfortable, especially when you're around people who appear to be fulfilling a creative potential in life - whether as a Mother, Father, Entrepreneur, Teacher, etc. You may even project your own 'shadow' onto such people, feeling they are arrogant, overly ambitious or full of themselves. Or perhaps you feel judged by them, small and insecure in their presence, despite how lovingly they may actually treat you.

Narcissism is such that, whether you project your shortcomings onto another or attack yourself, either way you're stuck overly focused on yourself. If you notice your mind spending a lot of time dwelling on others, in essence, this is still a form of dwelling on yourself. One defense of the ego is to make others out to be terrible to avoid experiencing a deeper sense of shame or guilt. It is easier to feel anger than self-loathing.

Conversely, when you're in a state of generativity you don't waste much time dwelling on yourself. You are more present to others. You find that resentments towards people fall away, not because they apologize for the defects you may have perceived in them but because you no longer project your own self-dissatisfactions onto them. You see them differently and enjoy their presence. You're simply too busy living your life to hold onto grievances. Because to live your life to the fullest is truly one of the highest forms of love.

You're not alone...

If you recognize aspects of stagnation in your own life, be reassured that none of us are immune to periods of stagnation and doubt. If you are familiar with Jung's work, you may notice, too, that Jung's courage to trust and act on his inner guidance was also informed by his own painful periods of stagnation. His struggle with darkness informed his creative light. This seems to be characteristic of many creative geniuses. Or more simply, part of the human experience.

So what are we to do?

Judging by Jung's example, we must act. Jung had no idea where this inner inspiration would lead him. He knew his only choice was to act on it or suffer the consequences. What inner promptings keep nudging you in a direction you feel called towards? What inspirations continue to knock at the door of your heart? Among all the inclinations you experience within yourself, which feel most significant and Divinely inspired? Perhaps acting on this may result in less activity in your life. Perhaps more... and in an entirely new direction.

Take heart...

I recently came across a wonderful pearl in Brenda Ueland's book, If You Want To Write. When discouraged in whatever creative endeavor you feel drawn towards, Ueland, like Jung, invites us to act anyway. She leaves the reader with simple advice from another creative genius:

"If you hear a voice within you saying; you are no painter, then paint by all means, lad, and that voice will be silenced, but only by working"
- Vincent van Gogh

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