28.12.2013
Anthropomorphism
"WE NEED TO PROJECT OURSELVES INTO THE THINGS AROUND US.
My self is not confined to my body. It extends into all the things I have made and all the things around me. Without these things, I would not be myself; I would not be a human being. I would merely be a human ape, a primate." (JS, PP 202-3) The tendency to attribute human qualities to animals and the nonhuman world has been critiqued, even denigrated, as "merely" projection. Jung's approach to this issue opens up an important and fresh perspective that is in line with the newly emerging paradigm of interconnectedness: he considered the capacity to identify with animals an innate instinct arising from our shared evolutionary heritage. Disavowal of this capacity may itself be a symptom of the youthfulness of our species, in its effort to shore up our fragile consciousness by creating an artificially firm boundary between ourselves and other life, a boundary not considered as important among tribal people.
Source: The Earth Has a Soul, C.G.Jung on Nature, Technology & Modern Life, edited by Meredith Sabini; North Atlantic Books, Berkley, California
pp13
"WE NEED TO PROJECT OURSELVES INTO THE THINGS AROUND US.
My self is not confined to my body. It extends into all the things I have made and all the things around me. Without these things, I would not be myself; I would not be a human being. I would merely be a human ape, a primate." (JS, PP 202-3) The tendency to attribute human qualities to animals and the nonhuman world has been critiqued, even denigrated, as "merely" projection. Jung's approach to this issue opens up an important and fresh perspective that is in line with the newly emerging paradigm of interconnectedness: he considered the capacity to identify with animals an innate instinct arising from our shared evolutionary heritage. Disavowal of this capacity may itself be a symptom of the youthfulness of our species, in its effort to shore up our fragile consciousness by creating an artificially firm boundary between ourselves and other life, a boundary not considered as important among tribal people.
Source: The Earth Has a Soul, C.G.Jung on Nature, Technology & Modern Life, edited by Meredith Sabini; North Atlantic Books, Berkley, California
pp13
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