Carl Jung wrote: "Old Heraclitus, who was indeed a very great sage, discovered the most marvellous of all psychological laws: the regulative function of opposites. He called it enantiodromia, a running contrariwise, by which he meant that sooner or later everything runs into its opposite."
Examples are everywhere:
The knight in shining armor becomes the dragon.
The victim dreams of swapping places with the oppressor.
Radical liberalism turns into totalitarianism.
Excessive tightening of screws leads to social explosion.
A mother’s desire to protect her child robs him of survival skills.
In this sense, enantiodromia is a warning. If you, your company, or society have drifted to any extreme, expect trouble. A ship is most vulnerable in stormy seas when it’s tipped to its side.
Buddhism speaks of the “middle path.” It means, for example, finding a golden balance between asceticism and indulgence. At first, Buddha mortified his flesh but realized it was a dead end.
A more interesting interpretation of the “middle path” is the unity of opposites. A paradoxical solution dissolves opposition completely. A conflict at one level is harmony at another.
This brings hope because suffering is not meaningless. Over time, enantiodromia will set everything in its place. “The fool who persists in his folly will become wise,” wrote the poet William Blake.
Jung explains: “The grand plan on which the unconscious life of the psyche is constructed is so inaccessible to our understanding that we can never know what evil may not be necessary in order to produce good by enantiodromia, and what good may very possibly lead to evil.”
So we don't have to avoid what is frightening or repulsive in ourselves.
The oak strength of our personality is nourished by manure-rich soil.
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
How can I help you?
If you've long been trying to understand what is limiting you and/or your business and how to finally give important changes a push, then The Catalyst Session is designed specifically for you. Book it here.