Joanna Ebenstein — Death Was Not an End, but a Goal

Jung believed it was important for individuals

to develop a personal myth about death.

This myth was not meant to be a literal story,

but rather a psychological framework

to help us grapple with the inevitability of death

and to find meaning in it.

Jung believed that death was an archetype,

a universal symbol that combines with our individual lives

to make them whole.

From his perspective,

death was not an end, but a goal,

and he understood life’s inclination toward death

to begin as soon as we passed life’s meridian.

In his autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, he advised:

A man should be able to say he has done his best

to form a conception of life after death,

or to create some image of it—

even if he must confess his failure.

Not to have done so is a vital loss.

For the question that is posed to him

is the age-old heritage of humanity:

an archetype, rich in secret life,

which seeks to add itself to our own individual life

in order to make it whole….

The more the critical reason dominates,

the more impoverished life becomes;

but the more of the unconscious

and the more of myth we are capable of making conscious,

the more of life we integrate.

Joanna Ebenstein

Memento Mori

The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life