ACCEPTED TOO

Jung, Jung, Jung

I want to read
A passage from one of his lectures
Which I think is
One of the greatest things he ever wrote
And which has been a very marvelous thing for me
People forget
That even doctors have moral scruples
And that certain patients' confessions
Are hard even for a doctor to swallow
Yet the patient does not feel himself accepted

Unless the very worst of him is accepted too
Unless the very worst of him is accepted too
And yet, the patient does not feel himself accepted
Unless the very worst of him is accepted too

No one could bring this about by mere words
It comes only through reflection
And through the doctor's attitude towards himself
Of his own dark side
If the doctor wants to guide another
Or even accompany him a step of the way
He must feel with that person's psyche
When he passes judgment

Unless the very worst of him is accepted too
Unless the very worst of him is accepted too
And yet, the patient does not feel himself accepted
Unless the very worst of him is accepted too

Whether he puts his judgements into words or keeps them to himself
Makes not the slightest difference
To take the opposite position
And to agree with the patient offhand is also of no use
Feeling comes only through unprejudiced objectivity
This sounds almost like a scientific precept
And it could be confused with a purely intellectual
Abstract attitude of mind
But what I mean is something quite different
It is a human quality
A kind of deep respect for the facts
For the man who suffers from them
And for the riddle of such a man's life
The truly religious person has this attitude
He knows that God has brought
All sorts of strange and inconceivable things to pass
And seeks in the most curious ways to enter a man's heart
He therefore senses
In everything the unseen presence of the divine will

Unless the very worst of him is accepted too
Unless the very worst of him is accepted too
And yet, the patient does not feel himself accepted
Unless the very worst of him is accepted too

Unless the very worst of him is accepted too
Unless the very worst of him is accepted too
And yet, the patient does not feel himself accepted
Unless the very worst of him is accepted too

This is what I mean by unprejudiced objectivity
It is a moral achievement on the part of the doctor
Who ought not to let himself be repelled
By sickness and corruption