身體上的痛苦對我們來說似乎是顯而易見的，因為感官可以直接感 知，但靈魂的痛苦呢?當代社會逐漸讓自己枯萎，因為它失去了靈性，把 過去上帝作為最高向導的角色轉交給了科學。因此，現代人身上對其心理 功能的不理解並不令人驚訝。然而，在我看來，今日我們越發忽略心理活 動的存在及其對身體有益或有害的影響;我們目前對精神官能症、各種心 理問題和其他人格障礙的了解証實了這一點。精神分析領域通過對無意識 的探索，尋找我們深埋的病根，揭示了意識領域的所有限制。精神分析學 家榮格(C.G. Jung)強調了探索無意識對完成自性的重要，也就是所謂的個 體化。了解自己是誰，是每個人最終的目標。然而，深刻內省並不足以實 現完全的自我實現。哲學家齊克果(Kierkegaard)和精神分析學家榮格已經 表明，由於人的自然心理、生理和智力狀況，人是一個有限的存在。有許 多領域，如科學，保證了有形的真理，這讓人放心;但對於世界的起源、 上帝、死後的生活，他只能進行猜測。這就是為什麼他必須先接受這一自 然缺陷，並詢問自己可能的解決方案。對齊克果和榮格來說，提出問題已 是已進步。但他們向我們保證，某些答案不能只靠信仰來獲得。詩人聖十 字若望(John of the Cross)的思想補充了這兩位的觀點，他最終提出了人在 自己的能力範圍內尋求答案，然後通過信仰選擇讓自己被上帝引導的盟約。
The quest for identity is a topic that has enriched the work of many intellec- tuals over the centuries, often excelling in different fields. The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1875), the psychoanalyst C.G. Jung (1875-1961) and the poet John of the Cross (1542-1591) wished to achieve self-fulfillment. Indeed, the work of these three intellectuals makes this fulfillment possible: the role of Kierkegaard- ian anguish, as a first impulse to orient man towards self-study, and then to guide him along the path of Jungian individuation, could not be sublimated without the experience of the divine described in the poems of John of the Cross. For Kierkeg- aard, Jung, and John of the Cross, faith proves to be a guide without which man cannot aspire to self-realization, for such an objective is first and foremost a person- al process, and secondly, a form of religious quietism. Man, as an individual limited by his condition, must hand over the torch to the divine to complete this first per- sonal task. This brings us to the adage inscribed on the temple of Apollo at Delphi: “Know thyself,” which is simply a way of establishing in the human unconscious the right order of roles that enables man to become not just a man among men, but an accomplished individual thanks to the soul’s union with God.