The Apollinian and the Dionysian

The Apollinian and the Dionysian
Friedrich Nietzsche discusses the significance of the Apollinian and Dionysian in The Birth of Tragedy (1871). Greeks created the gods of Dionysus and Apollo from sheer necessity. They knew that dealing with the feeling of frightfulness and terror in existence required some supernatural belief that would help them to live. In that light, Nietzsche's fundamental pair of opposites is the Dionysian and Apollinian. From the above two deities of arts, Dionysus and Apollo, one can learn that the opposition emanating from their differences was crucial in how Greeks did specific things (Jung, 2016). For instance, these gods were significant in the origin and aim of Greeks’ lives, particularly Dionysian being the god of art of music and Apollinian being the shaper of art. The paper focuses on the lessons, reactions, comments, and valuable things acquired from Carl Jung’s Psychological Types, especially “The Apollinian and the Dionysian.” The primary lesson obtained from Jung is that human nature has two fundamental forces, which can be perceived as the gods of Dionysus and Apollo. One side stands for reason, order, and logic, while the other emphasizes madness, drunkenness, and chaos. Nietzsche portrays that Apollo was on the former side while Dionysus is represented by the latter (Jung, 2016). In almost every situation, people have two perceptions of situations or things. For example, there are those that favor logic, reason, and order. In contrast, others believe in chaos, drunkenness, and madness. Based on many individuals, these are personality differences. However, Nietzsche helps people to see the importance of this enduring dichotomy, which exists inside all individuals. All individuals have their good and bad sides. They just chose which side to show depending on the situation at hand. The Dionysian and Apollinian give rise to psychological states that Nietzsche refers to as intoxication and dreaming, respectively. The Dionysian state is comparable to intoxication, while the Apollinian state can be compared to dreaming (Jung, 2016). Although the two gods were pillars of the Greek culture, they show the importance of opposing natural forces in society. For example, psychology depicts that rational thinking entails order and logical structures. Notably, it is Apollinian. Psychologists can use it to categorize, separate, or individualize ideas and individuals from each other. That is why someone might be said to be a rational thinker. The Apollinian state is compared to dreaming since people understand what they see in t...