50321190-39264356-Von-Franz-Puer-Aeternus

aeternus can work, as can all primitives or people with a weak ego
complex, when fascinated or in a state of great enthusiasm. Then he
can work twenty-four hours at a stretch or even longer, until he
breaks down, but what he cannot do is to work on a dreary, rainy
morning when work is boring and one has to kick oneself into it; that
is the one thing the puer aeternus usually cannot manage and will use
any kind of excuse to avoid. And analysis of a puer aeternus sooner
or later always comes up against this problem, and it is only when
the ego has become sufficiently strengthened that the problem can be
overcome and there is the possibility of sticking to the work.
Naturally, though one knows the goal, every individual case is
different. Personally, I have not found that it is much good just
preaching to people that they should work, for they simply get angry
and walk off.
As far as I have seen, the unconscious generally tries to produce a
compromise, namely, to indicate the direction in which there might be
some enthusiasm or where the psychological energy would flow
naturally, for it is of course easier to train oneself to work in a
direction supported by one's instinct. That is not quite so hard as
working completely uphill in opposition to your own flow of energy.
Therefore it is usually advisable to wait a while and find out where
the natural flow of interest and energy lies and then try to get the
man to work there. But in every field of work there always comes the
time when routine must be faced. All work, even creative, contains a
certain amount of boring routine, and that is
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where the puer aeternus escapes and comes to the conclusion again
that "this is not it!" In such moments, if one is supported by the
unconscious, there are generally dreams which show that one should
push on through the obstacle and if that succeeds then the battle is
won.
In order to get into the deeper background of the whole problem, I
want first to interpret The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
because it throws much light on this situation. This man, as you
know, died during the last war in an airplane crash and he displays
all the typical features of the puer aeternus, which, however, does
not alter the fact that he was a great writer and poet. His life is
difficult to trace, which in itself is typical, for when you try to
follow the biography you can only collect very few facts here and
there because, as is already clear, the puer aeternus never quite
touches the earth. He never quite commits himself to any mundane
situation but just hovers over the earth, touching it from time to
time, alighting here and there, so that one has to follow such traces
as there may be.
Saint-Exupéry came from an old aristocratic French family and grew up
in a beautiful country house with its traditional atmosphere. He
chose to become a professional aviator and acted for a time as a
pilot for the Compagnie Aeropostale, which ran a service between
Europe and South America. In about 1929, he flew over the line
Toulouse-Dakar-Buenos Aires, and was also a collaborator in
establishing new lines in South America. Later he was for a
considerable time in command of a completely isolated aerodrome in
the North African desert—Cape Julie. His main duty there was to
rescue pilots who had crashed, from death in the desert or from
falling into the hands of rebel Arab tribes. That was the kind of
life such a man would like, and Saint-Exupéry preferred this isolated
desert post to any other. In 1939, at the beginning of the war, he
fought for France as a captain in the Air Force, and after the
collapse of France he had intended to escape to Egypt, but for
technical reasons that plan had to be abandoned. He was then
demobilized and went to New York, where he finished his book Flight
to Arras.
When later the Allies landed in Africa he wanted to return to the Air