"Thou blind Pharisee! Clean that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also."

LORD Jesus Christ, Matthew 23:26 KJV

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his soul."

LORD Jesus Christ, Matthew 16:26 KJV

"A more or less superficial layer of the unconscious is undoubtedly personal. I call it the "personal unconscious". But this personal layer rests upon a deeper layer which is not derived from personal experience and is not a personal acquisition but is inborn. The deeper layer I call the 'Collective Unconscious'. I have chosen the term "Collective" because this part of the Unconscious is not individual but universal; in contrast to the personal psyche. It has contents and modes of behavior that are more or less the same everywhere and in all individuals. "

Carl Jung, The Archetype and The Collective Unconscious.

"Underneath the superficial self, which pays attention to this and that. There is another self, more really us than I. And if you become aware of that unknown self, the more you become aware of it, the more you realize that it is inseparably connected to everything else that there is. That you are the function of this total galaxy, bounded by the Milky Way, and that furthermore, this galaxy is a function of all other galaxies. And that vast thing you see far off, far off, far off, with telescopes, and you look and look and look, and one day you are going to wake up and say, why that's me! And in knowing that, know, you see, that you never die. That you are the eternal thing that comes and goes, that appears now as John Jones, now as Mary Smith, now as Betty Brown, and so it goes forever and ever and ever. "

Alan Watts, Man in Nature

Never believe anyone or anything 100%. No one is 100% right. Not me. Not other spiritual or physical teachers. Not any political leader. Not Carl Jung. Not Alan Watts. Not anyone.

I always begin any post about Metaphysics or subjects like these with this caveat.

A Spiritual, Metaphysical and Psychological journey - if taken - must be taken with truth and good judgement always on hand. If you base your decisions solely on something that makes you feel good or how good the speaker makes you feel or how much the speaker's words match your subjective experience then you end up falling into the trap of self-indulgence and dogmatism.

What is truth? My definition of truth is anything that does not cast a shadow. Or you could say, Truth is eternal, that which is universal and eternal beyond space and time. Just as everyone has a subjective experience, there is an objective experience that unites all human beings - past, present and future - irrespective of culture, gender, nationality, time period or levels of technology.

Love is a truth for instance. To love is universal amongst all human beings. Every human being - whatever time or place - has experienced love. The realization that life is not just about one's self and one's person but rather that we are actually hear for one another or even though there is a self, that we are also here for others. Love is the realization that love hurts like nothing you could ever imagine but through the pain love gives us, it also heals us and gives us everything we need or desire in turn. The Universe is founded on love. People talk about energies or having the right vibe or energy. That energy they are talking about is love. Love is the medicine of the soul.

There have been love songs as far back as human history. Faith and religion are a form of love.

"The beginning of all things is love, but the being of all things is life."

Carl Jung, The Red Book.

What is good judgement? Good judgment - in my experience - is any decision or parameter you make inspite of your desires or whims while working within requirements with a goal or a result in reality or the outside that benefits you and everyone around you. Christopher Nolan is a great example of a filmmaker who understand good judgements. When making movies he understands the parameters he was working within and then adds his own thoughts and lessons that entertain and benefit his audience. The Dark Knight is at its core a Super Hero movie but Nolan added a 90s Action Thriller and Detective Noir while exploring the themes of whether Justice is something subjective (The Joker) or something real rules and parameters (The Batman). The Odyssey is a mth about a man struggling aginst the Gods in order to return to his wife, son and home. Nolan's movie is absolutely that but he turns it into an exploration of how one man's actions can change humanity whether for the good or the bad.

What is Self-Indulgence? Self indulgence is the unbridled satisfaction of or obedience to or following one's desires and whims without a thought for good judgement. Desire is the cause of illusion as the Buddhist say. Even the desire to be right.

Clinton was a great example of what happens when you choose self-indulgence and desire over good judgement. In that moment, his desire for Monica Lewinsky seemed like the most important thing in the world. I don't blame him - I have been in his shoes. To be in the presence of a woman so beautiful, so utterly wonderful that all common sense goes out of the window. But like Clinton, giving in to the desire always comes at a price which always hurts. Clinton destroyed his reputation, his actions impacted his political party, his family and ruined a young womans life - no one took Monica Lewinsky seriously after that. For me, my desire masked itself as love for a particular woman before it devolved into a life of sexual promiscuity which devolved into a life of sexual addiction. That is what desire without good judgement and truth leads to.

How do we break the prison of Desire? Instead of using our inner subjective experience or desires as a compass. A person uses results in reality as a mirror to reveal and break through illusions. It is also the reminder that desire is never truth. It is desire that is subjective, never truth. Take a writer for instance, a lot of people study to be become writers or to become filmmakers. But that accumulation of knowledge - while good - often traps people in an illusion. They think that the accumulation of knowledge about writing makes them a writer. But a writer writes. A filmmaker makes films whatever the circumstances. Most people do not do the thing they love because of the desire to get it just right. Or the desire to not get things wrong.

The handmaiden of desire is fear. And fear is simply the thought that you will not get your desires. That kind of fear is different from the fear that based on reality. The fear you feel when youn see a lion walking down the street is different from the fear you feel when you might not get what you desire. Real fear is based on reverence and the preservation of something important. Rather than just the loss of something you haven't even got.

A person's desires matter but look at the results in your life or as the ancients used to say - look at the fruits of your actions. That is the compass.

What is Dogmatism? Dogmatism is holding on to an ideology or spiritual practice even when something has gone beyond its original purpose or the reason why you originally participated in the ideology or practice in the first place. Religions can become dogmatic when they lose sight of their original purpose. The same goes with political parties or spiritual practices. You become dogmatic when mere following of rules of the practice replaces the actual purpose of the practice itself. Most religions are supposed to be about love and a better relationship with the divine but they soon devolve into ways to accumulate power and rule or dominate others. The same goes with political parties. The differences between political parties were originally only based on differences on how best to serve the Nation and its people which is why people could work across the political divide). But they soon devolved into a competition for power.

The teachings of Alan Watts and the New Age Spiritual Movement fall into this category.

Every generation is given a great task that we are all supposed to work on - whether together or individually - for the benefit of future generations of people.

The Greatest Generation had to fight against real evil and build a new world from the ashes. The Generations that followed focused on creating real human prosperity and systems- whether social and poltical - that benefitted all people. I believe that our generation (anyone between the ages of 18 - 53) is fighting a battle for truth.

The Generation that gave birth to the Hippie Movement is an example of this, which the New Age Spiritual Movement is an extention of.

Human beings exist on several levels -The Heart, The Spirit, The Mind, The Soul, The Physical Body, Life etc. But for the purposes of this topic, I am going to focus on three levels.

1. The Individual. The One. The Self. The Outside. Push, push, push. Counting your pennies. Think Ayn Rands' heroes in The Fountainhead. Emphasizes Results and Actions

2. The All. The Whole. The Universe. The World. The Inside. The Collective Unconscious. Exploring the Unconscious while caring about the wellbeing of others in mind. Not counting your pennies - generosity. Think the Coen Brother's The Dude in the Big Lebowski. Emphasizes the wellbeing of All Mankind.

The All and the One are activated by having preference.

1. Life. Fate. Destiny. Existence itself. The so-called Random Events. Which is interested in the Balance and Ensuring that All of Mankind - as much as it is possible - benefits. All the great teachers - the LORD Jesus Christ, Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Lao Tzu, etc all participated in some way to ensure the balance and to benefit all of mankind and life. This is activated by not having preferences

Every human being is an individual. Who through his actions, choices and decisions participates in the physical world in order to achieve his or her goals. As well as serving life.

Every human being - past, present and future - is part of The All. The Whole. Existence itself. What the kids today call The Universe. God. As I understand it, every human being is part of whatever the All requires done by The All for the benefit of all mankind - present and future which we then participate in by doing what is required by All.

Some human beings are focused entirely on the individual. Some human beings are focused entirely on the all. Some are varying degrees of shades between the two - those are usually the healthiest.

Life likes balance so events happen in life in such a way that the balance is maintained and as much of (all of mankind) benefits. There was an Obama so life ensures that there will be a Trump. The most hardcore Democrat has the most hardcore Republican on the other end of the spectrum. Connected to this is the idea that Life supports anything that benefits the most of (all of mankind) first and foremost.

During the 50s, 60s, 70s; a movement that would one day be called the Hippie Movement seemed to sprang up. Seemingly out of nowhere.

The Western World at the time was focused almost solely on the Individual - at the expense of their connection to the All. The purpose of the Hippie Movement and the New Age Movement was to remind mankind that they are also part of the All. Teachers like Alan Watts and Terence McKenna, and all the rest. Even the Beat movement authors were a part of this attempt to help mankind to rebalance towards the Whole. You also have authors like Charles Bukowski, Henry Miller and Anais Nin. This was Carl Jungs work during the 450s, 60s, 70s.

But the problem came in when people began to turn the lessons that the teachers taught during that period into Dogma. A lot of young people today lean too much towards the direction of the All to the point that they believe Alan Watts or any of the teachers during that period or the current period with is New Age Spirituality and Modern Psychological Practices such as Bashar, Abraham Hicks, Eckhart Tole etc.

The purpose of all those teachings was to help people stuck in only seeing life as the Individual with its anxiety and pain and help them remember that they are a part of the All, and that they contribute to the All. But the mistake that has happened is that now a lot of people are stuck in he opposite end of the spectrum holding on to teachings and practices while forgetting their purposes.

Alan Watts teachings in particular were about helping people remember that they are not just the Individual but also part of the All. But so many people have turned Alan Watts teachings into dogma in such a way that now they are stuck on the opposite end of the spectrum. The most extreme people on the spectrum experience this - this also appears in Buiddhism - as Zombification or simply floating through life.

This is why life did everything in its power to support Dr Jordan Petersen. His work was aimed at helping people who had been too much of the All Spectrum to remember that they were also individuals. Eventually when people go too much towards the Individual end of the Spectrum, life will choose and support someone to help people remember the All end of the Spectrum. etc etc.

In order to heal, a person returns through effort and participating in life to remember that they are also an individual.

This is what the LORD Jesus Christ was talking about in Mathew 16:26. What is the point of knowing the All completely and ignore yourself as an individual soul. It's a poor trade off.

P.S The most hilarious part is that the American Political System is an expression of this idea. The Republicans are too much on the end of the Individual while the Democrats are too much on the All end of the spectrum. But they both forget that life has a say - balance.

Each spectrum has an advantage but has a disadvantage when taken to the extreme.

When you are too much of the Individual, for instance, you end up ignoring the Other-The All. Results and profit become the only thing that matters at the expense of others and their wellbeing. You see this in extreme forms of capitalism. Your opinion matters more than anything even truth.

When you are too much of the All, for instance, you end up sacrificing good judgement and results and the rights of the individual in exchange of simply participating in the collective. There is safety in the collective but that comes with the destruction of the individual. The individual and their requirements and needs often get lost within the collective. You see this with wokeness - the subjective philosophy that is spreading through the world - and Communism. While serving and helping one another and participating in the collective, the All - family, communities, countries, future generations etc - is absolutely important we should never sacrifice the individual, their parameters, their wants, requirements and needs in the process.

On a side note, I grew up in Cuba during the 90s. There was free healthcare, legal care, peace and safety but the trade off was that desires of the Individual were sacrificed in the process. People could not grow and develop themselves as an individual in any form (except of course those at the top of the pyramid).

The United States is on the opposite end of that spectrum. What makes the USA great as a nation in the history of the Nations is that the Founding Fathers created the idea that just as the people of a nation serve that nation, that nation must serve the people within that nation - encourage the development of their individuality as well. Before the Founding Fathers, people were merely pawns to the King, those in power and the Nation. The problem however - as I see it - is that the United States has gone too much in the opposite direction. Where the individual became more important than the nation to an unhealthy degree. Which is why - eventually - the rulers of the world will be corporations and CEOs. If they aren't already.

Let me return to the Metaphysics of it all.

The idea is that there has to be a balance. If you go too much in one direction, there has to be a correction on the other direction etc.

One of the ways Alan Watts taught that a person should could realize that they were a part of the All was to realize the illusion of the Self and to let go of the Self. Once a person let go, they could see that they were being propped up by a force beyond their own conscious self - The All. The Collective Unconscious.

But like I said at the beginning of the post. No one is 100% right. Alan Watts while being right that there was such a force as The All, made a mistake in thinking that there was no Self, no individual. He sacrificed his own individuality (Self - One) - and this is seen in his own life. Struggling with addiction both alcoholic and sexual. He was generally not a good person. And from what I have read about his life, he said that he was disappointed in himself.

Why? Because the All, the Colllective Uncosncious is not a moral force in the sense that it cares about good or bad in the way we understand it. It is moral in the sense that it will focus on that which will benefit All of Mankind through the path of least resistence even if it means the destruction of a particular individual.

If a war is the best way to teach the most amount of people that peace is the most important thing then it will create such a war that human beings will never care about war again until after several generations later, human beings forget the lesson until the All creates another War to remind the vast majority of human beings that peace is important and must be kept at all costs.

The All will allow a Trump after an Obama to remind people to be centrists and balance. The left had their hero with Obama. The right got their hero with Trump. And the cycle will continue with Presidents having more extreme opinions on either end of the political divide until we learn to balance and be centrists.

The All will allow a Hitler to raise up in power to teach people not to put their fates in the hands of one man or to ever fall for the cult of personality, and that there is a battle between good and evil. This is a lesson modern mankind is forgetting.

The point is not just to drown in the All and be subservient to it. The point is to seek to understand whatever the All requires and working on it in such a way that All of mankind benefits. The way we participate in the all is by not taking the path of least resistance.

Christianity called this cleaning the inside of the cup and the platter (Matthew 23:26).

Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud called it Analytical Psychology. As a tool to help people understand their place within the All without forgetting their own individuality.

Let me give you an example. The current dating scene worldwide is going through something. The sexes are hating one another. Men and women do not like each other. And on either end of the gender are teacher teaching each gender that the other is at fault. But this is only causing the divide to get bigger and bigger - ruining marriages and breaking up the family unit. A Psychologist and Spiritual teacher would see that all this is happening to teach each gender to value the other. To teach us that every gender has specific strengths and traits and weaknesses. And that each gender helps the other with its weakness if we learn to work and help one another instead of using one another.

The purpose of Analytical Psychology - the purpose of a Psychologist is to help people understand their own purpose and function within the All without forgetting the individual and their own rights, wants, parameters, interests, requirements and needs.

Alan Watts mistake was thinking that a person was just the function of the All.

What a person does when they 'let go' is to surrender their preferences. Among the Buddhists and in Alan Watts practice, it served the purpose of helping people who were fixated on the fact that they were just an individual to realize that they were part of something larger. But the problem comes in when you stay in that level because you are afraid of living the collective to be an individual again. You find yourself in the trap that Alan Watts was trying to help people with but now on the opposite end of the spectrum.

The secret is not to let go. You activate your connection to the All at least in my experience -

1. Realising that there is you, yes. But acknowledging that it is not just about you or for you. But also about and for others.

2. Reminding yourself that you are part of something larger and figuring out what it is that you are supposed to contribute and what is required of you.

3. Having, knowing and caring for yourself, your ambitions, your interests, your requirements and needs but realizing that you achieve these best by helping others with their ambitions, interests, requirements and needs.

4. Analytical Psychology -- which is the science of trying to figure out your role within the All through truth.

5. Guarding your soulhood or personhood. That is being extrememly conscious with your actions, decisions and choices. The reaction to these is the All. Measure whatever it shows you with the truth.

At least that has been my experience.

By letting go however, all you are doing is sacrificing your individuality. Alan Watts believed that we are all the Universe experiencing itself. So if you believe that you are the self experiencing itself then you believe that you are also the experiencer. And if you are also the experiencer, you have rights and preferences as an individual yourself.

Alan Watts also talked about how the Self is an illusion. But when you think enough on the problem, you find yourself asking who says that the self is an illusion - the Self. Yes, Alan Watts was right. You cannot know yourself. Just as a knife cannot cut itself or a light illumine itself. But he wasn't 100% right. The secret is to realize that you need a mirror to help you see your self. That mirror is the results and the actions that you take. And other people.

This in a sense is individuation. As Carl Jung proposed. By looking at the results of your life and your actions, you see yourself. That is why Carl Jung emphasized the fact that the only way to see the shadow clearly was through strong moral action.

The results also show you where you are on the spectrum. Whether you are on the All or the One. Or whether you are only benefiting yourself or helping life help all of mankind. Then you can change accordingly.

Learn from every teacher but never be a slave to any teacher. This way you can grow beyond your teachers.

Measure every teaching against truth. This way you are never a slave to any teaching.

Truth is worth working towards. That has been my experience.

What do you think?

I hope this doesn’t count as a low effort post, but I was thinking about the obvious connections between Jung’s work and that kids movie “Inside Out”, which takes place inside a girls head where personified emotions like anger and sadness influence her behavior.

I would estimate that that movie has “stuck” more with people now, years after its release, than other comparable kids movies from the time. I suspect that has something to do with viewers’ intuitive recognition of the truths it evokes, mainly concerning the individual’s relationship to the automomous components of their psyche.

I would also venture to say that it’s little hints from the world like that which show us, again and again, that Jung was really onto something, despite largely not being taken very seriously today by mainstream psychology. His ideas, no matter their accuracy, do seem to resist that more obvious empirical confirmation academics, researchers, etc. value so much today — in the form of reproducible results in studies, clear neurological bases, etc. This is not to say Jung wasn’t an empiricist, though, or that his ideas actually don’t hold up empirically — I would say they do. I think the fault mainly lies with the academics, researchers, etc. themselves, who are resistant to the empirical validation of the subtle, delicate type Jung’s ideas necessitate, and also their destabalizing implications.

Ended up ranting, but those are some thoughts I found interesting :)

Or a therapist is needed? When I started to dig about my triggers, I started to notice that it's all about the past, from an insult that I get from someone to the way someone joke. It's all in the past but the effects is still here.

If yes, how can someone proceed? Will meditation help? What does Carl Jung prescribe?

Thanks for the answers.

I have this strange problem related to the idea of becoming conscious.

Everybody wants to be a higher version of themselves. More aware, integrated, less reactive, less attached to the ego. Even the shadow has to be confronted, understood and integrated into some more complete version of the person.

But what if I don't want to become the higher version of myself?

What if, just this one evening, I would prefer to be stupid. To say something meaningless to make a fool of myself, contradicting what I said the day before, or just existing without turning every experience into an opportunity for psychological development?

Why should every aspect of me need to justify its existence by feeding into my individuation?

I call this the problem of the drunk prophet. Imagine some individual who has seen through a lot of human nonsense, understood some nasty truths about himself and maybe even stumbled upon something that he considers sacred. Yet he still wants to get drunk, tell bad jokes to himself and be an idiot from time to time.

Is his wisdom somehow undermined by his stupidity? Is there an other idealized version of ourselves that secretly demands that we are no longer permitted to be ordinary?

Jung teaches us to doubt the persona and confront the shadow. But do I sometimes suspect that the quest for psychological wholeness might take on the shape of a new persona? The spiritual person, the conscious person, the person who has done the work. A new identity that is just as demanding as the old one.

Perhaps my lower self does not always need to be conquered, explained away or transformed into a lesson. Perhaps sometimes it is just a part of being alive.

I'm not saying that every impulse should be acted upon or that irresponsibility is some form of enlightenment. There are consequences and understanding an impulse is not the same as obeying it.

I'm asking something else.

Can I acknowledge the existence of my lower self without perceiving it as a problem to solve? Can I become more conscious without making consciousness a permanent obligation to be better?

Or does individuation leave space for the drunk prophet who knows enough to doubt his wisdom but not enough to stop being an idiot.

Many years ago, a physician at a prominent psychiatric hospital was reportedly asked to define mental illness. His answer was remarkably simple: “A disease of the sensitivities.”
I think the phrase raises a disturbing possibility about modern society: What if millions of people are gradually losing the psychological conditions necessary for individuation, not because they lack self-awareness, but because they have become increasingly incapable of experiencing themselves without external stimulation?
Carl Jung understood individuation as a lifelong process of psychological integration. Becoming more conscious of the unconscious, confronting the shadow, recognizing complexes, and developing a less one-sided relationship with the psyche are all important aspects of this process.
But Jung's understanding of individuation raises a problem that seems particularly relevant today.
What happens when someone becomes so sensitive to boredom, uncertainty, loneliness, discomfort, and silence that they continually interrupt the very experiences through which psychological integration might become possible?

Consider the average person reaching for their smartphone.

They are not necessarily searching for anything important. They might be waiting in line, sitting alone, experiencing an uncomfortable thought, or simply encountering a moment in which nothing interesting is happening.

Then something changes.

A few seconds of boredom become intolerable. An unanswered message becomes significant. An uncomfortable emotion demands distraction. Silence becomes an invitation to search for stimulation.
The phone comes out.
What interests me is not the device itself, but the sensitivity that has developed around ordinary conscious experience.

A person no longer needs to encounter something genuinely threatening to feel compelled to act. Sometimes the mere absence of stimulation becomes enough.

And through repetition, the person may become increasingly accustomed to resolving internal discomfort by changing the external environment rather than discovering what the discomfort might reveal.
This is where Jung becomes particularly interesting.
Individuation requires more than understanding yourself

Someone can understand their insecurities, recognize their complexes, identify their projections, and explain the psychological origins of their behavior without necessarily becoming more integrated. For example, a person who is sensitive to rejection might understand that their reaction originates in childhood experiences. But understanding that relationship does not automatically change the sensitivity.

Silence still feels like rejection. Disagreement still feels threatening. Uncertainty still demands reassurance.
The person has become more knowledgeable about their psychological organization without necessarily becoming less governed by it.

Jung's concept of individuation suggests that psychological development requires something beyond accumulating explanations. Unconscious material must become part of a more integrated relationship with consciousness. Now consider what happens when a smartphone becomes the habitual response to uncomfortable psychological experiences.

Instead of encountering loneliness, someone scrolls.
Instead of examining insecurity, someone seeks reassurance. Instead of remaining with uncertainty, someone searches for an answer. Instead of discovering what boredom might reveal about their desires, attention, or expectations, someone immediately replaces it with entertainment.

None of these actions is inherently unhealthy. Technology can support reflection, relationships, education, and creativity.

But when distraction becomes the automatic response to psychological discomfort, the person may repeatedly escape the very experiences that could reveal how their psyche is organized. the most troubling possibility is that they may not even recognize what they are avoiding.
Are we becoming too sensitive to become conscious of our sensitivities?

This is where the older definition of mental illness becomes interesting.

Suppose psychological suffering is sometimes less about the existence of uncomfortable emotions and more about the authority those emotions acquire over consciousness.
Fear begins determining what deserves attention. Shame determines which memories become relevant. Insecurity determines how another person's behavior is interpreted. Boredom determines whether the present moment is worth experiencing.

The problem is not necessarily the sensitivity itself.
The problem begins when a sensitivity becomes so influential that consciousness organizes itself around satisfying, escaping, or defending it.
Smartphones offer an unusually efficient way of maintaining this relationship.

An uncomfortable feeling appears, the phone provides relief or stimulation, and the person returns to ordinary life without necessarily discovering anything new about the original experience. Over time, this pattern could make the absence of stimulation feel increasingly difficult to tolerate.

The person might become very skilled at managing their psychological states while becoming less practiced at encountering those states without immediately changing them.

And that raises a paradox:
We may be living in a society with unprecedented access to psychological knowledge while simultaneously developing habits that make deeper psychological integration more difficult.

The question I have for r/Jung
I wonder whether we are underestimating what constant access to stimulation does to our relationship with the unconscious.

If individuation involves becoming conscious of the psychological forces that organize our lives, what happens when we develop a society in which almost every uncomfortable encounter with those forces can be interrupted within seconds?

Are we becoming more psychologically aware while simultaneously becoming less capable of psychological integration?

And perhaps most importantly:

Could a person spend their entire life trying to understand their unconscious, while their everyday habits continually prevent them from experiencing the conditions necessary to transform their relationship with it?

I'm particularly interested in how Jung might have understood this through the concepts of complexes, compensation, and individuation.

Most interactions only amount to combinations of two things existing together but never touching at all. An actual interaction involves some sort of alchemical process that will confront one with their projections, Shadow, and incomplete aspects of oneself. It is never easy since it takes courage to dissolve the ego so that something new may arise from the ashes.

Has there ever been a relationship in which you felt completely transformed into something else?

Dream incubation last night. Asked “how can begin getting the conscious and unconscious working in harmony?”

Had a dream featuring Donald Trump and Mark Carney.

Trump (conscious) was so uninspired by the world and so into himself that he didn’t actually care to do anything. Carney (unconscious) was so into his own ideas and thinking he had the right answers that he couldn’t actually do anything. Both men put on a good show but actually didn’t want to work together.

When finally taking a selfie with them (who’s going to believe they these leaders were in my garage?!) the photo showed nothing but explosions and destruction.

It would be great if they could work together but how would I start this process?

Can social media and algorithmically curated digital environments contribute to the development of Jungian complexes, particularly during childhood and adolescence?

Could this repeated exposure to certain content, social comparisons, and external validation shape unconscious psychological patterns in ways that affect self-image, behavior, and individuation?

Has Jungian psychology explored anything similar, and are there researchers or books that examine this connection?

I have a theory about anima possession. anima possession comes because the human vessel is unable to hold the full weight of the anima (or divine feminine) and in a bid to distribute that weight the man may project that onto women or have debilitating fantasies that keep him stuck.
I also believe this very same anima is what fuels creativity and art. However that’s not enough because even people that are able to direct this energy towards an artistic endeavor still get crashed by the anima and might resort to self harm or self destruction or even suicide to rid themselves of the burden.
So to simplify it. Some people possess an unusual receptivity to the divine, it is what fuels all the greatest feats accomplished by man,they channel its energy against their own conscious will, if that energy never has a proper outlet it turns into addictions, maladaptive daydreaming and fantasies and if the human is strong enough to resist these outlets and keeps it penned inside, they experience it as a crushing existential pain or longing that cant be put into words leading to depression and anxiety

i come from an internal spiritual path that began since i had a near dath experience, i passed thoughtwhat it's called the 'beatific vision" and when returned in contact with the world i came along many turbolences in my life, though my research to different philosophies, with the principle one being buddhism correlated to others and visual arts as my conduct of energy, i practiced meditation, but only recently i started to really understand how to dissolve/undestand emotions and let go then puryfying, i recently awakened kundalini in the muladhara, i have ocd ( that i see as a double shprened blade, because it served to me to be more in the yin force and up, but it inevitably lead to a disregulation ad excess with the classic methods it presents of it, leading me to balance with yang energy)

recently i had 2 weird dreams, just after awakening muladhara and startin to overthink less, because i was getting into a spiral of spiritual ego related to ocd

first dream :

i was in a bed, in a room i didnt even know, with my brother he got bit by a spider that we panicked to find, but that we didnt, but i strangely knew how the spider was made, the room was dark and it was night, in the middle of panic i stopped to see out of the window of the room, and there was a full moon, where i stopped, amazed by the scene, it was beautiful, and the i wole up

before this dream, the actual spider of the bite came from the consious world, i found it in my back yard, but i had an intuition by the heart that told me "be careful" and a pressure on the heart, the day before i caught certain signs as a wall lizard and a butterfly, representing fortune as i read, the weird thing is that as a synchronicity i was lead to read the book "alchimist" by paulo coelho the exct day it happened, and in the book it talks about liza4ds and butteflies as fortune tellers, i really found that day weird

today my body biologgy released anything it had to release, i dreamt about a chimera, half feline, half bird, made itself of flames and representig radiant energy, i was crying in the dream, i costantly feel a pressure in the manipura centre and am first working on svadhistana, any advices on the dream? i believe that to read a dream it is required not only wisdom, but actual knowledge of the symbols and dream reading, im trying to ajnoledge wisdom, but sas for now im sticking to praxtice though art and meditsation and sport, as i eneterde the theory paralisys of too theory little practice, leading my minde to be scared to let the body and heart do its job

thanks to anyone who can help in advice :)

I just finished Man and His Symbols a little while ago and want to get a more in depth book about dream analysis. Preferably written by Jung himself.

Body and shadow snapped at me.

I wanted to go somewhere when the opportunity had passed.

I ignore my body’s expression of dislike where sent tension headaches and sleepy shut down. Got bad to the point that it snapped at me by nosebleed. It ran down with hot flashes that linger for a long time when it didn’t want to go to a certain place at certain hours. When trying to relax and let it express, I fear my nose bleed will come again while my mind goes spiral of not being comfortable with the emotions my body wants me to hear but I know I need to sit with it and hear it. It dislikes being timed. People say just do it for 10-30 minutes or so but it never works for me and the body only release when it’s not timed or disturb but in an environment it can control. Sometimes it can take 2-5 hours just for my body to tell me what the suppress emotion is but it varies by what kind of Environment & noise I am in and my nervous system state.

I asked how it was feeling and it said in a bold word echo word, “Angry.” Then I wanted to do something about it but my brain snapped to have me be distracted with something else which made my inner self more silent and difficult to integrate… I learned to ignore or to further help so it’s been a battle to fully work thru it.

How can I befriend it when it takes a long time for it to come out, when dealing with toxic people who pop in whenever they feel like it (my intution nudge me whenever toxic people snd wants me to leave the environment while my nervous system hates them but my trauma bond wants to wait for them like hoping they will one day rescue me like before but is super unhealthy and outdated.) they live a normal life but I live a calling life so it clashes a lot.

My intution and nervous system are very similar. Both quiet and scream at me if I don’t fulfill a specific task, goal, trip, etc. my trauma bond is extremely like a child to a teddy bear and runs in my family.

I even have to eat intuitively in order to feel more stable but it’s difficult when the prices are high, my diet can only handle healthy food meals and even fasting, my intution & nervous system feels better but at times, I have to starve I order to hear or feel the suppressed emotions it wants me to hear and at time my intution wants me to eat certain dishes but I tend to do the opposite because I don’t have the time, forcing to be content and forcing to adapt a new change but it’s been a storm.

when doing shadow work, I get super hungry afterwards and a good healthy tired where my nervous system isn’t on edge or find it abnormal. I loved it but it’s been hard when it can only experience that if I am with safe people, an environment where no one can disturb me out of the blue and at a certain time of the day. I sometimes sacrifice family and friends time just to do it but it’s a gain and loss.

This is one heck of a fiery battle so far, only three days out of one year has been a happy and successful.
This post is messy so forgive me as you can clearly see how unstable my inner self is.

Hope this makes sense and suggestions appreciated. Also if anyone experience this too. Any Carl Jung books are appreciated and YT or articles!

a few days ago i had a dream that looked extremely realistic

same exact home

somehow the setting was dark, there were many people all dressed in black like someone had died, all at my house

i saw people shaking hands, everything was 1:1, extremely real

after a while i went out onto the balcony and sat down on a chair

it was daytime

what i saw was somehow really powerful... literally four suns, somehow a really raw, powerful feeling

i felt really strong emotions

they were at the same distance from each other, really geometric

then i woke up and had a somehow really deep sense of presence, a mix of bad and good feelings at the same time like the realization that eventually people near you will die

i’m not sure exactly what those four suns represented, but it was really powerful

now comes the extremely strange part

a few hours ago i was looking for a movie

i found “the seventh seal”

i started to watch, and randomly, after a while ( while watching the movie )

i started to get that image of those four suns again ( mentally like it came to me again unconsciously )

and literally in the dialogue, after literally 4–5 seconds, the guy in the movie was literally talking about four suns

that gave me goosebumps...

generally i’ve never heard before, in any video or text or dialogue, both in real life and virtually, about four suns

somehow it gave me really deep feelings

Shadow work is the only know teaching about Jung, I heard about archetypes but how does it helps a person in his daily life?

If shadow work is confronting your opposite, working on your traumas, issues etc, what's the archetypes? I am reading about it and base on my interests about religions and their beliefs, I leaned on sage, and the funny part is the flaw I see about the archetype, is no action. I am really working on this. (I don't just know if what I read is correct).

Please have patience with me. I am new in this.

I’m very interested in a study into different mythologies as a means to a meaningful understanding of the underlying structure of the unconscious and way to expand the language of one’s own unconscious. Has anyone dove deep into different mythologies/have suggestions for where to begin?

Here again, I'm sure I'm starting to annoy you with my incessant musings, but let's talk anyway.
I've been studying the Bible against finding parallels using Jungian thought and approach. I found some verses and unpacked them. Here's a storyline (forgive me if I made any errors):

Genesis 22:1-2: God tested Abraham and commanded him to take Isaac, his son, and offer him as a burnt offering.
Genesis 22:3: Abraham got up early to prepare to carry out the command.
Genesis 22:9-10: Abraham bound Isaac and took the knife to kill him.
Genesis 22:11-12: An angel of the Lord called out to Abraham and stopped him before he hurt Isaac.
Genesis 22:13: Abraham saw a ram caught in a thicket and sacrificed it instead.

This story places obedience, love, authority and moral responsibility in direct conflict. What if Abraham represents the ego confronting an overwhelming numinous authority-an experience perceived so absolute that an ordinary moral judgment appears secondary? But I gotta be careful here, the text itself presented a test of Abraham's faith and my psychological interpretation doesn't establish that Abraham was experiencing an unconscious complex. So chill out. But the modern psychological parallel is still chilling.

People can commit terrible acts because they believe a higher authority has absolved them of personal responsibility. The authority might be God, a political movement, a charismatic leader, a family system or even an ideology. The internal logic becomes like this: I wouldn't normally do this but I have been commanded/guided. Therefore I am no longer responsible in the ordinary way". This is how conscience can be surrendered to certainty.

The dark question is when does devotion become the abandonment of one's own moral judgment?
And the inverse-can genuine spiritual maturity require refusing to sacrifice the innocent, even when the ego believes it has received divine permission?
I feel this rings true when it comes to you-know-what (politics).

So, lately I've been interested in shadow work and trying to uncover my unconscious. So far, I've noted down a couple of my triggers as a first step but I think I'm stuck. How should I go about the shadow work, or rather what's the next step, and does it genuinely help?

After a long process of self-discovery, I have come to realize that the way I express myself and the way I behave—this is not who I truly am.

I am not this empty, sad shell that I currently inhabit. Deep down, this is not who I am, and I no longer wish to be this way. I do not want to remain in environments that only breed hatred for the things I love, nor do I want to stay in places where I am made to feel insufficient.

I want to rediscover the joy in what I love; I want to confront my fear of the real world by embracing my shadow as an ally.

In a world so cruel, so mechanical, so artificial—in an environment so heavily conditioned—I feel that I am not being myself. I torture myself, I limit myself, I sabotage myself—I sabotage my own shadow, my own talents, and my own capabilities. Perhaps it is out of fear, conformity, or insecurity; perhaps it is a failure to accept reality. Regardless, I am certain that I am not where I am meant to be.
"You aren't special because you know how to draw; you aren't special for being an artist—a machine can do it better. You aren't special for being bisexual; you’re just one more person among many." And yes, they’re right—I am just one more person, but I am *me*.

My ideas have value, and so do my dreams.

My work—and who I am as a person—has value.

Even within this vast, impersonal machine, my life and everything I do hold value—value to me.

The landscape may be unfair, even cruel, but I know there are people—and there *will* be people—who will know how to value all of this: who will know how to buy, how to love, how to stay, and how to truly appreciate.

Trying to please the masses is damaging; the masses tend to be cruel, erratic, and sadistic—perhaps because they are unhappy with their own lives, or because they themselves are gripped by fear.

Everyone wants enlightenment until it requires them to confront the parts of themselves they’ve spent a lifetime (or lifetimes) denying. Everyone wants to be healed, but few want to discover how much of their identity was built around their wounds. They want shadow work, provided the shadow turns out to be someone else. They want wisdom without humiliation, they want growth without grief, they want a transformation without the death of the person they thought they were.

Individuation is not a glow-up. It is the slow collapse of your own illusions, with you watching in horror. You’ll lose relationships, beliefs, identities, and the comforting conviction that you were always the good guy. You’ll discover that some of your virtues were actually survival mechanisms, some of your generosity was a need to be loved (ouch I’m feeling that) and some of your righteousness was projection. That kinda confrontation leaves a mark.
The question isn’t whether you want to be whole or not, the question is can you survive the process?

Do you guys think the triabl rituals were successful in creating a virtuous man? Don't you think the physical and emotional pain that boys had gone through, had no effect in their adulthood? Can jungian psychology help in resolving the problems?

Is the unconscious always right, in the sense that it knows better than ur conscious self and that you should always listen to what it tells you and it can never be ignored? Are you supposed to try and tell it that its wrong and that your right?

If my conscious self is naive does that mean my unconscious is aswell?

Ive had multiple dreams that involve cars specifically me losing control of my car or getting in the wrong car. They all come around during point in my life where I suffer from imposter syndrome and im unsure if how im acting is correct. The car represents the ego or persona, I get that. But is my unconscious trying to tell me to stop faking it, or is it just showing me what’s happening in my actual life as symbols? I thought I was doing the right thing by embracing the imposter syndrome, but it seems like my unconscious doesn’t like it. The latest nightmare I had was also centered around a car but at the end, the car got destroyed and I felt a massive sense of relief and freedom after it was destroyed. The dream was pretty analgous to my real life except the part where the car was destroyed. Does me having nightmares and reacurring dreams = me moving in the right direction for individuation ?

Is it need for purpose? For Discipline and meaning? Community? What would Jung say about the current climate of the collective? Give your insight and opinion please.

I had a dream last night which seemed somewhat dramatic. it included me essentially killing a huge black dragon(eating its own tail) in a pond with a sword and it would vanish, and then later when i was drinking water from a bottle itd taste extremely off and looking black making me realise somehow the dragons back and growing again. id kill it itd come back and it was extremely disorienting and exhausting tbh.

to my general understanding ik what the ouroboros symbolises and the fact that i would "end" it only for it to come back and grow makes it pretty easy to assume what it means but still i wanted to know what are other peoples interpretations? what would you make of this dream?

Can someone please explain this phenomenon to me? It feels incredibly performative. How can someone create art, something done with intention, and claim not to know what it means? Or am I just being autistic and people can actually create art with clear direction and still not understand what they’ve designed? I fail to see what it has to do with Jung or its relevance to this page.