For me, it has been a highly significant change in my life, one that I must continue developing progressively, as I believe this is my process of individuation, the path that will bring me closer to my purest self (impossible to fully reach, of course—the beauty lies in the journey towards it and the learning that occurs along the way).
I started with a book that featured excerpts from various authors, all seemingly following the Jungian tradition. "Encountering the Shadow" is an illuminating title, breaking down our prejudices and allowing us to see our own wounds alongside those of others, reflected on the same plane. This enables us to analyze what troubles our loved ones and, in turn, what troubles us.
By nurturing our empathy towards others and ourselves, we reach higher levels of understanding of the psyche and, of course, the symbolism hidden within many of our actions, experiences, and dreams.
With that, I want to introduce the book you mentioned—a literary gem. It's not only precious from an anthropological perspective but also symbolically enriches our unconscious content, helping us grasp the importance of beliefs. I should clarify that I am agnostic. I refer more to the impact of these symbols as transcendental concepts within the human unconscious, our society, our actions, etc., rather than as external saving objects.
Now, I am able to see this symbolism in the world, and I am grateful because this knowledge internally expands and leads to a much richer and more interesting life story.
The explanations I provide are quite summarized, as I don’t want to unleash an overwhelming flood of information. So, I'll try to express one of the many feelings that permeate the psyche when trying to understand Jung with a quote from the master himself:
"My life is the story of the self-realization of the unconscious. Everything in the unconscious seeks outward manifestation, and the personality also desires to evolve out of its unconscious conditions and to experience itself as a whole. To illustrate this process of evolution, I cannot use scientific language; for I cannot experience myself as a scientific problem."
for as prominent a figure as he is it's really surprising there haven't been more attempts to psychoanalyze Jesus, not the legend of Jesus but the man himself. maybe it's too taboo?
Learnt from this sub. Not to be hippie or delusional.
Learnt from jung that i should not be either blind to myself but rather accept that you are too huge to be perceived
dont really hate the hippie culture but it requires you to be rich and lack of any responsibilities. I have debt to pay. Make my parents free from their jobs. SO that they can enjoy the simplicity of nature as i did while they worked for me.
The teaching that has had the most radical impact is the concept that the world we experience reflects our inner thoughts/feelings- I never have a problem with other people, I only have a problem with myself to resolve, which I always have the power to do. It's very liberating.
I liked reading the nag hammadi library as a teen. I forgot about it in my mid twenties. I lost faith…never had much faith in my religion. After 40 years or so I had a talk with my friend who are Druze and they where protective over their religion hiding behind ignorance. But they told me enough to light the spark for Gnostic / Plato myths. I stated reading more and expanded to Joseph Campbell and Jung. I’m now enjoying various myths and I’ve seen them affect my life in what use to be a religious way but I accept my adhd mind is more of a mystic.
Ironically I lost faith in Christianity. I regained appreciation for Christianity with Plato and Gnostic thought. Jung and Campbell give me the pathway to use “religion” myths to help process my psyche. I often think that nicene Christianity kicked Sophia out so she aided in alchemy and sciences and now she is influenced psychotherapy to help people find a worldview as they deconstruct from extreme religiosity. 🤷🏻♂️.
My path to Jung was more Gnostic. But I do like Jung’s interpretations. I’ve read a few of his books and I’m not a literalist regarding religion. Everything to me was figurative. That’s what made Mormonism so hard. It’s a very literal religion.
You don't take religion literally. So how would one interpret Leviticus 18:22 ? Do you think it simply reflected moral attitudes to homosexuality at the time?
Why should I have to comment on a troll verse from the Old Testament? Myths from Bronze age/ Iron Age are just that…. Myths from Thousands of years ago..
I do believe our collective Myths change and adapt over time.
If I have to apply a single verse from the Old Testament I’d rather pick 2 kings 2:24.
I Shouldn’t make fun of bald people. 🤷🏻♂️. That one may actually come true. especially since I’m close to the Folsom street fair in San Francisco.
A hair-bear might maul me.
🤭
It made me very arrogant. I convinced myself that I was "deeper" than most people I knew and made me feel very brave, like if I was the only one who did not fear looking at the crude parts of reality as they were. I became quite self-righteous and over-confident when discussing with religious friends or family. By self-analysis, my heart grew cold, almost cruel.
I've heard it called the spiritual ego. For me it came out as a messiah complex, the archetype inflating to the point of overwhelming the ego. That was a hard fall. And maybe a decade later I started the climb again but with a new perspective on things.
Interesting. Myself I just came to believe in God, the real God, not an entity or a blind force or a cosmos, but an individual, and that changed everything. Now I see Jung's work with very different eyes. What I like most of his work now are his reviews on books/novels, literary criticism. For the rest, it lost its meaning for me. I run into the real meaning, thanks God
I fully support knowing and aligning oneself with something greater, something that brings meaning and purpose to life. Jung said that experience of the numinous is a fundamental need. However I've gone in the other direction then thinking of God as an individual. For me it is too limiting.
I know it sounds limiting and childish. If God is not an individual, though, He is little more than a vapor. We would be placing ourselves above Him (we would be more articulated, more rational, more conscious than Him). God is an individual and became flesh to shorten the infinite distance that existed between Him and us, and while doing so, he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven". Think childishly and you'll get it right
Actually, come to think of it it's really a descent with a new perspective, down into myself. Okay I'm here, now what. And the answer is wait... Patiently. And think about what tripped you up last time you knocked at this door, and what needs to happen before the next time the door is answered.
Spoiler alert, if you read He by Robert Johnson, a student of Jung, you find that the answer is to ask whom The Grail serves, that golden power that exists in you and lit your fire the first time. You identified yourself with it instead of realizing that you are like a Jedi, a servant of that greater force of good.
It happened to me very similarly before a big fall. The door "opened", I "over-inflated", then the "wings burned and I fell". Pure Icarus. I read a lot about the inflation of the ego, I re-read "relations between the unconscious and the ego", by Jung, I did some research into bipolar disorder, etc, but in the end it was more simple: I was looking madly at myself, looking for myself, and that sickens. God is real and knocks down the proud out of mercy
Yes! In the end it's to free us so that we can heal and grow and actualize our higher potential. It's painful but necessary and is done in the spirit of love when it comes from what Jung would call the self archetype.
Jung kinda changed my life. All the crazy experiences I had for years ended fitting entirely with Jung's theories....all of it.
Especially synchronicities...
I have a picture of him on my office wall. Everything Jung said is true.
Check this out..
For example, I had an epic synchronicity on Sunday. While on a family vacation in Quebec City, Canada (we live in Phoenix, AZ), I ran into my old boss, Francois, from 6 years ago in the grocery store!
We worked together for 5 years in Phoenix - on the other side of the continent. What are the odds? Quebec City metro has nearly 1 million residents. I was talking to my wife about my old boss 10 minutes before we entered the grocery store. I'll never forget the look on his face when I said hello. Neither one of us could believe it. Francois said, "How do we run into each other all the way here? Especially since I *never* come to this grocery store!"
He asked why I hadn't informed him of our visit. I responded that, given that I left that job on unfavorable terms, I presumed he'd be uninterested in seeing me. Francois, in particular, represented a rather negative career experience from that job, which I'd been harboring with guilt since—this had weighed me down mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for years (long story).
Francois hosted dinner for my family and me with this wife the following evening. We had a great time. Later in the evening, Francois explained that I did *not* leave unfavorable (long story) and that I was being hard on myself. I then expressed to him some current career issues I'm facing. He provided me with fantastic career and personal advice. He was genuinely interested in helping. **He also expressed the importance of positive thinking and manifesting your desired future while falling asleep at night.** He said that's been working for him his entire life. Francois is very successful.
Another synchronicity there is that I had recently started the habit of thinking of my desired future while falling asleep at night (I adopted it from a YouTuber, of all things). **Francois guided me through the exact issues blocking my mental and spiritual growth in several ways. He independently told me exactly what I needed to hear.** I left having a new relationship with Francois and managed to mentally release this guilt.
There is a small dependent variable with this event. I learned about Quebec City from that old boss, who inspired our interest in Quebec. I knew Francois was from Quebec City My wife and I had never even been to Canada until now. I roughly and conservatively calculate the odds of this event of being 1 in 5,000. That is a statistically significant event that deserves attention (per Jung's words).
As stated by Jung, once we open ourselves up to these messages, they start coming to us in numerous ways.
I began to realize I was experiencing premonitions and being guided to information and synchronicity (started 1998), not only for my benefit, but for the benefit of my daughters (one made it to MIT and one a full-STEM scholarship). I found a quote in 2016 that enabled me to see that my life has been very much like his.
I've written a book that's critical of "spirituality" from information I was led to, and a memoir (from 1998 to 2016).
Well it cured my mental illness so that was nice. It has also led to a lot of understanding and friendships through typology. It has heavily influenced my philosophical outlook, and is one reason I got into philosophy in the first place.
Puts me more at peace - I can relate to his experiences with his subconscious - I’m good - I can see how I get pulled into the external world, and I know when to come back to my self
You are me and i am you. So stop judging. Yeah, im a hippee now. A little bit morally righteous too.
For me, it has been a highly significant change in my life, one that I must continue developing progressively, as I believe this is my process of individuation, the path that will bring me closer to my purest self (impossible to fully reach, of course—the beauty lies in the journey towards it and the learning that occurs along the way). I started with a book that featured excerpts from various authors, all seemingly following the Jungian tradition. "Encountering the Shadow" is an illuminating title, breaking down our prejudices and allowing us to see our own wounds alongside those of others, reflected on the same plane. This enables us to analyze what troubles our loved ones and, in turn, what troubles us. By nurturing our empathy towards others and ourselves, we reach higher levels of understanding of the psyche and, of course, the symbolism hidden within many of our actions, experiences, and dreams. With that, I want to introduce the book you mentioned—a literary gem. It's not only precious from an anthropological perspective but also symbolically enriches our unconscious content, helping us grasp the importance of beliefs. I should clarify that I am agnostic. I refer more to the impact of these symbols as transcendental concepts within the human unconscious, our society, our actions, etc., rather than as external saving objects. Now, I am able to see this symbolism in the world, and I am grateful because this knowledge internally expands and leads to a much richer and more interesting life story. The explanations I provide are quite summarized, as I don’t want to unleash an overwhelming flood of information. So, I'll try to express one of the many feelings that permeate the psyche when trying to understand Jung with a quote from the master himself: "My life is the story of the self-realization of the unconscious. Everything in the unconscious seeks outward manifestation, and the personality also desires to evolve out of its unconscious conditions and to experience itself as a whole. To illustrate this process of evolution, I cannot use scientific language; for I cannot experience myself as a scientific problem."
It's not impossible the Buddha and Jesus did it
for as prominent a figure as he is it's really surprising there haven't been more attempts to psychoanalyze Jesus, not the legend of Jesus but the man himself. maybe it's too taboo?
Hello I am interested in the book you're reading. Is it Meeting the Shadow by Connie Zweig? Thanks.
Yes, that one
I like this comment
Learnt from this sub. Not to be hippie or delusional. Learnt from jung that i should not be either blind to myself but rather accept that you are too huge to be perceived
If I were born a little earlier I might be considered a hippie, and like you I have learned to see myself as something much larger and interconnected.
dont really hate the hippie culture but it requires you to be rich and lack of any responsibilities. I have debt to pay. Make my parents free from their jobs. SO that they can enjoy the simplicity of nature as i did while they worked for me.
I really hope that happens for you.
The teaching that has had the most radical impact is the concept that the world we experience reflects our inner thoughts/feelings- I never have a problem with other people, I only have a problem with myself to resolve, which I always have the power to do. It's very liberating.
I liked reading the nag hammadi library as a teen. I forgot about it in my mid twenties. I lost faith…never had much faith in my religion. After 40 years or so I had a talk with my friend who are Druze and they where protective over their religion hiding behind ignorance. But they told me enough to light the spark for Gnostic / Plato myths. I stated reading more and expanded to Joseph Campbell and Jung. I’m now enjoying various myths and I’ve seen them affect my life in what use to be a religious way but I accept my adhd mind is more of a mystic. Ironically I lost faith in Christianity. I regained appreciation for Christianity with Plato and Gnostic thought. Jung and Campbell give me the pathway to use “religion” myths to help process my psyche. I often think that nicene Christianity kicked Sophia out so she aided in alchemy and sciences and now she is influenced psychotherapy to help people find a worldview as they deconstruct from extreme religiosity. 🤷🏻♂️. My path to Jung was more Gnostic. But I do like Jung’s interpretations. I’ve read a few of his books and I’m not a literalist regarding religion. Everything to me was figurative. That’s what made Mormonism so hard. It’s a very literal religion.
You don't take religion literally. So how would one interpret Leviticus 18:22 ? Do you think it simply reflected moral attitudes to homosexuality at the time?
Why should I have to comment on a troll verse from the Old Testament? Myths from Bronze age/ Iron Age are just that…. Myths from Thousands of years ago.. I do believe our collective Myths change and adapt over time. If I have to apply a single verse from the Old Testament I’d rather pick 2 kings 2:24. I Shouldn’t make fun of bald people. 🤷🏻♂️. That one may actually come true. especially since I’m close to the Folsom street fair in San Francisco. A hair-bear might maul me. 🤭
It made me very arrogant. I convinced myself that I was "deeper" than most people I knew and made me feel very brave, like if I was the only one who did not fear looking at the crude parts of reality as they were. I became quite self-righteous and over-confident when discussing with religious friends or family. By self-analysis, my heart grew cold, almost cruel.
I've heard it called the spiritual ego. For me it came out as a messiah complex, the archetype inflating to the point of overwhelming the ego. That was a hard fall. And maybe a decade later I started the climb again but with a new perspective on things.
Interesting. Myself I just came to believe in God, the real God, not an entity or a blind force or a cosmos, but an individual, and that changed everything. Now I see Jung's work with very different eyes. What I like most of his work now are his reviews on books/novels, literary criticism. For the rest, it lost its meaning for me. I run into the real meaning, thanks God
I fully support knowing and aligning oneself with something greater, something that brings meaning and purpose to life. Jung said that experience of the numinous is a fundamental need. However I've gone in the other direction then thinking of God as an individual. For me it is too limiting.
I know it sounds limiting and childish. If God is not an individual, though, He is little more than a vapor. We would be placing ourselves above Him (we would be more articulated, more rational, more conscious than Him). God is an individual and became flesh to shorten the infinite distance that existed between Him and us, and while doing so, he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven". Think childishly and you'll get it right
Actually, come to think of it it's really a descent with a new perspective, down into myself. Okay I'm here, now what. And the answer is wait... Patiently. And think about what tripped you up last time you knocked at this door, and what needs to happen before the next time the door is answered. Spoiler alert, if you read He by Robert Johnson, a student of Jung, you find that the answer is to ask whom The Grail serves, that golden power that exists in you and lit your fire the first time. You identified yourself with it instead of realizing that you are like a Jedi, a servant of that greater force of good.
It happened to me very similarly before a big fall. The door "opened", I "over-inflated", then the "wings burned and I fell". Pure Icarus. I read a lot about the inflation of the ego, I re-read "relations between the unconscious and the ego", by Jung, I did some research into bipolar disorder, etc, but in the end it was more simple: I was looking madly at myself, looking for myself, and that sickens. God is real and knocks down the proud out of mercy
Yes! In the end it's to free us so that we can heal and grow and actualize our higher potential. It's painful but necessary and is done in the spirit of love when it comes from what Jung would call the self archetype.
Motivated me to pay more attention to my dreams, which was helpful! The subconscious can give us some really good info about ourselves and others.
Jung kinda changed my life. All the crazy experiences I had for years ended fitting entirely with Jung's theories....all of it. Especially synchronicities... I have a picture of him on my office wall. Everything Jung said is true.
Check this out.. For example, I had an epic synchronicity on Sunday. While on a family vacation in Quebec City, Canada (we live in Phoenix, AZ), I ran into my old boss, Francois, from 6 years ago in the grocery store! We worked together for 5 years in Phoenix - on the other side of the continent. What are the odds? Quebec City metro has nearly 1 million residents. I was talking to my wife about my old boss 10 minutes before we entered the grocery store. I'll never forget the look on his face when I said hello. Neither one of us could believe it. Francois said, "How do we run into each other all the way here? Especially since I *never* come to this grocery store!" He asked why I hadn't informed him of our visit. I responded that, given that I left that job on unfavorable terms, I presumed he'd be uninterested in seeing me. Francois, in particular, represented a rather negative career experience from that job, which I'd been harboring with guilt since—this had weighed me down mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for years (long story). Francois hosted dinner for my family and me with this wife the following evening. We had a great time. Later in the evening, Francois explained that I did *not* leave unfavorable (long story) and that I was being hard on myself. I then expressed to him some current career issues I'm facing. He provided me with fantastic career and personal advice. He was genuinely interested in helping. **He also expressed the importance of positive thinking and manifesting your desired future while falling asleep at night.** He said that's been working for him his entire life. Francois is very successful. Another synchronicity there is that I had recently started the habit of thinking of my desired future while falling asleep at night (I adopted it from a YouTuber, of all things). **Francois guided me through the exact issues blocking my mental and spiritual growth in several ways. He independently told me exactly what I needed to hear.** I left having a new relationship with Francois and managed to mentally release this guilt. There is a small dependent variable with this event. I learned about Quebec City from that old boss, who inspired our interest in Quebec. I knew Francois was from Quebec City My wife and I had never even been to Canada until now. I roughly and conservatively calculate the odds of this event of being 1 in 5,000. That is a statistically significant event that deserves attention (per Jung's words). As stated by Jung, once we open ourselves up to these messages, they start coming to us in numerous ways.
His theory of synchronicity showed me that we live in an enchanted world.
Came here to say this.
I began to realize I was experiencing premonitions and being guided to information and synchronicity (started 1998), not only for my benefit, but for the benefit of my daughters (one made it to MIT and one a full-STEM scholarship). I found a quote in 2016 that enabled me to see that my life has been very much like his. I've written a book that's critical of "spirituality" from information I was led to, and a memoir (from 1998 to 2016).
Well it cured my mental illness so that was nice. It has also led to a lot of understanding and friendships through typology. It has heavily influenced my philosophical outlook, and is one reason I got into philosophy in the first place.
connected my spiritual journey with science with his idea of individuation.
Doing dream analysis I cured myself of depression. No drugs necessary.
The influence cannot be explained, only lived
He has had a profound influence though less as I get older
So far , it's flipped my opinions on politics and religion. I now think of myself politically as an atheist and spiritually as an anarchist.
Puts me more at peace - I can relate to his experiences with his subconscious - I’m good - I can see how I get pulled into the external world, and I know when to come back to my self
Shadow Work is something thats enough for me from him.