Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and together with Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler, Jung was one of the founders of psychoanalysis, or the so-called ‘modern depth psychology’. In spite of being highly praised by Freud, Jung departed from his teachings, eventually founding his own school of psychology called ‘analytical psychology’. Apart from psychology, Jung has had a great influence in many fields, including psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, religious studies, and philosophy, and his philosophy is often referred to as “Jungian Philosophy.
” He has also published multiple books like The Psychology of the Unconscious, Man and His Symbols, The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious, Modern Man In Search of a Soul, The Psychology of the Transference, “Memories, Drams, and Thoughts,” and The Relations Between the Ego and the Unconscious. According to Jung, the entirety of an individual’s being can be described by our psyche, encompassing all our conscious and unconscious aspects. One very important aspect of the former is the ego.
The ego is the center of our consciousness. It regulates everything that we are conscious of and decides how to act and on what to act. However, since it is limited to what you are conscious of, it cannot help you become any more authentic than you already are.
For that, you would have to tackle the unconscious. And as the term suggests, this concerns a great deal of our being that we are mostly unaware of. Jung divided the unconscious into two layers: personal unconsciousness and collective unconsciousness.
The former is simply all that you are but are not aware of. This will include hidden emotions, ‘forgotten’ memories, ambiguous or unconscious feelings, repressed thoughts, etc. The latter, however, is more complicated: it encompasses those unconscious feelings, thoughts, instincts, and more, that all people have or have had in the past.
They are the things universally inherited by humans. According to Jung, these shared mental concepts appear as archetypes. These can be found in mythology, fairytales, and other stories as the hero, the villain, the helper, etc.
, and they are also to be found within people. In everybody, there is a cultural and generational urge to take on all kinds of universally known and recurring personalities. Generally, people tend to suppress the unconscious parts of their psyche.
They pretend—often to the extent of fooling themselves. But the suppression of your unconsciousness is exactly what sustains your inauthenticity. How could you ever become who you truly are if you don't even know yourself?
Jung says that the truly authentic life is tied to your inner life: you need to know who you are within in order to be yourself. This process of facing your inner life to achieve authenticity is called the process of individuation. Individuation, in short, is a process by which individuals can set out to become ‘more fully themselves’.
It allows those who undergo it to truly face who they are and to strengthen their sense of authenticity. This process is not meant to eliminate the unconscious, for that would be disastrous, but rather to bring harmony and balance between the unconscious and conscious, without having one rule over the other. According to Jung, it is crucial to face four of your archetypes in order to go through the individuation process.
These are the persona, the shadow, the anima (or animus), and the self. In this video, we will guide you through these four archetypes and how they can help you become truly authentic. 1.
The Persona Jung says, “The persona is a complicated system of relations between individual consciousness and society, fittingly enough a kind of mask, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and, on the other, to conceal the true nature of the individual. ” As Jung said, the persona can roughly be described as ‘a mask,’ which is a reference to part of the costume an actor would wear on a theater stage. This is because the persona basically functions as your ‘social mask’: it is the way you present yourself and the impression you try to make on the rest of the world.
According to Jung, the persona is inherent to human nature. We develop our persona when growing up as we learn how to fit into our shared lives with others. The persona we develop often does not consist of one single ‘mask,’ but rather multiple ones—and all the masks one can put on in different social situations together form the entirety of the persona.
Jung further states that our persona is a necessary and beneficial part of our social existence. For example, imagine a therapist. No matter what, it would not be acceptable for that therapist to express hostility at a client in their care, primarily because it would decrease the client's trust and comfort, which is the opposite of what the therapist is trying to achieve.
A therapist that frightens their clients has failed as a therapist. Thus, a good therapist would have to suppress the urge to exhibit anger or hostile behavior even when they feel that way internally—and instead put on the mask of a kind and caring performance. The kind persona that hides the hostility inside is, in this case, a helpful tool to exist in the social world.
The persona can be described as a translation of the ego to the outer world; a way for the ego to interact with its social environment. However, in addition to being a way of presenting yourself, the persona is a way of concealing yourself as well. Behaving in accordance with your persona is often compared to pretending or acting.
In other words, you fake it. This can lead to undesirable results, such as over-identification. In the case of over-identification, our persona becomes an unconscious part of ourselves that we cannot distinguish from our true inner self—therefore losing sight of who we truly are as individuals.
We become blind to our individuality and instead over-identify with the mask. We lose sight of our actual desires and needs, and get stuck in a role instead. Imagine a schoolteacher who, unable to let go of the persona they put on when teaching, becomes too dictating at home.
We can say of many people that they over-identify with their persona. Although it is natural and necessary to put on a bit of. .
. A front, when interacting with other human beings—like when avoiding telling someone what you think of their appearance in order to be polite—should not become who you think you are. And, according to Jung, overidentification is not possible in the long run.
The pretense is not durable! Instead, eventually, our personas will enter the phase of disintegration. In this stage, we either intentionally or unintentionally shatter our persona; we ‘lose’ our performance.
In the people around us, this may present as burnouts, identity crises, or ‘losing your way. ’ It may result in a teacher finally snapping, for example. This may leave us in a state of chaos: with no idea who we truly are and no way to return to our familiar performance.
In this stage, one generally feels disoriented and lost. However, there is a way to have our persona complement our true self instead of clashing with it. This process is known as restoration.
By restoring, Jung means developing a flexible persona that does not collide with the true self but rather helps the true self navigate society. The restored persona should be a persona one is aware of. One knows that they are putting on a certain act when they do so, and they know who they are without their persona.
By being conscious of your persona, you can choose to integrate your true self into it. Instead of acting against how you want to, you can find out how to combine your individuality into your persona. Going back to our example of the therapist, if they want to integrate their negative feelings, it would mean acknowledging their feelings and setting the right limits.
They still can be kind and helpful, but as soon as the anger or bitterness becomes too prevalent, they should acknowledge it and take more time for themselves instead of pushing it down. This would mean saying ‘no’ to clients, telling people, ‘Sorry, I’m taking a day off,’ and taking rest to recover and reduce the negativity. They do not need to outright deny their true tendencies.
Restoration of the persona is the only way to combine your true, authentic self with the rules of the social world. This is the way to live your most authentic life within society. **2.
The Shadow** According to Jung, “Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions. ” The shadow-self consists of all the parts of ourselves that we consider bad, reject, and repress—like our anger, vanity, impulses, dark thoughts, shameful tendencies, and so on.
In many cases, these are traits or desires that are rejected by society as a whole. The idea that one should not have these characteristics has been taught from childhood onward, and thus, we deny their existence. However, denying them does not make them go away; instead, they are simply in our blind spot and impact our ability to be free individuals.
Hence, they have negative consequences for our lives. Jung states that in order to become who you truly are, we must consciously get to know our shadow selves and find ways to integrate them into our personality instead of ignoring them. Our repressed traits are here to stay, and only if we accept and embrace that can we become who we truly are.
The repression of our shadow-self feels natural, and it is incredibly hard and uncomfortable to try and look straight into the aspects of ourselves that we despise or fear the most. How could someone who takes great pride in their kindness and generosity ever acknowledge their raging envy? How could someone who sees themselves as fully confident ever address their insecurities?
Well, in most cases, they don’t. And ironically, those who know their shadow selves the least are also those who are most bothered by them. The more something is repressed, the more it wants out!
That is why we can suddenly say something we wish we hadn’t, why we sometimes can’t hide our negative emotions from our faces, or why we might take extreme action on impulses that we then later regret. The repression of our shadow-self leads to a quick temper, feelings of loss of control, and delusions about oneself as a person. When one generally considers oneself a gentle person and suddenly finds themselves lashing out, they might find that their entire image of themselves is being called into question.
The shadow makes us act in certain ways that will make us think, “Why did I do that? ” The repression of the shadow may also manifest in overreactions to negative qualities of others. This is called projection: we project those things we do not like about ourselves onto others.
And so, when someone acts selfishly, we are much more bothered than we should be because we hold onto an ever-present hatred of our own selfishness. The harshness of our judgments of others might put a strain on our social relationships and also induce our self-hatred due to our own bad traits. In all of these cases, we do not act as free and authentic individuals.
In order to achieve that, one should get to know their shadow-self first. By ‘getting to know’ your shadow self, Jung means that it is important to become aware of the shadow-self without identifying with it. You do not have to see yourself as all those traits you try not to show, but you do have to acknowledge that they are there.
In order to become conscious of the unconscious, you should be able to take a step back and analyze your own behavior, thoughts, and feelings during daily life. For example, imagine yourself as a confident person who represses their own insecurities. You might instinctively respond coldly or angrily when somebody brings up a topic that is close to your insecurity.
You might avoid certain situations, activities, or clothes you actually like wearing in order to avoid feeling insecure. You might lie to yourself and others when you are feeling self-conscious and overcompensate by putting on a self-assured front that is exhausting to keep up. When you realize that this unwanted behavior stems from your insecurities, you can learn how to face it.
This includes finding out where your insecurity comes from. For example, a past rejection—and approaching this experience with kindness and clarity. You must realize that one rejection does not define you, and you can do so by sharing it with others, talking about what happened, how you feel, trying something new, etc.
In the end, only by confronting the source could you deal with its consequences. Only by confronting your insecurities could you finally find true self-acceptance to accompany your self-assured act. Just like acknowledging this insecurity, fear of being judged can become an opportunity for courage.
Acknowledging anger can become an opportunity for justice or stress relief. Similarly, “bad thoughts” or “unacceptable desires” can be dealt with, and you can learn to forgive yourself for them instead of pretending they do not exist. When you manage to work with your shadow self, then you take a big step closer to living the life that is most true to you.
Only those who know and accept themselves fully are able to live authentically. **3. The anima or animus** In the words of Jung, “Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one’s being, but by integration of the contraries.
” Let’s take a deeper dive into the shadow. Within our shadow self, we house psychological qualities of the opposite gender—also known as contrasexual aspects. Jung believed that if you are a woman, you have an inner personal masculine psyche—or animus—within you, and if you are a man, you have an inner personal feminine psyche—or anima—within you.
However, due to our societal and even personal pressure to behave more “manly” or more “womanly,” we tend to neglect these subconscious qualities. Our anima or animus goes ignored by our persona and is repressed by our ego—and that can come back to bite us. The anima and animus, as he described them, are based on the Greek terms of eros and logos.
“Eros” is associated with creativity, passion, connection, and wholeness. “Logos” is associated with rationality, objectivity, power, and action. Jung does not rule out that women might have a repressed anima as well and that men could be in possession of a repressed animus, too—anyone could have any mix of the two.
But women having an animus and men having an anima is most common, and these remain in the unconscious. We're taught to adhere to gender roles and to believe that embracing contraries within yourself is neither possible nor desirable. So, our ego expresses our external gender identity, and thus the anima or animus, our internal contrasexual parts, often go ignored and repressed.
Think of the famous expression “boys don’t cry. ” Showing emotion, especially sadness, is often seen as feminine and “weak” when coming from male members of Western society. One cannot be a man and sensitive.
Thus, men often end up suppressing their sensitivity and emotions. But their sensitivity is still hidden in their anima, and the more one tries to push something down, the more it will end up controlling them. The denial of your anima or animus will not remove your feminine or masculine tendencies, but only twist them into something ugly.
The man who suppresses his sensitivity and never cries may become severely depressed due to the loneliness of hiding his emotions or have uncontrollable outbursts due to the pressure of having to keep it all in. To avoid these hardships, it is important to learn how to recognize and accept your contrasexual aspects. This way, we can balance our contrary traits and find harmony within ourselves.
In order to become aware of the anima or animus within oneself, it is important to analyze your own behavior and insecurities. It requires self-analysis and self-questioning. To analyze your masculine and feminine tendencies, you can observe people around you, so when you find yourself judging someone, ask, “Why?
” Learn how to appreciate them. If a man starts to appreciate others around him for their sensitivity and for how they are in touch with their emotions, he will find that embracing sensitivity and showing his emotions as a man does not dismiss his masculinity, but rather will only complement it. Other examples of men integrating their anima into their daily life include men embracing their passions, creativity, treating others gently, and starting to feel more comfortable asking for help, etc.
Similarly, women integrating their animus can try to be more assertive, focused, career-oriented, and so on. All this will not result in sacrificing your masculinity or femininity; rather, it will allow it to shine more thanks to the calmness and balance you have achieved. Through this integration, you start respecting and appreciating your own contrasexual aspects, which will eventually also improve your relationships with others, especially the opposite sex.
Once your anima or animus is integrated, you become more yourself. You will be balanced, harmonious, and authentic. **4.
The self** In our final quote from Jung for this video, he says, “The self is not only the center, but also the whole circumference which embraces both conscious and unconscious; it is the center of this totality, just as the ego is the center of consciousness. ” According to Jung, the ego comes from and is included within the self. He compares the self to a circle or mandala.
If you imagine a mandala or a circle with a smaller center within, the outer layer will represent the self, and the inner middle the ego. The ego concerns itself with the conscious, while the self is concerned with your entire psyche. This includes everything that is conscious as well as everything that is unconscious.
The self is the archetype of “wholeness. ” The self is generally presented as the unity of opposites, or as the unconscious and conscious perfectly combined. It regulates your conflicts and offers a way to strive for a perfect balance within yourself.
It encompasses everything we are, everything we once were, and everything we can be. Jung even described the self as “the God within us,” as it has the potential to become anything at all. Moreover, it is heavily embedded in the collective consciousness.
The collective consciousness is all those urges, thoughts, behaviors, and more that are unconsciously handed down through generations and passed between people in a community. Due to these traits of the self, you can never get to know the entirety of it. But you can.
. . Explore it throughout your life, and keep searching for your unique potential.
Continuously exploring the self is the key to individuality. When we pay no special attention to ourselves and our archetypes and let ourselves be driven by our impulses, unconscious urges, etc. , the self is ‘locked away’ from us.
It is there, but not in a way we can access. Thus, we cannot explore ourselves, and we cannot show our authenticity to the world. Since we cannot access the self, we also have little say over the ego that arises from it.
If one represses their fear of judgment and rejection, for example, they will never be able to truly commit or fully be themselves without shame or worry. Their ego can’t work on this because it’s not even aware of the problem—let alone how to solve it! So, in order to become more ourselves, we have to increase our consciousness; because that way, we broaden what the ego has access to and thus what it can work on.
We cannot improve ourselves without exploring the self, or else it can result in someone acting out of character, experiencing feelings and thoughts that confuse them, and experiencing little control over who they really are. In order to resolve this, it is important to face your persona, shadow, and anima or animus, and learn how to integrate them into our conscious being to finally get access to the self. Being able to explore the self is thus the final and overarching stage of a successful individuation process.
Whatever you find within the self, be it insecurities, bad habits, hidden passions, etc. —you must acknowledge and embrace them instead of pushing them away. You work with them and integrate them into your behavior instead of fighting against them.
By doing so, we can truly get to know and improve ourselves throughout our entire lives. This ends with us being finally free to explore who we truly are as individuals, to find balance, and to become anything we want to be. When you freely explore the self, only then can you become who you truly are.
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