Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and
psychoanalyst who founded the field of analytical psychology. He was very interested
in the inner workings of a person: their personality, desires, what is
conscious to them and what is not. He called the center of our
consciousness ‘the ego’: it regulates everything that we are conscious
of and decides how to and on what to act. However, everybody also has a great many traits
and parts of their personality that they are unconscious of: this includes what Jung called
‘the shadow.’ Jung divided the unconscious into two layers: personal unconsciousness, and
collective unconsciousness. The former is all that is part of you as an individual,
but that you are not aware of or even in denial about. This will include hidden or unknown
emotions, desires, memories, feelings, and more. The collective unconscious encompasses those
unconscious feelings, thoughts, and instincts, that all people as a group have or have had
in the past. They are the things universally inherited by humans. Jung believed, all human
beings share certain traits or affinities, and they can be described as ‘archetypes.’
Archetypes have been a part of our collective history since long before Jung, and commonly found
in mythology, fairy tales, or religious stories. Jung believed that bringing your unconsciousness
into your own conscious mind is a foolproof recipe for becoming the best human being you can be,
or as Dr Jung would put it, a superior person, and in today’s video we’re going to show
you 7 ways to become a superior person, according to the philosophy of Carl Jung. Express yourself creatively Jung says “Without this playing with
fantasy, no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the
play of the imagination is incalculable.” Jung believed that the art an individual makes
houses parts of their unconsciousness within every piece. When making art, our inner states
and situations unknowingly influence what we make, and the way we make it. Jung incorporated
the drawing of mandalas in his philosophy. Mandalas specifically have been used for
decades by different ancient cultures as a symbol of the universe and
wholeness - and Jung decided that the best kind of circle motif to
represent its artist is the mandala. For a long while, Jung sketched a mandala in
his notebook every morning and found that it did indeed correspond with his feelings, emotions,
and thoughts at the time. The more harmonious the mandala, the better you are probably doing. Jung
hypothesized that people have an especially strong urge to make art - such as mandalas - when they
are in phases of personal growth. When you or your life is changing, you feel less in control
and you need some sort of way to regain it. If you draw mandalas at regular intervals
and learn how to interpret them, you have an incredible tool for self-improvement.
Drawing a mandala relaxes your brain and will help your thoughts focus on all the
things that you normally suppress. Moreover, the kinds of lines you draw and colors you
choose can tell you things about yourself: do you use round, soft shapes or harsh
lines? Cold or warm colours? And what do you think this reflects? If you analyze
yourself through mandalas every day, week, or month, you can track your growth and
changes in a way you never have before. But it’s not just limited to mandalas, all
creative works you produce can help you analyze your way of thinking, priorities, and
unconscious concerns. All these insights can then help you get to know and improve yourself
- and, therefore, become a superior person. Be conscious of your performances According to Jung “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.” One of the biggest things that holds you back
from being the superior person in a room, is the fact that you probably overly adjust to the
other people in it. Knowingly or not, most people present a fake version of themselves, in some way
or another, whenever they’re in social situations. For example, they laugh at unfunny jokes, agree
with statements that they do not actually support, or lie about their own well-being for the
comfort of others. It’s almost a performance, like you’re wearing a mask over your actual
self and Carl Jung called this the ‘persona.’ Your persona is how you present yourself
in order for people to perceive you in the way you want them to. You might
want to seem kind and easy-going, and thus you agree with everything and give
compliments that you do not mean. Our persona develops when we learn about social rules and the
expectations of those around us during childhood. Someone who grew up in a household
where sharing your own opinion was seen as arguing and would be punished, has
probably developed a persona that tends to avoid conflict and goes along with
the most popular opinion; In contrast, someone who grew up in a household that saw
emotions as weakness has probably developed a persona that is tough and unfeeling. But our
persona is not just one thing: according to Jung, everybody has multiple masks. The two examples we
just looked at could have been the same person. You actually wear multiple masks at a time
- for example, you want to appear agreeable and tough - and sometimes, what masks you wear
depends on the circumstances. You act differently among family members than with friends, and
you certainly act differently among friends than you do with authority figures! For all
of these situations, you have seperate masks. The persona causes problems when the mask you’re
wearing is unnecessary, unhelpful, or detrimental to your well-being. Imagine the person who always
acts tough among friends, even though they’re going through something difficult. This mask
prevents them from getting any help or relief. This clashing with one’s actual needs is very
frustrating and bad for your self-image. You might start to blame yourself for wanting to open up
and show emotion - even if it is totally natural - because it would destroy your persona. When you
think of your persona as the way you should truly be, you are aiming for something impossible, and
as a result you constantly disappoint yourself. Jung called this ‘overidentification with the
persona.’ You believe that you are your persona, and get angry at yourself whenever you fail to
live up to the expectations of that persona. Not only is this a miserable, harmful, and
inauthentic way to live, but someone who has been overidentifying with their persona for too long
could accidentally destroy it. This might happen in the way of burnouts that cause you to be
unable to act any longer, and might cause you to isolate yourself. You could also lose your
mask right in the middle of a ‘performance’ - the tough person suddenly bursts out crying in front
of their friends, or the agreeable person snaps at someone sharing an opposing opinion.
However, Jung also did not believe that we should get rid of our masks entirely. Instead
they are absolutely necessary for our social existence. For example, not showing emotions
in front of your boss is probably for the best; crying in his office will definitely be seen as
unprofessional, especially if it happens often, and it probably isn’t best to share very personal
and intimate or traumatic details about your life on the workfloor. Moreover, being agreeable can
help you out if you try to make a good impression on someone. So how do we keep our masks without
overidentifying with them or using them too much? Put simple, instead of letting the mask rule
you, you should learn how to rule the mask. This process is known as restoration. By restoring,
Jung means developing a flexible persona that does not collide with one’s true self, but
rather helps one’s true self navigate society. The restored persona should be a persona one is
aware of, not one that manifests unconsciously or is seen as your ‘true self.’ In other words,
you should know when you’re putting on the mask and why! Instead of automatically concealing your
emotions, you should ask yourself case by case, what would be most beneficial to me
right now? Sharing your emotions with close friends could relieve you, while doing
so with your boss might just be a bad move. By being conscious of your performance,
you can choose to integrate your true self into it. If your true self is someone who is
sometimes emotional and sometimes disagreeable, you can choose when to let it out instead
of concealing it entirely. Superior people know exactly when to act a certain way - and
you could, too! In order to integrate your authentic self into your persona, though,
you should get to know your authentic self. Identify Your Dark Side In the words of Jung “Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's
conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.” One of the most important parts of
Jung’s philosophy is getting to know your shadow-self. Your shadow-self consists of
all the parts of yourself that you consider bad, reject, and repress. This might include anger
issues, dark thoughts, shameful tendencies, and even sexual desires. In many cases the
shadow contains traits or desires that are rejected by society as a whole, and we have
been taught from very early on to hide those parts of ourselves. You deny their existence and
hope that by doing that, you make them go away. However, it does not work. Instead, these traits
are there, will always be there, and sometimes show their ugly head when you least expect it. For
example, someone who is convinced that they are never anrgy and that anger is a negative emotion,
might one day just feel a strong sensation of anger and have absolutely no way to prevent a
massive outburst. To truly learn who you are, you have to get to know your shadow. You have to
become conscious of the unconscious. In order to do so, you should regularly take a step back and
analyze your own behavior, thoughts and feelings during daily life. This could be done through
journalling or mediation. Why did you behave the way you did? Did it feel authentic to you? Why
or why not? What was your first urge or instinct in a certain situation? You have to interrogate
yourself like you’re interrogating someone else! 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. If your shadow houses anger, you don’t have to see yourself
as an angry person. Instead, just acknowledge the existence of these things.
Realize and accept that they are inside of you. And if like in this example, you find that you
are an angry person deep down, you should think of when it might actually be helpful to show
that anger instead of always pushing it down. When is the right time to wear the mask, and when
is it right to put it down? For example, getting angry at a passerby for bumping into you seems
unhelpful and unhealthy. However, getting angry at a friend who canceled their plans with you for
the fifth time in a row might need some anger from your side for them to truly realize that they’re
hurting you. In other words, you have to find ways to integrate everything you find in your shadow
into your personality instead of ignoring it. Your shadow is not here to punish
you but rather to teach you, and your repressed traits are here to
stay. So only if you accept and embrace your shadow qualities can you improve
yourself. The self-knowledge and ability to use all sides of yourself is what you
need to do to become a superior person. 4. Get To Know Your Two Selves To quote Jung “What can a man say
about woman, his own opposite?” In Jungian philosophy, if you dive deeper into the
shadow, you will find that you house two kinds of traits: masculine, and feminine. Jung called
this unconscious part of yourself the animus, which is masculine, and anima, which
is feminine. These apparently opposite, ‘genderised’ traits that you possess
are called your contrasexual aspects. Jung believed that if you are a woman, you most
likely have a personal masculine psyche - or animus - within you and, if you are a man, you
most likely have an inner personal feminine psyche - or anima. The anima and animus 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.
However, due to the standard expectations of 20th Century society, men are encouraged to suppress
their feminine traits, and vice versa. We hide them away in our subconscious and behave
the way we think we are ‘supposed to’. Of course it’s obvious nonsense that literally
half of the global population all think in precisely one way with one set of values, and the
other half think entirely the opposite. And this should clue you into the fact that in reality,
personality traits are almost entirely unrelated to sex or gender. Sometimes women suppress
their anima, sometimes men repress their animus, but we all have a wonderful, messy, ever-changing
mix of both. The point here is not to convince you that you are suppressing certain gendered traits,
or that this is in any way a negative thing, but to look inward and ask yourself how
that mix resides in you right now and how it affects how you’re feeling, and how you
engage with the world and people around you. In reality, everyone is contradictory in some
way. A person can both value truth and be a liar, or seem an extrovert but feel like an introvert.
But since this is not commonly acknowledged, we are often encouraged to only embrace
the traits expected of our gender identity and ignore - or worse, actively admonish -
those that might contradict them. We repress. Think of a man who loves to knit. It is
considered a creative, feminine hobby, and thus not expected of a man. He might want
to try and hide this hobby for fear of insults and ridicule, while this could be a wonderful
skill to have and a way to relax. Another example is the belief that women are generally better
with emotions than men. Because of that idea, a woman might feel like she has to talk about her
emotions all the time even if she doesn’t want to, while a man might be discouraged to do so even if
he wants to. The denial of your anima or animus is not only unnecessary, but it will twist your
traits into something ugly. Men who repress their emotions to be more manly might become cold
and cruel, while women who force themselves into certain roles because society says they
‘should’ could become bitter and distant. Thus it is important to learn how to
recognize and accept your anima and animus. Everybody has contradictory traits,
and they can live in balance, just like your negative shadow traits can. To
analyze your masculine and feminine tendencies, you can observe people around you and see which
of them you admire or think positively about, and which you find yourself being judgemental
about. Then: question yourself. Why do you feel a certain way about one person and differently about
another? Would your opinion of those people be any different if you perceived them as a different
gender? What feelings do you usually have when an individual’s behavior doesn’t align with societal
gender norms? Does this affect you? And if so, how? And why? All these questions and practices
will help you gain more insight into yourself and can help you become more open, balanced,
and successful. In other words: Superior. 5. Look Into Your Archetypes
Jung tells us “Archetypes are like riverbeds which dry up when the water deserts
them, but which it can find again at any time.” The very last part of your subconscious
comes from something that Jung called the ‘collective unconscious.’ This
collective unconscious is a certain unconsciousness shared by all human
beings through their shared history and experiences. Through our ancestors
we inherit certain traits from birth, and that is the reason for all similarities
between people across time, cultures, and space. They are the natural tendencies of the human mind
to see the world around you in a certain way and behave in a certain way. This does not mean that
every single person shares the exact same traits, but rather that there is a finite collection
of traits, and everyone has some of them. Some examples of archetypes
that Jung describes are The Hero The hero is a brave fighter who thinks that
if they work hard enough, they can achieve anything. They're pretty stubborn and believe in
themselves a lot, maybe even too much sometimes. The Caregiver This archetype prioritizes others over
themselves, often putting the needs of others before their own. They tend to say yes
instinctively, guided by their caring nature. The Trickster
The trickster is a playful character who seeks enjoyment and fun above
all else. Even when facing challenges, they are inclined to use humor, negotiation, and mischief
to navigate their way through the situation. Doing research on the Jungian archetypes
and trying to determine which ones you see yourself the most can tell you a lot about
your subconscious. When you start to think about what archetypes you identify with you
will get to know yourself in an entirely new way. It can also help with shadow
work, determining the anima and animus, and your persona, because every archetype
carries positive and negative traits. For example, imagine someone who is part of
‘The Caregiver’ archetype. Their positive traits consist of their kindness and helpful
nature, which results in lots of loyal friends and good reputation. However, they might take care
of others to the point of neglecting themselves, or even grow bitter thanks to their own
insatiable urge to ignore their own needs. When you get to know what archetypes you
identify with, you will get to know some of your strong and weak points, and will
know better how to balance them out.
6. Explore your self Jung once wrote "The privilege of a
lifetime is to become who you truly are." Another part of our inner workings is what Jung
called ‘the self.’ If you imagine yourself as a circle - or mandala, as Jung loved to use
- the middle of the mandale is the ‘ego’, which is the conscious part of you, and around
it is the self. The self can be represented by a whole mandala; it contains every single
nook and cranny of your mind, the conscious, unconscious, and everything in between. As
the center, the ego is only a small part of the self. There is also the shadow, anima,
animus, persona, and so much more in you. The self generally contains lots of opposites:
you are both an anrgy and calm person, part introvert and part extrovert, sometimes
stressed and other times relaxed. When the self is in balance, all the parts of you get
their chance to shine when it is most helpful. It contains everything we are, everything
we once were, and everything we can be. The self is something so vast that it can be
explored throughout your whole life and you will always find something new. Your search for
your self is never over. Continuously exploring the self is the key to individuality as well as
confidence in yourself and your own decisions. This is because your goal should be to make the
ego, your consciousness, as big as possible: to know as much about yourself as you
can. The self is a sign that we should always continue to challenge ourselves and
ask ourselves questions - and the actions we take should be part of that, too.When
you have an important decision to make, it is the self - the entirety of you - that
you should explore. You have to look inwards, not outwards. As Jung said, ‘Who looks
outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.’ You can only live the very best life and
become superior as a person if you always, always try to keep exploring your self.
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. 7. Find Your Meaning
In our final quote from Carl Jung for this video, he says “The sole purpose of human existence is
to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.” According to Jung, one of the biggest reasons for
unhappiness and the inability to feel better as a person, is when you don’t have anything to
believe in. Without religion, spirituality, science or philosophy, our lives do not only
seem boring, but also very arbitrarily unfair. Or in other words: hopeless. We need to
have certain beliefs to find meaning in our lives. According to Jung, meaning will
grant you purpose: if your life has meaning, you know what you’re living for. So there
must be some form of religion, spirituality, a philosophical maxim, scientific principle
or something else that you truly believe in. So, look inwards and think to yourself: what do I
believe in? What spiritual or religious beliefs, what moral principles, what values? How do I act
on a daily basis? What do I expect from others? You could journal about these questions, or
meditate on them. Finding what you believe in gives you the power to use it even more,
and consciously transform it into the most effective version it can be. It helps you to
both motivate yourself and see more in life. But don’t worry. None of this means that you
have to become religious or a philosopher . It just means that you shouldn’t view life as
meaningless. Find a goal to work towards or ideals to adhere to. All superior people in
the world consciously know what they live by and why. It is their way of taking control,
and it is what makes them so superior.
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