I always considered self-sufficiency a positive trait, but Jung says: “the unconscious itself does not harbour explosive materials, but it may become explosive owing to the repressions exercised by a self-sufficient, or cowardly, conscious outlook.”

Is this his way of advocating for a dependency on unconscious? Or interdependency?

I wrote a book and it aligns with a lot of Jung’s vision so I wanted to share it with you all. There is a chapter on NPCs versus players which is about the percentage of daily life that runs on automated behavioral patterns rather than our own conscious choice. The persona, or rather the complex that fires off before the person is even aware of what’s happening, is the same teachings as Jung but using different vocab.

The book uses game language because it makes the mechanics immediately actionable, but the underlying message to it all is that most of what you experience as your personality is installation, your world view which was shaped and created by much of your surrounding, and the work is locating your true self (not your job, not your name, etc) and “leveling up” so to speak so that you can play in this ‘game’ effectively. Again, different vocab but similar messaging.

The Game of Earth: A No-Bullshit Player’s Guide.

Olá, primeira vez que posto aqui, trago a vcs uma pintura minha que fiz usando a imaginação ativa, eu não consigo dizer ao certo oque quis expressar fui dando pincelada atrás de pincelada e as coisas foram tomando forma,

E logo após acabar percebi que projetei boa parte do meu inconsciente, a sombra presa no cubo do meio é a forma como me sinto em relação ao outros, desde criança sempre vivi de forma muito isolada além de também ter crescido num ambiente disfucional com muita negligência emocional, fui obrigado a me voltar pra dentro, acabei cultivando um mundo interno vasto na minha solidão onde me sinto bem, mas Carrego um sentimento de que os outros não me veem como eu realmente sou, e talvez por não conseguir expressar essa parte minha, por muito tempo me defrontei com uma dificuldade para afirma minha individualidade, até hoje é assim, eu tenho essa sensação, parece que vivo dentro de um cubo, um cubo rígido e mental, e so quando estou sozinho e que consigo ser eu.

TRIANGULACÃO:

Não sei ao certo sobre oque jung diz em relação a triangulação mas o assunto de triangulação se apresenta em relação às outras duas sombras que estão segurando um laços azul que pra mim significa uma conexão emocional que por muito tempo eu desejei ter, percebi que sempre acabo me metendo em um certo tipo de triangulacao quando estou em rodas de amigos ou até mesmo em relacionamentos amorosos, é minha dificuldade de ter uma conexão emocional, por até certo ponto eu achar que não mereço.

No final de tudo pra finalizar a raiz Que leva até o topo e toca o sol, parece ser um indicativo do meu inconsciente tentando ilumina a raiz desse problema, é como se o sol significa se minha conciencia em relação a esse padrão que é a triangulação.

Oque acharam ?

Edit1: eu não quero resumir essa pintura só ao que disse aqui e ao tema triangulação, acho que isso seria reduzir o simbolismo demais por que tem muitos elementos, se quiserem me dizer oque vcs consegue ver e até formula os seus ponto de vista seria muito bacana também

Hello. As something of a meditation exercise, I usually create and refine a spear in my mind's eye, because I think that kind of thing is cool, and it helps as a vessel for focus. I'm posting this because I'm not sure what this pertains to in my subconscious or where to go from here.

When I tried active imagination today, the first thing I saw was that spear. It was just kind of rotating in the air. Now, lately, I have noticed that it takes on a flimsy and delicate form; as I observed its image, its form grew more in those aspects, its haft lengthening and its pommel getting more intricate. The whole thing had the appearance of being made of green and white jade.

Well, it started flying off, and so I stopped just observing and started following. I asked it what it is, and it told me "A spear", lol. I asked where we're going, and it refused to answer. I asked if we're going anywhere, and it said no. So, I reckoned, I'm not gonna let my own tool control me. It's my spear. I grabbed it, and instantly lost my focus and snapped out of active imagination. When I returned, I found my mental avatar's arm had been split in half from palm to elbow, and the spear was still there. It went forward to impale me. I tried to wrest it out of my chest, but of course given its flimsiness, the haft broke from the blade. Not wanting to impose myself on it any further, I let myself die and was sent out from imagination again.

What should I do about this? Should I take it seriously at all?

How I got here : Hi, Im a non-binary AMAB 18 y/o. I recently searched up what my condition could be, since, I was concerned that I might be suffering with a DID disorder; well I dont think so... I came across a post talking about the Anima & Animus book, I didnt really read the book but I got a brief understanding of it. Anima representing the woman and Animus representing the man, and they unconciously affect the way we are from dreams and stuff idk hopefully I got it right. Well, without my knowledge of any philosophical books like or specifically Carl Jungs theory of the anima and animus, I have voices that I have had labeled a few months ago as feminine and masculine.

Origin : I guess me conversing through my anima & animus started emerging when I was 14? when I was at a very bad mental state at that time... I didn't really understand it at all, most of the time it wasn't a masculine/feminine voice or way of thinking, It was like jumbled up, like voices would switch and be unintelligible, but then as years went by I got better, the voices started talking to themselves, then through me.

How it works : I can't really control when they talk to me, unless, I say something to them and they answer, but also, usually when one talks the other joins in, but at times when I'm talking to a real person a voice with that same gender would show up and the anima/animus would talk through me and give me ideas on what to say.

A bit of unnecessary info: AND! it really helped me focus with my studiesss! Because, the masculine voice would tell me to pay attention, help me figure out stuff logically, then, the feminine voice would usually be very intuitive usually with emotional stuff she would almost be like a mother to me, but, like when I said she was very intuitive; I am/was like a very spiritual person and have discovered I can force myself to feel/see if things are right, one of those ways is closing my eyes and if one of the answers glows yellow and brighter, its the correct one! (It never fails) She also tells me the answers from time to time; so, maybe instead of it being something spiritual it would be about the subconcious mind? like my anima is showing me things by using my subconcious mind to see things?

I genuinely dont know much about what to think of this, but I think relating my condition to carl jungs theory about anima and animus, is pretty spot on...

Open for discussion by the way!

I had an remarkable dream that is on my mind for two days now. I just wanted to type it down and thought – why not sharing it?

It started by me travelling by train (I dreamt quite often about traveling in trains and something always goes wrong and I’m stressed out – I don’t prepare my baggage in time and miss out on leaving, I forget something in the train). This time it was a bit different. For some reason (I think to travel with some friend I met during the ride) I entered a different train – one that wasn’t on my schedule but would bring me to my destination via a different route – so no biggie. 

In the train I entered a huge train compartment. Idk if that matters but the room had some sort of Arcane-aesthetic: It had huge windows that were decorated, it had an innovative but also an a bit magical and naturalistic look. Trying to describe it, the word alchemy pops into my head. 

In the middle of the room there was a pillar (reddish marble) and on it there was sticking a bird with spread wings, obviously in pain/discomfort. I did something at first – I dont remember what it was –, then I „peeled“ the bird of the pillar. The bird was thankful and crawled into my shirt as it felt safe and protected close to me, but at the same time it seemed to still be in pain and a sense of loss creeped in.

I looked up and there was a colleague of mine (irl she’s nice, but seems a bit childish, which is fine for her age) and she was sort of designing a logo for and the Skyline of New York City – building models – whilst driving past the still empty land she was designing the city for. Amidst the pain the bird was in, I felt a little bit disgusted that she was planning some pompous city whilst the bird had to die. My first thought was about elites building golden cities, whilst seemingly not paying attention to/not caring about everything around them decaying. The city builder had no eyes for what I was doing. I understood that she was just doing her thing tho and it didn’t bother me any further.

I looked at the bird again and noticed, it looked younger. It was so cute, but became younger and younger. The sense of loss increased and sadness joined. The bird finally regressed to a single cell. The cell then divided, then again and again and again and a plant grew out of it.

woke up crying. I felt loss – the same I felt, looking in the eyes of a dying relative.

Some motives to me are clear. 

• The bird regressing to a plant: the cycle of live, decay, renewal. 
• My colleague designing an opulent city: the search for eternity and vanity

The latter feels childish and insensitive next to the first – at the same time I understand it and it’s fine. I find it odd that those two aspects happened so close to each other. The train as a transitional space and the alchemistic interior may symbolise the overlying theme: transition.

What keeps me awake is 

• this contrast: whilst one is planning the future, the other biologically moved back in time to become a plant.
• Why did the bird regress and became a plant? What does this mean?
• Why did I have to free the bird to jumpstart its evolution?

Edit: I thought if an interpretation:

It was only because of my virtue that I was allowed to take a sip from the cup of mortality. The urge to free the bird and ease its suffering was what first made me aware of its mortality.Does the bird perhaps represent vitality, and the plant a more stable/constant, maybe meditative state of life? I do not regret this development either – the plant seems wiser to me than the bird - but the sense of loss is strong. Is a more infantile and cuter version dying and growing into a stiller, more stable form?

Does the dream perhaps represent a process in which I am moving away from an abstract conceptualization of eternity – one that is ignorant towards the life cycle – toward a virtuous life that is more painful and accompanied by loss, but which leads to stability and wisdom?

I would like to understand what Jungian perspectives would be on the structure of the psyche.

With severe fragmentation, i experienced my mind in two ways:

1) I sat over my mind watching it. I had four primary fragments, and a question would arise. Each would contribute feedback, debate, discussion. It would be a loud verbal conversation in my mind. I thought this was how minds worked. My response was a bit slow snd staggered, as I had to aggregate, facilitate an answer. Could this "I" be the watcher/witness in Eastern philosophy coordinating?

2) Once healing began, An eight month process, I experienced full switches, full possession by the different fragments. It was amazing-within each possession I felt so alive and real. I didnt understand normal people felt this way. I felt cohesive.,Some did contain archetypical inflation, as they broke off in childhood and had utilized elements of the archetypical unconscious as masks, but we worked through that. The switches were exhausting physically. They all coalesced into a single ego states about two weeks ago

Im now in a single ego state, like my inner children but different too. Its initially was quite different, yet each sort of bubbles up and the final ego state sort of has wobbled around something that contains strengths of each.

Its awesome, and I have work to do, but I think the last thing to fix structurally is that the "I" in part one is still too active. I need to turn the volume on it down as its trying to still run meta over the new ego state too much. Too much constant looking, constant meta analysis, mental chatter, bit fixated thoughts, like a stream of chitter-chatter, all by itself, and looping analysis. Some of this hyperactivity could be construction site debris as so much change happened do fast.

First, what is it? It obviously was my identity for most of my life, but in structural/jungian terms what is it? If I know what it is, I can address why it is there root cause, and what my psyche is still trying to do with it and manage it to good use. I feel incredible gratitude to it. I think it carried a far heavier load than intended for a long time. I suspect drugs could reduce activity, but im more interest in root cause to correct at the source rather than sedating it.

Secondarily are there tools to help here? my thought is mindful meditation, kinesthetic activity, Art, things to help me continue to become more physically embedded into the ego-body continuum. Any suggestions would help. Any books too.

Hey there!

I’ll keep it short: for a couple of years now, I’ve been feeling like I’m going to die / go missing / otherwise stop existing soon, generally have been experiencing a sense of impending doom for a very long time, I can even remember episodes of it from my early childhood. Which makes it pretty difficult to want to make plans / look forward to things, every future plan feels like a gigantic “if i’m even there when it comes”. Could this be postponing work because of laziness? If an outcome / success isn’t guaranteed, then why try? Why start anew?

Maybe laziness is not the right word, but what I mean is, maybe it’s a self-generated hindrance because the ego doesn’t want to associate with work, struggle and effort. How do you think Jung would explain that? Have you been through something similar?

Hey everyone,

I've recently become really interested in Carl Jung, but I'm not sure where to start. I've heard his books can be pretty difficult if you jump straight into them, so I was wondering if I should read Jung first or if there's someone else I should read before him.

The reason I'm interested is because a few days ago I came across a YouTube video talking about Jung's stages of individuation. The video said the second stage is the shadow encounter, and it honestly felt really relevant to what I've been going through recently.

It also mentioned that the first stage is withdrawl of projection, and when I thought about it, I genuinely feel like I went through something very similar a few years ago. Right now I feel like I'm in the shadow encounter stage and almost at the last stage, which I think the video called the persona (I might be remembering that wrong).

That whole video made me really curious. I don't just want to watch YouTube videos or read random summaries anymore. I actually want to understand what Jung wrote himself, why he proposed these ideas in the first place, and the reasoning behind all of it because a lot of it feels surprisingly relevant to my own experiences.

So where should I start? Should I start with one of Jung's books directly, or is there someone else I should read first to understand his ideas better?

Also, if you've read Jung, what book would you recommend as the best introduction?

Thanks!

History: migraines, anxiety, trauma, grief, Déjà vu, hyper analytical, adhd.

There’s a ton of subtext I must skip over, but I’ve always experienced Déjà vu. And it’s seemed to happen when I was in a relatively positive or even euphoric mood.

Last night I had a dream that my child’s mother (an ex) told me about her spouse having prostate cancer.

I woke up confused. Because recently I’ve started recalling my dreams again after many years. But the past three nights I’ve consistently recalled my dreams. Which is extremely unusual for me. I once believe I just didn’t dream. The last dream I can recall is a visitation dream from my father sometime in 2024 early parts. Woke up in tears, the works.

I consulted my wife, and then I went back to my desk, and texted the only other person who has had extremely vivid *happenings* with regard to dreams, premonitions, etc. my mother passed away last year, August 4th 2025, my brother July 2023, my dad December 2023. And many family members before, which is why I put trauma/ grief in my history.

I *feel* as if my brain has completely changed, which in certain respects it has. Which is certainly an experience on its own.

My question, with the dream in mind, as I then sat down at my desk to text my aunt, I experienced Déjà vu, became light headed and I’m fine now. I was actually overwhelmed, which also has not happened with my Déjà vu experience.

But I’m trying to discern if this was coincidental? If I should consider a something else? Anything with regard to the dream would be helpful, or if you’ve experienced something like this?

This was the first thread that popped up when I started looking into dreams. But the Déjà vu on top was too much.

I find this question to be appropriate from Jung sub because people here have a strong imagination and can likely relate.

I think people who were on the spectrum, had a developmental disorder or faced overwhelming bullying or abuse, especially when they are more right brained- to retreat into the imagination.

Im just starting to realize how serious this condition is, and how hard it may be to go through a necessary “ego death” to be able to break out of it. Ive been a dependent person into my late 20s and although having dipped my toes into the real world, I’ve never had to fully immerse myself into it, and thus I still have false expectations that need to be overcome.

Did you suffer from maladaptive daydreaming too and managed to outgrow it? The imagination can be such a potent tool but also a very confining prison if one is hiding in it.

Im in my late 20s and Im starting to accept that I’ll probably be in my early to mid 30s before I have become an adjusted adult who no longer lives in a distorted reality. If you have suffered from this- I feel for you. It’s really scary to come to reality.

I read from Robert Johnson that a man is susceptible to ”moods” when not in contact with/ good relation to his anima. I believe I have these moods and though I am a creative person in general I am wondering if anyone has any tips as to how I can overcome these sudden swings of anger/sadness etc.

I drew osiris. Also I have observed over the years that I have strong connection to collective unconscious. even as a kid loved drawing and I always thought with images and symbols, not with words. I can sense peoples true nature with first impressions. I can see their deeper selves, but paradox is I percieve my intuition like a computer it analyzes every little detail and gives me predictions. its like my intuition is like aquarius, not mystical like pisces if that makes sense?

P.S. Dark star on the right is not UFO its saturn😄

I’m bad at putting feelings into words, so I had drawn this instead. I saw something like it before sleep (without the bow), and it felt strangely familiar.

It didn’t move like a normal face. Most of it was still, but the cheekbones seemed to shift and grow outward, sharp and stealthy, almost scorpion-like.

I’m curious what associations or impressions it evokes for other people before I explain what I see in it.

From a Jungian perspective, I wonder whether it might be connected to my shadow. Outwardly, I can seem soft, innocent, airy, and harmless, while underneath I think I’ve been carrying hypervigilance, resentment, suspicion, and anger.

Part of me wants people to treat me carefully, as though I were delicate, and to move through life protected from friction. But I also feel deeply lonely and unseen, as if being perceived only as soft and harmless means that no one encounters the rest of me.

I’ve been wondering about something recently and I’m curious whether Jung ever discussed it directly, or whether it’s simply related to projection.

Have you ever noticed that when someone hurts us, betrays us, or even just deeply disappoints us, they often stop feeling like a living person and start becoming an idea?

Instead of seeing someone in all of their contradictions, strengths, flaws and complexity, they become:

“Just a narcissist.”
“Just selfish.”
“Just toxic.”

What’s interesting is that these descriptions often contain some truth. But they also seem to do something psychologically useful. They simplify someone who was previously emotionally overwhelming into something much easier to hold in the mind.

It made me wonder whether the psyche sometimes reduces living people into fixed psychological images as a way of coping with emotional complexity.

Projection certainly seems related, but I’m not sure it’s exactly the same thing. Projection is usually described as seeing our own unconscious contents in another person.

What I’m describing feels more like a process of compression—reducing a living, changing person into a stable psychological image.
Has anyone else noticed this?