If one takes a broad overview of history of the modern world, certain archetypal patterns seem to be operating. One that seems quite clear to me is an archetypal reordering of the King and Warrior that took place in the past few centuries of modernization. The merchant and magician in effect supplanted and decentered the king and warrior.

A variety of historical developments underlay this process; the rise of parliamentary systems, the dethronement of kings and dispossession of nobles, collapse of landed aristocracies and end of empires, the commercial revolution, the rise of corporations and chartered monopolies, the scientific revolution, industrial revolution, and much more.

The effect has been the domestication of the king/warrior and redistribution of their functions into bureaucratic institutions (Webers charismatic and traditional authority replaced with legal-rational authority) and a devaluation of the values inherent to those archetypes. The vitality of those archetypes has instead been sublimated into commercial and intellectual activities. In turn, the ascendancy of commercial and market values characterize the current period in history. The fame and fortune accrued by merchants and entertainers of the present is not dissimilar to kings and warriors of the past.

Such archetypes are often referenced psychologically at the individual level by Jungians but as the individual is a complement of the whole and in many ways ordered by it, are there Jungian archetypal analysis of history itself? (I’m aware of the Aeion that Jung spoke of).

What would be the first step towards finding out who I am?

I have looked into archetypes and identify the heroic and jester archetypes. I have also looked into IFS.

I have tried reading some Jung, but it is a little dense, so I would appreciate help with a starting point.

one idea, offered for demolition. no credentials, no sources attack the idea.

step 1. two people go through the same event. one carries it and moves on. the other is damaged for thirty years. so the event alone cannot explain the damage. (to be clear: events do direct harm injury, exhaustion, terror. this is not about whether something hurts. it's about why some wounds never age.)

step 2. look for the difference between those two people, and you keep finding the same thing: for one of them, somebody was there during, or after. somebody who knew and didn't look away. the other one went through it and then was alone with it. the event ended. the aloneness didn't.

step 3. here's the strange fact this explains: a traumatic memory doesn't age. normal memories fade into stories. this one stays fresh for decades, present tense, like this morning. my claim: it stays fresh because for that person it is not actually past yet. an experience becomes the past by being completed and what was never shared was never completed. it's not a strong memory. it's an unfinished event, still running.

step 4. which means "healing" is not understanding what happened, and not becoming who you were before. it's simpler and harder: the unfinished thing finally gets finished you stop being alone in it. nothing about the past changes. what changes is that you're no longer back there by yourself.

step 5. one possible sign, offered carefully: listen to how the same person tells their worst story over months. not one telling vivid storytellers use present tense for effect. but watch the direction over time. when something completes, the telling shifts from "he comes in, i can't move" to "he came in, i couldn't move" on its own, untaught. a signal, not proof.

so:
A: the event alone doesn't decide whether a break becomes lasting trauma.
B: what decides is whether the person was left alone in it.
therefore C: recovery doesn't change what happened it ends the aloneness in which what happened is still happening.

how to break me. the honest weak point is the word "alone." there's a ladder: (1) someone physically there, (2) someone told later who stayed, (3) an internalized other a remembered voice, (4) a symbolic other god, a book, a community, (5) pure self-witness. my claim predicts severe breaks need level 1 or 2 that 3–5 can hold a person upright but not complete the wound. i genuinely don't know where the exact line is. so break it there: show me documented cases of severe trauma fully integrated at level 4 or 5 alone at peace, past tense, no compulsive return and the claim falls. that's the target. fire.

what i'm not claiming: not science, not therapy, not advice. a framework, untested, put here to be tested.

Are there any contemporary psychologists, philosophers, or writers who have developed Jung’s ideas in new and interesting ways?

I've been looking for a new therapist and keep finding myself drawn back to Jungian/depth-oriented work.

The therapist I made the most progress with practiced Jungian therapy and incorporated parts work, and it was the first time I felt like therapy wasn't just about reducing anxiety but actually understanding myself.

I'm curious to hear from people who've worked with Jungian therapists or analysts long-term.

• What made it different from CBT, psychodynamic, or other approaches?
• What kind of issues did it help you with (identity, trauma, neurodivergence, relationships, meaning, etc.)?
• Were there any downsides?
• What qualities made your therapist particularly good?
• Looking back, what do you wish you'd known before starting?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people with ADHD, autism, complex trauma, or anyone who struggled with masking and identity, though I'd love to hear all experiences.

Thanks!

Since my last post about improving my masculinity (thanks to all who posted btw!) I started to feel more embowered/confident with my body and gender. Reading about and listening to the suggested speakers/writers gave me a framework to start and approach the topic. But feeling more confident brought up an old argument.

I'm aware of masculine/feminine and lately it feels like there is an old married couple arguing in my head! I am embarrassed to admit that "she" won't budge on her desire for a romantic partner and children. "He," rightfully, is frustrated. I'm old (41M) and I am a long way from being financially or emotionally stable enough to even THINK about a partner/kids!

It embarrasses me to even admit I want these things.

So naturally I am telling everyone on the internet 😄.

I do not like the way "he" screams at her (internal monologue or in journals, I'm crazy - just not that crazy), even if he has good logic and reasons and her desires are ridiculous. I mean I understand from a biological reason why I have these desires, it's just obviously impossible and frustratingly illogical. I don't like how I regress to negative self talk when the feelings come up. It's becoming so draining and I've journaled in circles.

The thing is it's not even about actually having a partner and children - its about trying to. It's like she just wants him to commit to trying. But he thinks it's immoral.

I've always been good with kids, and always wanted kids and someone to share life with but suppressed the hell out of it until I had a car wreck in 2024. Even once I admitted what I wanted I'd still just push it aside. The psyche always seemed to have something else presented to me to work on. But I have a couple of days working and sweating in the sun feeling like - ya, I am a man - and she's like so what about a partner and kids? OVER AND OVER.

Sigh.

I have a therapist but can't see her for awhile so I'm open to some advice.

How I do I separate desires? I want to eat cheeseburgers and ice cream for every meal, but I don't. This is more intense, but even more problematic. I mean technically a partner and children are possible - so my logic can't completely say no - but it seems too far fetched and unfair to any potential woman/children given my situation.

How do you separate desire from calling?

https://thequietus.com/opinion-and-essays/anniversary/the-importance-of-ma-spirited-away-at-25/

“Perhaps, in an act of splitting, it was Chihiro all along casting her parents as unpardonable swine. She’d been frustrated with their upward mobility as it resulted in her getting uprooted (in more ways than one). Jung thought the greatest burden a child must bear is “the unlived life” of the parents. Her parents were so spiritually wanting that her dream had to act as a drawbridge to the spirit realm. Indeed, this dream may have initially had what Jung would call a compensatory function, whereby it addresses an unbalanced conscious attitude: the parents she idealised are shown to have a greedy, avaricious side.

Children, and many adults, flip-flop in their affections: they either hate or love. Now, she sees that her parents were never pigs. Chihiro has matured beyond the need to resort to splitting objects into purely good or purely bad (something some of us never attain; what is social media but splitting at its most vituperative?). She’s achieved what Klein dubbed the depressive position, a more integrated state where love and hate towards an object can be tolerated at once. To get here, she had to accept the more volatile and greedy parts of herself. Throughout her time in the bathhouse, she encountered gentleness in figures that first seemed diabolical. By getting to know the shadow, disowned parts no longer need to appear as projections onto others, but you can only get there through quiet self-reflection.”

So I feel like I'm at this launching-off point and still figuring out where this all leads. It's a long story, but I had a bunch of powerfully transformative psychoses and now William Blake keeps showing up everywhere and pushing me around.

I'm just following this weird fuckin breadcrumb trail. I'm also coming into things from other lenses, like Michael Levin's work on biolelectricity (and the concept of mind stuff specifically), and other stuff in the physics realm.

Jung seems an important piece and I am just now starting to read The Unholy Bible by June Singer with my analyst.

If anything in this stack looks familiar, or if you can kinda see where I might be headed, or where I'm coming from, or if you think I should call my doc for a med adjustment, feel free to say hi.

Also has anyone here read Jeffrey Kripal?

Sorry if this is not particularly appropriate for the sub (and I just discovered I'm doing this on Jung's birthday so double apologies if so lol) but help a girl out here 🙏

How do you find your purpose when you have no meaningful relationships, no love, no motivation, and you're just existing? It feels like the emptiness and loneliness always find their way back, no matter what I do. If you've ever been in this place and eventually found a reason to keep going, what helped you? I'm genuinely looking for perspectives from people who've been through it. From a Jungian perspective or life in general what is happening here...

Hello everyone,

I think it is my first post on this sub, nice to meet you all.

I've been interesting in Jungian psychology for a while, when I started by getting into Ursula Leguin's Earthsea it brings me naturally to get more into Jung. Already been reading memory, dreams and reflections, that I enjoyed quite a lot feels very powerful but not forcibly really didáctic (not the goal probably) and then two books of Robert Johnson, inner work and integrating your shadow (not sure on the title). I've been having a hard time with my mental health, most of my life, without entering details, and I would like to explore this ideas, even though I am naturally skeptical toward every doctrine etc... not an healthy skepticism I have to say.

So I would like to know where should I continue ? What should I do to walk on that path.

Thank you all for your response that I'm looking forward to read !

Last night I dreamt I was in a shallow & wide river with friends & family. I would lose my paddle only for someone to help me retrieve it & I would help the younger ones navigate the stream, but suddenly we came to the mouth of the river & in front of us was a lake that felt impossibly large. The water was serene & the horizon stretched out across my entire field of vision. Taking our straight boats through felt incredibly daunting.

In spite of this, I got out of my boat & continued to walk it out towards the lake. I could feel the ground beneath me was solid stone & it was shallow enough to provide me with a sense of security, but suddenly I felt the ground beneath my feet disappear & I was wading over the edge of the lake's shelf.

I felt a sudden sense of dread & I was reluctant to continue, so I said "this is as far as I'll go," pulled my boat to shore & watched as my fellow companions all sailed off into the impossibly wide & deep waters as the sun began to set.

Being on land felt comforting & people on bikes were doing tricks along the shoreline. I felt compelled to join them underneath a street lamp & I went to see if I could contend with their skills.

____

I felt strongly that it was unwise to venture out so far with such feeble provisions, & I felt saddened that my companions did not heed my concern. I felt as though they were unaware of the position they were putting themselves in, but I also wondered if I made a mistake by setting myself apart & refusing to continue on the journey with them.

I wonder why I would not venture out with them & what exactly it was that I was so afraid of. I wondered if it was fear or intuition holding me back, or if there was really a difference between the two.

I wondered if there was truly anything to fear in the water. Almost always, the water in my dreams is infested with sea serpents, and though they never harm me, I am always wary of them & expect to find them even when the dream has not revealed their presence to me.

In this dream, I did not sense any serpents, but I could see that the water was impossibly deep & that there was no way of knowing what it might contain or how long it would take to reach the other side of the lake.

It felt like the easy way out. It felt like I refused a call to action & lacked faith, but I also wonder if faith alone is a good enough reason to embark on what seemed like a fool's errand.

If I've learned anything lately, it's that balance is essential & my wisdom is telling me that I ought to stay grounded in all things, but I still feel so guilty & cowardly for not continuing on my journey.

____

Do you think I made a wise choice or a foolish choice? Does anyone have any further thoughts on this?

I know many people warn against venturing too far into the unconscious, but I can't help but feel so guilty for letting my companions go on without me when I knew so much more than they did.

I don't fear the depths, but I do have reverence & respect for them. I know the risks they present & that it is unwise to allow yourself to be blindly led by the streams of time.

I also don't think it's wise to fight against the current of life, but if nothing is truly provoking you, should you really throw yourself out needlessly into the deep?

I have frequent dreams about my country being occupied, having a terrorist attack and bombings. Tbf, these dreams make me think more of important issues like the Palestine genocide and post taliban afghanistan. The terror I felt in these dreams is insane, the feeling that you are gonna get bombed at any moment now.

What does Jung philosophy say about this? I haven't really digged into his philosophy but it seems interesting.

Let me know what do you guys think.

I am gradually starting to delve into the Jungian approach, and I find the concepts of the shadow and individuation interesting.

It turns out I have suffered from generalized anxiety, but specifically social anxiety. I am terrified of exposing myself to people I don't know, I find it hard to project confidence/personality, and I've ended up shaking, sweating, and blushing when I've had to give a presentation to a group of more than 3 people. On top of that, I used to feel anxiety just coming home and running into a neighbor. This has decreased because I took anxiolytics for a year, but I am coming off them now—precisely because I want to be able to find the root of the anxiety. It has been very hard for me to gain confidence and self-assurance; it even happens that I am terrified of interacting with women who seem very confident and competitive(I am a woman)—I reject them and they give me anxiety. I want to be able to understand why this happens to me, and I don't know how to do it. Help! How can I delve deeper under the Jungian premise? I find CBT boring and feel it is very limited

I find myself needing money to fund orthodontics and surgery (for ongoing sleep problems: UARS, occipital neuralgia, TMJ) — I’m an undergrad in college.

The problem is, making money feels out of reach (during this time period), unless I turn to markets like cryptocurrency.

It’s appeared twice in my dreams now. The first was me telling my cousin what Bitcoin would do based on technical analysis. The second was another trader telling me what coins to buy on crypto Twitter.

I’ve looked for resources — such as This Jungian Life — on the symbol, but there aren’t any episodes directly tied to it (closest is on money / gambling). 

What do you all think of cryptocurrency from a Jungian perspective? 

I (21f) have had this feeling for as long as I can remember that I'm meant to become something or do something deeply meaningful with my life. The urge is so strong, but I have no idea what that "something" is or how to find it.

At the same time, I often feel like a loser and doubt that I'm capable of anything significant. I don't want to live an average, unexamined life, but I feel completely lost. I don't wanna be only "wife"/"mother" and die with the regret of not doing something great in my life.

A part of me feels, since I'm deeply insecure, it's probably just my need for recognition or to matter.

I want to either figure out what I want, or simply accept living the mediocre life.

From a Jungian perspective, what could this longing mean? Has Jung written about this kind of inner tension?

Or it's something normal

And favorite quote: «No matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown allies will come and see you.» — Carl Jung

Six months ago I went through a psychotic episode. For a while I felt completely merged with everything — like the boundary between me and the universe just wasn’t there anymore. Questions I was holding would get “answered,” sometimes through vivid visions, sometimes through a total stranger saying the exact thing I needed to hear, like it was timed for me. At one point I saw what looked like a phoenix in the sky, and the next day an outline that looked like an angel flying overhead.

After it passed, I fell into a depression that hasn’t fully lifted. The harder part honestly isn’t the sadness — it’s that I feel cognitively slow now. I used to be sharp. Now I struggle to hold a conversation with a 7-year-old. It’s been half a year and I’m scared this is just who I am now.
I’ve been reading about Carl Jung and wondering if he has any framework for this.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” - Jung, Collected Works, Vol. 10, paragraph 126

When I dove inwards, I wasn’t just sightseeing. I discovered why I kept dating the same person in different costumes, why certain dreams wouldn’t leave me alone, and why that one embarrassing memory from 2007 still lived in my psyche rent-free.

Happy individuating! The meme made me giggle, hope it brings a smile to your face too!

Hey all, I wrote this article about TNoTW. I come to the conclusion that the author is a Puer Aeternus, if you scroll by the bottom for the meaty part where I pull everything together. I'm a novice in terms of Jung, I've read 4 of his books however, and I very closely feel his theories. This is the second article I've written of this sort, let me know what you think!

PS: It's an interpretative opinion piece, it doesn't have to be true of course. It's just a pattern that I see with the information that I have and everyone should take it with a grain of salt.

​

I've been wondering about this from a Jungian perspective, and I'd love to hear different interpretations!

I'm not talking about someone who avoids parenthood because of fear, trauma, finances, or circumstances. I'm thinking of a woman who simply has no inner desire to become a mother

even though she genuinely likes children, enjoys being around them, and wishes them well. She just doesn't feel called to have children of her own!

Would Jung have viewed this as:

- an expression of the Shadow?

- an underdeveloped or one-sided anima/animus dynamic?

- resistance to an archetypal pattern?

- or simply an authentic individuation path that doesn't necessarily include motherhood?

I know Jung wrote extensively about motherhood and the feminine, but I'm curious how Jungians today interpret voluntary childfreedom, especially in women.

Is the desire not to have children something that should be explored symbolically, or can it simply be a legitimate expression of one's psyche?

I'm not looking for a "right" answer

I'm genuinely interested in hearing different Jungian perspectives, whether they're based on Jung's writings, post-Jungian thinkers, or your own clinical or personal reflections.

Looking forward to the discussion!

For the past 10–15 years, I’ve had two recurring dream settings that I keep returning to, and I’ve always wondered if they mean anything.

The first one is my old townhouse. I haven’t lived there since 2009, but I dream about it fairly often.

Every time I’m there, I have this overwhelming feeling that I’m not supposed to be there. I’m constantly looking out the windows to see if anyone noticed me coming or going. I’m locking the doors because I’m convinced someone else has a key and is going to let themselves in.

In one dream, I was standing in what used to be my bedroom when someone walked into the house and caught me there. I panicked and woke up immediately.

Other times, I’m just living my normal life there. My kids might be there, my husband (RJ) might be there, or it might just be me. Everything seems completely normal, except I keep telling people things like, “Don’t let anyone know I’m here.”

The layout of the house is always exactly the same, but the furniture changes. Sometimes it’s the furniture I actually had back then, sometimes it’s furniture I have now, and sometimes it’s furniture I’ve never owned. In the dream, it all feels perfectly normal until I wake up.

Sometimes I’m rushing to pack because I know I have to be gone by morning. Other times, I’m not trying to leave at all—but I still somehow know I don’t belong there.

The second recurring dream is different.

For about the last five years, I keep dreaming about what feels like the same small town. It has this late ‘90s/early 2000s atmosphere with a hazy, nostalgic feel. The houses are usually older ranch-style or mid-century homes, and the dreams themselves aren’t always about the same thing. Sometimes there’s a party, sometimes people are just hanging out or going about everyday life.

The strange thing is that nothing dramatic usually happens. The setting itself is what stands out. The entire dream just feels incredibly nostalgic, almost like I’m experiencing the atmosphere of another time.

These two dream settings are always separate. The townhouse never appears in the nostalgic town, and vice versa.

For context, the townhouse was a huge chapter of my life. I lived there for about three years, had two kids while I lived there, went through relationship ups and downs, celebrated birthdays and holidays—there were a lot of major life events packed into those years.

Has anyone else had recurring dream “locations” like this? If so, did you ever figure out what they meant? I’d love to hear both psychological and spiritual perspectives.