Carl Jung - How Your Dark Side Can Reveal Your Life’s Purpose (Jungian Philosophy)

“As far as we can discern, the  sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the  darkness of mere being. ” - Carl Jung When we learn about influential and  successful people such as Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, or - say - Leonardo da  Vinci, Albert Einstein, William Shakespeare, Nelson Mandela, and so on, we often feel…  a little inadequate. Their lives were so meaningful.

How could ours ever compare?  The purpose of life, according to Carl Jung, has nothing to do with what you achieve. It  has to do with who you are and how you act.

According to Jung, the entirety of an  individual’s being can be described by our psyche: encompassing all our conscious  and unconscious aspects. At the center of our consciousness which is everything  we are aware of - is our ego. But there is so much outside of the ego that we do not  acknowledge.

In the center of our unconscious, meaning everything that is hidden to us, lies  our shadow or our dark side. According to Jung, in our unconscious lies the key to finding our  purpose in life. This is because the purpose of your life is not something objective or  universal: it is something unique to you.

Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and  psychoanalyst, who ended up founding his own school of psychology, known as ‘analytical  psychology’. His philosophy is often referred to as “Jungian Philosophy”. He has also  published multiple books.

Most notably: 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. In this video we will talk  about the steps you need to take so that your dark side can reveal your life's purpose,  according to the philosophy of Carl Jung. Get To Know Your darkness Jung says “Your visions will become clear only  when you can look into your own heart.

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. ” Everyone has a unique meaning and purpose in life, depending on who you are and what you want. As  a result, you need to know who you are before you can begin to figure out the purpose of your  life.

Many people believe they know themselves well. You might think you’re familiar with your  traits, strengths, weaknesses, and desires, so you might be tempted to dive straight  into finding your life’s purpose. However, In order to truly know yourself, you have  to do what Jung called self-realization.

Each person is made up of both conscious and  unconscious parts - the aspects of ourselves we are aware of, and those we are not.  The shadow, or dark side, is the hidden part of our unconscious that holds repressed  desires, emotions, and traits. For instance, your shadow might contain feelings of laziness,  envy, or anger, as well as hobbies or interests that you’re ashamed of or wish you had outgrown. 

Because the shadow resides in the unconscious, you’re often unaware of what’s in it; these  traits have been repressed and ignored for so long that they no longer surface in your  thoughts. Instead, you tend to over-identify with your persona - the role you unconsciously  play to be liked or appreciated by others. This persona acts like a mask you wear when  interacting with the world, and you may have multiple masks for different situations.

Reintroducing yourself to your shadow requires genuine effort. Engaging in shadow  work, or getting to know your dark side, as Jung called it, involves regularly stepping  back and reflecting on your behavior, thoughts, and feelings in daily life. This could be done  through journaling or meditation.

Ask yourself: Why did I act the way I did? Did it feel  authentic? Why or why not?

What was my initial instinct in a given situation? How would I feel if  the roles were reversed? It’s about interrogating yourself as if you were questioning someone else.

Jung emphasized that getting to know your shadow doesn’t mean identifying with it. You  don’t have to define yourself by the traits you usually hide. For example, if  your shadow houses anger, you don’t need to see yourself as an angry person.

Instead, simply  acknowledge these traits' existence - recognize and accept that they are a part of you. Another way your hidden shadow traits often surface is through judgment of  others. The traits or behaviors you despise in others are often the ones you fear  in yourself.

This is called projection. So, whenever you find yourself angry at or irritated  by someone else’s behavior, take a moment to ask: Do I ever exhibit this tendency? If not, why not? 

Could this be a shadow trait of mine? According to Jung, those who harshly judge selfishness  often repress their own selfish thoughts, and those intolerant of impatience in others  may be battling their own impatient tendencies. By taking time each day to sit down, perhaps  journal, and ask yourself these probing questions, you begin to bring the unconscious into  consciousness, truly getting to know yourself.

It’s important to continue doing shadow work  regularly; as you change, there’s always more to discover. Making a habit of shadow work is key to  continuously getting closer to a meaningful life. Work on Yourself In the words of Jung “I don't aspire to be  a good man.

I aspire to be a whole man. ” Now that you’ve found out about your unconscious  - and perhaps less desirable dark traits, you might be wondering: How can this help me  save my life? In fact, you might feel worse about yourself after your self-realization, because you  can no longer ignore all your ‘bad’ sides.

Jung acknowledged that figuring out who you truly are  is an intensely painful and frightening process. Many people think that by repressing bad parts  of themself, by never showing them is a good way to get rid of them fully; I mean aren’t those  who can hold in their anger the most gentle people? And those who push through their laziness  aren’t they most productive people?

Well - yes, and no. While it is good to want to be better,  ignoring traits will not make them go away. Repressing shadow traits often gives those  traits more power.

They fester deep inside you and then - when you’re tired, stressed, emotional,  or at a breaking point, they suddenly burst out of you. People that don’t acknowledge their anger are  the ones who have scary angry outbursts every now and then. People that ignore their laziness end up  experiencing burnouts.

Ignoring something does not make it go away. So, now that you actually know  your shadow, you can finally do something with it. Whatever you find in your shadow, your  dark traits, make them useful.

Anger, for example, is only bad if it is excessive or  unwarranted. But when someone genuinely hurts you, anger can actually help you advocate for yourself.  The question you should ask yourself is: when is it right to act on an emotion, and when is it  better not to?

When should I lean into my mask and persona, and when do I not have to? By thinking  about your emotions in this nuanced sense, rather than thinking of them as ‘bad’ or ‘good’, you will  improve your life and well-being tremendously. Envy can be a motivator.

Laziness can get you  well-needed rest. Impatience can make you more active… If the context is right! 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  dark qualities can you actually improve yourself. The self-knowledge and ability  to use all sides of yourself is what you need to find out your life’s purpose. 

Once your shadow is self integrated, you become more yourself. You will be  balanced, harmonious and authentic. Once you’ve figured out how to use your shadow,  you have figured out who you truly are - and thus it will become much easier to figure  out what you truly want and need from life.

Self-improvement is another form of shadow  work that never ends; there is always more to improve. When you continuously keep improving  yourself, you are adding meaning to your life. Take Action According to Jung “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.

” When you know who you are, how you can best handle  your dark traits, and what you believe in - you have to show it. The purpose of life cannot  be found in thoughts, but in practice. Jung thought that self-realization had to be shown in  what you do rather than what you say.

After all, you can only say you are a certain way, and  want certain things, if you act like it. This means that you should not live your life  reactively; do not only react to what happens to you, but also initiate something in your life.  Instead of waiting for people to befriend you, go out of your way to make friends. 

Instead of waiting for that promotion, come up with a plan and pursue it. And  instead of waiting for your life to achieve the meaning you want it to, make  your life meaningful with your actions. Currently, most of us do live reactively -  even those who actively seek out their shadow and improve themselves.

Working on yourself  is a great first action one can take, true; but it is not enough to truly start  taking action in other areas of life, either. In fact, after doing shadow work  one might think they can now sit back and relax. But sitting back in your life is  what gets you stuck in meaninglessness.

OK, but how do you start living actively?  Simple: by challenging yourself. When you’ve taken the steps to continuously explore your  shadow and improve yourself based on what you find, you should also keep taking some extra  steps.

Frequently ask yourself questions like: 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 want to do  this year? And the next five years? How do I want to contribute to the world?

What do I expect from  others? You could journal about these questions, or meditate on them. The answers are clear  clues as to what kind of actions to take.

You might, for example, want to become a  published author. A lot of people do. But a lot of the people that do want to become a  published author also do not take many steps to achieve that goal.

They wait for inspiration  to strike, for their agenda to clear up, and eventually for the book to write itself.  They still live reactively; when the time is just right, the book will just flow out of  them… Or so they think! So what would someone who wants to become an author have to change?

An  aspiring author that actually takes action would write on a frequent, scheduled basis; whether  they feel like it or not. When they get stuck they would actively seek out advice  or exercises to help them move along. They would finish a story, if not thanks to  motivation, then due to discipline.

And then, they would proactively reach out to people in  the publishing industry, such as literary agents. Of course, many people do not derive meaning  from career goals. Instead, their personal ideas about their lives might be a little more  abstract: you might want to positively influence new generations, for instance.

This could  be done in many ways; by becoming a parent, a teacher, starting a charity for youth,  becoming a youth counselor, a politician, and more. It is then on you to decide in what  way you want to achieve this goal, and what actions that requires. Whenever you ask yourself  questions about your morals and beliefs, you will then have to decide what way you can work towards  them, and what actions you might need to take.

It is quite possible to survive  when living reactively - but it is not possible to find meaning in a  reactive life. Meaning requires action. Embrace Fear Jung once said “Where your  fear is, there is your task.

” One of the main reasons people live reactively  is not mere laziness and often not even a lack of motivation. Most of the time, the avoidance of  action results from fear. Action requires risk, which can be scary.

When you have an idea for  a book, you have to risk being disappointed by your own writing in order to get it down  on paper. Once you’ve written a book, you have to be ready for many rejections if  you want to get it published. Every single action you can take can result in something  negative.

You need to be brave to be active. Bravery does not stem from a lack of fear. Fear  is not to be avoided; if you do, it would go back into your shadow and rule your life even more. 

Instead, it should be acknowledged. When you have to take a certain action but feel unable  to do so, ask yourself why. Are you scared?

What are you scared of? What are the things that  could go wrong? And how could you deal with them?

Fear is often contained by preparation. But do not  confuse preparation with rumination or anxiety: focus only on likely scenarios, not outlandish  ones. When you want to publish a book, be prepared to be rejected by many agents, or  even to find no one interested in representing it, but also be prepared to find an agent or  to have it published.

Do not, however, ruminate about how agents and publishers  might reject you, or about someone stealing your book idea, or about being laughed at.  Those thoughts are unlikely and unhelpful. By analyzing your fear and handling  it in the form of preparation, you’ve already dealt with a great deal of it.

The  feeling will most likely never fully disappear, so when you’ve done what you can to minimize  your fear, there is only one thing left to do: dive into the deep. Bravery requires you  to face your fears rather than get rid of your fears. Nobody who has ever done anything  special has done so by avoiding what they’re scared of.

As Jung said, where your fear is,  that is where your next task is. Once you know what you’re scared of, you also know what is  likely to give your life the most meaning. Accept The Bad In our final quote from Jung for this video,  he says “Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose  its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.

” Let’s see: you know yourself, you’re always  improving yourself, you’re taking actions and taking risks. Is this the recipe to a perfect  life? No.

Nobody’s life is perfect. In fact, the most influential people in the world have  often experienced the most hardships. And this is because the most influential people are  typically the ones that take the most risks, do not let bad situations get them  down, and push through no matter what.

So, accepting the bad and disappointing things in  life is integral to finding meaning and purpose. In fact, meaning is dependent on it. A life  that consists solely of triumph and joy is not a meaningful life, because joy is only as  impactful as it is if you also know sadness.

You cannot win unless defeat was also an option.  There can be no light without dark. This means that whenever something bad happens to you,  you have to recontextualize it: do not despair, but rather think: whatever good happens from  now on, will feel even better now.

Aside from contextualizing the good in life, misfortune  and mistakes are only opportunities to grow. Every time something happens, your reaction  to it tells you something new about yourself. Bad things, then, are integral to your  self-discovery - and it's helpful, too, when it comes to getting to know your shadow. 

Nobody finds out they should try to be a little more pragmatic unless they’ve failed to be  at some point. And - nobody finds out they’re resilient and strong unless something  in their lives has required them to be. Let’s say your novel gets rejected by all  the publishing houses you’ve sent it to.

Or you gave up your stable job to go back to  school but you’ve failed. Sure, you now have more context to enjoy good things later on in  life. You’ve learned something.

But does this give your life more meaning? The meaning of life,  according to Jung, does not lie in achieving those goals you set yourself; it is in the taking  of action and self-discovery. With this, he means that your life does not become meaningful  because you’re a published author or a successful politician.

It derives its meaning from what you  did to get there. And thus, even those who end up not getting there, now know they are the kind  of person that takes action. They’re uniquely and unapologetically themselves - and that,  in and of itself, is the most meaningful part.

Adding meaning to your life never ends  - you have to keep discovering yourself, your goals, and taking action.  You will continue to experience good and bad things. And this is  what makes your life so special: your unique combination of disappointment  and joy, your unique actions and attempts, and your determination.

Always be proud of what  you tried - that is where the purpose comes from. And finally, appreciate all the good in your  life. Whatever you have achieved, no matter how little it is, be proud of it.

Whatever works  out for you in life, be grateful for it. And no matter what happens, know that your life has a  purpose as long as you’re the best you you can be. If you enjoyed this video, please make  sure to check out our full philosophies for life playlist and for more videos to  help you find success and happiness using beautiful philosophical wisdom, don’t forget  to subscribe.

Thanks so much for watching.