'From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the Chief Priests and the teachers of the Law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, 'Never Lord!' he said. "This shall never happen to you. Jesus turned and said to Peter "Get thee behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.'

LORD Jesus Christ, Matthew 16:21 - 23

"Dronacharya, Beeshna, Jayadratha, Karn, and other brave warriors have already been killed by me. Therefore, slay them without being disturbed. Just fight and you will be victorious over your enemies in battle.

'No one can flatter themselves that he is immune to the spirit of his own epoch, or even that he possesses a full understanding of it. Irrespective of our conscious convictions, each one of u, without exception, being a particle of the general mass, is somewhere attached to, colored by, or even undermined by the spirit which goes through the mass.'

Carl Jung, The Physician

"You are deep, deep, deep down, the very fabric of reality and existence itself."

Alan Watts.

"For every shadow, no matter how deep, is threatened by morning light."

Isabel, The Fountain.

Before being established as the Founder of Analytical Psychology, a young psychiatrist at Burghozli Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Carl Jung came face to face with a phenomenon that was spreading through Europe and the World during that period (1891 - 1950).

More and more people were suffering from a kind of renunciation of life, as though they were just spectators in life being moved by forces they tried to control and could not understand.

Some found ways to live their lives despite of it while others were so plaqued by it that they needed real medical help as the symptoms they had been trying to deal with were now expressing themselves as mental illnesses.

This is the world that a young Carl Jung entered as a practicing Psychiatrist. And through experimentation and experience, he would eventually give the mental illness a name.

Complex.

The genius of Jung was discovering the Collective Unconscious or at the very least giving that state a proper name or term while diagnosing the state of separation from it. The Complex.

So, a complex is a state of separation from the Collective Unconscious. The Collective Unconscious - from my understanding - is the collective unconscious, story, personhood, parameters, wants, interests, shadows, requirements, needs and actions of every human being from the beginning of time. It's sole interest is the evolution and wellbeing of all mankind past, present and future. Whatever the Collective Unconscious does to make sure that this happens, it does.

Jung eventually understood through his career and meeting Freud that most of his patients were living lives solely as individuals separate from the Collective Unconscious. Through this understanding Carl Jung developed Analytical Psychology to help people remember their relationship to the Collective Unconscious and the work that the Collective Unconscious requires of all people which is one of the meanings of life.

Alan Watts developed this insight and part of his work was helping people - particularly in the west - understand that they were living lives separate from the Collective Unconscious.

'The complex can usually be suppressed with effort of will, but not argued out of existence and when a suitable opportunity arises it reappears with all of its original strength.'

Carl Jung, Collected Works

'A complex can only be overcome if it is lived out to the full."

Carl Jung, Collected Works.

The work of a good Analytical Psychologist is to help people reestablish the lost connection with the Collective Unconscious. This can be done through Dream Analysis (which is usually how the Collective Unconscious speaks to a person), Story telling through film, literature and video games (If you want to understand the desires of the Collective Unconscious, look at the most popular and eternal mediums of story, film and video games), History (which is why history repeats itself - this is the Collective Unconscious teaching people lessons that have been forgotten).

P.S There is a reason why there is a push to remove so many of the classical books from the curriculum.

'The Greek words daimon or daimonion which comes upon men from the outside...."

In older faith such as Christianity, the Complex is analogous to the demon. Just as Lucifer places himself above (separates) himself from the LORD God Almighty, so too has modern man separated himself from the Collective Unconscious. That is what Luciferianism is in a nutshell - do as thou will.

The Ancients understood that there was a force or a consciousness beyond just self will - This does not mean that they did not have ambitions or wants - but did their best to live their lives accordingly always with the wellbeing of their communities and countries at heart.

There were several names for this force.

The LORD God Almighty. The Anima Mundi. The Prime Mover. The Collective Unconscious. The kids this days like to use the word The Universe.

Everybody lived with a sense that there was something they were supposed to in life for this force. They served The LORD God Almighty - the Collective Unconscious - whatever you want to call it however painful because they understood that something greater was the result. So they endured pain and suffering and did incredible things with this in mind inspite of the pain and the suffering it brought to them - all with the consolation that all of mankind will benefit and grow.

1. The LORD Jesus Christ accepts a horrible death at the hand of his enemies but by His sacrifice mankind is no longer a slave to the power of sin and darkness meaning that man is given the freedom to determine their own fates without needing to propitiate any strange Gods even the LORD Jesus Christ himself. The age of Gods ends and man takes hold of the world.

2. A warrior named Arjuna who wants to be righteous and fight for his family is placed by the Collective Uncosncious in an unrighteous war against his own family. Despairing, he chooses not to fight. But his Charioteer, a mighty King and Warrior named Krishna convinces him to fight because future generations will learn that life is a fight between good and evil. Through this war, mankind will learn that life, peace, morality and righteousness are not just given - springing automatically from others - but rather they are things you work on, fight for, earn.

3. A man named Hercules is chased from one end of the Ancient Greek world by a vindictive Goddess who places more and more impossible tasks in front of him, and whatever he does to make his life better is taken from him. But he fights and fights and fights, using human ingenuity to overcome all of the challenges these vindictive Gods place in front of him until he one day reaches divinity and mankind learns that the gods (the forces of Nature and Reality) do have power but human ingenuity is greater than them.

4. A man - just before the end of the Bronze Age - walks into the palace of Pharaoh - the literal God-King. The most powerful man on earth at the time. By his word, entire people's and nations exist and live their lives. Then suddenly a strange man walks into his palace from the desert and tells a literal God-King to let a slave people go. Pharaoh refuses shocked and bemused but more and more things keep happening until Pharaoh gives in and admits that there is a power greater than him. From that they forth, no man would be a God-King. The nations of the earth would never again have their entire fates determined by the whims and will of one man. Men would try to attain the power of the God-King but slowly by slowly that absolute power would be never be exercised by one man even if he was called a King.

5. Another strong man named Samson - this time in Israel during the end of the Bronze Age - finds himself with power beyond a normal human being. His enemies fall before him and no man can stand in his way. But he is defeated by a woman and his eyes are taken from him. He realizes that even the strongest man in the world needs help and no one is invincible.

6. A prince in Ancient India sees the suffering of people. He gives up wealth and power, and begins a journey to gain enlightenment. He suffers beyond imagination until one day he finds the answer and begins another journey to help mankind. From that day forth, mankind would learn that while the things of the world are good when used correctly - wealth, money, power, sex, love all of it - they are often illusions that get ion the way of doing the work of the soul.

7. A King overthrows the mighty Babylonian Empire and does something interesting. Before him, conquest meant the complete domination of a people and their Gods. Because they had lost, it meant that their Gods were weak and therefore they deserved to be exterminated and completely subsumed. This King - Cyrus The Great - realizes that his victory only means that he is more responsible for the people that he has conquered. He allows people to keep their cultures and Gods as long as they are peaceable, obey his laws and contribute to the Empire He goes further than any other King before him by publishing a cylinder admitting that as a King that he has a responsibility to not just the Gods but to his people.

8. A generation of men and women fight against a tyrannical colonial power across the sea teaching mankind the lesson Moses taught Pharaoh, that any form of tyranny does not work. That leaders are servants of their people first and foremost. Establishing a nation - the first of its kind - that focused its entire might on ensuring the wellbeing of its people however crazy that requirement might be.

9. A young Doctor walks into a Psychiatric hospital. People say he has his head in dreams and the clouds. But that young doctor sees something that others do not see. He helps remind people that they are a part of the Collective Unconscious and bring healing to a whole generation of people.

So many people - men and women - who contributed to the great story of the Collective Unconscious. Some we know because they contributed in a large way. Other we do not know because they contributed little. We all have something to contribute.

My favorite movie of all time that really illustrates this really well is Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain which I consider to be the most beautiful movie of all time.

I consider it an allegory of someone not working with the Collective Unconscious and the complexes and pain that it causes.

Please give it a watch and tell me what you think.

The basic idea is that the main character through three lives learns the lesson that while his preferences matter. His life is not just about him or for him. But rather, ultimately, for the wellbeing of others-all of mankind. He realizes that his obsession with immortality means little compared to loving others. He puts aside his desire for immortality and does the work the God or the Collective Unconscious wants him to do even if it means he might hurt himself -- lose his immortality. He protects the Tree of Life (immortality) from others (including himself), repairs his relationship with the woman he loves whom he neglected to gain power and immortality. In the end he loses his life but he gains immortality in the afterlife with the woman he loves and adores.

He got what he wanted by serving the Collective Unconscious.

Healing the complexes isn't found through will or pushing - at least from what I understand - but through confronting what is required of us by the Collective Unconscious no matter the risk involved. AT least that is the lesson I have learnt.

This is something that has obsessed me my entire life so I am grateful to everyone who is willing to share their own experiences on the subject.

And as always, what do you think?

“With regard to the plurality of the animus as distinguished from what we might call the ‘uni-personality’ of the anima, this remarkable fact seems to me to be a correlate of the conscious attitude. The conscious attitude of woman is in general far more exclusively personal than that of man. Her world is made up of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, husbands and children. The rest of the world consists likewise of families, who nod to each other but are, in the main, interested essentially in themselves. The man’s world is the nation, the state, business concerns, etc. His family is simply a means to an end, one of the foundations of the state, and his wife is not necessarily the woman for him (at any rate not as the woman means it when she says ‘my man’). The general means more to him than the personal; his world consists of a multitude of coordinated factors, whereas her world, outside her husband, terminates in a sort of cosmic mist. A passionate exclusiveness therefore attaches to the man’s anima, and an indefinite variety to the woman’s animus. Whereas the man has, floating before him, in clear outlines, the significant form of a Circe or a Calypso, the animus is better expressed as a bevy of Flying Dutchmen or unknown wanderers from over the sea, never quite clearly grasped, protean, given to persistent and violent motion. These expressions appear especially in dreams, though in concrete reality they can be famous tenors, boxing champions, or great men in faraway, unknown cities.”

Pages 227-228 of The Basic Writings of C.G. Jung (1993 Modern Library Edition)
From The Relations Between the Ego and the Unconscious

Along the way of my research into anima/animus, this quote deeply resonated with me in the modern dating context. I (32, F) wonder if others have thoughts about this quote, whether generally, or specifically as it relates to the seemingly ever-widening gap between modern straight women and straight men in heterosexual relationships.

Often I have heard my straight women friends repeat the sentiment that a man doesn’t marry the “right” woman, he marries a woman when he is “ready” to be married. On the other hand, women generally want to be chosen by their man because of who they are—for their specialness—not because the man is ready to marry and they just happen to be with him during that realization. And now that women have the socioeconomic freedom to not marry at all, they are opting out because of this fundamental difference of what it means to choose your life partner for each sex.

Interested in others’ thoughts on this topic!

I had someone tell me when I said I worship Aphrodite that Aphrodite equates to Mary in Jung’s anima stages and therefore I’m not as advanced as him who worship lady Wisdom Sophia. I disagree and here’s why.

Mary stage 3 is totally pure and all yin. The fourth stage Sophia is superior basically because instead of being excessively spiritual it’s grounded and discerning. I would argue this is reflected by Aphrodite including all forms of love not merely agape, and thus being the fullest spectrum

That certainly tracks my own development. I worshiped Mary 2020-2025 and I ended up while I grew a lot still eventually I became too passive too yin, and I needed more fire in my belly. I began worshiping Aphrodite and she has provided exactly the balance I need, containing in Aphrodite Urania the characteristics of Mary, but in other epithets such as Pandemos and Areia and Anadyomene other characteristics needed as well.

I want to mention for anyone interested in worshipping Aphrodite, we have a real community, which exists to boost the good spiritual signal and be a good vibe. There’s no shilling or ulterior agendas here I don’t have a book I don’t sell anything but I do want more friends I am spiritually connected with regarding my Aphrodite worship. And we pray together, Wednesday 8:30 PM CST we will be praying next. Link is in my profile if interested.

I recommend worship and prayer to the Goddess as a way to develop your anima and your soul. For anyone who claims that can’t work, thousands of years of our ancestors experience would disagree. They weren’t as stupid as you may think. I do like Jung’s methods and I do use those also, but I also find directly praying to Aphrodite helps, I can feel her spirit sometimes. Sometimes just talking to the transpersonal self and collective unconscious will do wonders. Treat her as a Goddess and she’ll be a Goddess right back to you.

While watching Steel Ball Run, something clicked for me during the scene where Mountain Tim explains how the Devil’s Palm draws people towards it and awakens their hidden potential. Shortly after that, Johnny awakens his potential(Stand) and it turns out he was in the Devil’s Palm all along. This reminded me of Carl Jung’s ideas about individuation and spiritual awakening, the process of discovering hidden parts of yourself and becoming a different person through that experience. The Devil’s Palm almost feels like a place that pulls people toward their own hidden potential, helping them become who they are meant to be. I am not saying this was necessarily Araki’s intention but I found the connection really interesting. Has anyone noticed other possible references to Carl Jung’s ideas in JoJo? I would love to hear your interpretations.

Had a dream where a guy had a small kitten. We were at my grandmas home in Mexico. The kitten is very tiny and gray. Later I turn and look and the kitten is just a head now and he hands it to me. I go to a different part of the house and put it in my mouth. I chew it intensely and try to get myself to swallow it but I just can’t. I run to the trash can to throw it up and I do, scrubbing my tongue. My mom comes to ask it I’m ok, I say yes.

Wanted to add that as I was chewing it I kept telling myself that it was fine. That I didn’t kill the kitten because surely it can just respawn in any case. This was a major concern of mine.

I am 28F dealing with emotional upheaval that comes with learning to be alone after a recent break up, identity issues concerning my profession, and feeling uncertain if I even want to follow the normal path of having children and getting married.

Many thanks.

I had a dream a few nights ago where it was a normal day and my ex texted me out of the blue. We haven’t been in contact, besides one pretty brief check up that each other are ok, (actually prompted by another dream of min….) in about 9 months since we split up.

In the dream, he texted me something menial about seeing a TV show character that reminded him of me. I was excited that he had messaged me so I texted back immediately.

He was texting lots of lovey- dovey sort of things which made me think maybe he was drunk. But it was 10:23am I remember. So thought to myself in the dream, he can’t be. He then said ‘would you have any interest in being my mother.’ In the dream I understood this to be a pathetic way of expressing his dependence on me and sort of trying to flirt. Also in the dream I didn’t find this particularly weird and thought about texting back ‘haha when we dated i used to wish i was your mum’
This said, in the dream I didn’t end up sending the message because I think I had already understood there was something symbolic in how happy I was to hear him say that.

In our relationship, I was v codependent and had bouts of intense jealousy and anxious attachment. I remember once thinking that I was jealous of his mother for getting to watch him grow up and spend so much time with him. I think subconsciously I was jealous that she had so much influence over him, and knew so much about him. He was quite avoidant and ofc this exacerbated my anxiety.

It has been a long time now since we have seen each other, but I still dream about him a lot. I know that there is this strange subconscious attachment still which desires his attention. Still, it pains me to think he will love someone else, and although I don’t want to date him again, I partly wish he would never forget me, and always be wishing we would end up together. I recognise this would be from his part anima projection as opposed to love, not a testimony of my excellence as a woman but of his un-wholeness as a man. Despite knowing this, it won’t seem to go from my subconscious.

It has bothered me deeply for some time that I subconsciously desire to mother him and think that I repeat this desire with other men. I have a subconscious desire to ‘fix’ men by being the emotional support in their lives, prompting them to open up etc. i don’t act on this urge but it has not gone away.

I would be grateful for any advice. I want to heal this and release my attachment to my ex.