Philosophy
The Road to Individuation
It is easier to live in a comfortable illusion and believe that people are basically good, and that you are too. Taken to an extreme, this can become pathological. The person that does not want to see reality for what it is does not solve their problems, but only compounds them.
It is easier to live in a comfortable illusion and believe that people are basically good, and that you are too. Taken to an extreme, this can become pathological. The person that does not want to see reality for what it is does not solve their problems, but only compounds them.
Where bad eyesight can no longer see the evil impulse as such, on account of its refinement,-there man sets up the kingdom of goodness ; and the feeling of having now gone over into the kingdom of goodness brings all those impulses (such as the feelings of security, of comfortableness, of benevolence) into simultaneous activity, which were threatened and confined by the evil impulses. Consequently, the duller the eye so much the further does goodness extend ! Hence the eternal cheerfulness of the populace and of children ! Hence the gloominess and grief (allied to the bad conscience) of great thinkers. –Nietzsche, The Gay Science
Your shadow is the dark repressed side that dwells within your unconscious. It represents the part of you that you have, knowingly or unknowingly, refused to acknowledge.
“The shadow personifies everything that the subject refuses to acknowledge about himself and yet is always thrusting itself upon him directly or indirectly—for instance, inferior traits of character and other incompatible tendencies.” –The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, Carl Jung
The Persona
Transcending your persona is very difficult. Jung identified two ways in which your persona manifests. The first is by unwittingly mimicking the behavior of your same-sex parent. The second is by identifying fully with your profession or social role.
You start out as a blank canvas, and with time, society pressures you into crafting a persona – a mask that you wear that allows you to behave in ways that converge with the expectations of others. And this process involves several stages of iteration, until eventually, the persona that you have created dominates your identity – at the expense of the socially unacceptable parts of your nature.
*Read The Dichotomy of the Self *
YARPP List
Related posts:
- Is Manipulation Wrong?
- A Pending Response to Time Will Tell
- The Ego Death
- What is Happiness?
Keep Reading
Related Articles
Philosophy
The Rationality of Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias is a form of cognitive bias and while it is not considered a logical fallacy, it is considered irrational. But this is not necessarily true. Intuitively, one would imagine that rational behavior is the same as scientific behavior in that it excludes bias.
Philosophy
What is the Best Jordan Peterson Book?
Jordan Peterson is a polarizing figure in the world of psychology. Some people view him as a prophet, while others condemn him as a charlatan. Although he has published several books, the majority of his work has been done through video lectures which he has uploaded to YouTube.
Philosophy
Adjust Your Perception of Time and Desire (Week 15 of Wisdom)
> “We greatly overestimate what we can do in one year. But we greatly underestimate what is possible for us in five years.”Peter Drucker It is not necessary to wait for five years before seeing the truth of this idea.
Philosophy
Heidegger on Authenticity
In his book, Being and Time, German philosopher Martin Heidegger quotes the following about authenticity: > “For to be revealed from out of concealment, this is the essence of truth. Truth is the disclosure of that which was previously concealed.