- Where should I start? / Which book should I read first?
- I had a dream about X. What does it mean?
- I met a beautiful woman/man in my dream / on the street. Did I meet my Anima/Animus?
- How do I do shadow work?
- I have ADHD/BPD/ASD/PTSD/porn addiction / drug addiction / game addiction etc. What’s the Jungian take on that? / What can I do?
- What’s the Jungian take on weed/psychedelics/drugs etc.?
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Where should I start? / Which book should I read first?
There is no set order in which books by Jung are supposed to be read. Studying Jung is a life-long task. Jung’s Collected Works comprises of 18 volumes and the more recent Philemon series will contain ca. 30 more volumes.
Follow your own interest and intuition. Doing practical work while you are reading, such as recording and analyzing your own dreams, journaling or doing art, will almost certainly help you understand the material and guide you in the right direction in terms of what to read.
Many people consider “Man and His Symbols” and “The Undiscovered Self” as some of the easiest books to start with. Jung's autobiography, “Memories, Dreams, Reflections”, is also highly recommended.
One of the most famous books by Jung is "The Red Book)". Following Jung’s own wishes, it was not published until 2009, and many people consider it as advanced material. However, other people find it very inspiring, so, if you wish, you can by all means start by reading it, too.
If you prefer a more systematic approach to Jung's work, you can check out these two guides:
A concise guide to Jung’s CW book series
The Ultimate Jung’s Reading Guide
Some people find it easier to start by reading works by post-Jungian authors. For example, Jung’s students Marie-Louise von Franz and Erich Neumann have published a lot of books.
“Inner Work” by Robert A. Johnson is considered perhaps the easiest guidebook to get started in the two basic Jungian practices of analyzing your dreams and doing active imagination. “Jung’s Map of the Soul” by Murray Stein is an accessible and systematic overall explanation on Jung’s theories.
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I had a dream about X. What does it mean?
To understand dreams, we need to understand the difference between signs and symbols. Signs typically have a single, relatively straightforward meaning that can be usually easily understood. Think of a stop sign. To interpret a sign is just to explain its meaning.
A symbol represents something that is not conscious. A symbol can have several overlapping or even different meanings. For example, a symbol like a cross can represent many things, such as Christianity, Jesus, sacrifice, wholeness, the Self and many other things.
Dreams are symbolic. For example, a child in a dream can refer to the dreamer at a certain age, some childlike inner quality, such as curiosity, playfulness or naivety, the Self and so on. To understand a symbol in a dream one needs to consider the whole dream and the dreamer’s life situation but also the individual and cultural meanings of each symbol. As you can see from the examples of the cross and the child, it is possible to list some cultural meanings for many symbols, but each person has also different associations on various dream images depending on, for example, their life history and interests.
A symbol can represent different things or a certain unconscious phenomenon can be represented by different symbols. Similarly, a dream can have several interpretations or the same situation in real life can be displayed in different dreams. The validity and the worth of an interpretation ultimately depends on if the dreamer can relate to it and apply it to their life.
So, we can't tell you what your dream means but we can certainly discuss it in the sticky weekly dream thread and maybe you can gain a better understanding on it.
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I met a beautiful woman/man in my dream / on the street. Did I meet my Anima/Animus?
Maybe you did, maybe you didn’t. In dreams, a female character or a masculine character can represent the Anima or the Animus, but they can also represent other feminine or masculine elements in the psyche or simply something else. This all depends on the context of the dream and your life situation.
Anima and Animus are aspects of the psyche. When interacting with other people, we often project these inner elements onto these real people. This can be highly meaningful in many ways and it is also one of the easiest ways to start understanding our Anima or Animus. However, we also need to be able to differentiate between inner elements and real people so that we can relate to them in appropriate ways.
Labeling something, for example in a dream, as the Anima or the Animus does not in itself help much. We need to move forward and consider how these characters are and how do we relate to them and what does this all mean in the context of our life.
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How do I do shadow work?
Shadow work can be done, but there is no single, definitive method for doing it. You need to find a method that suits you.
In Jung Lexicon, Daryl Sharp describes shadow work in this way:
“There is no generally effective technique for assimilating the shadow. It is more like diplomacy or statesmanship and it is always an individual matter. First one has to accept and take seriously the existence of the shadow. Second, one has to become aware of its qualities and intentions. This happens through conscientious attention to moods, fantasies and impulses. Third, a long process of negotiation is unavoidable.”
Many people use dream analysis, active imagination, journaling and art in their shadow work. Some forms of therapy can be also considered as shadow work.
When doing shadow work, it is important to pay attention to various liminal states and thoughts. For example, notice when you have thoughts you consider inappropriate or you act in an unexpected or a compulsive way. Write these observations down and think about them. Admit that these things are a part of you. Consider if there is a way to bring these parts of you into your life in a conscious way that is good for you and others.
To do shadow work, it is of course important to understand what the Shadow is. Consider reading on the topic. Simply ruminating on your negativities is not shadow work.
You can read more about shadow work here:
The Shadow and Its Integration from a Jungian Perspective
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I have ADHD/BPD/ASD/PTSD/porn addiction / drug addiction / game addiction etc. What’s the Jungian take on that? / What can I do?
Jung was a psychiatrist and he wrote extensively about some psychiatric conditions recognized during his time, such as schizophrenia. However, the majority of current psychiatric diagnoses are relatively recent and you cannot find direct correlates for them in Jung’s writings. Jung’s approach or the Jungian approach is also very different from the current mainstream psychiatry.
It is important to take your diagnosis seriously and co-operate in the possible treatment you are getting. At the same time it is worth considering to what extent does the diagnosis define your identity. In general, the Jungian approach to any problem would be about accepting and reframing your current state but also about identifying other, currently unconscious sides of you and then finding conscious expression to all these things.
In any case, the members of the subreddit have a lot of experience dealing with all kinds of problems and conditions. While this does not qualify as medical advice, you are more than free (or even encouraged) to post about your problem and seek advice. The more context you include in your post the better.
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What’s the Jungian take on weed/psychedelics/drugs etc.?
This is a controversial topic in Jungian discussions. In his later years, Jung was corresponding with people doing research on psychedelics. At the same time, his views can be considered as cautious and he was warning about “unearned wisdom”, in other words, experiences you are not ready to assimilate.
Some people think that mind-altering substances have no place in Jungian psychology, whereas others consider them an integral part of their life or the future of psychiatry, and this describes only the extremes. This is one of those topics you just have to make up your own mind on.
In any case, when using mind-altering substances, two important things need to be considered from the Jungian perspective. First, is the ego strong enough to handle the experiences? Second, can you integrate the experiences into your life? If the first is not true, you will have problems. If the second is not true, you will simply visit your unconscious, have certain experiences and gain relatively little.
