C.G.Jung Helpdesk

“It is not possible to live too long amid infantile surroundings, or in the bosom of the family, without endangering one’s psychic health. Life calls forth to independence, and anyone who does not head this call because of childish laziness or timidity is threatened with neurosis.” C.G. Jung

What do you get when you combine romance and spectacle? One of the most successful movies of all time and a great display of the individuation process of a trapped woman. Viewed through a Jungian lens, one can observe the positive encounter with her animus, finding life and fighting for it.Caution: There will be tons of spoilers. I recommend watching the movie before the event.

“The smaller the personality, the dimmer and more unconscious it becomes, until finally it merges indistinguishable with the surrounding society, thus surrendering its own wholeness and dissolving into the wholeness of the group. In the place of the inner voice there is the voice of the group with its conventions, and vocation is replaced by collective necessities” C.G. Jung

Jung deals a lot with the internal world, our psychology, but he also wrote extensively about the social world and our role in it. Join to find out what happens when individuals come together to melt into something we call “the group”.

“Everything unknown and empty is filled with psychological projection: it is as if the investigator’s own psychic background were mirrored in the darkness. What he sees in matter, or thinks he can see, is chiefly the data of his own unconscious which he is projecting into it.” C.G. Jung

Jung and his ideas were already hard to understand in his time and while the concepts of psycho analysis found a strong footing in modern discourse and culture, getting an unobstructed view on Jung and his work is still difficult. One of my motivations for starting the C.G. Jung Helpdesk was to provide the clearest view possible, which sadly also includes challenging the notions and interpretations that people already have. So this is what this event will be about, drawing a line between what Jung said and those after him thought to understand.

“Once the unconscious gets into active opposition to consciousness, it simply refused to be suppressed.” C.G. Jung

While failing at the box-office when it was released, David Fincher’s “Fight Club”, based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk, became a hit and cultural phenomenon on home video. Viewed through a Jungian lens, there is a lot to explore and there is still something to add to the countless interpretations about its meaning.Caution: There will be tons of spoilers. I recommend watching the movie before the event.

“There, in the East, is the metaphysical philosophy, and that is what we call psychology” C.G. Jung

While the march of modernity made cultures seem more and more homogenised, was Jung in his time still able to see and perceive cultures in their more unique expression. Deeply concerned with the decay of European civilisation during both world wars, he spent much time investigating the roots of western civilisation and with his investigations into eastern philosophy trying to found out more about human nature.

“Freud’s only interest is where things come from, never where they are going.” C.G. Jung“Freud's original idea of the unconscious was that it was a sort of receptacle or storehouse for repressed material, infantile wishes, and the like. But the unconscious is far more than that: it is the basis and precondition of all consciousness.” C.G. Jung

Nothing stings harsher than deceit and deceived Freud felt after the friendship with Jung ended. Jung sacrificed his academic career and his reputation to pursue what he felt was his true calling; and made him to the person that we know today.

“Statements by men on the subject of female psychology suffer principally form the fact that the projection of unconscious femininity is always strongest where critical judgment is most needed, that is, where a man is involved emotionally” C.G. Jung

Here I want to try something new and move away from only using material directly from Jung to talk about one of the most surprising (and successful) movies of the year: Barbie. Looking through a Jungian lens there are many different facets to explore and to utilise to explain concepts and ideas of analytical psychology. Caution: There will be tons of spoilers. I recommend watching the movie before the podcast.

“At first, the Self is always something simple, something little, or cheap. It turns out, however, that it’s the king or even the savior. It is the crown, the phoenix, the saint, the savior, even the deity. It is the center toward which everything is oriented” C.G. Jung

Life moves in circles, but what is in the center? Jung saw a fixed point in the psyche that one revolves around closing in more and more with time. Is there something like an invisible hand guiding one’s actions and thoughts? Join to find out more!

“The shadow is on the one side regrettable and reprehensible weakness, on the other side healthy instinctivity and the prerequisite for higher consciousness.” C.G. Jung

There is a hidden side to everything, but sometimes what is hidden from our sight is the most obvious to other people. While the shadow is always right next to us we tend to find it the fastest at other people. Join to find out more about one of the most famous concepts of Jung and why evil always seems to be on the other side of the Rhine.

“When somebody has an archetypal experience, he gets one hell of an inflation and is inebriated by power. That's also the reason why Nietzsche was a megalomanic.” C.G. Jung

While we think to be always the master of our thoughts and actions, there are other forces lingering in the background, gripping people and pushing them along. Being driven does not need to mean to be in the driver’s seat.