Philosophies for Life 72: Carl Jung - Why Your Dark Side Is Your Friend (Jungian Philosophy)
Feb 28, 2025
19:24
In this podcast we will be talking about why your dark side or your shadow side is your friend. from the philosophy of Carl Jung. He found his own school of psychology, called analytical psychology and his philosophy is dubbed as “Jungian philosophy”. Jung’s most famous theory is ‘the individuation process.’
Carl Jung became immensely famous for his theory on ‘the individuation process’ - an almost step by step plan that seeks to fulfill your psyche’s potential by trying to make the unconscious conscious. The most important part of the unconsciousness to focus on for this practice is what Jung called ‘the shadow’, or your dark side. The shadow contains all the aspects of yourself that you’d rather not have and are in denial about, your bad traits and darkest side. The shadow is what you try to pretend you don’t have, even to the point of convincing yourself. Examples of traits the shadow could house are explosive anger, jealousy, envy, greed, pride, laziness, vanity, and so on...
Generally, we tend to be completely unaware of our shadow: it’s in our unconscious. But the suppressing of your unconsciousness is exactly what sustains unhappiness, inauthenticity, and misery. While you might think your shadow sounds more like your enemy than your friend, in this video we’ll explain why that’s not true; why you should consider your dark side your friend. Here’s why your dark side or your shadow side is your friend -
01. Your Dark Side Can Reveal Your True Self
02. Your Dark Side Can Give You Advice
03. Your Dark Side Can Help You Be Unique
04. Your Dark Side Can Fight You
I hope you enjoyed listening to this podcast and hope that this wisdom on why your dark side or your shadow side is your friend, from the philosophy of Carl Jung will be helpful in your life.
Carl Jung, together with Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler, is one of the 3 founders of psychoanalysis which is a set of psychological theories and methods aiming to release repressed emotions and experiences - in other words, to make the unconscious conscious. Jung was born in Switzerland in 1875 and died in 1961, leaving behind great works in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, psychology and religious studies. Jung had Freud as a mentor for a good part of his career but later he departed from him. This division was painful for Jung and it led him to found his own school of psychology, called analytical psychology as a comprehensive system separate from psychoanalysis. If classical psychoanalysis focuses on the patient’s past, as early experiences are very important in personality development, analytical psychology primarily focuses on the present, on mythology, folklore, and cultural experiences, to try to understand human consciousness. One of the most important ideas of analytical psychology which Jung founded is the process of individuation, which is the process of finding the self - something Jung considered an important task in human development. While he did not formulate a systematic philosophy, he is nonetheless considered a sophisticated philosopher - his school of thought dubbed “Jungian philosophy”. Its concepts can apply to many topics covered in the humanities and the social sciences. A good part of his work was published after his death and indeed there are still some articles written by him that to this day have yet to be published. Some of his most important books are: “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, Dreams, Thoughts”, and “The Relations Between the Ego and the Unconscious”. Besides being a great writer and a researcher, he was also an artist, a craftsman and even a builder. His contribution is enormous and there is a great deal we can learn from his works.
Carl Jung became immensely famous for his theory on ‘the individuation process’ - an almost step by step plan that seeks to fulfill your psyche’s potential by trying to make the unconscious conscious. The most important part of the unconsciousness to focus on for this practice is what Jung called ‘the shadow’, or your dark side. The shadow contains all the aspects of yourself that you’d rather not have and are in denial about, your bad traits and darkest side. The shadow is what you try to pretend you don’t have, even to the point of convincing yourself. Examples of traits the shadow could house are explosive anger, jealousy, envy, greed, pride, laziness, vanity, and so on...
Generally, we tend to be completely unaware of our shadow: it’s in our unconscious. But the suppressing of your unconsciousness is exactly what sustains unhappiness, inauthenticity, and misery. While you might think your shadow sounds more like your enemy than your friend, in this video we’ll explain why that’s not true; why you should consider your dark side your friend. Here’s why your dark side or your shadow side is your friend -
01. Your Dark Side Can Reveal Your True Self
02. Your Dark Side Can Give You Advice
03. Your Dark Side Can Help You Be Unique
04. Your Dark Side Can Fight You
I hope you enjoyed listening to this podcast and hope that this wisdom on why your dark side or your shadow side is your friend, from the philosophy of Carl Jung will be helpful in your life.
Carl Jung, together with Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler, is one of the 3 founders of psychoanalysis which is a set of psychological theories and methods aiming to release repressed emotions and experiences - in other words, to make the unconscious conscious. Jung was born in Switzerland in 1875 and died in 1961, leaving behind great works in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, psychology and religious studies. Jung had Freud as a mentor for a good part of his career but later he departed from him. This division was painful for Jung and it led him to found his own school of psychology, called analytical psychology as a comprehensive system separate from psychoanalysis. If classical psychoanalysis focuses on the patient’s past, as early experiences are very important in personality development, analytical psychology primarily focuses on the present, on mythology, folklore, and cultural experiences, to try to understand human consciousness. One of the most important ideas of analytical psychology which Jung founded is the process of individuation, which is the process of finding the self - something Jung considered an important task in human development. While he did not formulate a systematic philosophy, he is nonetheless considered a sophisticated philosopher - his school of thought dubbed “Jungian philosophy”. Its concepts can apply to many topics covered in the humanities and the social sciences. A good part of his work was published after his death and indeed there are still some articles written by him that to this day have yet to be published. Some of his most important books are: “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, Dreams, Thoughts”, and “The Relations Between the Ego and the Unconscious”. Besides being a great writer and a researcher, he was also an artist, a craftsman and even a builder. His contribution is enormous and there is a great deal we can learn from his works.