By Dr. Ching Tunglut
27 July 2021
Jung always had an inner understanding of the two sides in him, he was always somehow aware. And he believed it stems from having an intuitive mother, and a structured father, who were both highly influential in his life. Jung’s understanding of his 2nd personality, which I believe is something that is akin to understanding one’s own shadow, is one of the thing that sets him apart. He sees the dual personality that is in everyone: be it his mother, his father, and even his own sister. And of the people he meets, he sensed their hidden 2nd personality too. He made a mention of Nietzsche and his writing, and exclaimed how his writing reflected Nietzsche’s 2nd personality. In this context, Jung seem to have hinted upon the expression in arts as an expression of the 2nd personality in us. He mentions works such as Goethe’s Faust, and Nietzsche’s Zarathustra as an expression of their No. 2. According to Jung, the expression of this no.2, where Nietzsche seem to childishly expects the masses to accept his no.2 may in itself have been the reason why the masses were not accepting of his writings in those times. As it is said in the Bible, a prophet is not recognised in his hometown. It is worth noting that the same cannot be said of our times now. Nietzsche is one of the most celebrated thinkers of our time. Maybe this reflect the current culture, and the current collective psyche. There was a time when Superman was the hero our culture celebrated. Superman, with his ever one sided heroic self, a taintless hero, who does good because he is good. But the superhero that we celebrate now, if we are to talk about Hollywood, are tainted. They are more human. They make mistakes, they have past, and they struggle to maintain their sanity. Batman is one such character. Even in the Marvel world, the superheroes we prefer nowadays seem more real and human than how superheroes used to be represented. In essence, there is a collective understanding of the shadowy side of the nature of humankind. The same concept is not alien to anime. For instance, in one scene in Naruto Shippuden, he had to meet his worst enemy so that he could become stronger. He comes to a sanctified place, sits and meditate. In his meditative state, he meets his worst enemy: his dark side that his ego wishes did not exist, and wishes to relinquish. They fight. The stronger he fights, the stronger the other becomes, till at last he finally understood: it was pointless and meaningless to fight himself. That other being was himself, and the stronger he rejects him, the stronger that other self fights back. He stopped fighting and embraced him, calling him by his own name, and telling him he was very much an essential part of himself, something he could not be without. Only then could he integrate the other side of him into his own self and become one within.
This sense of dualism is something that runs through the text in the chapter mentioned. In cognisance of this dualism that Jung had mentioned, this is the motherboard of our projection. We tend to be quite unaware of not only our parents’ no.2, but of our own as well. We may be basing the knowledge of our-self on the things we do, not on the things we think or imagine or the things that are at the back of our mind- our unconscious. The more unaware we are, the more we project onto others; and so, it is the other who hate, it is the other who are wrong, it is the other who are judgemental. Never you. On the other hand, if consciously you have quite been the negative type, then your no.2 might as well be comparatively positive: so, it is the other who are knowledgeable, it is the other who are right, it is the other who knows best. Never you. And this is the burden of the unaware, of the unconscious that never gets acknowledged. And the more we fight this no.2, the more it fights back; the more we push, the more it pushes back. To quote Jung (1967, p.335), “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” When the other is a potential partner, there may be a tendency to project one's own desired quality of a romantic partner onto them. Accordingly, when you see that beautiful girl who is your dream-girl, who feels like she is the one; or you see that boy who is the epitome of your dream guy, who feels dangerous yet exciting; you may be merely projecting your own unconscious materia onto that person. And as the relation proceed, you realize they were not the person you thought they were. That is when the projection dissipates. Thusly so, being aware of our own no.2 could initiate an understanding of our projection, and consequently, of our relationship with others around us.
References:
Jung, C. G. (1963). Memories, dreams, reflections. Crown Publishing Group/Random House.
Jung, C. G. (1967). Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 13: Alchemical Studies (Adler, G. & Hull, R., Eds.). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.