Jung, Superheros and Us

              Lewis Carroll once wrote "“I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!” in his book Alice in Wonderland.

In comparison, Carl Jung had said "It all depends on how we look at things, and not how they are in themselves".

One may wonder how the two are related, and the answer is quite simple: as human beings, we are bound to look at ourselves and wonder who we are, what we are, and why we are. There is always some level of self examination, but this blog is to focus on the who we are when we are in certain situations. Jung argued that there are at least four archetypes that human beings exhibit: The Persona (conscious), followed by the unconscious: Shadow, Anima and Animus, and Self. There is also the ego/bridge between the conscious, which is the mediator between what we are versus who we are. Very quickly, the follow is an overview of each Jung's unconscious.

The Shadow is our unconscious, the side that we know about but that we really don't know. It is what stays below our conscious, and keeps our "true feelings" hidden. Carl Jung argued that the Shadow presented itself in our dreams, both night and day, and that if we were to embrace it, there would be harmony, but shun it and we become split. Some may argue that conscious manifestations of the Shadow are in dazed, confused, or panic attack type states when the Shadow can readily move between states of self.

 

The Anima and Animus are thought to be within our subconscious. It is our balance of "good and evil", the difference between our inner and outer selves, etc. It is the idea of the "soul". It is more comparable to Freud's idea of the Ego. However, Jung differs in that his approach is a balance of male and female energies versus just a simply filter between our rational and basal needs. The animus wants to unite shadow and self, whereas the female anima keeps the animus from allowing the two to bridge completely. 

 

The Self also comparable to Lacan's The Real the combination of all our aspects that integrates within the universe. We never really understand it, but we sense that we are interlinked to other people, and that sense is what conforms us to one another. It could be argued that when one achieves this state they have passed through to the Matrix (pop culture reference) or Nirvana and have found their complete conscious/unconscious balance. 

 

The bridge of the The Ego separates the these from our conscious selves that Jung has deemed our Persona. The Persona is made up of different "masks" that we wear in order to appear a certain way to other people and is not who we are, but best represents the when, why, how and pieces of the what we are. 

The easiest way to describe what Jung was describing when it comes to Masks would be to talk about the modern Superhero. There are several examples, but let's take a look at Rorschach from the Watchmen. He is a character who believes that his face is the mask he wears. He exemplifies the quote from Lewis Carroll above when he describes his transformation from Walter Kovacs into Rorschach as seen in this video (WARNING, this is GRAPHIC)

In less extreme examples, we change. Our personalities or masks vary from situation to situation. The way someone presents themselves to an employer is far more different then how they will be around their friends, which differs from family, etc. We are a collected set of professional, personal, and private lives. We hide the things society may see as less desirable, and put forth what we think people want to see. The same goes for social media. We hide things we don't want everyone to see through privacy settings, and there has been a fair amount of people taking down some networking sites to avoid what they think their employers may see. There are professional sites like LinkedIn to make us seem more attractive to new job possibilities. Twitter, Facebook, dating sites, fetish websites, they are all being used to attract different types of people and to advertise ourselves to the world. 

 

However, you wouldn't post that you have a foot fetish on your Facebook or LinkedIn unless you are going for a certain type of job that requires you to have such a fetish, but you also probably won't post all of your ideas for updating your Linux system to your drinking buddies unless they are also your tech friends.

 

 

All that being said, Jung's theory of the Persona, and archetypes argue that we hide parts of ourselves to appear a certain way, and with the development of new technologies people are having to tread more lightly with these ideals because they can cause us to destruct with an over sharing of whatever we choose to put online. The point is, we have to be discriminate and know who we are before we decide to post about what we are.