the fear of being average | a perspective from Jung on unique potential & integrating your shadow

A chat about Jung, unique potential, and integrating your shadow✨ 

Check out my video on Shadow Work:    • What is Shadow Work? A Guide to Overc...  

In this video, I share a bit from the book “Modern Man in Search of a Soul” and Jung’s realization for an additional need of man after understanding his problems (Freud’s method of interpretation) and learning to live a normal and useful life (Adler’s method of adaptation). Still, there are some people who are unfulfilled in life, and more than that, they experience problems because of this adaptation to normality.

As Jung puts it, normality may be a great goal for those whose struggle to live a normal life, but there are also those who struggle in life because of this restriction to normality. Their pain comes from unfulfilled potential.

♡Chapters♡
0:00 intro
1:07 your unique potential
3:52 persona & social adaptation
4:39 what does man need to be fulfilled?
8:27 the goal of self-realization
11:03 how to unlock your full potential
15:05 integrating your shadow

Here’s the excerpt I read from the book:

“Its part is to make up a deficit left by the previous stages; it comes to meet an additional and still unsatisfied need. … In other words, we must ascertain what could seem more desirable or lead further than the claim to be a normally adapted, social being. Nothing is more useful or fitting than to be a normal human being; but the very notion of a “normal human being” suggests a restriction to the average— as does also the concept of adaptation.

It is only a man who, as things stand, already finds it difficult to come to terms with the everyday world who can see in this restriction a desirable improvement: a man, let us say, whose neurosis unfits him for normal life. To be “normal” is a splendid ideal for the unsuccessful, for all those who have not yet found an adaptation. But for people who have far more ability than the average, for whom it was never hard to gain successes and to accomplish their share of the world’s work— for them restriction to the normal signifies the bed of Procrustes, unbearable boredom, infernal sterility and hopelessness.

As a consequence there are many people who become neurotic because they are only normal, as there are people who are neurotic because they cannot become normal. For the former the very thought that you want to educate them to normality is a nightmare; their deepest need is really to be able to lead “abnormal” lives.” p.47f.

So I’ve decided to add captions to my video today— if you hate it, I’m sorry, let me know! But for some reason my auto-captions were not able to understand anything I was saying and I was afraid it would be confusing for you guys otherwise

I hope you like this video, I’ve talked a bit about unique potential and the shadow’s role in self-sabotage on my channel. Let me know if you have any questions & thoughts, I’d love to hear them!! See you next week😊✨


t a g s #jung #carljung #shadowwork #shadowintegration #uniquepotential #highestpotential #selfdevelopment #selfconfidence #selfgrowth #psychology #personalgrowth #depression #fulfillment