/lit/ - Literature

If a man does not confront the evil that resides within himself, he will absolutely be a victim to it. For to neglect a battle and to lose it are one of the same.

>>15550321
It's called identification, and it means you cannot differentiate between the contents of the unconscious and their interactions with objective reality, and your own ego-self-consciousness.

The part of the psyche you're confusing yourself for is your persona; Originally the word persona meant a mask worn by actors to indicate the role they played. On this level, it is both a protective covering and an asset in mixing with other people. Civilized society depends on interactions between people through the persona.

"There are indeed people who lack a developed persona . . . blundering from one social solecism to the next, perfectly harmless and innocent, soulful bores or appealing children, or, if they are women, spectral Cassandras dreaded for their tactlessness, eternally misunderstood, never knowing what they are about, always taking forgiveness for granted, blind to the world, hopeless dreamers. From them we can see how a neglected persona works".[“Anima and Animus,”CW7, par. 318.]

Before the persona has been differentiated from the ego, the persona is experienced as individuality. In fact, as a social identity on the one hand and an ideal image on the other, there is little individual about it.

"It is, as its name implies, only a mask of the collective psyche, a mask that feigns individuality, making others and oneself believe that one is individual, whereas one is simply acting a role through which the collective psyche speaks.
When we analyse the persona we strip off the mask, and discover that what seemed to be individual is at bottom collective; in other words, that the persona was only a mask of the collective psyche. Fundamentally the persona is nothing real: it is a compromise between individual and society as to what a man should appear to be. He takes a name, earns a title, exercises a function, he is this or that. In a certain sense all this is real, yet in relation to the essential individuality of the person concerned it is only a secondary reality, a compromise formation, in making which others often have a greater share than he." [“The Persona as a Segment of the Collective Psyche,” Ibid, pars. 245f.]

A psychological understanding of the persona as a function of relationship to the outside world makes it possible to assume and drop one at will. But by rewarding a particular persona, the outside world invites identification with it. Money, respect and power come to those who can perform single-mindedly and competently in a social role. From being a useful convenience, therefore, the persona may become a trap and a source of neurosis.

pt.1

>>15538908
oops

Started reading Jung years ago, stumbled upon the Red Book, lost my shit and myself.
Where do I start again ?