Modern Culture is Crushing Your Soul
How to fight for your freedom.
The West is falling
A man who is unconscious of himself acts in a blind, instinctive way and is in addition fooled by all the illusions that arise when he sees everything that he is not conscious of in himself coming to meet him from outside as projections upon his neighbour. — Carl Jung
Look around, western civilization is collapsing. From political strife to crippling inequality. From the exploitation of the planet to censorship — all tell-tale signs. Add to that the decadence of our culture. In fact, 1 in 3 Americans are now at risk for pre-diabetes. A far cry from the state of the health of the peoples in Greek and Roman societies. Plus, the overabundance of food and entertainment. We have in our hands the perfect recipe for fewer and fewer creators, and more and more consumers.
Most telling of all, the tearing down of statues. The burning, and tearing down of the heroic figures and myths of our society.
Ethno-communist movements have taken hold of the psyche of the masses. Like in other post-capitalist countries, the group you belong to overshadows the individual.
The West has moved on from the values of excellence and bravery toward equity, and comfort. And who can forget, the most noble and sought after of values: safety.
Western man has lost its soul. And we have killed her.
What will this mean for ourselves and our loved ones? What are we to do? Complain over the forces coming our way over which we have no control over?
What good will “bonding” with others over the decline of culture bring besides festering resentment from a simmer to a boil? You could, but what good will disempowering yourself do?
A different path forward
Another path forward is to empower ourselves. To create.
To financially free ourselves from fallen institutions and organizations. To leverage, or learn, the skillsets needed to create and work toward our freedom from them.
To instill in our creations the values we wish to see reflected in culture. Want to see more bravery and excellence? Start by being brave yourself and creating something excellent. Then monetize it.
Abandon your soul-crushing 9–5 and venture on the journey to create a business that is right for YOU. One that allows you to express your gifts.
Now, before coming up with a plan, or cooking up a story about how impractical this all is, start by looking within. Civilization is a reflection of the psyche of each individual in it — so, let’s start there.
Let’s start by examining ourselves. Let’s start by exploring what Carl Jung called “The Shadow”.
Why?
Within your shadow you’ll find what you need on your journey toward financial freedom.
The structure of the psyche
Shadow work is vital. Before getting to that, here’s some helpful context: Imagine watching a play on stage. What is the play made out of?
1. A protagonist and other actors
2. The stage, or scene
3. The behind the scenes stuff
4. A director, who isn’t in the play, but who tells the actor what to do
5. Others watching the protagonist perform in the play, who have a vested interest in the protagonist
The actor (the ego) is who we imagine ourself to be. Our sense of “self”, so to speak. It’s the stream of thoughts in the mind, narrating our experience.
When the actor meets someone in the play, he puts on a social mask. This is our persona, our social mask. It’s the part of you that celebrates the new guys second promotion while crushing a yellow “be happy” stress ball underneath the table.
And then, there is the behind the curtains component of the play. This is the unconscious. Within the unconscious is the director: your conscious
Then, there are others watching the play. They are the parts of the actor the actor himself wishes to not acknowledge about himself. Or, is unaware of. This is the actors Shadow. In truth we have several.
Encountering the Shadow
Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is — Carl Jung
Within your psyche, behind the curtains, whichever way you look at it, exists a part of you that is unfamiliar. Meeting this part can help free you from oppressive institutions and organizations.
This part of us is what Carl Jung describes as The Shadow.
We encounter the Shadow all the time, actually. Whenever we sabotage our intention, there is Shadow material there we are not aware of. You know that the Shadow has appeared when you feel angry, powerless, invisible, envious, greedy, anxious, depressed, out of control, and you say or do something impulsive or self-destructive, then feel guilty or ashamed afterward. At those times, you are meeting an unacceptable part of yourself. The Shadow also shows up in our struggles with addictions and compulsive behaviors. The straightforward solution to these? Face your Shadows.
Now, we reject this part for good reason. Carl Jung says the Shadow can reach all the way down to hell — he meant that literally.
This approach is a far cry from influencers who wear yoga pants and eat avocado toast to spread “positive vibes”. True spiritual progression requires encountering our Shadows.
The first step is seeing what’s in there. The second step: accepting it.
The gold the dragon hoards
The Shadow can contain within it gems of wisdom. Lost traits and characteristics whose excavation will make you a more based individual. A more grounded individual. One that has nothing to hide. One that accepts themself FULLY. One that can show up to the challenges life presents with gravitas.
The way forward is inward. Into the depths of your darkness.
Having taken this inward journey, you will aided out in the world in ways you could never have imagined. That is, if you can accept what you’ll encounter.
Encountering your Shadows helps you take ownership over your life.
By examining your inner demons, you’ll see them less and less in others. And when you do encounter them in others, you’ll see a part of yourself through them.
I’ll offer that Shadow work is one of the greatest gifts you can give society. To own your projections, to own what is unacceptable in you, helps you meet others with more humanity. Put differently, you are breaking the karmic cycle.
That is, if you have the balls to look within.
Encountering the Shadow Exercise
This exercise was adapted from the work of Dr. James Hollis.
- Think about your virtues. Here is a link to a list of them.
A. List 3 of your virtues that you honestly believe you seek to practice in your life.
B. Write down the opposite of those virtues (for example, if you chose tolerance as a virtue, then you would write down intolerance, if you chose optimism you would write down pessimism).
C. Looking back to the 3 virtues you’ve identified that are part of your intentionality. Think on your life and find at least 1 significant occasion, or situation, or pattern in which you realize the practice of that virtue brought harm to you or someone else
d. Look at (B) above and into your history, and identify for each of the opposite of your virtues where each showed up in your life coming from you, apart from your intentions or expectations.
2. Where are you stuck in your life (there might be a couple of places)…or, maybe a talent or a calling you never seem to find time for…there’s always an excuse. Or, I want to be able to express something but I veer away at the last moment. Where am I stuck?
3. What is the anxiety or fear that you will have to face to get unstuck?
4. Specifically what fear is there?
5. To get unstuck what do I have to face?