Exploring Carl Jung's THE UNDISCOVERED SELF - book review by Rob Ager / Collative Learning 

These 'unscripted' chats are superb, Rob. Thanks for sharing.

I'm only early on watching your video, but I couldn't stop myself agreeing with your point about people who go on and on about politics, religion etc since the dawn of 24hr news coverage, the internet and social media. People I have known all my life and had no interest in these subjects have all of a sudden turned into self proclaimed experts! It drives me mad, so thank you for mentioning it. I'd best watch the rest of the video!

Very pleasantly surprised to see you posting this Rob. I immersed myself in Jung's writing and theories for many years, and it's helped form me into who I am now. Shadow work is really an incredible thing to go through.

Ok now I've finished your video I wanted to say thank you for breaking down these complex ideas into clear and concise messages. I often struggle with managing my thoughts and communicating them clearly, which had often led others to call me 'stupid' or accuse me of lacking intelligence. I'm better than I used to be, but there's always room to learn more. Thanks again for a great video

Adding book reviews to your resume? Cause I certainly ain't complaining.

Ah Jung is one of my favorite psychologist/philosopher. Other great books by him are, Man and his Symbols, and Modern Man in Search of a Soul. Those are good really introductions to his philosophy.

Some of the coolest parts of this review/discussion are the bits where Rob looks at his notes and can’t consciously recall his intention, full meaning, or even whether the note was a quote from the book or his own words. It’s a subtle little demonstration of the unconscious at work. I dig Rob’s open mind about these types of things and his willingness to talk about psychic phenomena that need talked about in more casual, conversational contexts outside of formal academia. I hope he does more book/psychology videos in the future.

I bought a couple of books on integrating the Shadow and I followed the suggestions on Shadow work. For various reasons I've gone through several courses of therapy in my life, and I found the Shadow work to be very effective. During the night after the day I did the work, I would have extremely vivid and memorable dreams where I would be introduced to a character who I knew but had forgotten. Following on from this I noticed that my personality changed slightly, and always for the better. I think this is because we have a tendency to deny and oppress certain aspects of our own self,- e.g. like when you remember something that you said to someone attractive that you would not normally have said because maybe you were drunk. You end up rejecting the memory and burying it, but that is counter-productive because because what you are actually doing is rejecting a useful part of your own psyche. It stays buried until you reconcile yourself with it, and you may find it to be a key facet of your self.

This is one of the best Carl Jung videos I've ever seen. Some people would say it is the very, very best. And I know all about Carl Jung, believe me. Your channel's popularity is going to skyrocket with fire and fury like never seen before!

What a delight to hear your ideas and impressions of The Undiscovered Self. Worth a long listen. Carl Jung's works opened my universe which, in turn, motivated a career in psychology of 30+ years. As a young adult, discovering his ideas felt like coming home, but to an entirely new place in life. Remarkable. Anyway, thanks again. It was very nice to revisit Jung's take on the psyche.

Absolutely incredible video Rob. Your way of conveying information, ideas, and insight in a digestible manner is impressive. Thoughtful and genuine.

Ah, to feel Jung again :)

I see the red book back there! Gonna have to give some thoughts on that for us! Also watched the WHOLE thing and thought what you had to say was new and fresh in terms of takes! Please don’t stop, I’m always excited to see your latest videos

More book reviews and / or book list.✊️ Thx Rob for your contribution.

Rob, some positive feedback so that you know you're having an impact. I mean, I figure you do know, but I might as well add to it. 😁 I love your long-form content. This is primarily how I learn, through audiobooks and in-depth industry/academic presentations. The chances of me reading Jung's book these days are really low. But I will listen to your entire interpretation gladly and remember much of it verbatim. I'm really glad you chose to do the full version, because you are going into depth as well as adding your own perception and insights. This is extremely valuable, and I'd like to remind you that it is unique. We can't get your perspective somewhere else. So thank you and keep it up!

Rob, at 30:45 regarding individuality and trying to achieve freedom by climbing hierarchy, I had a thought new to me. What about the "family man" type who has already sacrificed part of his "individuality" to the role as provider in his family? Hmm. Maybe I don't have a real question here. But I don't see myself as only responsible to myself individually anymore, as I am motivated more by doing what I can for my growing family. This doesn't manifest as evil in my life, more a willingness to pick-up shifts. And there are ethical boundaries to how far I'd go. But maybe losing some of the "I am am individual first" from when I was younger is actually good. I love your work, my favorite video was the Delusions one where you debunk space travel and computer immortality. I should pray for you spiritually. thanks Rob

Thank you, Rob! Real joy to hear your thoughts on this. Yet another book you've mentioned that I'll have to pick up. You do great work, and it's much appreciated!

It's been a fair few years since I last read this book. Will be interesting to read it again with your analysis in mind. I'm also loving this new addition of book analysis to your content 👍

Jung's seminar on Nietzsche's Zarathustra is an excellent find. Thanks for posting this Rob, Jung saved my life many years back and continues to guide me.

14:50 I don't think Jung meant that completely anti-nationalistic / anti-religious. I've read his books and interviews both in English and German and he never appeared to be that judgemental, but primarily interested in recognizing patterns. A ritual itself is a pattern so I see no reason to believe that Jung generally disliked them. Saying that rituals are false trivializes them a bit too much. I also belive that Jung meant that we are subconsciously influenced by our ancestors and the society around us, beyond conscious identification with humanity partially or entirely. Archetypes are aspects that all of have in common yet we embody different aspects of them at different moments, that makes us individuals. You can compare this to faces: all our faces have fundamentally the same structure yet they all look different.

I think the point raised at 1:25:00 ish can be summed up by succinctly by "we are individuals among individuals"

I enjoyed this vid a bunch, made the drive to work fly by. You have a soothing Liverpoolian voice

This is great! 🙂👍🏻 I really like Jung too, and I absolutley like how you read him and get him, and are telling it to us! Its like I found a good friend through the net, I really enjoy listening. Its much easier to access too, and I like your sidepoints and thoughts. Its actually my second time watching, and its a definte faovorite! And - I love your channels all over! I have been following and paying interest for a long time…Its just seldom I do wanna make a comment. I am from Norway, so english is my second language, and Insm shy for writing in it (Cause i understand so much better than i am able to express myself - and that too is more difficult in written word 😉) So, I just wanted to stop by and say how much I do enjoy your videoes and say Thank you! 🙂 Its great work, and i am very happy its here! 🙂 All good things from Norway, best wishes and have a great summerday! 🙂🙂🙂

Subconscious is things you can become aware of through introspection. The unconscious is things we can only deduce towards, never know

"Subconcious mind" is to psychology as "Dark matter" is to physics

Very thankful that you didn't try to pursue a shorter video. So important for the information and the thoughts to be given the time they need... 🎉 Thank you!

I think I really needed to hear all that. I'm getting a copy of this book.

I was just wanting to learn more about Jung, this is perfect timing. Definitely different than your normal analysis, but to quote an aspiring senator “A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one!”

The individual is absolute greatest minority and majority.

15:15 have you ever checked out James KA Smith? He’s a Christian, but he talks about how rituals (or liturgies) can actually have a formative effect, to shape a person into a collective story that a community is living. He kind of presents liturgy as a re-orienting of a person. That is not to say that they are inherently formative (even if nobody believes what they are saying or doing), just that there is value in a community living into the story it’s telling. Idk, though you might find his work interesting!

Thank you for bringing up this topic! If you've never played or heard of the video game series Persona, Carl Jung's philosophy is a cornerstone of the plot and concepts. Going back to the original game, your guide is a being named Philemon, much like Jung's mentor. Throughout the games, you gain power through your persona, or mask, to battle your shadow, your doubts and insecurities, and become a complete person by facing it. There's a ton of videos that explains this much more in depth and far better than I can. These games go all the way back more than 25 years and are still relevant today. Take a look if you get a chance.

Marvellous video. In some ways, I actually think this is just as superb as Jung’s book, a lot of great expansions on Jung’s points, I think he would’ve been proud of you. I’d like to add a few expansions of my own here: --- I believe you have talked about this before in other vids, but it is worth saying here. Groups of people and movements who originally want to break away from social conformity of normal society, but ironically create new cultures of conformity in themselves. The hippie and goth cultures are good examples of this. To quote South Park, “If you want to be one of the non-conformists, all you have to do is dress just like us and listen to the same music we do.” LOL! --- Regarding science and statistical disregard for individuality, I think we have seen a good modern example of this point within the last few years. We all have our opinions and experiences on how coronavirus affected people’s bodies and health, I have seen and heard a lot of accounts from people I know, and their biological responses were incredibly varied. Some felt very bad from it, some others felt not much change, and some were in between. No doubt our individual diets, health conditions, age, etc. were contributory factors, but I believe this demonstrates our individuality at the biological level, which science (and probably society) generally prefers to disregard in its simplistic generalisations. --- There’s plenty of commonplace terms that perfectly fit well with your PADS theory. Parent Company, Sister Company, Uncle Sam, Big Brother, Mother Nature, the Nanny State, etc. Military institutions also have familial terms and phrases too, and there have been times when the establishment tried to artificially discredit its oppositions regarding certain issues by portraying them as being immature, undereducated, and full of childish tantrum, and therefore do not deserve freedom of choice as if they’re misbehaving kids. PADS is a great topic to explore further. To my knowledge, the 1960’s TV series The Prisoner is still the only fictional example that was consciously onto it. --- Society looking down on the Self-ishness and egotism of individuals. I believe society in negatively associating the words “selfish” and “egotistical” has blurred the distinction in how these words are applied to different contexts. It’s true of course that individuals can do very immoral things against other people or animals for self gain (and would deserve the name calling and whatever legal punishment is applicable), but because reality tends to have a lot of morally grey areas, there are times when people become “selfish” for reasons that are understandable, at the very least. Abortions is a notable example. We could look upon those who choose to have abortions at the expense of their potential babies to be selfish, but they probably would choose to do so for understandable reasons (and so the social movements promoting abortions to me proves that selfishness can be justifiable). I’m personally middle ground on the abortions issue, btw. I think the option should stay open in society, but I think there should be an increased emphasis of responsibility on the issue as the rights of the unborn are just as important. And then there’s great leaders, filmmakers and artists who did great things for humanity even if the individuals have an overly high personal estimation of themselves and have had clashed against others. At the end of the day, conflicts between individuals and others can basically be battles of willpower.

This sounds exactly like the type of book I'd love to read but it'd be too dry and academic so I'd lose interest and not finish it. So this in depth review of yours is PERFECT. I'd love to see you do more of these

I believe Jung would say that the reason you believe you came up with the same ideas as Jung even before you had read him, is because his ideas had become part of the shared unconscious. So for example you were aware of these concepts because they have been peppered throughout media and education and culture since before you were born.

7:18 "This guy has like pretty much read my mind in 1958 before I was even born, like 15 years before I was born..." I think its more that the cinema, art, and culture that his ideas, influenced, prior and following the year that this particular book was written, have influenced, you (as it has most who have been exposed to it) before you even came across the source material for yourself.

the Jungian Way has always interested me, i'll be taking a deeper look at it now. I study n practice buddhism and this seems perfect for me.

Just love it. Thank you so much for sharing.

I thought I've had is... if we are just a product of evolution... why is there this inate need, desire, longing for a "God"? Why does the human being need an all powerful creator? Other creatures of earth do not.

Always a treat to see the healing tool that is analytical psychology get some much needed mainstream exposure. Thank you for making and sharing the book review.

I love your content.. hope you do more book reviews in the future

I live my life by Carl Jung. His psychology and his religion. Beyond my own beliefs, I think you'll find that Carl Jung's ideas are spread throughout humanity. Through his own writing and from others, many people are drawing from an ancient inspiration. I see. You have the red book and a solved red rubik's cube

I was the 1,000th Like! Very enjoyable. 👍🏻

My guy, thank you for this analysis

My little brother and I once shared a lucid dream. It was his first ever lucid dream, and the next morning he explained it to me without me telling him about my version. I later shared a lame dream with a friend at a sleepover. I’ve also had dreams that I could remember vividly for years, which later came true in exact detail (always mundane events, small town landmarks I’d later discover) which is separate from deja vu. It wasn’t until recently that I met people who believe (or claim to believe) any of that. But it happened. I talk about it whenever it’s relevant.

Rob, you continue to provide much needed thought provoking content. As a fan of yours since 2009 I applaud you for your continued excellence. Whenever someone says that I am looking to deep into a movie, I bring up your channel because you can SEE the inner workings of a film -- revealing the art that is woven into the final product, from themes to metaphors to deeper meanings. That being said, I have to say the only opinion of film I've disagreed with you on was your view of James Cameron's Avatar. Better not rant and just show, I have a request. I have made in in-depth analysis of Avatar back in 2018 which has gained considerable amounts of views in the last 6 months, some have even said I changed their world view with this analysis. I request that you give it a watch - perhaps I can change your view of Avatar, considering we seem to share similar opinions on the nature of reality and the geopolitical world. Have a great day sir.

I would love to hear your thoughts on The Red Book by Jung. It will blow your mind Rob. Thanks for the great video!

This is one thing I agree with and have known and felt for a long time; happiness is never found and cannot be found externally. That idea is a mirage that I have fell for. It is not possible to obtain happiness from outside of ourselves. We will be happy or sad or anything in between those 2 points no matter what we do or get externally.

thanks this is a really great review video

I have it with one of my daughters. She often mocks and scolds her siblings (two of whom have austitic spectrum disorder) and because they aren’t career goal orientated (because they don’t handle social interactions well) she tells them they are lazy and are “putting it on”. Her boyfriend just goes along with her. When people have depression or anxiety they call it “victim mentality” and only consider people viable as humans if they work and work and put money and career before empathy, love, community and family. It’s like the warmth has been squeezed out of them by society and it’s expectations. It’s hard not to see them as monstrous like the terminator…relentless, ruthless and programmed to do what it takes to impress their peers.

Looking forward to watching this later.

I have to read this! Would also love the definitive Jungian psychology in The Shining video in the future. Such great content- thx Rob!!

I know he is not considered highly but Henry Miller also spoke to the undiscovered self. "Smile at the foot of the Ladder" and "air conditioned nightmare" both speak to this.

Yes , people claim to not be "religious" or like "Rituals" then carry on every Christmas putting up the xmas Tree and Decs, buy Eggs at Easter etc.

This book changed my life! Cannot reccomend it enough to EVERYONE!

The Dark Triades are confusing being "cunning"/"sly" with possesing "Intelligence"/"wisdom""/"knowledge"

thank you for the review. i appreciated it a lot.

In my opinion, there is only the COLLECTIVE MIND, that is divided into three sections: 1) the conscious mind, 2) the unconscious mind and 3) the higher self (= the conscience + morals + ethics). The conscious mind we call "the EGO" and it incorporates a certain amount of information, that is relevant to one´s EGO. Part Nr. 2) is much bigger and consists all of the knowledge, that is outside of the EGO. Everything that you are not aware of, because you cannot see it, hear it, smell it etc. But the infos in the unconscious want to penetrate your EGO, so that you can expand your conscious mind. If you expand your EGO trough thinking, analysis and learning, your EGO becomes wider and you can get in touch with the unconscious. This we call life experience.

29:20 Secret longing for individual autonomy......is a perfect description of the movie THIEF with James Caan and Michael Mann which I just reached recently watched. It might be Michael Mann's best film.

I've read this book before a few years ago, didn't get it. Picked it up again over the weekend and had my mind blown

Any chance we'll get your thought on that little Red Book behind you?

Henri Corbin wrote a book on Carl Jung and Buddhism. Still need to read it.

Thank you, Mr. Ager. You have a good comment section. Found some interesting book and film recommendations. Thanks, Chat.

There's a very good RU-vid channel about parapshychology, called New Thinking Allowed. Those are only interviews with succesful scientists who claim they've been able to demonstrate the effects of thoughts on the physical matter. Well, it's also about spirituality and this kind of stuff, and some if not most speakers look like hippies or cranks, including the host, but still all specialists in their fields and it's a pretty fascinating topic.

Excellent analysis as always. Jung's take on intuition/instinct or looked at another way, "evolved knowledge" is spot on. If your gut is telling you something, even if the reason is consciously unknown, or seems to make no logical sense when looked at in a modern context, chances are there is a VERY good reason for it.

This is a very interesting review of jung through your own experience. Very good work

So many people treat Jung with total derision for sociological, anthropological, cultural reasons, it's a real shame! He got bullied for being a gentile in the International Psychoanalytical Association which in many ways ended up being an old boys club of a certain kind. A lot of his schizoid-esque moves in his older years were a result of that ostracism. Nowadays a lot of psychoanalysists of a certain stripe outright call him psychotic. There are constant attacks against his worth and character, for which I've never seen any legitimate grounding.

Hi Rob, great video! Is there a chance you will cover Twin Peaks The Return in the future?

Thank you for getting into this. Aion would be worth a dive for you someday. Best!

Been watching you for years, you have amazing content

I can see the red book in the background ;)

It's good to have this in mind guys: Jung was not a philosopher, mystic, gnostic or metaphysics. Jung was utimately a scientist/empiricist, ok?

I got the exact same keyboard!

This was a great video Rob, thanks! Btw, plan on covering American Psycho?

Somethings to consider: Why do we refer to our intuitive nature as our second nature? Why is it that we don't become self aware until the age 2-3 when we recognise our reflection as our self? Narcissus springs to mind. We are denied the opportunity to discover the self the instant we enter the world , instead our every need is attended to as if we were helpless. Imagine how an empty mind would experience their introduction to the world. Could it imagine a higher power at work?

It's so odd to me that i first heard Jung's name in a song by Dead Hot Workshop. The song is called "Carl's Jung". They have some good songs and i only found out about the band because of the Gin Blossoms, they're all based out of Tempe, Arizona. Some good songs by Dead Hot Workshop are "Burger Christ" and "River Otis".

I really enjoyed that, Rob. Thank you.

Very good work Rob, as usual! Thank you!

Great insight, it's an excellent book thanks Rob really enjoyed the video

def have to watch this. Carl Jung's ideas are so very abstract and are oftentimes very dense. It's like reading dfw or pynchon in a way.

Enjoyed this. Interesting hearing you're take on Jung.

1:29:40 Totally agree, Oppenheimer might have been one of the most negligent humans to ever exist

I love listening to your thoughts. Thank you

Thanks! My Mother and oldest brother introduced me to Jungs books in the 60's. You may find this interesting, "Face To Face | Carl Gustav Jung (1959) HQ", on RU-vid. Also, Alan Watts: Man is a Hoax - Being in the Way Ep. 20

Thank you. Can't wait

Carl Jung is awesome. Respect

It was contemporary when published in the 50s but totally relevant today

"[Statistical reality] creates an average which most of the time doesn't exist." here it seems you've brought in statistical thinking with the phrase 'most of the time'. But not an average, rather a frequency. And remember what The Legend of Ron Burgundy teaches us: Sex Panther: works 60% of the time every time.

Wonderful. Thank you!

great work man!!!!!!!

Brilliant video! Really enjoyed it!.

Definitely loved this, Rob! Lol, I would not have minded if it had turned out three hours.

Just wanted to share an idea on the collective unconscious and the individual. I would suggest free will gives us the ability to be part of the collective unconscious yet individuate from it. But then... Are we separate? Rabbit hole. Quitting here. Great videos Rob!

Been interested in this book for awhile, and your discussion has only intensified that interest, so thank you for that. The idea of people mistaking conformity for personality really hit as one of those “I’ve always felt this but could never articulate it” moments. I will say one thing about science being “materialistic.” I think a more appropriate word would be “naturalistic.” The point of science is to explain the natural (and by implication NOT the supernatural) world. Fields of scientific study going beyond what can be observed naturally would, by definition, be bad science. Of course science can test the supernatural, but only to see if there are natural explanations for what might be incorrectly perceived as supernatural. Without reading the book, and understanding that you’re only giving an overview of your thoughts, I find it odd to fault science for being what it definitionally is. I also find that the idea of science being cold and factual to be misleading. Most science enthusiasts (in my experience) find great beauty and meaning in scientific truth. For example, that evolutionary biology demonstrates the relatedness of all life on Earth gives me a sense of connection and belonging that religion never came close to giving me.

I'd love to hear a follow up that expands on the mind split you mentioned with the attempted suppression of the Nazi salute in Dr. Strangelove to A Clockwork Orange. Additionally, I'm interested in hearing more about your spiritual thoughts. You've mentioned previously that you're atheist or maybe agnostic and in this video you said you are may be spiritual just not religious.

Great info as usual, Rob (TBH, I'm only up to 50 min, will finish later today). I'd be interested in hearing your views on Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method." The film is about the complex relationship between Jung, Freud and patient-turned-psychiatrist Sabina Spielrein.

Fantastic bit of work Rob , thanks I thoroughly enjoyed that , Yours sincerely Angry Kev 🤣

I recommend "a modern man in search of a soul" by C.G. Jung, Rob.

On statistics, and I think Jung would smile and wink, knowingly with this: The only people that participate in statistics are those that wish to be a statistic. Chew on that.

Whenever the subject of HP Lovecraft comes up everybody always just shouts "Ray-sist!!" I always say I think his racism was a shallow surface expression of his much deeper pshycological xenophobia, which is what much of his writing was about. But of course most people won't even consider it, they'd much rather virtue signal and call him a racist, because it makes them feel superior, and secures their place in the group. And then they get all suspicious about why I would "Defend a racist." Jordan Peterson also points out that rather than lambast Hitler as the devil in human form, we should try to understand how his psychology made him what he was, and realize that there but for the grace of god go the rest of us. In fact in light of recent events (past few years) it's easy to see how a whole society can slide into something very close to totalitarianism, and very quickly. Our society uses both of them as scapegoats to project our collective shadow onto and punish.

Great video Rob. I also wanted to ask you whether you’ve read ‘Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick Arthur C Clarke and the Making of a Masterpiece’ by Michael Benson. I’m currently reading and I keep watching some of your old videos to check up on little details in the film.