Maya’s Labyrinth: Liberation from the mirrors of illusion

The life long pursuit of self-knowledge is an important goal for many. This is especially true in midlife, when many of the things that previously used to fulfil you and had meaning are suddenly no longer numinous. Yet, there are few systems that teach you how to effectively go about this and empower you with the appropriate  tools and methods to pursue  such self-knowledge.

First and foremost we need to understand what it means to have self-knowledge.

Here only the “spirit” can help it, that is, the drive for knowledge of the self, on a plane beyond all the illusion and bemusement caused by projection. (C.G. Jung, CW 14 par 710)

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) said that many people mistake self knowledge with that which they know about themselves, or in psychological terms, of the ego, not understanding that there is an unconscious realm to each of us that wants to be known and is certainly felt. Moods, dreams, internal dialogues, fantasies, and interactions all point towards this unknown aspect of ourselves. We are in a constant state of disconnection with much of ourselves and this disconnection creates an illusion of the world around us and of the people in our world, and most of all who we actually are. Our unconscious plays a profound part in shaping our world. We project our unconscious beliefs and drives onto reality, such that it becomes more a reflection of our own unconscious or “shadow self” than that which it is in and of itself.  Not only does this trap us in a one-dimensional limited and distorted relationship with everything around us, it also causes us to be stuck in a script of which the writer is our own unconscious!

Understanding projection is (arguably) the single valuable element of psychoanalytic theory to grasp on the journey to knowing and understanding yourself and experiencing greater fulfillment in the world.