Thread by @Tim_Denning

I'm a writer.

When I was young, I suffered severe mental illness.

Then I found Carl Jung's work and began to heal my own mind.

Here are 9 powerful philosophies he taught me:

1. “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will rule your life, and you will call it fate.”

There's a layer beneath reality that controls us.

Unless you interrogate your own mind your inner child will run your life.

You'll think you know everything & believe you're superior.

Then the desire for luck & hope will destroy you

How to apply it:

• Notice your automatic behaviors
• Notice how you react to people you disagree with
• Pay attention to your beliefs

Now see where the opportunities are

2. “In all chaos, there is a cosmos, in all disorder, a secret order.”

The desire for you to start a goal when it's the right time is a hidden desire for certainty.

But the world only exists & works because of chaos.

Chaos makes us do crazy things. That's how we one day change the world.

How to apply it:

• F*ck waiting for the right time
• Go all out while you're alive
• Belief anything is impossible
• Fall in love with uncertainty

3. “Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people”

We all have a dark side. I've always avoided mine

But in the darkness there is light. The bad stuff can motivate you to do good in the world.

Your dark side is your alter ego that can do incredible things.

How to apply it:

• Embrace your dark side
• Take the people who hurt you & hurt no one
• Turn the pain of darkness into opportunity

4. “We are not what happened to us, we are what we wish to become.”

Victim culture in society is finally dying

You can come back from anything

There are no barriers to entry. Merit-based opportunities are back & they don't care what flavor of human you are.

How to apply it:

• Don't you ever be a f*cking victim
• Don't let anyone else steal your power
• You're a product of your actions, nothing else

5. “The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego, the second half is going inward and letting go of it,”

Ego starts out as good.

The older & more successful we get the more our ego gets in the way.

It tells us we deserve things when we don't deserve sh*t.

How to apply it:

• Make ego your enemy
• Show more humility in every situation
• Dare to be quiet & disappear for months
• Give up the stupid idea of millions of followers

6. “The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.”

The mind plays tricks.

We have both healthy & unhealthy thoughts. The key is to balance the scales slightly in your favor with positive thoughts.

How to apply it:

• Embrace more nonsense. It makes life fun.
• Realize there isn't always sense in madness
• Run from people who preach right & wrong

7. “There is no coming to consciousness without pain.”

Without pain you're a machine.
Without challenges you're a robot following orders

Most people live on auto-pilot. Face adversity & overcome it to be human again.

How to apply it:

• Become a builder/maker
• Use pain to eventually gain
• Want your goals to be hard
• Welcome more pain for more growth

8. “Man needs difficulties. They are necessary for health.”

Life is a video game.

Hard mode is where all the fulfillment is.

How to apply it: Add more hard goals.

9. “A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them.”

It's easy to have passions & ignore them. Or worse, put them off until someday.

When you replace passion with obsession your life becomes incredible.

How to apply it:

• Get obsessed.
• Hang around obsessed people
• Set 10 year goals

Carl Jung was an amazing thinker because he wrote down his ideas.

When you do the same & post them online, you attract incredible people & opportunities to you.

Get my free email course to get started writing online: timdenning.com/startonsocial-…