Carl Jung’s mind-bending secret to self-awareness
The self is a house of hidden rooms
I’ve met myself over and over again in ways I didn’t expect. I’ve been on a self-awareness path for a few years now, but pieces of myself keep showing up. Life feels more like a deja vu.
Psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist Carl Jung observed, “We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the path of life.”
Many times, I’ve found myself in experiences that feel strangely familiar. For example, as a teenager, I used to walk to my local library to read philosophy books. I never pursued that quiet curiosity.
I missed a subconscious clue to my best future self. It took me a decade to realise I could make a living from hidden curiosities. Today, I still read books by great thinkers for intellectual pleasure, share what I find with an audience and make a living from it.
Your “thousand disguises” may be patterns in your relationships. You might date different people, but somehow, the same issues keep coming up. Maybe it’s trust, communication, or boundaries.
At some point, you start to realise that the common denominator isn’t the other person — it’s you. You’re meeting yourself and your own unresolved issues through these different relationships.
