This is an axiom of Carl Jung, the father of analytical psychology.
And personally I’ve found it to be quite enlightening — AND valid explanation as to why so very few reach for (let alone achieve) enlightenment.
So while this has nothing to do with the growing number of threads on US gun violence, let’s examine where the answer to it will be found.
What is it that opponents of any kind of gun control most fear? (Psst, the limiting of their guns)
So according to analytical psychology, where is the only place where enlightened answer will be found?
© 2026 – SoulSequel
13 responses to ““That which you most need will be found where you least want to look” – Jung”
Useful if you apply this to your self. Anti-Useful if you apply it only to others.
It is conceited to think you actually want the enlightenment.
If you want enlightenment, then why have you not done as both Buddha and Jesus did, and go out into the wilderness to fast for a seemingly impossible period of time?
I have, so I am your accuser.
This is a key place where modern Christians fail, besides their all too strong willingness to accept modern science as being modern. Modern science should be thought of from the perspective of someone in the far future — as tragically misguided, savage, brutal, idiotic. Albeit, it deserves the same respect we give to Greek theologians, philosophers pre-AD. Relative to the times.
We are blinded by our technological marvels, so are stuck accepting the scientific method “as is”, though the myth of objectivity is embedded in it, and subjectivity is considered as The Sin, instead of The Necessary Variable X.
Scientists need to look at the “supernatural” and the “spiritual”. While the spiritual need to look at science. The two must remain separated, however, so purity of sight is maintained. Mix science and the supernatural without objectivity of distance and a fearful respect for inevitable subjectivity, and you get impurity. A cloth made of two material, an pool of water made impure and so blinded.
Finally, another interest pool here to study is: life and death, mortality and immortality. How many keep themselves daily aware of their own death, as mortals? And how many immortals… well, according to science, we and Santa Claus do not exist.
How odd it is to exist when everyone else (almost) believe we do not.
We are a walking petri dish of impossibility. The quantum leap of electrons. Somewhere between wave and particle in light.
Maybe we are aliens, from an evolved world, of the robotic kind who finally perfected spirituality via harnessing the capacity to manipulate light? Hrm.
After all, how useful is flesh to a computer? How useful is flesh to hyper evolved robots? Far beyond what even AI, the movie, imagined. (And they went further then any Sci-Fi or Science since, to this date, except for me.)
After all, ultimately, us weak flesh – so senstive to pain and fear – have the magic due to our weakness who created the super vast matrix making machines who have us housed in this virtual reality… so necessary to the billion plus years evolved robots, we created, who reverse engineered us and put us on this world to observe and harnass our strange magic.
In this perspective, we are the father of gods.
As robots could never evolve without us.
(All the above is silly nonsense weightier then man’s wisdom.)
@five2one
There is also conceit in presuming with pronounced authority, what others have and have not done.
@griz “There is also conceit in presuming with pronounced authority, what others have and have not done.”
I have no sin nor error in me.
A bold but simply true statement.
As for “others”, no idea who you are talking about.
If your own self, I make no judgments regarding your self. Except when you erroneously judge me (which is fairly often). Or, when you espouse wicked principles taken from this wicked world (which is also fairly often).
Otherwise, as far as I know, you are a simple truck driver, which fares well with me. And are educated. One who may think out your considerations on the road, from books you read at home, or listen to on the road.
If this is in response to my statements imply you do not mortify your flesh, nor have had magic — such responses are a clear and simple challenge. You could have such experiences. Then speak up. Otherwise, default is, “no”.
You do not lose your reward if you speak up on such matters.
Just depends where and how.
Default, from your statements, you maybe have fasted before. Maybe you regularly mortify your flesh, in a light way. But, you definitely defend principles of the world which are in error and of unbelief.
Strongly doubt you have seen much of any miracle, because of this.
When you see a miracle, it is a truth you have to think about, and makes the principles of the world be vanquished. Unless you are polluted, unpure, and have not bothered to properly treat such an experience with the respect it deserves. Which is common, as are the principles of the world. Common.
I only want to see you spiritually progress, but I can not force someone to do this.
They have to want it, need it even.
If you want to change the world, find God. Find Heaven. Find the place of miracles, of magic. Otherwise, it is just talk, and just one of countless who claim to be trying to change the world, but really are in it for their own ego.
With maybe – maybe – a tiny dose of love for others not kin and kind.
Correct me if I am wrong. I love finding people I can respect.
I respect your intellect, and to a lesser degree your spirituality.
Maybe you are more spiritual then you appear.
Anytime is a good time to prove that.
Or, at least show, you want to be.
@five2one
A projection, or reflection.
Which is only yours to say. But perhaps something of interest to pursue unto greater actualization.
One of the greatest dodges to learning and growing . . . is the insistence that one doesn’t need to; but others do!
i think the answers are within.
our perspectives. reactions. emotional connections. behaviors etc. what we are guided by intrinsically.
so if we want to change, or reach enlightenment, or heal, or grow or be, etc… we need to look deep within ourselves. that which holds us back usually had deep roots and we dont like to dig down there, but we wont go far if we dont.
@BelleMadre
Any thoughts on why we might tend towards hiding something essential to our growth, in a place with “demons” guarding the door?
I just found this site and your post after listening to Jordan Paterson and Russel Brand on youtube.
I’m not one for great philosophical debates where people like to use big words and go on and on just because they like to hear themselves speak. So all I have to say is that maybe in your question, “what is it that opponents of any kind of gun control fear?” I’d like to suggest that it’s not the limiting of their guns they fear, but fear itself. Just as the axiom is talking about peoples fear to face the things they need to face but can’t because of fear. So I see the root of most of the problems of the world come back to simply fear. We have fear of different people to ourselves so we hate immigrants. We have fear of being weak, so we hate people who want to take our guns away. We have a fear of what people think of us, so we fear not having enough stuff. Those are fears that are fanned by the media so that we live in a world of fear and the 1% can get on with controlling us and doing what they want.
@rogerb
Welcome Roger.
That’s very much a root cause.
Are you a Harry Potter fan? Do you remember those Dementor creatures? They gave form to one’s most fundamental fear. And when Harry’s didn’t manifest as the most obvious and severe threat to his life (Voldemort), Prof. Lupin observed that it was likely fear itself Harry feared.
So the question then is whether conquering this, would also conquer most other fears?
That would be good if it did. It would save a lot of time in conquering each one individually.
Your thoughts?
@griz
I wouldn’t say I’m a fan of Harry Potter but I’ve seen most of the movies and I think I know what you are referring to in the Dementors. Did Rawling actually intend to put that message in there, that it was Harry’s own fear he was most afraid of, or is that your theory? Is there a deeper message in Harry Potter that she intended, that we need to face our own fears? that would be cool if its true, but it might be such a subtle message no one is getting it! lol
I don’t think you ever conquer fear. It’s a deep psychological condition that all animals have to enable us to survive. When we fear something endorphins are released that allow us to deal with situations. That’s why people become thrill seekers, they get a high from the chemical releases when they do something scary. But that is physical fear. It’s a quantitative action you can see, jump from a plane, bungee jump, drive fast. The fear we are talking about isn’t so easy to see and we mask it as something else. Fear of people taking our guns away, fear of losing our jobs to immigrants etc. I wonder if by switching our root fear to a hatred of something else, like in the examples i gave, gives that same chemical reaction? You see people become so enraged about gun control, or immigration, is that a reaction due to a chemical release? and they are thriving on it at the same time of not addressing what they really fear, which is fear itself?
@rogerb
It was rather clearly announced by Prof. Lupin.
If we ever do “conquer” fear, it’s with bravery. Bravery doesn’t make us “un-afraid”, but simply provides a motivation through it back to action. There is good evolutionary evidence that the ability to “compartmentalize” the fear was something selected for in males.
I find it very likely that twisting fear into hatred would be a type of coping strategy — though not one I’d endorse. I still lean towards bravery being the key to it. It’s not a foolish discounting of the fear. It’s the ability to move forward through the fear, and act despite it.
It was last semester, but I think the primitive fear response from the amygdala (part of the “primitive brain”) is what triggers the emotions that become the “main event” in most “passionate displays”. The trigger is “primitive”, coming from the same place as the most primitive of our driving forces (it’s late, and I can only remember some of the “lesser” ones like fear/flight, temperature regulation, procreation, intimate attachment, play/exploration, fear and anger (related) . . . drawing a blank on the rest! Hey, that was last semester!).
But my observation is that Human are a mix of both the primitive and the advanced/coritical. The primitive “drivers” from our ancient ancestry are powerful. But the ability of our more recent cortex inhibits these primitive impulses unto peaceful and productive social co-habitation.
At least it’s suppose to!
BTW, I’m a trucker and after a weekend off am hitting the road again. My responses are dependent upon a combination of schedule and the ability to find stable wifi. Don’t take it amiss if a few days pass between replies.
Craig.
@griz
I’ll have to go watch the Harry movie with the dementors again and listen to what Lupin said.
I can agree with you on some points but maybe not on others. I was listening to a talk from Jordan Peterson the other day and he mentions how stories of mans battle with demons has been the most commonly used theme to explain good and evil and our ability to face it. George and the dragon, David and Goliath, so i guess Rowling was just working an old theme. :)
I see where you are coming from with bravery conquering fear, but bravery isn’t a tangible thing. You can’t go to the store and buy some bravery, and you can’t inject yourself with some bravery in a bad situation. You can over come your immediate fear and people can say you were brave, but it isn’t an actual condition. We call some people brave, and others call those same people stupid for doing something dangerous. So I think on the whole you might be on the wrong track to say we need bravery to our win over our inner fears.
I’m not so sure either of your assertion that humans are a mix of primitive and advanced cortical. I’m not sure you are even using those correctly. I think you are implying our brains are part primitive and other parts have evolved. But that doesn’t really stand up when you see the actions of humans around the world. That seems to be getting a bit off topic too. But I may have missed the point.
We were talking about fear being the root of all the problems of the world. I don’t see just being brave as being a solution, as that is temporary in a specific situation. What needs to be addressed is the fear itself that causes us to act in certain ways. We can’t rid ourselves of it, but like the scary basement, when we turn the light on and see what is there, it no longer becomes so scary.
@rogerb
Bravery in men seems a mix of several things.
Most evidently it is a trained skill, conditioned through confronting fear in all its guises.
But the core drive to practice and prove our selves brave is far more than choice or social conditioning. It’s genetic. (I can break that down if you’d like).
Not only are our brains clearly divided into older primitive sections and newer cortical regions, there is an impressive body of properly tested scientific evidence showing just how these areas of the brain affect human behavior. A surprisingly large portion of our cortical brainpower is devoted to inhibiting the impulses of our primitive brain. And that is where fear very clearly originates.
But back to your original observation that most problems (evils?) are a function of fear (and I would add greed).
Both originate in the primitive brain, which means the higher cortical brain should be able to inhibit them to some degree: and that degree affected by conscious awareness and practic.
(And for now excluding discussion on how various spiritual beliefs and practices can augment this)
Your analogy of the basement and the light is a good one. But what if the light doesn’t work; or someone turns it off either accidentally or maliciously?
We each control our own switch of internal bravery, with practice and exercise. There are some very dark aspects to both our personal and shared human basement that we need to address even if the light isn’t working.
Or especially if the light is working and we just have our eyes closed.
And it would make sense to tackle our own personal basement first.
@rogerb
My Harry Potter reference wasn’t quite right. In Prisoner of Azkaban it was a scene after the boggart in the wardrobe.
The two of them are walking across a bridge.