The Psychology of Animals

Animals have been an integral part of human existence since our earliest origins. They are deeply ingrained within us and play a crucial role in the unconscious. In various religions, animals are revered as gods. Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist Carl Jung frequently remarked that animals embodied the divine aspect of the human psyche. He wrote a bold statement for a thinker of his era, "Even domestic animals, to whom we erroneously deny a conscience, have complexes and moral reactions.”

We belong to the animal kingdom, and knowing this is part of the individuation process, the journey towards wholeness. Yet, we seem to have forgotten our roots.

The animal is a symbol of the Self. It embodies the complete wisdom of nature yet does not possess the light of human consciousness. Animals are deeply connected to a “secret” order within nature itself and the absolute knowledge of the unconscious, living according to their own inner laws beyond human notions of good and evil. Animals live exactly as they were meant to live, and grasp a sense of wholeness instinctively, rather than intellectually. They are the ones who can lead us to this source of natural life.

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📚 Recommended Reading

▶ Archetypal Symbolism in Animals – Barbara Hannah
▶ Grimm’s Fairy Tales
▶ The Interpretation of Fairy Tales – Marie-Louise von Franz
▶ Archetypal Patterns in Fairy Tales – Marie-Louise von Franz
▶ The Cat: A Tale of Feminine Redemption – Marie-Louise von Franz
▶ Animal Presences: Uniform Edition of the Writings of James Hillman, Vol. 9
▶ Aesop’s Tales
▶ Medieval Book of Beasts

🎧 Prefer Audiobooks? Get a 30-day Audible Plus FREE trial:

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🎶 Music used

1. Colorless Aura – Kevin MacLeod
2. Evening Fall Harp – Kevin MacLeod
3. Ambiment – The Ambient – Kevin MacLeod
4. Reawakening – Scott Buckley
5. Dreams Become Real – Kevin MacLeod
6. With the Sea – Kevin MacLeod
7. Crystal Dream Mix – CO.AG
8. Left Alone – Dark Haunting Atmospheric Music – CO.AG

- CO.AG Music

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

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📝 Sources

- See Recommended Reading List above
- The Collected Works of C.G. Jung.
- C.G. Jung Visions Seminar (1930-1934).
- The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images by The Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism (ARAS). Publisher Taschen.
- Epidaurian Miracle Inscriptions. Text, Translation, and Commentary by LiDonnici, Lynn R.
- Erickson, J. (2022). Revisioning the Animal Psyche. Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies, 17(1), 7-22.
- Le Guin, U. K. (1975, April). The child and the shadow. In The quarterly journal of the library of congress (Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 139-148). Library of Congress.
- Bergström, A., Stanton, D. W., Taron, U. H., et al. (2022). Grey wolf genomic history reveals a dual ancestry of dogs. Nature, 607(7918), 313-320.

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⌛ Timestamps

(0:00) Introduction
(2:45) Animals: The Divine Side of The Human Psyche
(7:42) Animals in the Unconscious
(8:46) Our Animal Instincts and Symbolic Animals
(12:08) The Helpful Animal Motif
(15:36) The Archetypal Symbolism of Animals
(18:05) The Psychology of The Cat
(25:50) The Psychology of The Dog
(33:53) The Psychology of The Horse
(37:35) The Psychology of The Bull and Cow
(40:30) The Psychology of The Lion
(45:43) The Psychology of The Serpent
(58:05) Conclusion

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#animals #carljung #symbolism

[Eternalised]

*“It is the animal who knows the way, the way home. It is the animal within us, the primitive, the dark brother, the shadow soul, who is the guide.”*


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[SGSteeves]

“I went to a heavy metal concert. The singer yelled out, "How many of you people feel like human beings tonight?" And then he said, "How many of you feel like animals?" The thing is, everyone cheered after the animals part, but I cheered after the human beings part because I did not know there was a second part to the question.”

[davidmalfavon]

32:02
In Mexica/Nahua (descendant of the Aztecs) culture when you die and start your journey to the underwold the first stage is crossing a River, but this River can only be crossed by the guidance of a dog. It was a common belief that if you mistreated dogs during your lifetime dogs would turn their back on you, leaving you stuck in the first phase of the journey for ever. It’s crazy how this motif is so consistent with what’s being said here 🤯

[agxryt]

One thing i always like to remind people, is that to our pets - we are gods. We mold the world around us - we have unlimited food and drink. We create our own shelter - and we take them in, dote on them, love them, and then go off to do things they cant even fathom. Our faces morph and move in strange ways, a complex body language they can barely understand. We conjure light and sound from nothing, we make complex noise to communicate ideas - not just feelings, but entire ideas. To our pets, we are powerful enigmas, eldritch gods.

Be kind to your pets, and they will worship the ground you walk on

[redwolfe]

"We have an entirely wrong idea of the animal; we must not judge from the outside. From the outside you see, perhaps, a pig wallowing in mud, but that is partially because man has made the pig what it is; judged from the outside that pig is dirty. But it is not for the pig. You must put yourself inside the pig." - Jung

[paulrevereIV]

Started doing an “active imagination” exercise after reading Robert Johnson’s book last week (after you recommended it). The first two archetypes that showed up to communicate with me were a cow and a snake. As I listened through this episode at work today, a bunch of cows wandered into the garden I was weeding and I stepped on a snake as I tried to chase the cows out of the garden. Not sure what the hell it all means, but I’m absolutely certain I just came into full contact with a “non causal connecting principle”…. This channel is literally changing my life man. Love your stuff please keep going ❤️

[niccoloflorence]

It is interesting to notice that we associate ourselves and others to different animals depending on the mood we're in or qualities we perceive in the moment, to the point that sometimes the boundary between dream and reality completely disappears, as can be seen through the famous first line of Kafka's Metamorphosis:
"One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin."

[michaelrichter]

The other side of the Jahdjiko dog story is that; for 10 years nobody adopted that dog and gave him a good home... Anyone could have fed him and lured him to a good home. But the populace was so involved and in love with the 'anima', the motion of the loyal dog... That no one bothered to adopt the dog...) this speaks volumes for human nature not canine...

[KingZealotTactics]

A month in a half ago i lost my boy Titus to late stage cancer, he was a Pitbull Lab mix and he was only 7 years old. It's hard to mourn such an innocent well mannered dog he was so connected to us in his actions always slept in our entrance to guard from the unknown. My father said something that helped me accept things he said i believe he was put here on this earth to help us in our journey and he did his job and god took him back. This video really just adds to the notion thank you for making this video so that it could find me.

[gnosislover]

Crazy, I saw “ANIMA” on a license plate yesterday while driving now I know where the word “animal” comes from. So many synchronicities I’ve been experiencing.

[lady.azimuth]

This is why I love Eternalized. He makes an animal video and the first he goes into is the pelican, the symbol for the great liberating mother. ❤ He gets it. Love you

[Povhc]

I must say you have one of the best if not the best youtube channels. I hope yours remains discrete unlike some other channels which i used to like. I often watch your vids several times, especially arthurian and alchemical content.

Would really love to hear even more about mythology from you. Also really want to hear you explain common folk theme; king sleeping under the mountain. One of my fav since childhood.

[xeruen]

Patience is a virtue, i have been exercising patience for this video release thank you Enternalised.

[OscarAgueroDeLaCruz]

Why is this guy so good at talking, its almost hypnotic.

[kajwaverider]

This one of the best channels on YouTube. Banger after banger.

[Thomas-sbxh]

"I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself."
- D. H. Lawrence
The one who distinguishes man from animal commits an act of his own degradation.

[juicesoundsystem]

When you hear the words "Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist...Carl Jung", you know you're in for a good time.

[cherp]

Your voice has some sense of calmness.. everytime i hear it i feel relaxed and want to meditate

[JamesonRutfordPhD]

Living in a rural area the amount of animals being run over by cars is extroidinary. I wish I was intelligent enough to think of a way to keep this from happening but I am not. If anyone out there is I hope this sparks your intent to try.

[KelsaRavenlock]

Cats in many belief systems through history have seen them as being able to see and cross over to other realms.
They are seen to have one foot in the physical and one in the spiritual worlds.
Skogkatts were able to climb any surface and were able to travel to any realm, the cat sith were cats born in the fae realm, MeW could traverse the path to the land of the dead and back, Felis was sent by Diana to protect from bad spirits and the illness they bring, and so on.
And even cat killing witch hunters thought that they could see the hidden world.
Cats will attack things you can't see and stare intently at nothing which leads to this belief.
We have recently discovered cats have unihemispheric slow-wave sleep meaning that at many times they are both asleep and awake at the same time.