

User Name Remember Me? Password 06-29-2008, 10:27 AM #1 Yours Faithlessly Level 6 - Very Deep Thinker

Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Vancouver, BC Bincount™: 4 Posts: 185 Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) For my psychology class this semester, we had to write a paper analysing a children's story from the perspective of a particular psychological theory. I asked my teacher if I could extend this slightly so that I could analyse Ænima... and she accepted! So here it is.



It's not due until Wednesday, so if anyone has suggestions for changes, I'd be all for hearing them.



In the background of the bleak modern music scene, like the quiet kid at a high school party, one can find the band Tool. From their 1991 EP, ‘Opiate’, through to their latest album ’10,000 Days’ (2006), Tool have consistently defied commercial trends and single-mindedly pursued their visions as artists to create brilliant and original music. Tool’s lyrics frequently explore personal and disturbing areas that few other bands would be able to tackle – on one album, they cover child abuse, self-hatred, drug addiction, and the slaughter of carrots in such an intimate way that listening to it is an uncomfortable experience. The members of the band, far from being the drug-addled rock stars that one sees in the media, are intelligent and educated in diverse areas, and this results in music that covers ideas that perhaps no other band ever has.



In this essay, I intend to examine in depth Tool’s 1996 release, Ænima, with the intent of revealing and interpreting the Jungian themes of the lyrics. To do this, it is necessary first to give an overview of Jung’s theories and approach to psychology, including his idea of archetypes, the shadow self, and the anima. I will then relate Jung’s ideas to the lyrics of the album, going through each song and highlighting the elements that can be clarified by a Jungian interpretation. From this, the overall nature of the album – a Jungian quest for re-integration with the anima, and the unconscious in general – will become clear.



Jung, like Freud, believed in an unconscious part of the mind, which was often in conflict with the conscious mind. Jung believed that humans experience the unconscious through symbols, as they are unable to communicate directly with it. These can include dreams, fables, myths, fantasies, and other areas in which symbols stand in for emotionally potent concepts. Neurosis, according to Jung, is an expression of the conflict between opposing forces in the psyche. The goal of psychoanalysis is to reconcile the conflict between the conscious and unconscious into a whole, unified state of mind that he called the Self – the fullest possible consciousness of one’s personality. He called this process individuation. For Jung, this process is teleological; the desire for reconciliation with the Self is inherent in every person, and it is the end result to which all strivings are directed. This process for Jung is inherently painful, but he believed that it is only by working through this pain that people are able to realise their true selves.



Critical to this process of individuation is Jung’s idea of archetypes. Archetypes are the natural, evolutionarily predicated instinct to act or react in a certain way to a certain kind of person or situation. Jung believed that everyone is born with these archetypes as ‘psychological organs’, or skeletons, onto which experience grows like muscle. An archetype – for example, the archetype of the Mother – will blend with the individual’s experience of mothers to form the Mother complex. A principal aspect of the process of individuation for Jung is to connect (or reconnect) the archetypal dimension with the world that the individual finds around them. Failure to do this results in ‘spiritual impoverishment and a sense of meaninglessness in life’.



The anima is one of the main psychological complexes found in men. (In women, it is called animus.) The anima is the feminine archetype in a man, combined with the individual’s experience of women; it represents nurturance, interrelatedness, empathy, and other ‘feminine’ traits. If a person is not in touch with their anima, they find it projected onto other people. For example, Jung attributes the phenomenon of falling in love at first sight as a case of anima or animus projection. Reconnection with the anima leads men into their emotional and passionate lives.



Another important psychological complex in Jung’s work is the shadow self. An individual does not wish to think of himself or herself as possessing weaknesses, shortcomings, or unsightly instincts, and so they repress these negative parts of themselves when they experience them. The shadow is the dissociated secondary personality that is formed from this repression. If the shadow self is not properly acknowledged and understood, it is often projected onto others. Instead of viewing oneself as being unattractive, for example, a person may perceive many of the people they meet to be unpleasant looking. The goal of analytical psychology is not to integrate the shadow self completely into the ego, but rather for the individual to have a good relationship between the two.



Jung’s contributions to psychology far exceed just these ideas, but they are at the core of much of what he wrote, and they have the closest relation to the themes of Ænima. Similarly, there are many interesting themes and ideas present in Ænima, but this essay will focus only on those that relate to Jungian concepts.



The best place to start a Jungian analysis of Ænima is the name of the album. It is a combination of two words – anima, Jung’s concept which I outlined above, and enema, an anal douche. This not-quite-a-word sums up the key themes of Ænima. On the one hand, it is about reconciliation with the anima, soul-searching and introspection; on the other, it is about flushing things away – in the singer’s words, ‘cleaning out the house to refurbish or redecorate and start over’. With these two ideas taken together, the word Ænima comes to represent a flushing out of the soul, purging oneself of impurities, suffering through a painful process of re-evaluation in order to achieve a higher state of being. This concept is crucial to an informed understanding of Ænima, so it is important to keep it in mind while analysing the album.



The first two songs on Ænima, Stinkfist and Eulogy, introduce the album and state of mind of the singer (who can also be thought of as the ‘narrator’, given the story-like nature of the album). The singer is alienated and disconnected from himself, and constantly has to seek greater heights of stimulation in order to feel alive. While these songs are important in understanding the album as a whole, they have little relation to Jungian concepts and thus do not fit under the scope of this essay. For this reason, I will start my analysis with the third track, titled H. As with many of Tool’s songs, the song’s lyrics are cryptic and it is unclear at first what the song is about. However, Maynard James Keenan, the vocalist and lyricist for Tool, has given clues as to its meaning: at one concert, he introduced the song by saying, “This next song is about having children. Do any of you have children? It’s amazing how much they change your life, isn’t it?” At another show, he said:

So, any of you ever watch those Warner Brothers cartoons? Sometimes there's that one where the guy's having a tough time making a decision, he's got an angel on one shoulder, a devil on the other... Usually the angel's the one that's going to give the good advice, and the devil's trying to get him to do what's going to be bad for him. It's not always that simple though. Most times they're not really angels or devils, they're just friends, giving you advice, looking out for your best interests but not really understanding what's going to be best for you, so it kind of comes down to you. You have to make the decision yourself.

Finally, in an interview in 1996, Keenan mentioned that his son’s name was Devo H. OFFLINE | 06-29-2008, 10:28 AM #2 Yours Faithlessly Level 6 - Very Deep Thinker

Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Vancouver, BC Bincount™: 4 Posts: 185 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) With this information, one can better understand H. The singer has experienced, at the start of the song, something that has changed his conception of the world: the birth of his son. This causes him to feel emotional and passionate for the first time. This forces him to look at his life (“what’s holding up is a mirror”), and finds that his friends (“a snake/looking to turn this piss to wine”), though they seem to have his best interests at heart, are encouraging him in unhealthy habits and ways of thinking. He says, “They’re both totally void of hate/but killing me just the same”. This can be interpreted to mean that, on the one hand, his friends are “considerately” killing him by encouraging his negative habits, and on the other hand, his son is killing him by forcing him to confront and expel the parts of himself that led him into this situation. The “storm” of emotion that comes when he attempts to separate himself from this lifestyle causes him immense pain; however, “beneath the storm, under these tears, the walls came down”, and he is finally able to “drown” the snake and accept the pain that he will have to endure to cleanse himself.



Immediately, one finds numerous Jungian elements in this song. Before his son’s birth, the singer was in a state of malaise and found life to have little meaning; for Jung, this would be seen as a symptom of him being shut off from the archetypal world of the collective unconscious (as well as his own personal unconscious). The singer’s first experience of an archetype comes with his son’s birth. Likely it is his anima that the singer experiences for the first time here; the feelings of emotion and passionate in Jungian psychology are related to one’s connection with one’s anima. This gives him a glimpse into what life could be like if he further healed his psyche and came to totally reconcile his fractured unconscious. The pain that he experiences when he attempts to separate from his old lifestyle reflects another Jungian idea – the painful nature of the process of individuation. For Jung, pain and suffering were inevitable if one honestly wanted to heal him- or her-self. One can see that idea mirrored in this song; it is far from easy for the singer to separate himself from the “snake” and try to move his life into a better path, but it is necessary for him to deal with that pain in order to move forward.



Tool often includes short tracks in between songs as transitions. The track after H. is interesting because it is just the sound of a record clicking, as though it had reached the end of one side and had to be turned over. This furthers the idea that the singer has come to a turning point in his life – he has reached the end of his old life, and is now starting a new path. The title of this track, ‘Useful Idiot’, is the name given to those people in Soviet countries who obeyed the regime and had unswerving loyalty to the party, even when they were suffering immensely from the party’s actions. There is a clear parallel between these ‘useful idiots’ and the state of the singer before the birth of his son, in that he obeyed his desire for stimulation even when it caused him such suffering. This furthers the idea that after H., the singer’s life is on a different track.



The next track, titled 46&2, is the song on the album that most depends on a Jungian translation in order to make any sense. It describes the singer’s confrontation with his shadow self; he says, “I’ve been crawling on my belly/Clearing out what could have been” and “change is coming through my shadow”. The shadow self, as previously mentioned, is a complex composed of all the repressed or rejected parts of oneself. In order to grow, a person must examine their shadow self and find ways to incorporate it into their ego. This is clearly what the singer is doing in this song. He says he is “wallowing in my own confused and insecure delusions/For a piece to cross me over/Or a word to guide me in”. In other words, this means that the singer is introspecting and examining himself, his psychological processes, the assumptions he makes about the world, and all of the other previously unquestioned parts of his psyche, in order to discover the repressed parts of himself. The singer referred to this in an interview:

I really went out of my way to discover the things I don't like about people, in essence, for self-reflection, so really just going off on the deep end, going, "What is it I don't like about you? What is it that bugs me about you? Why do I dislike what you do and how you do it?" And as soon as I get all of that stuff on paper and write it down, I just kind of turn the you into me, and you really come up with some interesting things...

This is clearly a description, in layman’s terms, of the process of discovering and examining one’s shadow self.



The title of the song, 46&2, echoes the idea of growth and evolution present in Jung’s psychology. 46&2 refers to chromosomes in the human body. Currently, each human has 46 chromosomes – 44 plus the 2 sex hormones. Thus, the idea of “46&2” is that of people evolving to reach a higher state of consciousness. The idea comes from the mystical and New Age ideas of Drunvalo Melchizedek, but removing this unscientific origin still leaves a valid metaphor for the evolution and growth that the singer experiences when he confronts his shadow self.



The section after the second chorus – “I choose to live and to grow, take and give and to…” etc.) – can be interpreted as the singer coming to terms with and accepting all the parts of himself that he had previously rejected. Instead of shying away from the ugly parts of himself, he unconditionally accepts it all as part of the growth that he has to go through; he will “do what it takes to step through”. Finally, at the end of the song he can “See my shadow changing/Stretching up and over me”. This process of reflection has let him finally come to terms with his shadow self and incorporate it into his ego. He “[comes] out the other side” to see that “forty-six and two are just ahead of me”.



The next significant track is jimmy, though it does not contain as many overt Jungian influences as the previous two tracks. In it, the singer realises that his problems are rooted in a trauma that he suffered when he was eleven. Taken autobiographically, the singer is likely referring to an accident that his mother suffered when he was eleven that left her paralysed and unable to care for him. He refers to this in the lyric “Eleven and she was gone/Eleven is when we waved goodbye”. Introspecting, he realises that this was “where it all began, eleven”. In this introspection, he personifies his eleven-year-old self as another person, and says that “Under a dead Ohio sky/Eleven has been and will be waiting/Defending his light and wondering/Where the hell have I been?” He reconnects with his eleven-year-old self, and begs him to “hold your light/Eleven, lead me through each gentle step by step/By inch by loaded memory” and says, “I’ll move to heal as soon as pain allows/So we can reunite and both move on together”. Clearly, his mother’s paralysis caused the singer some significant trauma, and by recognising this, he is able to work through the conflicted and painful emotions that he felt in order to finally overcome it.



Again, this song shows the singer working through his pain in order to reconcile himself with his unconscious. His eleven-year-old self could be seen as an archetype, in this case the archetype of the child; in this interpretation, the song shows the singer reuniting with this archetype which has been laying dormant in his unconscious. Alternatively, this eleven-year-old self could be seen as a personification of a time in the singer’s life before he was traumatised, and the reunification that he talks about means that the singer has remembered what life was like before he was scarred by his mother’s paralysis. He describes himself as being “sleeping, lost, and numb” until that point; this phrase aptly describes the singer’s state of mind at the start of the album. The trauma he suffered at a young age can thus be seen as the root of all his subsequent problems; by moving beyond this, he is able to reconnect with the archetypal dimensions and overcome his feeling of meaninglessness in life. He is now “wide awake” – he still feels the pain of the separation within himself, but he is fully conscious of it and can now heal. OFFLINE | 06-29-2008, 10:28 AM #3 Yours Faithlessly Level 6 - Very Deep Thinker

Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Vancouver, BC Bincount™: 4 Posts: 185 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Pushit is the next major track after jimmy. The version I will be talking about is the one released on the Salival mini-box set; it is slower, has slightly different lyrics, and is in my opinion superior to the original. It describes the singer’s experiences as he confronts the most painful part of his journey - separating himself from his partner, with whom he has a co-dependant and abusive relationship. He begins the song by saying, “Saw that gap again today/While you were begging me to stay”. Though he suffers from the abuse they each receive and inflict on each other, he feels that “What is this but my reflection/Who am I to judge or strike you down?” The music gradually becomes more intense, and finally, despite his best efforts, the singer finds himself “slipping back into the gap again”, and says that “I feel alive when you touch me/I feel alive when you hold me… down”. Afterwards, the singer reflects that “I am somewhere I don’t wanna be… [I] never wanna see that place again”. After a guitar interlude, he eventually finds the strength to reject this person and the abusive relationship they have, saying, “Remember I will always love you/As I claw your fucking throat away”. Though he is “terrified of what may come” he realises that “it will end no other way”.



The intensity and emotion evident in Pushit suggests that this is the most painful part of the individuation process for the singer. Jung believed that the phenomenon of falling in love at first sight is often due to a person seeing his or her anima or animus (respectively) in another person. The singer may have entered into the relationship with his partner by projecting his anima onto her, and given his splintered psyche and the repressed problems he had to face, it is unsurprising that this relationship became abusive. The “gap” that he talks about refers to intimacy between them; he realises that this relationship is unhealthy, and thus pushes his partner away from him, but at the same time he feels irresistibly drawn to it, and so again he “slips” back into it. The turning point in the song comes when he realises that “I am somewhere I don’t wanna be”. This is the point at which he realises that the person he is in love with is not in fact his partner, but rather his projected anima-image. Thus, he is finally able to “Push myself away/And you as well, my dear” – he pushes himself away from the temptation that his partner yields, and he pushes his partner away from himself. He realises that the emotions which he previously thought came only from his relationship actually come from a proper connection with one’s anima, and finding this connection is the only path he can take.



Though it is the title track, the song Ænema does not actually relate much to Jungian concepts. The song represents the singer’s final break from society – he looks at the people of Los Angeles and the lifestyle they represent and says that “the only way to fix it is to flush it all away”. He also separates himself from that society and the parts of himself that are attracted to it. From a Jungian perspective, the most interesting aspect of the song is the water imagery that he uses – “I’m praying for waves/I’m praying for tidal waves”, “Please flush it all away”, and his repeated cry to “Learn to swim”. Water has many archetypal properties; it represents purification, flow, the dissolution of obstructed libido (psychic energy), death, renewal, and many other images. The singer’s desire to “flush it all away” represents his desire to break down unhealthy structures back to their constituent parts. This is the pinnacle of his quest to purge himself of imperfections, to destroy the obstructed libido within himself and achieve personal renewal and purification.



The singer said in an interview that this song “can…be looked at as involving the whole collective environment and how all of us as individuals need to learn how to go into the deep dark waters." In this interpretation, the song serves as a cry to other people to undertake the same journey of self-discovery that the singer has. He sees the city of Los Angeles, and probably the rest of North American society, as suffering from the same problems that he once did, and so he recommends to them the same violent purging of the self that he has experienced.



The last song on the album is the 13-minute long epic, Third Eye. The idea of the “third eye” typically represents enlightenment, knowledge of inner realms, and spaces of higher consciousness; from a Jungian perspective, it refers to the state of full individuation, where one has completely assimilated all parts of their psyche into the Self. Thus, this song represents the culmination of the singer’s journey towards enlightenment and full self-knowledge. Unfortunately, the lyrics for Third Eye are so metaphorical and vague that one could interpret them in almost any way; furthermore, as the song is the culmination of all of the album’s themes, it is difficult to separate the Jungian elements from the other concepts present. Within the scope of this essay, all that one should note is that the singer’s journey has by and large come to an end and he has achieved full individuation.



In this essay, I have attempted to highlight the Jungian themes present in Tool’s album Ænima. The concepts that Jung discovered and outlined in his works – the psyche and the Self, the process of individuation, archetypes, the anima, and the shadow self – are useful in understanding the journey that the singer goes through over the course of the album. From a state of malaise and meaninglessness, the singer becomes aware of his anima for the first time, and gradually explores his personality and purges himself of imperfections to reach a state of full individuation. OFFLINE | 06-30-2008, 02:09 PM #4 Sublimity Level 5 - Deep Thinker

Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Northeast USA Bincount™: 0 Posts: 68 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Wow, that's a really excellent essay. I've started reading some of Jung's works myself because of them being mentioned as critical in understanding Forty-Six & 2, and now Jung's concepts illustrate other parts of the album I hadn't thought of before. I thought you covered each of the songs quite satisfactorily, and your essay helped me appreciate just how much of a personal and multi-dimensional work Aenima was for MJK. __________________

Curiosity is compassion



"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -- Gandhi OFFLINE | 07-01-2008, 10:53 AM #5 Inner_Eulogy Level 12 - Scurrilous



Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Chicago Bincount™: 135 Posts: 6,475 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Bravo, that was a very well put together essay....although you should reread and double check them typos, I saw quite a few. __________________

"WITHOUT A LITTLE EVIL, GOOD WOULD NEVER EXIST" OFFLINE | 07-29-2008, 05:07 PM #6 meshuggahj Level 5 - Deep Thinker

Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Mississippi, United States Bincount™: 0 Posts: 50 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) F.











Just jokin'. Well done! OFFLINE | 07-29-2008, 05:21 PM #7 Master_Of_Nothing On Probation

Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Made in New Zealand Bincount™: 189 Posts: 1,883 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Awesome....Just. Freaking. Awesome



I love it when you can turn education and join it with the things you love, like music OFFLINE | 09-04-2008, 01:37 PM #8 avalokiteswara Level 4 - Thinker



Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: industrial city Bincount™: 0 Posts: 40 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) I didnt expect to find such a thing here, There were many discussions on this forum about aenima and carl jung psychologie, but I assumed this part of tool's music history a little "dead" on the forum/forums. So its great to just check the aenima corner again and find a story that many of us wanted to write once but most of us never did. I'm going to read your essay right away, and I will give feedback ofcourse.



Greeting



Qainiratha OFFLINE | 09-05-2008, 09:14 AM #9 Inner_Eulogy Level 12 - Scurrilous



Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Chicago Bincount™: 135 Posts: 6,475 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Quote: avalokiteswara Originally Posted by I didnt expect to find such a thing here, There were many discussions on this forum about aenima and carl jung psychologie, but I assumed this part of tool's music history a little "dead" on the forum/forums. So its great to just check the aenima corner again and find a story that many of us wanted to write once but most of us never did. I'm going to read your essay right away, and I will give feedback ofcourse.



Greeting



Qainiratha



Same with 10,000 Days....the subject matter has been beaten to death already.



And what the hell ever came of this super puzzle/riddle with those pictures, you'd think they would've told us by now what the hell it was supposed to be. Of course, my theory was always that it was bullshit to begin with just to see how hopeless fans would waste hours of their lives trying to figure it out. It's not that that knowledge is forgotten. It's been discussed to death already and most people got tired of discussing the same things over and over and over for so long.Same with 10,000 Days....the subject matter has been beaten to death already.And what the hell ever came of this super puzzle/riddle with those pictures, you'd think they would've told us by now what the hell it was supposed to be. Of course, my theory was always that it was bullshit to begin with just to see how hopeless fans would waste hours of their lives trying to figure it out. __________________

"WITHOUT A LITTLE EVIL, GOOD WOULD NEVER EXIST" OFFLINE | 09-08-2008, 08:56 AM #10 avalokiteswara Level 4 - Thinker



Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: industrial city Bincount™: 0 Posts: 40 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Youv'gpt a point, but in what matter things are "discussed to death" ... Is just a logic chain of reactions. I doubt Tool would make a "super puzzle/riddle" just to see how hopeless fans would waste hours of their lives trying to figure it out, but then ofcourse I dont realy know. Its not that I'm such a tool fan that I believe tool will never "do such a thing" or such moral blindness, i just doubt tool would even think about such a thing as annoying fans(for what pleasure btw?) when working on their music.

I find it a bit egocentric but what the hell we all are, we just dont realy want to admit it.

But again the realy only thing I can say: its all a bit in the range of the personal taste. OFFLINE | 09-09-2008, 09:50 AM #11 Inner_Eulogy Level 12 - Scurrilous



Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Chicago Bincount™: 135 Posts: 6,475 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Quote: avalokiteswara Originally Posted by Youv'gpt a point, but in what matter things are "discussed to death" ... Is just a logic chain of reactions. I doubt Tool would make a "super puzzle/riddle" just to see how hopeless fans would waste hours of their lives trying to figure it out, but then ofcourse I dont realy know. Its not that I'm such a tool fan that I believe tool will never "do such a thing" or such moral blindness, i just doubt tool would even think about such a thing as annoying fans(for what pleasure btw?) when working on their music.

I find it a bit egocentric but what the hell we all are, we just dont realy want to admit it.

But again the realy only thing I can say: its all a bit in the range of the personal taste.



Not saying I'm right, just saying it's perfectly plausible. Why wouldn't Tool do it, all they are is pictures. Maynard's a smart ass. He told Blair to put the word out that there was some secret puzzle within the pictures just to fuck with people knowing there'd be a lot of dumbasses spending time actually trying to figure it out. Makes sense to me.Not saying I'm right, just saying it's perfectly plausible. __________________

"WITHOUT A LITTLE EVIL, GOOD WOULD NEVER EXIST" OFFLINE | 09-09-2008, 02:14 PM #12 Yondo Level 6 - Very Deep Thinker



Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: The Spiral Bincount™: 0 Posts: 154 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Was the Puzzle mentioned to be related to the album art? I don't remember if that was ever said or not... __________________

"10,000 Years in the fire is long enough!" - God, in 2012 OFFLINE | 09-09-2008, 04:44 PM #13 Master_Of_Nothing On Probation

Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Made in New Zealand Bincount™: 189 Posts: 1,883 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Valid point, but i doubt it matters. The idea was, there is no puzzle OFFLINE | 09-10-2008, 09:05 AM #14 Inner_Eulogy Level 12 - Scurrilous



Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Chicago Bincount™: 135 Posts: 6,475 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Quote: Yondo Originally Posted by Was the Puzzle mentioned to be related to the album art? I don't remember if that was ever said or not... Yeah, it was specifically related to the 4 pictures of the band members. __________________

"WITHOUT A LITTLE EVIL, GOOD WOULD NEVER EXIST" OFFLINE | 06-16-2009, 07:36 PM #15 CCP Level 6 - Very Deep Thinker

Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: NZ Bincount™: 0 Posts: 114 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) I always thought they were likening jungs theory to sucking shit. lol i guess not OFFLINE | 06-16-2009, 07:59 PM #16 Master_Of_Nothing On Probation

Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Made in New Zealand Bincount™: 189 Posts: 1,883 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Jungs theory IS like sucking shit.



So is Freuds OFFLINE | 09-12-2009, 12:30 AM #17 {Lateralus} Level 2 - Poster



Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Australia Bincount™: 0 Posts: 7 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) I never looked at the track "Useful Idiot" that way before. I really liked the essay, good job. OFFLINE | 04-16-2010, 05:20 PM #18 Blahspeaker Level 4 - Thinker



Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: california Bincount™: 0 Posts: 42 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) omg that was an incredible essay, i really enjoyed reading it. i learned a lot and gained a new appreciation for tool. wow thank you SOOOO MUUUCHH __________________

"Go back to sleep America, your government is in control again!" - Bill Hicks OFFLINE | 04-18-2010, 01:36 AM #19 Oeps Level 6 - Very Deep Thinker

Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Helmond Bincount™: 2 Posts: 121 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Great essay indeed!! Hope you get a good grade! I enjoyed reading it and will now learn more about Jung, interesting!! OFFLINE | 09-09-2010, 09:52 PM #20 LazarusRising drop d's the way to be



Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Arizona Bay Bincount™: 0 Posts: 16 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Makes me want to make that same journey OFFLINE | 09-09-2010, 11:30 PM #21 PessimisticOptimist Level 4 - Thinker



Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Colorado Bincount™: 0 Posts: 49 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Say what you will about bumping old threads, but I'm extremely grateful that someone has. This should be read by every member of the site. Fantastic job with all the research and your personal insight is greatly appreciated. __________________

"Don't just call me pessimistic, try and read between the lines." ~ MJK (AEnema) Last edited by PessimisticOptimist; 09-09-2010 at 11:34 PM .. OFFLINE | 09-14-2010, 08:41 PM #22 LazarusRising drop d's the way to be



Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Arizona Bay Bincount™: 0 Posts: 16 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) if this were to be true, does anyone know if MJK mightve used meditation as a way to possibly integrate his own shadow archtype and anima? ive been meditating for about a year or so and im just curious if he may do the same. OFFLINE | 09-15-2010, 01:56 PM #23 Inner_Eulogy Level 12 - Scurrilous



Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Chicago Bincount™: 135 Posts: 6,475 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Quote: LazarusRising Originally Posted by if this were to be true, does anyone know if MJK mightve used meditation as a way to possibly integrate his own shadow archtype and anima? ive been meditating for about a year or so and im just curious if he may do the same. I could be completely wrong but I do believe he practiced breathing techniques, or at least is making a reference to them in Third Eye; there's quite a segment where he's constantly saying in, out, in, out, in, out with some sounds that almost make you 'want' to breath heavy. I've personally always felt that's exactly what that part is about, even though it's layered with the hallucinogen references....then again, he's been quoted as saying that it's not wrong to necessarily take a drug to get to that frame of mind but the whole point is to try learning to get there again without the use of the drug...which from what I understand, can be done with meditation and breathing techniques. __________________

"WITHOUT A LITTLE EVIL, GOOD WOULD NEVER EXIST" OFFLINE | 09-15-2010, 02:00 PM #24 infinitee Level 9 - Obstreperous



Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Where infinity converged Bincount™: 1385 Posts: 1,311 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) I never thought about that before inner. the breathing technique thing. I dig __________________

"You are, and shall be, set in obsidian obelisk.

Those scars, these memories, will see you through" OFFLINE | 09-19-2010, 06:25 PM #25 LazarusRising drop d's the way to be



Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Arizona Bay Bincount™: 0 Posts: 16 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) well the the humans third eye is supposedly associated with the ajna chakra, which can be activated during deep meditative thought. many people say that it gets harder to activate this chakra over time, and using drugs as a way to "see that face again" is pretty common. he may be refering to his use of drugs to open his third eye, but who knows. OFFLINE | 10-18-2010, 09:50 PM #26 Greenrent Banned.

Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Ansbach/germany Bincount™: 0 Posts: 7 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) wow, looks very realistic.

Very Good Job ,well done OFFLINE | 04-24-2011, 10:19 AM #27 62827 Level 6 - Very Deep Thinker



Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Washington Bincount™: 2 Posts: 120 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) This is easily the best thing I've read about Tool that didn't come from the band itself. I honestly never seen AEnima analyzed so deeply. I'm not saying I believe all of it and thats what the album is about as the way MJK perceived it, but I do agree with how the Jungian theory is incorporated and how the the shadow and anima being projected onto others is not only a huge theme in this album but just about life in general. I had no idea just how specifically relative this album was to the existence of humans until after reading that paper. Thanks for sharing! __________________

"Religion is the opium of the masses" -Karl Marx OFFLINE | 05-10-2011, 09:56 AM #28 Puzzle Level 4 - Thinker

Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Your local basement Bincount™: 2 Posts: 33 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) This must be one of the best things I have ever read here, ever. Good Job! OFFLINE | 07-04-2011, 01:28 PM #29 F1ugtier Level 3 - Talker



Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Germany Bincount™: 0 Posts: 11 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Great essay!



But I slightly disagree on the interpretation of Pushit. I think it is more likely about the struggle between the conscious and unconscious part of every human rather than about the problems in an actual relationship between two persons.

Nevertheless your work gave me a little hope, that there are more people out there that think for themselves, than I thought. OFFLINE | 02-05-2013, 02:24 AM #30 Th3HiDD3n Level 1 - Lurker

Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Texas Bincount™: 0 Posts: 1 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) Ok let me start by saying that I concur with most of your interpretations on the matter of deciphering MJK's lyrical wizardry from Aenima.. In fact I just signed up on this site because after reading your intriguing essay on the matter I felt my intuition urging me to commend your exceptional performance on extracting the Jungian principles throughout the album. Your also 100% correct on the matter of Tool being the only band competent enough to embrace and act on putting Jungian beliefs on paper and explain the process of individuation as eloquently as they did. I am a 23 year old veteran who served a year in iraq when I was only 18 and that among may other things led me to the pessimistic outlook on life maynard struggled with in his former years. The reason I bring up such a thing because in order for me to move forward I had to realize what was eating at my soul.. I soon broke down my past selves and deciphered the archetypes mention by C.G.Jung and also your essay, I saw my soldier/ protector archetype, My childhood wasn't the happiest so I also reconnected with that older self and also many more. I worked the process and allowed my unconscious to speak freely without my conscious judgement or others impeding on its presence, and that is the only way to cross though the shadow and find The Self.. This process works and for all who care enough to learn it or for those who are at a loss like I was and need a way out of a negative state of being and mind. I say to you there's no way out only a way in... Find it. OFFLINE | 02-13-2013, 11:54 PM #31 ufopancakes Level 8 - Vociferous



Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Indianapolis Bincount™: 1 Posts: 624 Re: Carl Jung and Ænima (an essay) I thought for a while that Eulogy was very irrelevant to Jungian theory. I thought it was directed towards L Ron Hubbard, dictators, or even Bill Hicks (but that seemed unlikely, due to the negative disposition toward the subject).



But then I had the idea, maybe Eulogy is directed toward the ego? Many spiritual practices fancy the idea that to ascend spiritually, you must banish the ego to initiate a more wholly encompassing world view.



"He had a lot to say, he had a lot of nothing to say"

"Standing above the crowd, he had a voice that was strong and loud"



"To ascend you must die"

http://deadbirdsadoreus.com __________________ OFFLINE |





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