Useless
Resistance

A field guide to the disowned self, after C. G. Jung

The reflection

Twenty-four statements about them.

Rate them as you have actually seen them behave, not as they would describe themselves. The map at the end is yours as much as theirs.

About six minutes · or read on first

Who to pick

Someone who gets under your skin more than the facts justify. Not the person who wronged you, where the anger has somewhere to go, but the one whose ordinary behaviour leaves you disproportionately annoyed: a colleague, an in-law, an ex, a friend of a friend. The size of the charge is the qualification.

  1. IThe FurnaceAnger and assertion
  2. IIThe ThronePower and ambition
  3. IIIThe OrphanNeed and dependence
  4. IVThe Hungry OneEnvy and desire
  5. VThe MirrorVanity and recognition
  6. VIThe FeralInstinct and indulgence
  7. VIIThe FoolFailure and inadequacy
  8. VIIIThe SaintSelfishness and boundaries

How it works

Twenty-four statements, three for each figure. None of them asks you to judge them. Each describes something you could have watched them do:

  • The TriggerWhere their reaction runs hotter than the situation warrants.
  • The RuleThe rule they are proudest of keeping.
  • The LeakWhat arrives sideways anyway.

You rate each statement on a five-point scale:

Why this is about you

Jung’s point was not that you can diagnose other people. It is that the charge is yours. The statements ask about them because the outside is easier to see; the reading at the end asks what your certainty about them is made of. Nothing leaves this browser, here as everywhere on this site.

How to answer

Quickly, and from what you have watched them do rather than what you have concluded about them. If a statement is hard to rate because you have never seen it either way, rate it low and move on.

Take the reflection yourself

About six minutes