Jungian Cover Bands & Charlatans (audio: noxsoma.substack.com)
Published on HivePostify by @noxsoma · Thu Sep 03 2026
(The audio to these rants is posted at 4:20 EST on Substack. Or you can read it here.)
Full Metal Thorsday. Welcome to one more day above ground in the Simulatrix.
We are going to issue a disclaimer from the top. The more I read these pseudo-Jungian essays about being awakened, the less we want to identify as an “awakened being.” They have cheapened the experience, always telling us what Jung said it’s like, or what he called it. Not that I’m angry at Carl Jung, or anything. Mind’s opinion of him fluctuates every time we read some of his writings. He’s always deeper than I give him credit for, however, he was still a product of his time and his beliefs, although he was open to other experiences. We also give him credit for minting the words he needed to describe his observations, and perhaps even sensations, that had yet to be attached to sounds. Intellectuals familiar with Greek or Latin roots would be able to figure out what he was talking about, maybe. But how to describe a sensation that no one else has ever experienced? Sound or no sound. Grecophone, or Latinphile, it doesn’t matter, if a word cannot be connected to a sensation, it’s all but worthless.
My sibs and I, as kids, were told that the sensation that causes the skin on your arms to break out, (I don’t even know if “break-out” is the best word), anyway, this was called “goose bumps.” Then, later in life one of my best friends told me that some sound made his “skin crawl.” I had no idea what he was talking about. Eventually, I aligned it with goose bumps. And even later, much later, Brain connected both of those descriptions with what was called, “the creeps.”
“This place gives me the creeps.”
So I’m figuring that these are all different expressions for the same reaction.
Sometimes I forget that answers, not always correct or acceptable answers, are just a few key strokes away. So I put this inquiry to the first know-it-all-bot to come along.
Do all these expressions describe the same sensation?
Bot says, “Goosebumps, skin crawling, and the creeps are related sensations but not exactly the same. Goosebumps are a physiological response to cold or strong emotions, while skin crawling and the creeps often refer to a feeling of discomfort or anxiety, typically triggered by fear or unease.”
Oh, thank you AI. They are exactly the same. Fear, is a strong emotion yeah? And while it doesn’t matter what the stimulus is, the result is the same. It’s like, Coca-Cola makes you burp, and Dr. Pepper makes you belch. Mountain Dew makes you barf. It’s the same result. Practically.
So Jung has to come-up with all of these terms, essentially creating a neo-vocabulary for the phenomena he observed. Then, he has to translate it into English. So he gets props for that.
Besides, Our beef isn’t with Jung. It’s with Jungian derivatives. The cover-bands that think they can out-Boston, Boston, or cover Chaka-Khan songs. And don’t even get me started on trying to cover Stevie Nicks, or Kate Bush.
What these accounts do, scores of them by now, across different platforms, but lately on Substack, is tell you, (meaning us, or who ever happens to be reading their post), what it’s like for us and what we’re going to experience, as we “evolve into awakened beings.”
“When you begin to awaken, your empathy will align with other empaths in the room and you’ll be able to stop the rain from falling.”
Or, “prepare for a life of loneliness and isolation, because no one will understand you. They will shun you like an outcast.”
It’s almost as if they are saying, “You’d better think twice before you sign this awakening deal. Because there’s no going back.”
That’s one point that these charlatans get right. Once you are “awakened,” there’s no going back. Like, you can no longer pretend that these humans that are interpreting Jung, know what the heck they are talking about. Sometimes they don’t even know what Jung was talking about.
“Dr. Seuss said, ‘One fish, two fish, red fish blue fish,’ by this, Seuss was expressing singularity and assigning the vibrational “red” to the primary fish. Red is of course a primary color. Thus, two is associated with the color blue. Duality. This assignment is obvious because two and blue rhyme. He leaves it to the reader to infer that adding the 1 fish with the 2 fish, you produce the third fish. Completion. Closure. Which would obviously be represented by a purple fish.”
The most confident statement I dare stand behind in regards to this awaken-polooza era, is that the “journey continues.” Awakening is a journey and it’s a personal journey. It’s a personal, internal journey. We claim full ownership of our “awakening” the same way humans claim ownership of their, depression, their severe-to-moderate Cronh’s disease, and their alphabet soup.
My ADHD.
My PTSD.
My mother wounds.
My restless leg syndrome.
Everything except, “My responsibility.”
Carl Jung died in 1961. JFK had just become the youngest US President to be elected to office, TV screens were still mainly in black and white. What does Jung know about the second half of the twentieth century? Sure, some of his ideas are still interesting. Interesting enough for latter day Jungians to leach off of them and write their own theoretical psychology, dream interpretation, or near death experience books. But that doesn’t mean he was right. And it certainly doesn’t mean that his followers are right.
There’s another part of this cottage awakening industrial complex that raises my Kundalini. They are always talking “at” the reader.
“Your anxiety isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s empowerment waiting for the right moment to blossom.” And they deliver the line as if they know you.
“That bad dream isn’t an undigested piece of meat, it’s the guilt of narcissism telling you to repent or ye shall go to H E double toothpix.”
These humans are just like pitchmen and TV hucksters trying to sell you a Sham-WOW! Exposing your deficiency and then offering you exclusive, premium counseling, or coaching.
The old, younger version of this vessel would have tossed the laptop out the window 3,000 words ago. However, for those of us still standing. Have I gotta deal for you!
Just kidding.
There are a handful, and growing, number of folks on Substack that I truly enjoy. They are authentic seekers, authentic achievers, they are flawed flawlessly and they not only know it, and embrace it, they share it. Because they have overcome the obstacle, learned something from it, and send it out to us. They don’t try to tell us who we are, or what we’re thinking is wrong. Heart Mind truly believes we can tell who’s who, because sometimes we get goose bumps reading their stuff. And we’re like, “Whoa, I just had a similar experience that your poem reminded me of. That’s deep.”
Which reminds me of a story that happened two days ago. There’s this guy who comes down to the monkey bars to work out. He told me this story about a guy in a bar who strikes up a conversation with him, and bar guy starts talking to my dude about money, and opportunities, and such. I let dude finish his story, then I told him, “Dude, I just recorded a piece almost exactly like your story.” It’s called the Con Game, and it will be running in the Full Metal Ox series this month.
That’s the kind of stuff that happens. And it happens almost every day. I’m no Jung man, (ha ha, couldn’t resist), but it’s this type of stuff that helps me relate to Carl’s conundrum, of conjuring up words to describe these events. “Serendipity,” was a cool word for a while. “Synchronicity,” has all but become a brand, or is it “Synthesis,” that makes your writing read like AI wrote it for you? Coincidence, is actually the most accurate word, but it’s too pedestrian. (Incidents that happen together, more, or less.) Plus, nobody believes in them.
We just call it, “Every Day Magic.”
In the show, and on this Substack Channel, we record our magic moments, and sometimes our dreams. Here’s what no body tells you about dreams. You don’t have to remember your dreams to get the message that Universe is sending. The rest is up to you to figure out.
This has been a long passionate piece, co-authored by Universe.
For this example we will observe two types of authors here. Those who are living it and recounting it. And those who are narrating something they have read about, but have not experienced. At least not deeply, and at least not yet. Maybe later we will “expose” the 358 other types that dwell in these murky waters.
(Man, I may have written too much.)
Stay sane, stay strong, stay safe, stay savvy, stay serene, stay sovereign, stay subscribed.
PEACE.
Tags: #jung#psychology#philosophy#opinion#analysis#minds#prosperity