Written by: Kevin Cann
I have been reading a lot of Carl Jung lately. As I struggle with being human, I wanted to educate myself by learning from some of the greatest thinkers in the field. I have suffered from chronic nightmares my entire life due to trauma and his work on dream analysis was intriguing to me.
I have also discussed at length the importance of the unconscious in high level athletic performance. Elite skill is an unconscious task. It is “unconscious competence” aka right intuition. The majority of people will only get to “conscious competence” which is right analysis. Jung wrote a 624 page book on the psychology of the unconscious alone. Your well-being and athletic performance are tied together. This is why sports psychology has grown in popularity over the years.
Jung discusses the development of the psyche across the lifespan. As a child we are attached to the mother (which creates an archetype within us), and then the father (which creates an archetype in us). As we develop we begin to develop our own ego. This is important for detachment from our parents so that we can go out into the world and find our own place in it.
The ego will hide from us our vulnerabilities so that we have the courage to reach the destination of our place in this world. It is a completely necessary part of the psyche in this age group. Jung calls this the hero archetype. In my case, I needed the ego to protect me from the vulnerabilities created from two decades of physical and emotional abuse. Without my ego, I would not be here today with two degrees and a loving wife.
The problem lies when we lose balance, and the ego becomes unhealthy. This leads to a continuous struggle to achieve, all while lying to ourselves and repressing our emotions. These emotions find their way out whether we like it or not with mood swings, irritability, anxiety, depression, addiction, and even physical pain.
As we age, and when we encounter struggles in life, we need to look inside of ourselves and ask ourselves some difficult questions. Every action has an opposite and equal reaction. Jung calls this the “Tension of opposites.” He states that by acknowledging and reconciling conflicting aspects of ourselves that we can become more whole.
For example, we may have a strong desire and work ethic towards achievement. However, the opposites are fears such as the fear of failure. These opposing emotions create conflict within the psyche. If we repress our fears, they will only grow stronger. He calls these repressed parts of the psyche the shadow, and the brighter the light, the bigger the shadow.
I believe that an objective sport that lives on the internet brings out people’s shadow side very easily. We can see where we match up in regards to everyone else’s highlight reel. In most studies, humans miscalculate their abilities thinking that they are above average, but average is average for a reason, and no one wants to be average due to the societal complexes developed telling us that we need to be successful and competitive within society. It becomes difficult to bullshit yourself in powerlifting under these constraints.
Most lifters come into the sport with little or no sports background. Maybe they played high school sports, but I am reluctant to count this as it is not very difficult to do in almost all cases. From experience, competitive club teams, college, and beyond really pushed my physical and mental boundaries to another level.
Due to this lack of athletic experiences and the public profile of the sport, many lifters have never developed that ego to protect themselves from their vulnerabilities. This is the hero archetype that Jung discusses. They never learn how to be the hero of their own story. The hero tends to start off weak or with some type of adversity. Grows strong and does hero things. The hero does always die at the end though and this is also important.
I was listening to Anthony and Hoff’s Table Talk and Anthony was talking about his ego lifting early in his career. Most elite lifters go through this type of period when they start. I actually think that this is important and even said so in my Table Talk, but reading Jung has made my thoughts grow stronger.
Lifters need these early years of building the ego within the sport. Train with a group and just train like an absolute maniac. This teaches you how to work hard no matter what while developing resiliency and building confidence. It also teaches you where THE line is, which most people have no idea where it lies, but think they do.
As the lifter ages through the sport, they need to then kill the ego. Just like the hero dies in all of the stories, our hero needs to die as well. Jung calls this stage getting in touch with the anima/animus. We kill the ego to be more creative and intuitive and giving back to the world.
This is important for the aging lifter to stay healthy. They get creative, train smarter, stay calm when things happen and plan appropriately, and take newer lifters under their wings. They accomplish athletic success through vastly different means. The ego is now in balance and healthy in the aging lifter. This can’t happen without building a strong ego first. Coaches that coach during the ego phase (this includes myself) create more problems for the culture than it helps. I apologize for my shitty contributions to the negative culture.
Perhaps we need to encourage more ego lifting in a safe manner with the beginning populations in the sport and then gently pull them back as they get stronger. The goal of training is to toe the line, but most have no idea where that line is because they have never worked hard enough to get there, not to mention to step over it. When you want to quit, you are only halfway there.
Just some interesting parallels to think about.