Carl Jung's Famous Piece of Healing Advice

Carl Jung was not just a psychologist and psychiatrist. In many ways he was a mystic and a philosopher. Jung is quoted as having said many wise things, but I thought in this video on your healing journey, I thought I would share a very profound quote that I think is very necessary. Hey guys, I'm Dr. Alex Hein, author of the health book Master of the Day, doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. Now before we jump into this video, there are two very important links right below the video. The first is if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally in Los Angeles or virtually via telemedicine, you can reach out to my private practice right below this video. And the second is for a free download, which is four daily rituals that can help you add years to your life with Chinese medicine. So those are right below the video. Let's start off this video with a quote from Jung when he said, no tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell. Now, something that I see is very common in people's healing journeys is that there is this sort of a descent into hell that is necessary. It sounds weird, right? If I'm going on this healing journey, then theoretically, shouldn't I take a medicine and get better? What I find is that very similar to many traditional cultures, the shaman, the traditional, let's say, physician meets alchemist meets mystic meets proxy of the gods or the spirits. This kind of traditional person, this traditional role was often viewed as someone who struggled with illness in their previous life. So there are all kinds of terms, these archetypes, for example, of the wounded healer or of shaman sickness that many traditional shamans were said to have become so ill that they were near death or had skirted death. And that is a piece of even what gave them their healing powers. But for many modern people, there is this sort of low grade malaise that ranges all the way to something life-threatening like cancer. And I want to say in this video for many people that for chronic illness, it is not just there to make you suffer. For many of my patients, they describe the chronic illness as the awakening, as the beginning. And this is more true with the more severe illness, more than anything else, like for example, cancer. You often hear from people that it was a pivotal moment or a pivotal change in the way that they had to live. One day, a few years ago, I was seeing one of my mentors and I was at his clinic and I was saying, you know, I'm feeling particularly discouraged because this was in the middle of my healing journey. And I felt like I'd gotten really better and then I'd gotten worse again and better again and worse again. And I was in one of those phases where I hadn't been sleeping well. I was having pretty severe insomnia. And I felt like I'd gotten so much better that I'd seen the light in the tunnel. But now I had taken so many steps backward that I was feeling worse than bad. I was feeling like maybe I'm always going to be this way. Maybe things will never change. Maybe they can't be fixed. And this mentor of mine was known for being the sage-like guru. Didn't speak often, only said what he knew. And he said, you know, maybe, Alex, the universe is trying to help you become a good physician. You know, and that sort of short-circuited my pity party I was having that day. But it brought up many other lessons for me that informed the way I practice now as Dr. Alex. You know, for example, when I was sick, I had GI problems my entire life. I'd gone all over the world. And, you know, first the suffering journey began, you know, the descent into hell, as we're talking about, began with seeing the traditional medical system. I saw many doctors, many GI specialists. I thought they were all good people and kind and trying their best, but none were very helpful clinically in terms of the raw patient outcome for me. I didn't feel better. A lot seemed very certain about their diagnosis, but I didn't get any better. And some had recommended even surgery or even antidepressants to treat my gut function, which I was completely against. So I know what it's like to see and exhaust every option. I know what it's like to see the specialist and think, really, you went to Harvard? You're an IV-linked trained GI specialist with a fellowship and all this residency and all this extra training. And your best tool is to give me imodium for diarrhea or dulcolax for constipation. Like, really? This is the pinnacle of medicine. You went to Harvard. You're this great specialist, world-renowned, and imodium, that's your treatment for my GI problem. It almost seemed a bit funny. Not to be disrespectful. It seemed funny, honestly. It was comical. And then I know what it was like to have, well, those are the most credible people, the traditional medical authorities, right? They have these white coats and IV-linked trained education. So I know what it's like to learn to distrust the main authorities that are supposed to help you. I know what it's like to go all over the world to try every single alternative. Herbs, supplements, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, folk medicine, wacky people, energy healing, whatever. I just wanted to feel better. And all of these have informed the way I practice and the way I treat my patients and interact with people that I see every day. So the problem is when you are in that descent into hell, as you are having your roots descend into hell, you don't feel like it's going to help you. You can't see the silver lining. Do you think someone who's dying of cancer can think, oh, this, if I make it through this, there's going to be some great benefit that's going to make me a better person, live a better life. No, they just want to live and they don't feel well, right? But this is often necessary for the awakening. Now, just my opinion, I think that your suffering is always there to help you. I know evolutionarily, the point of symptoms is not because your body wants you to be ill. Someone who's sick doesn't want to reproduce. Something who's sick cannot provide for their family. Someone who's sick cannot go to a job. Someone who's sick cannot keep surviving. Illness in many ways is antithetical to life, right? So why would your body provide you with these symptoms? I love this idea of salutogenesis, that the body gives symptoms because they are the breadcrumbs trying to show you what needs changing. I don't think the fix for anxiety and depression is antidepressants. I think the fix is to understand this discomfort at mild levels or this disabling suffering, this illness is not there to make you ill. It's there to show you that something has gone wrong and that we need to rectify that. And maybe it's our own actions. Maybe it's some kind of medication. Maybe it's both. But it's supposed to push you on that quest for answers. It is supposed to push you on the quest for healing. That is the point. Your body has these receptors and nerves so that when you put your finger on the stove, it says, stop doing that dummy so that you don't burn off your fingertip or permanently damage it. But because we have sensation, we touch the hot thing and we stop, that's protecting you. Your symptoms are protecting you. But if you don't view them as that, then it's going to be a long and painful road. It's just going to look like the descent into hell. Don't forget this quote that no tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell by Jung. And always try to see the silver lining in this healing journey because it will help you and make you a better person on the other side of this suffering and this pain. All right, guys, that's what I have for you today. Don't forget to check out those two links right below this video and there's other related videos for you on this topic right here.