Chasing Things and Still Feeling Empty? Jung’s Words to His Own Soul

You got the thing you were working toward, and a week later you are reaching for the next one. Or you are scrolling, snacking, working late, and none of it fills the gap. It is a common feeling, and it is easy to read as a personal failing.

Carl Jung wrote about it in the private book now published as The Red Book. He did not write an argument. He wrote a call.

A call to himself

Early in the book Jung addresses his own soul, as if it were a person who had gone missing.

A little further on he says what his long wandering had taught him:

The editors add a note to this passage. They say Jung later described this turn in his life as the start of the second half of life, a return to the soul after the goals and ambitions of the first half had been reached (Jung, 2009, p. 232, note 36).

What happens if you keep reaching outward

A few lines down, Jung says what he thinks follows when a person turns from outer things and does not find the inner place:

Our reading, not a finding: the emptiness is not the problem. It is what the chasing is trying to cover. The faster you reach, the less time there is to notice what you are reaching for.

He does not say desire is bad. A few lines on, on the same page, he says something kinder:

Our reading: the difference is between holding a wanting and being held by it. A wanting you can hold is information. It points at something.

A change of attitude

Jung also says what he got wrong before. He had talked a great deal about the soul, and had judged it like a subject for study.

Our reading: it is the difference between analysing a feeling and listening to it. He does not ask whether the hollow feeling is justified. He speaks to it.

What he is not saying

He is not saying that ambition is wrong, or that success causes emptiness. Feeling flat can also come from tiredness, grief, or depression, and none of those is a lesson to be learned. This is a private vision written for himself, in the language of its time. We are reading it as an image, not giving a diagnosis.

A two-minute practice

This one is ours, not Jung’s.

1. Name what you keep reaching for. One line: “I keep reaching for ___.”
2. Ask what you hope it will give you. One line: “I am hoping it will give me ___.”
3. Stop. Do not fix it. Do not judge the answer. Read the two lines once.

If nothing comes, leave it. A forced answer is worse than none.

How firm is this?

It is a few paragraphs from one man’s private book. It is an idea to reflect on, not a tested treatment, and this article makes no claim that it will help with any particular problem. If the flat feeling is heavy or will not lift, please talk to a qualified professional. For a gentler way in, read how to pace shadow work, or why success can feel empty.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I feel empty after getting what I wanted?

There is no single answer, and this article does not claim one. Jung’s passage offers one reading: that the reaching can be a way of avoiding an inner place. If the feeling is heavy, talk to a qualified professional.

What did Jung mean by his soul?

In this passage he treats it as a living thing he can address, not an object to study. He says he had to speak to it “as to something far off and unknown”. We read it as the part of himself he had been analysing from the outside.

Is this a therapy?

No. The two-minute practice is a reflection exercise of our own. It is not a treatment, and it does not promise any outcome.

Short films from this research — follow on TikTok.