Over 500,000 cumulative views on YouTube!
Meet author Jeong Yeo-ul's special lecture on Damian in book form!

A special moment to discover your dazzling self
Jeong Yeo-ul's new work, "The Demian Project"

A search for "Jeong Yeo-ul Damian" reveals a variety of Damian lecture videos, each with over 500,000 cumulative views on YouTube. The Damian lectures, originally presented on EBS's "The Joy of Knowledge," remain among Jeong Yeo-ul's most frequently requested lectures, along with her writing and psychology lectures.
Jeong Yeo-ul's Damien lectures, which have been presented without fail in libraries and middle and high schools nationwide for 20 years, are now available in book form! Jeong Yeo-ul, a writer and literary critic with 20 years of experience, has been a popular lecturer, accumulating over 500,000 cumulative views on YouTube.
Author Jeong Yeo-ul's perspective, which interprets Demian in her own unique way and shares it with readers, stems from her attitude toward life, which considers reading not merely a tool for culture but an "active prescription for growth and healing."

The process of finally embracing Demian, a transcendent being, a mentor figure who is sometimes burdensome, immensely great, and difficult to approach, as part of himself, is ultimately the process by which Sinclair sheds the mask of his ego and encounters his true self.
Only when we warmly embrace the other self that speaks so earnestly within our hearts can we rise powerfully as better beings.
That is what Carl Gustav Jung meant by individuation.
Individuation refers to the moment when the 'ego that is swayed by the gaze of others' and the 'self that protects the true self' become one, the moment when the social self takes off its mask and meets the true self.
This process of individuation is every moment that deepens the friendship between Demian and Sinclair.
--- p.28~29

The path from ego to self is indeed arduous, but it is not necessarily sad and difficult.
As we cross each threshold on that path, we can meet true friends.
The moment I cross the threshold within me is the moment I meet the painful shadow in my heart.
In psychology, this is called 'confrontation.' When we encounter our painful wounds, it doesn't end with the pain. Rather, the deeper we encounter them, the more we open the way to experiencing deeper dimensions of life.
--- p.31~32

In the past, I only read Demian from Sinclair's perspective.
Now, you can read it from Damian's perspective, from Kromer's perspective, and from your parents' perspective.
Reading a book is like living with multiple layers of self.
Through literary works, we can experience multiple layers of self, a completely different person who cannot be satisfied with just one life, another self.
I think that is the joy of reading a beautiful work like 『Demian』.
--- p.
35~36

The gesture of breaking the thick shell surrounding me and finally flying towards Abraxas is individualization.
In order to become my true self, I must break my egg, be born again, and experience a new second birth. This is the growth that Sinclair, the protagonist of 『Demian』, will eventually experience.
It was Demian who helped Sinclair shake off the fears and anxieties of his inner child, and Demian recognized that such potential already existed within Sinclair.
The infinite potential of the adult self already existed within Sinclair, but Sinclair pretended not to know it.
--- p.59

Dreaming of killing one's father is surprisingly a very positive dream in Jungian psychology.
Because I see it as a dream of overcoming the father within me, the archetype within me, and the origin.
In Jungian psychology, even when we hate our parents, we are actually hating 'a part of our parents, a part that resembles them'.
Rather than hating your parents themselves, it may be more fundamental to be afraid that there might be something similar to them inside you.
If one of your parents passes away in your dream, it could be a story about overcoming your parents' trauma.
--- p.66

What is the true meaning of Cain's target? It's the belief in myself that I'm okay being alone, that I'm okay with carving out the life I want on my own.
From the perspective of religion or faith, it can be viewed negatively, thinking, 'What kind of person is this? Does he say he doesn't need faith? Does he say he won't rely on God? Does he believe in things like Abraxas? Isn't that a cult or heresy?'
But Damian doesn't care about the gaze of others, the gaze of religion, or the gaze of the group.
Damian was always on the path to individualization with Madame Eva.
Damian had been walking the arduous path of individualization since he was a young boy, a path that most people only begin when they reach middle age.
Damian was truly not afraid of other people's gaze at all.
--- p.78

The feminine (anima) that creates culture is the force that creates a better world through healing and caring.
There are people who embrace existence without giving up, no matter how difficult the situation is.
People who consider others' pain as their own, people who care for and heal the struggling and lonely, thanks to them, the world becomes more livable each day.
The world may seem full of evil villains, but the power of anima, the power of caring and healing, will ultimately prevail.
I believe that Madame Eva, another protagonist of 『Demian』, symbolizes the healing, caring, loving, and empathetic energy of the anima.
--- p.84

The moment Sinclair realizes Demian's warm heart, he thinks this.
Finally, I am no longer alone.
Sinclair finally realizes how scared and lonely he has been.
A strong sense of salvation begins to drift in like a fragrant spring breeze.
What his parents could not do, what no adult had ever done for Sinclair, little Damien did.
It was a great work that saved the soul of one suffering person.
Damian brings out Sinclair's hidden warrior nature.
You can fight.
It gave me courage to believe that I could definitely stand on the path to my own individualization.

--- p.92

The mind that strives toward the ultimate self is also called 'the higher self'.
Not the worldly self that people simply know as me, not the me in reality, not the me that others define for me, but the greater potential of myself that only I know.
A more transparent encounter with myself, completely unrelated to social status, status, business cards, or specifications.
That's Higher Self.
Sinclair's longing for Demian and his desire to become a great person like Demian, the kind of painting that Van Gogh wanted to paint with his whole life, not a painting that sells to others, that is the higher self, the Higher Self.
Finally, Sinclair encounters his most honest self and realizes a deeper longing within himself.
--- p.125

The unconscious becomes conscious, that was the picture of the falcon, and Damian deciphered the message accurately.
It was a picture of Sinclair's future.
What is the name of the bird drawn in this picture?
It must have been Abraxas.
Sinclair drew Abraxas instinctively, following the call of his unconscious.
Abraxas was the 'seed of dreams' that Damian had planted in Sinclair years ago.
For a while, the seed of a dream planted in Sinclair was barely sprouting.
Sinclair's dream seed, after germination through wandering and debauchery, gradually matures in the pure, sacred, and noble 'soil of the heart' of life, and finally draws the bird called Abraxas.
The act of ‘drawing’ simultaneously conveys the nuance of ‘longing’ and the nuance of ‘depicting.’
If you draw with all your might, you will miss with all your might, and if you write with all your might, you will also practice with all your might.
Drawing Abraxas signifies that Sinclair has begun the path of brilliant individualization toward Abraxas.
Sinclair finally found the strength to draw the ultimate milestone of his own heart.
--- p.132

I got everything I lacked through 'books'.
I no longer need to blame the environment, as I gain all the foundation for my lack of sensitivity from all kinds of books every day.
People with a fierce passion for exploration and who never give up their passion will eventually be able to cultivate the anima and animus they lack.
I hope you don't blame yourself and say, "Why am I so insensitive?" just because you can't see the anima and animus clearly right now.
--- p.138

Chrome is always with us.
The important thing is that we must always have the courage to fight and win against the Cromer.
When I can't do it alone, I have to have the courage to call on the Damiens around us, the strength to ask for help.
We must each fight desperately against our own chromers.
To do that, you need the wings of Abraxas.
When a baby bird hatches from an egg, not only does the mother bird peck at it with her beak, but the baby bird inside the egg also puts in a tremendous amount of effort.
It's called "Jultaksimsimultaneous" or "Jultaksimultaneous".
We must not only stimulate ourselves from the outside, but also from the inside, never stopping our efforts to come out.
--- p.154

This is how I interpret Abraxas.
Abraxas is the courage to embrace both the light and shadow of life.
Even if you go to war and lose the person you love most, you must embrace even that maddening sadness because it is a part of life.
Sending Damian out to the battlefield and losing him forever in that terrible place.
That would be a tremendous trauma that Sinclair would have to endure for the rest of his life.
Abraxas would say that even that trauma must be embraced.
Because if we only take the sweet cherries of life and leave out the dry and sticky parts of it, we will never be able to get to the essence of life.
There's also a saying called cherry picking.
It refers to the quiet nature of wanting to take only the good aspects of life.
But with that attitude, you can never reach the path of the great Abraxas.
Abraxas is a terrifying embrace of immeasurable depth and breadth, capable of embracing any shadow, any sorrow, any trauma, any tear.
--- p.176

Protect yourself from the violence of anyone who tries to gaslight you.
It takes courage to distance yourself from the obsession of anyone who seeks to use, exploit, and harass you.
We dream that only then will we meet our true selves, and that at that moment, the warm and affectionate mentor that comes to mind will be Damian.
--- p.204

Caring for your shadow means cherishing and trying to heal your trauma rather than pushing it away.
Doesn't the trauma hidden deep within our subconscious wish for our conscious mind to take care of us?
There are times when I feel the shadow of my painful unconsciousness smiling.
Healing begins when I stop pushing away my trauma and start cherishing it, when I realize that I am no longer a "poor thing standing alone in the middle of that wound."
At times like that, I really feel like my shadow is helping me.
When you begin to care for that wound, creativity and potential begin to soar like a swallow filled with water.
It feels like digging through deep layers of trauma and finally discovering the ultimate gem in the cave of my unconscious.
I become happy when I write like this. I shine brightest when I write about caring for my shadow. When I realize this, my shadow finally begins to smile.
--- p.227

Don't give up and move forward boldly.
Because every single bit of the dazzling, rainbow-colored beauty in this splendid story, Demian, belongs to you.
One bold step, one proud step, one courageous step.
For you, who walk the path of individualization toward a "higher self" day after day, I will wholeheartedly support your every step, wherever you are.

--- p.266~267