Today, I just finished reading up to chapter 2 of Dr. Murray Stein’s “Map Of The Soul 7: Persona, Shadow & Ego in the World of BTS.” I find it amusing that as the album itself was inspired by a book Dr. Stein had written himself (Jung’s Map Of The Soul”), he also created another book, inspired by the album. I guess one of the most satisfying things about BTS’ work is that everything always comes full circle. You will need to be a fan, though, and follow their universe, lyrics, and discography to get what I mean.
Needless to say, as much as several of their albums have created impact for me personally, such as the Love Yourself Series, Be, HYYH Series, YNWA, to name some (believe me there are more), Map Of The Soul:7 is for me, the most important piece of work in my life right now.
The songs featured in both the “Persona” and the “7” albums have resonated with me so deeply as I struggle with my own anxieties and loneliness. For days when I could not understand or even grasp surges of big emotions, I believed it was essential for me to find a way out, or else, it swallows me whole. Fittingly enough, I found a Map, in the form of BTS’ album. And right on time. There’s a saying in the fandom, you find BTS when you need them, and though I am one to find things like this cheesy and k-drama material, surprisingly, I find it rings true. Coincidence or not, I am, and shall always be grateful.
As Dr. Murray Stein has said:
“The album starts with Persona, then moves through Shadow, and ends with Ego. This is not without meaning. This is a carefully structured, well-built album.”
Dr. Murray Stein, Map Of The Soul 7: Persona, Shadow & Ego In The World of BTS
That is to say, Dr. Stein is highly familiar with the concept of where the album was based, and saying that, and even come to write another book about it says a lot about the significance the entire album has.
During its first release, the album got the same feedback from people who don’t even have the same background in psychology as Dr. Murray Stein. I have come across tons of reactions and reviews saying the same thing. The album is carefully structured, and its sequences are purposeful, sonically, lyrically – it’s a journey, which for me can never be more true. I thought I already had a grasp of it at first, but after reading the book, I am more astounded, not only with what Dr. Stein expounded but how it shed more light on my own realizations and reflections with my own Map Of The Soul. Maybe it indeed is BTS’ finest masterpiece, yet.
As someone trying to grope my way in this “Map”, I found myself in a lot of the songs, chronically following the stages as they presented and it just amuses me how they just “coincide.” So just like Dr. Stein’s Chapter 2: Reflections on the Lyrics of BTS’ Map of the Soul 7, let me also share how the things I got from it, and how it made my own reflections even more concrete.
The Persona
The album starts with the track Intro: Persona. Basically, the Persona in Jungian psychology refers to the mask the self wears. In the song, RM poses the question “Who the hell am I?” He expresses that this is a question he’s been asking himself his own life and that it may probably never be answered. Yet people would just “come and put a pearl necklace on him” posing one of the dangers of the persona. Whether you are a celebrity or not, you have a façade you show to the world, an image you want people to perceive you to be. Yet this can set you in a trap, keeping you in a rigid, structured mode. I think the persona is a people-pleasing mask that one may build according to his standards or the standards the world imposes upon him. But then you come to that certain point where you find yourself confused because you thought that’s what you are and then realize, it’s not really you; it’s a persona you built to shelter what’s really inside of you yet the lines are blurred. You don’t know if you’re actually on the right track. That’s when you start asking the question, “Who the hell am I?”
As Dr. Stein pointed out, the following tracks are aligned with this question. The next few songs relate to BTS’ persona. In Boy With Love, BTS shows a side of their selves empowered because they carry the love of their fans. Make It Right, in Dr. Stein’s interpretation refers to a journey to discover the soul – “I am singing to find you” and the struggles that come along with it.
As one embarks on this journey, he will nevertheless have his own share of struggles, especially those that bound him with his persona. Such struggles are revealed in Jamais Vu, which according to the book, can be a form of a complex; a psychological disorder that traps you in a vicious cycle of doing the same mistakes over and over again, as if you never learn. It’s also nice though, that he pointed out a silver lining in the song, “I won’t give up.”
Lastly, the last track of this segment is Dionysus. In Greek mythology, he is the God of wine and celebration, and the song tells how BTS has been “intoxicated” by their craft. It is important to note that Dr. Stein pointed out that Dionysus in Greece is a foreign god, a disruptor, “a loosener that dissolves old structures, rigid behaviors, and patterns and destroys personas.”
At this point, BTS is consumed by their craft and beliefs, they want to go beyond their own personas. But to break free, you have to face, in my observation, the reason why you built a persona in the first place – your shadow.
Shadow
Personally, this section is the most relevant part of my life, at least at the moment. The moment I asked myself the same question RM asked himself on Persona, was the day I began to really immerse myself with introspection, and the more I dove deeper, the darker the abyss was. My shadow was waiting at the seafloor and it was dark, scary, and not a very beautiful sight. And knowing that that shadow was me, the self-loathing was heavy. As Dr. Stein said, facing the Shadow can be “a shattering experience.” Indeed, it destroys everything you believed about yourself. It’s painful to look at and can render you helpless.
It was 2019 when I began to ask my questions, it is 2021 today and honestly, I think that I am still not past this area of the map at this point in my life. I have met mine, I think I have accepted that it is within me, but just as the seafloor can be dark and deep, you don’t really know where and when you can finally set your foot on the bottom. And this is why I am grateful for this album, Map Of The Soul: 7. That though I still cannot fathom when I will reach the bottom, I know I will get somewhere, because if I follow the map, I will get there, and then emerge with a new breath, soon.
In the album, Suga’s Interlude: Shadow tells about his own shadows, and probably also BTS’ too. Their greed, their fears, their weaknesses, their helplessness at the top. Though I am nowhere near being a celebrity, these concepts are not foreign to me. I think our shadows lurk in the same way; we harness greed, yet there’s also a part that talks us down. But these aspects are actually all also a part of who we are.
Black Swan, in economics, is “an unpredictable event that leads to severe consequences” often harmful. As musicians who worked so hard to achieve and hone their craft, you would think that people as passionate as they are would never lose their love of music. But they reveal that that has been their biggest fear, a fear that their shadow told them can be possible. Now that they have attained the top, things can be easy from there, or there’s probably nothing else left, there is nowhere else to go, nothing left to be passionate about. For me, Black Swan also reflects my own fears – my shadow’s greatest strength.
Interestingly enough, the next song is Filter. At first, I found it odd that this catchy tune lies in between the dark shadow segment. I thought it should have been under the persona section, being that we apply filters on photos we share in social media until I read the book and somehow formed a new set of realizations. Indeed Filter was precisely sitting at the right place after Black Swan. Because come to think of it, after your shadow shatters the images you have initially believed in about yourself, you will find yourself lost without a grasp of who you really are. You will struggle to find what you really are, and so you ask, what should I be? What filter should I use?
Consequently, this state of “confusion” can leave you feeling restless and impatient, like time is passing by and you’re stuck in a rut, and seemingly can’t figure things out. And that’s what Jungkook’s story shows in My Time. He is suddenly hit by a certain consciousness of time, of childhood, and in my introspection, of opportunities, I lost, because of my decisions, and that there’s no more turning back. With all the what-ifs, the relationships lost, and that being fully aware of “time”, you begin to be conscious of the fact that you need to get yourself together soon and get your time “right” just as how the Korean title of the song can be directly translated as “Jet Lag” that happens to you because you are in a place and time where your body clock is not supposed to be.
For me, the next track Louder Than Bombs, is also a recognition of collective darkness, a song of empathy, and how your own pain can be projected as the pain of others. Just as how the shadows are growing bigger, the scope of its darkness also expands and one can also see the darkness outside. In On, they reach out to other people who are going through pain and darkness as well to take heart. It’s a message that goes both ways to others and to themselves.
Ugh is a confrontation of the things that can cause them pain and even anger. This is an important step because if you really want to break out of certain emotions, there is no other way but to confront them. This strong hyped track can actually allow its listeners to feel and vent out their own strong, negative emotions, and after doing that, you begin to heal at 0:00.
Embracing The Ego
I have always found Zero O’clock so healing, but always wondered why such a gentle song is juxtaposed to an ultra hype song. Looking at it again with the Jungian lens, I now understand and feel the significance of this even stronger.
0:00 is the beginning of something new, a restart, and a transition. From the shadows, to heal, you need to make peace with your old self, the Inner Child.
In Dr. Stein’s book, he interpreted Friends as an acknowledgment that one day, things can end, even the good ones. Like how they are aware that one day, all the cheers and fame will come to an end. In my own personal reflection, I think Friends also recognizes the need for connection. In the process of healing and finding yourself, it is a good thing to find support from people who could stay beside you through the process, to the end, and beyond.
With Moon, it seems BTS have accepted and decided what they want to become: a moon that though in reality is a barren heavenly body, can still shine on their light to something they deem precious and beautiful. It is important to note that the process of Individuation, the end goal of the Map Of The Soul, is to become “the person that you are born to be.” I think they have now accepted this destiny wholeheartedly with all the good and the bad that come along with it.
In Respect, they discuss how they believe respect is the highest form of virtue and should not be taken lightly. I think they are establishing here an important value that they want their ego to possess, not so much in just having to be respected themselves by others, but as a reminder to themselves as well to give respect where it is due; whether towards others or towards themselves. As someone who wishes to one day complete this individuation process, I think this is a very integral step. Once you have taken over the shadows, you must be able to identify what is really intrinsically important to you and make it the foundation of your conscious self, your ego.
We Are Bulletproof: the Eternal, for me, is a very important piece as a fan, and most probably also for BTS as BTS. It’s a solid affirmation of their personas they initially built as bulletproof boy scouts; that it is no longer just a name and a persona, but is now consolidated into who they are, Bulletproof…and that they were able to achieve this self-consciousness with the love they received from their fans. It’s an ode on how this love enabled them to find themselves; that they were able to come through and emerge out of the dark shadows because despite it all, they were loved.
I’d also like to go back to 2 of the songs from the Map Of The Soul: Persona album that didn’t make it to 7. Mikrokosmos and Home. I think these 2 songs are under the Persona album because it discusses more the things that initially made up their personas – their fans. It’s on the first part of the journey, and I just find it amazing how from the beginning they have always found their fans as a guiding light, a microcosmos of brilliant individual lights, and how they are also a place of comfort, a home. Landing after a long journey to finding themselves as BTS, they emerge stronger, and still with the people who have loved them from the start of their journey and saw through their changes. I think this is really beautiful.
Finally, Outro: Ego is a celebration, and in Dr. Stein’s words, “a coming of age of the ego.” It’s embracing who they are and the maturity of their consciousness, of knowing what they believe is right and good for themselves. They have established their highest virtue which is to respect their pain, their mistakes, who they are, and to trust themselves wherever life may take them because they now know who they are, what they value, and what makes them alive.
As someone following this Map Of The Soul shared by BTS, I take strength in this outro. I personally don’t think I am there yet, but I think I kind of understand what I need to do, and where I am headed to.
Map Of The Soul:7 is not just an album, it is introspection, it is a craft, an art that connects and resonates with people. It tells their history and journey as artists, as a group, and as individuals, and it inspires people like me to think about my life, myself, and what I believe is important. When fans say BTS has changed their lives, trust me, they mean it. I do.
Listen to the album here:
This is a re-post from my other blog, but I felt this piece needed to be here because of how this album has been so significant in my life. You may also visit my BTS-focused blog https://ayosuga.wordpress.com for more BTS stuff. ^_^
Out Of The Well 