Bangtan Herman Notes: The Power of Seven

At a pottery workshop with ARMY friends last month, while our hands were busy building pots and mugs, we were marveling at something we could suddenly articulate: BTS was designed to grow individually without growing apart. As separate clay projects took form side by side, the metaphor felt unavoidable. It is rare to witness fullness without fracture, change without loss.

That moment stayed with me long enough to send me back to Murray Stein’s Map of the Soul: Persona, Shadow & Ego in the World of BTS. The book is grounded in Jungian psychology, particularly the framework of individuation: the lifelong process of becoming whole through the integration of persona, shadow, and ego. Stein, a Jungian scholar, wrote with evident excitement about BTS’s thoughtful adoption of Jung’s ideas. This was the Map of the Soul era, when BTS was preparing for a world tour that would never come because of the pandemic.

I think, one of the most striking creative choices of this era lies in the rap line tracks themselves, Persona, Shadow, and Ego. Each song samples an intro from BTS’s earliest albums. Skool Luv Affair for Persona; O, RUL8 2! for Shadow and 2 Cool 4 Skul for Ego. This is not nostalgia nor is it just a creative design. It is musical intertextuality: BTS treats their own discography as a living text, returning to earlier works to make meaning of the present one. In Jungian terms, this is individuation, but in song and in sound. The present self revisiting its origin points, not to discard them, but to integrate them.

Stein reflects that “the number 7 completes things,” and that completion signals not an ending, but a time to rest after immense creative labor. In hindsight, Chapter 2 feels less like interruption and more like care. Care for the self. Care for the other. Rest became part of the work.

Seven, Stein reminds us, is also a prime number that is indivisible except by itself. In BTS’s 7, it exists as a single entity not by suppressing individuality, but by safeguarding it.

When I first read this book, it was during the pandemic, and I was a Baby ARMY learning alongside my ARMY daughter, who gently guided me through songs, names, and histories. I read Stein then with curiosity. I return to him now with recognition. Watching BTS today, sometimes alone, sometimes together with ARMY Daughter or with ARMY friends,I see the truth of Jung’s insight made visible: separation does not undo the whole. It deepens it. Seven remains prime. Seven is one. One is seven.

Apobangpo! Purple and true!

Kuwentong Bangtan: The Message of BTS' OT7 at HOTS Final 2025

 

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Kuwentong Bangtan: When Kim Namjoon Went Nuts: A Review of Nuts, RPWP 2024

When the MV of Nuts dropped a few weeks ago, I and ARMYs in my circle speculated on this one person who hurt our Joonie. This is an ongoing question since he’s always bared his feelings of deep anger, regret and frustration. By default, I, like many ARMYs, couldn’t wait to pulverize the person in question. Back pedaling to Nuts, however, and watching Joon sing and move-dance about in a studio all by himself made me ask: Is he talking about and with himself?

Nuts is Kim Namjoon’s soliloquy making the song and the MV highly appealing. Soliloquy as narrative device allows the character to connect more emotionally and psychologically to the audience. The self-talk is an exposition of prevailing themes in the story as well as the underlying conflicts and the more obvious problems or issues at hand. The technique is a delicious invitation to the character’s introspection of past actions leading to decisions or possible consequences brought by the thinking process. This metacognitive approach to storytelling engages audiences even more and for fans like me, we become deeply invested in the artists that we stan.

Soliloquies or self-talk in literature are not new. A classic example is Shakespeare’s Hamlet. To see Namjoon’s soliloquy is for me, a novel presentation of his saga and journey as artist and leader of BTS. This is another style of intertextuality — borrowing from the classics and putting a new spin to the technique. Then again, in his own discography there are songs ( Joke, RM 2016; Reflections, Wings 2017; and Persona, MOTS 2019) that  are reflections of his state of mind and internal battles against the backdrop of a capitalist economy imbued with the Korean Han. That fear of losing the Self is an ongoing narrative of Kim Namjoon.

Taking Nuts as a soliloquy and a reference to Hamlet’s, this 2nd track of Right Place Wrong Person, is Kim Namjoon’s madness in full display, once again. The song lyrics references two genders. A She and a He. Using Jung’s Map of the Soul as framework for this discussion, the former is the Anima and the latter is the Kpop Idol Persona

These two stanzas show the conflict that drives Namjoon insane as Anima and Persona clashes.

Verse 1

“She a pro rider… When it comes to love, she could be an all nighter | Best gaslighter, no man could ever fight her.

I go mad, how can we do everything together?”

Verse 2

“He a pro rider… | Must be an A1 guider, always on that fuckin’ Kakao talk | When it comes to money, he could be a damn fighter | Best gaslighter, no woman could stop him.

I go nuts, I feel like a monster.”

The song closes out with two stanzas by the Anima and the Persona.

“Now lay back | You never been so high | Know you ‘fraid of heights | I will close your eyes”

“Now lay back | You never been so high | Know you ‘fraid of heights | Don’t say a goodbye”

Words of caution. A caveat. A desire to rest and to take a pause but it is not a goodbye. It is not the end because, later on, Namjoon sings Come Back to Me to reassure himself and ARMY that he has integrated with the Anima. The male Ego leaves the set of mazes intact and can confidently walk along side its feminine power.

1/7 of our Global Music Princes have overcome the madness that comes with fame, ambition, immense success and the power of influence. Namjoon has taken ARMY and the bigger audience into an adventure of the human mind and its capacity to be broken and to be healed! I am not surprised since he once said in one of his lives during the pandemic, “let’s be insane to be sane.”

And there lies the courage and the intelligence of Kim Namjoon. Blessed with a 148 IQ, his heightened awareness of his Self and the world around him drives him “nuts”. Choosing music to channel and balance the crazies that torment him all day and all night, he is able to create art that is both luminous and illuminating.

I am really glad he picked up learning the saxophone while on military service. Serenading Jin and playing the chorus of Dynamite are manifestations of grace. Our Joonie is going to be fine.

Book Review: Map of the Soul: Persona, Shadow and Ego in the World of BTS

One of the best reads I had last year was Map of the Soul 7: Persona, Shadow and Ego in the World of BTS by Dr. Murray Stein. Best reads ko siya kase swak na swak ang analysis niya sa MOTS 7 album ng Bangtan. At dahil Jungian scholar is Dr. Stein, napaka-credible ng kanyang exposition at integration ng Map of the Soul framework sa mga songs/tracks ng album. Tatlong bagay ang take away ko sa pagbabasa ng aklat.

Map of the Soul, the Jungian process of becoming as framework of the album, fortified Big Hit and Bangtan’s goal as artists who produce and create art and music for healing. Buongbuo ang concept ng album as a journey into the self towards individuation - the state of becoming; the process of completing a life cycle.

Dr. Stein’s analysis explains Bangtan’s path. At the time of writing and publication, the pandemic hasn’t yet disrupted the world. Stein concludes that Bangtan is a Kpop band that will remain true to its roots but ready for challenges of a global scale. We have seen that happen in the past two years!

The album’s Intro and Outro are perfect “book ends” to the MOTS 7 album as emphasis on the individuation process of the self. Ang husay ng production team!

And speaking of Ego, it celebrated its 2nd year anniversary yesterday! How perfect is the song to end the MOTS 7 album. While Persona questions identity, Ego provides the answer to the existential question of Who Am I. Bangtan acknowledges their celebrity status, the trappings of fame and fortune but they remain tethered to their true selves, faults, lights and shadows all. They sing and perform their vulnerabilities as a manner of learning through life and finding oneself in the process. The fandom learns and evolves with them!

This is Jhope singing with joy and confidence on his discovery of his true self. Don’t we all want this for ourselves too? That affirmation of who we are begins from deep within.

“Only one hope, only one soul’

‘Only one smile, only one you’

Definite answer to the truth of the world

Only one and unchanging me, right”

— from lyricsfreak.com

Posting here excerpts from the book and a link to the MV of Ego.

https://youtu.be/LmApDbvNCXg

PNU USAP Tayo: Women and Literature: Stories. Storytelling and Sacred Sexuality (3 of 3)

Allow me now to connect the two stories, what it implies to our general discussion, what we can infer from them and finally, lend answers to the questions I posed at the first part of the talk.

In the creation myth of Tungkung Langit and Alunsina, we take caution in treating women as mere accessories and assistants. Something creative and beautiful came about from Tungkung Langit’s grief but it dispenses Alunsina’s role as co-creator of worlds. This is the message of the myth that must not be forgotten. Men and women are partners in creation. We need to recognize this creative power of women and honor its source.

In Baubo and Demeter, we find that the energy fueling a woman to restore and to be born again is in her sexuality. We didn’t know what Baubo told Demeter but it brought her joy, laughter and the zeal to live again. We only know that Baubo looking like the fertility goddess of ancient civilizations is capable of pushing another woman to go back to the very reason why she is so. This sexuality is not bad. We need to allow ourselves, even men, to get in touch with this sexuality that suggests humor, joy and a bit of play since it can be a life-giving force. In Jungian psychology, it is called the anima. A feminine figure present in the unconscious. When a person is made aware of it, he achieves a wholeness of the Self, the knowledge of one's strengths and weaknesses that lies within and eventually, a balance of the lights and shadows that haunt the psyche (Stein, 2020)

How do I make sense of it all now? 

Using Alunsina, Baubo and Demeter as my mentors (fictional as they are) allowed me to revisit the stories I have written for children. In Big Sister, I depicted an older sibling that is spunky and gleefully annoying whose love and affection for her younger brother makes her all the more endearing. In My Daddy! My One and Only! Tejido and I asserted the male presence as that of a nurturing parent. Fathers are capable of showing their tender and vulnerable side and this make them all the more desirable and, ah… sexier. In our recent book, Masaya Ang Maging Ako, a bullied child can walk away from her bullies only when her joy and self confidence in herself is intact. We need to respect this child who knows her joy and that her queerness is a source of pride.

The two stories from folk literature that I shared with you today have indeed, helped me examine my own creative process and what prevented me from writing at the onset of the pandemic. The misogyny and the gaslighting of men in government left me barren and unfulfilled. I have to remember that like Alunsina, I can make choices. With the help of another artistic group, otherwise known as Bangtan Sonyeondan or BTS, (who I consider my collective Baubo – yes, those seven Korean boys are very much in touch with their anima), I had the opportunity to revisit my inner child. BTS as my Baubo encouraged me to play and to laugh at myself. Their art, music and poetry inspired me to create again. I now have a collection of poems to self-publish in Zine form with an artist friend and co-teacher. I said yes to a writing project among the company of women. My publisher is setting up a new time table for the book project we had talked about previous to Covid 19. The life-death-life cycle is very much evident.

To end my talk, I have three things to emphasize. First, do not be afraid to acknowledge your sexuality as an energy of creation or a force of good. Second, when you see a woman of whatever age having fun, laughing, being joyful and relishing the little things that make her happy, follow her path and understand where that exuberance is coming from. Never judge her. Instead, learn from her how she can continuously temper and wield this heat. This inner fire that can be warm and scorching. In time you will know when to choose one from the other and how to use it well. Lastly, I do hope that when you are in the depths of despair, a Baubo will come along to whisper something frivolous or exciting that your heart will find the courage to sing again.  

And when you have found it, write your story. Own your narrative. Tell it. Share it. Create it. Stay alive!

 

 

Bibliography

Estes, Clarissa Pinkola. Women Who Run With Wolves. NY, Ballantine Books, 1992.

Sentro Rizal : Si Tungkung Langit at Alinsuna. Sentro Rizal Filipinas. Adarna House, Inc. Likha-an sa Intramuros. MAV Film Productions, 2020 © National Commission for Culture and the Arts

Stein, Murray. Map of the Soul: 7 Persona, Ego and Shadow in the World of BTS. NC, Chiron Publishing, 2020.

Gagatiga & Tejido. My Daddy! My One and Only! Lampara House, 2013

Gagatiga & De Jesus. Big Sister. Lampara House, 2015

Gagatiga & Bauza. Masaya Ang Maging Ako! Room to Read & Lampara House, 2020