psychology

Searching for the Eternal Girl/Boy P. 1 Puella Aeterna/Puer Aeternus and Corne/Senex

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Does fantasy lead to escape, or to the embracing of a new perspective? In other words, does it support psychic growth or impede it? That distinction is often complicated by paradox, but it helps to ask ourselves, “Is concentrating on this fantasy or daydream opening my creative possibilities, or is this sapping my ego strength in the real world?” ~Marion Woodman

This excerpt begins Marion Woodman‘s foreword from Ann Yeoman’s book, Now or Neverland, which I read some time ago, thanks to Deborah Gregory‘s recommendation, and I am very grateful for it.

Frankly, when I began reading this book, I felt at home; I saw myself as a puer aeternus, struggling to stay balanced on life’s rollercoaster.

Traditionally, the term ‘puer aeternus’ (Latin for ‘eternal boy’) is used to describe a child-god who remains eternally young. In Carl Jung’s psychology, it refers to an older person whose emotional life remains stuck in adolescence, often referred to as the “Peter Pan syndrome”. Jung suggests that the puer lives a “provisional life” due to a fear of being trapped. They seek independence, resist boundaries, and find restrictions intolerable. In Greek mythology, the term ‘puer aeternus’ originates from the Metamorphoses, an epic poem by Roman poet Ovid (43 BC – c. 17 AD) that explores Greek and Roman myths. Ovid refers to the child-god Iacchus as “puer aeternus” and praises his role in the Eleusinian mysteries. Iacchus is linked to Dionysus and Eros. The puer represents a deity of vegetation, resurrection, and divine youth, similar to Tammuz, Attis, and Adonis.

Senex is a Latin term that literally means “old man.” It can also be used to describe: a wise, elderly person, an archetype. The wise older person (also known as senex, sage, or sophos) is an archetype outlined by Carl Jung, as well as a familiar literary figure, often portrayed as a stock character. Such a figure can be a profound philosopher renowned for wisdom and sound judgment.

Marie-Louise Von Franz summarised her view of the puer as follows:
None of his reactions are particularly personal or special. He becomes a type—the type of the puer aeternus. He becomes an archetype, and if you become that, you are not at all original… He is merely the archetype of the eternal-youth god, and, therefore, he has all the features of the god: he has a nostalgic longing for death, he thinks of himself as being something special, and he is the one sensitive being among all the other tough sheep. He will have a problem with an aggressive, destructive shadow that he will not want to live with and generally projects. There is nothing special whatsoever. The worse the identification with the youthful god, the less individual the person, although he himself feels so special. (Puer Aeternus, pp. 121f)
Another type of puer that does not display the charm of eternal youth, nor does the archetype of the divine youth shine through him. On the contrary, he lives in a continual sleepy daze, and that, too, is a typical adolescent characteristic… The sleepy daze is only an outer aspect, however, and if you can penetrate it, you will find that a lively fantasy life is being cherished within. (Puer Aeternus, p.2)

Reflecting on my childhood, after my father passed away and my mother kept it a secret from my brother Al and me, I became very introverted. Once I learned the truth, I simply didn’t want to grow up. Al and I drew closer because of our mother’s lie, and over time, during our youth, we swapped roles as eternal children. Initially, I wanted to remain a child forever, while Al, aware of our father’s death almost from the moment it happened, tried to act as a mature older brother to look after me.

As we entered puberty, our roles underwent significant changes. I developed a strong sexual desire much earlier and believed I had to act like a man to attract girls, while Al began creating his own solitary world. For many years, this condition persisted. Although I was accepted into Al’s world and was part of it, I was the one who had to maintain contact with the outside world. As a result, I assumed the role of the senex, but I longed for my puer aeternus and tried to keep it concealed yet protected.

Let’s conclude this now, and I look forward to discussing this topic further in the next part. 🖖🙏

My (Carl Jung’s) Most Difficult Experiment [P. 2]

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What fascinates me about Jung is his commitment to self-exploration and his use of analysis to discover his Self through the interpretation of dreams. He dedicated his life to this pursuit with genuine honesty and sincerity. Today, I present another section of The Red Book, Liber Novus, by Carl Jung, from Sonu Shamdasani’s Reader’s Edition.🙏

The following month, on a train journey to Schaffhausen, Jung experienced a waking vision of Europe being devastated by a catastrophic flood, which was repeated two weeks later, on the same journey. Commenting on this experience in 1925, he remarked: “I could be taken as Switzerland fenced in by mountains and the submergence of the world could be the debris of my former relationships.” This led him to the following diagnosis of his condition: “I thought to myself, ‘If this means anything, it means that I am hopelessly off.’ ” (Introduction to Jungian Psychology, pp. 47-48). After this experience, Jung feared that he would go mad.
(Barbara Hannah recalls that “Jung used to say in later years that his tormenting doubts as to his own sanity should have been allayed by the amount of success he was having at the same time in the outer world, especially in America” [C. G. Jung: His Life and Work. A Biographical Memoir/ New York: Perigree, 1976/, p. 109]. )
He recalled that he first thought that the images of the vision indicated a revolution, but as he could not imagine this, he concluded that he was “menaced with a psychosis.” (Memories, p. 200). After this, he had a similar vision:

In the following winter, I was standing at the window one night and looked North. I saw a blood-red glow, like the flicker of the sea seen from afar, stretched from East to West across the northern horizon. And at that time, someone asked me what I thought about global events in the near future. I said that I had no thoughts, but saw blood, rivers of blood (Draft, p. 8).

In the year directly preceding the outbreak of war, apocalyptic imagery was widespread in European arts and literature. For example, in 1912, Wassily Kandinsky wrote of a coming universal catastrophe.
From 1912 to 1914. Ludwig Meidner painted a series of works known as the Apocalyptic Landscapes, featuring scenes of destroyed cities, corpses, and turmoil (Gerda Bauer and Ines Wagemann, Ludwig Meidner: Zeichner, Maler, Literat 1884-1966 / Stuttgart: Verlag Gerd Hatje, 1991). Prophecy was in the air!
In 1899, the renowned American medium Leonora Piper predicted that in the coming century, a terrible war would erupt in various parts of the world, purging the world and revealing the truths of spiritualism. In 1918, Arthur Conan Doyle, the spiritualist and author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, viewed this as prophetic (A. C. Doyle, The New Revelation and the Vital Message / London: Psychic Press, 1918, p. 9).

Dream _ A Great Work Of Art Is Like A Dream.
Artwork: Henri Rousseau
From the Carl Jung depth psychology site

In Jung’s account of the fantasy on the train in Liber Novus, the inner voice said that what the fantasy depicted would become completely real. Initially, he interpreted this subjectively and prospectively, that is, as depicting the imminent destruction of his world. His reaction to this experience was to undertake a psychological self-investigation. In this epoch, self-experimentation was used in medicine and psychology. Introspection had been one of the main tools of psychological research.

Jung came to realise that Transformations and Symbols of the Libido “could be taken as myself and that an analysis of it leads inevitably into an analysis of my own unconscious processes” (Introduction to Jungian Psychology, p. 28). He had projected his material onto that of Miss Frank Miller, whom he had never met. Up to this point, Jung had been an active thinker and had been averse to fantasy: “as a form of thinking I held it to be altogether impure, a sort of incestuous intercorse, thoroughly immoral from an intellectual viewpoint” (Ibid.). He now turned to analyse his fantasies, carefully noting everything. He had to overcome considerable resistance in doing this: “Permitting fantasy in myself had the same effect as would be produced on a man if he came into his workshop and found all the tools flying about doing things independently of his will” (Ibid.). In studying his fantasies, Jung realised that he was examining the myth-creating function of the mind (MP, p. 23).

Jung picked up the brown notebook, which he had set aside in 1902, and began writing in it (The subsequent notebooks are black, hence Jung referred to them as the Black Books). He noted his inner states in metaphors, such as being in a desert with an unbearably hot sun (that is, consciousness). In the 1925 seminar, he recalled that it occurred to him that he could write down his reflections in a sequence. He was “writing autobiographical material, but not as an autobiography” (Introduction to Jungian Psychology, p. 48).
From the time of the Platonic dialogues onward, the dialogical CE, St. Augustine wrote his Soliloquies, which presented an extended dialogue between himself and “Reason,” who instructed him. They commenced with the following lines:

When I had been pondering many different things to myself for a long time, and had for many days been seeking my own Self and what my own good was, and what evil was to be avoided, there suddenly spoke to me – what was it? I myself or someone else, inside or outside me? (This is the very thing I would love to know but don’t.) [St. Augustine, Soliloquies and Immorality of the Soul, ed. and tr. Gerald Watson (Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1990), p. 23. Watson notes that Augustine “had been through a period of intense strain, close to nervous breakdown, and the Soliloquies are a form of therapy, an effort to cure himself by talking, or rather writing” /p. v/).]

While Jung was writing in Black Book 2:

I said to myself, “What is this I’m doing? This certainly is not science. What is it?” Then a voice said to me, “That is art!” This made the strangest sort of impression upon me, because it was not in any sense my impression that what I was writing was art. Then I came to this: “Perhaps my unconscious is forming a personality that is not I, but which is insisting on coming through to expression.” I don’t know why exactly, but I knew to a certainty that the voice that had said my writing was art had come from a woman … Well, I said very emphatically to this voice that what I was doing was not art, and I felt a great resistance grow up in me. No voice came through, however, and I kept on writing. This time, I caught her and said, “No, it is not”, and I felt as though an argument would ensue. {Ibid., p. 42. In Jung’s account, it appears that his dialogue took place in the autumn of 1913, although this is not certain, as the dialogue itself does not occur in the Black Book, and no other manuscript has yet come to light. If this dating is followed, and in the absence of the other material, it would appear that the material of the voice is referring to the November entries in Black Book 2, and not the subsequent text of Liber Novus or the paintings.}

To be continued!💖

The image on top: Pang Torsuwan -WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING!

The Intoxication of Mythology (an Add!)

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“Living with these things all the time, I can see how there are certain universal patterns for these manifestations. A shaman among the Navajo or in the Congo will say things that sound remarkably similar to those of Nicholas Cusanus, Thomas Aquinas, or C. G. Jung, leading one to realise that these ranges of experiences are common to the human race. There are some people who close themselves away from them, some people who open themselves to them …”
-Joseph Campbell
“Living Myths: A Conversation with Joseph Campbell,” Parabola, Volume I, Issue 2, Spring 1976, p. 70

In this tumultuous world, where corrupt leaders continue to pursue their plans for the “New World Order,” the most prudent approach is to allow our strained minds to be guided by the wisdom of eminent thinkers and to find solace in uniting our bewildered souls.

Surreal Abstract Painting (“Dadaism in nature” or “Psychedelic Surrealism”. )

My anger has subsided somewhat since last week, given how my words might have been taken. Nevertheless, I’m completely drained and fed up! Especially after that so-called ceasefire, which is like leaving an injured monster in a room with inocent people and locking the door!

These days, death has become the norm. We can see that the lives (of others, of course!) are not so important, but as we all know, the grim reaper is lurking, waiting for us all, regardless of our wealth or status, around the world. So, it’s essential to remember this.

That’s why I turn to myth, as an addendum to my recent post, and death!

Carl Gustav Jung around 1960 in his house in Zurich. (Photo RUE DES ARCHIVES)

Here are some words by Carl Jung:

For example, I do not know for what reason the universe has come into being, and I shall never know. Therefore, I must drop this question as a scientific or intellectual problem. But if an idea about it is offered to me—in dreams or in mythic traditions—I ought to take note of it. …They (The foreknowledge) may be in accord with reality, and then again they may not. I have, however, learned that the views I have been able to form based on such hints from the unconscious have been most rewarding.
Naturally, I am not going to write a book of revelations about them, but I will acknowledge that I have a “myth” that encourages me to look deeper into this whole realm.
“Myths are the earliest form of science.”
When I speak of things after death, I am speaking out of inner prompting and can go no farther than to tell you dreams and myths related to this subject. Naturally, one can contend from the start that myths and dreams concerning the continuity of life after death are merely compensating fantasies inherent in our natures—all life desires eternity. The only argument I can adduce in answer to this is the myth itself.

~Carl Jung, The Atlantic Monthly, December 1962, From On Life after Death by C.G. Jung, via Carl Jung Depth Psychology Site

Sending love and peace!

The image at the top is a striking piece of digital art titled “Chakra” by DeviantArt user paranormalilly32. 

Make Peace, No War; Is It Possible?!

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Today, I can only articulate my perplexed reflections regarding this event, which I may have somewhat anticipated yet did not expect. I am referring to the conflict that commenced yesterday between Israel and Iran. I do not wish to convey any patriotic sentiment, as I do not possess such feelings; however, I still experience ambivalent emotions regarding the dismantling of the Islamic regime and my connection to my place of origin.
That is what Carl Jung called the “Collective Unconscious.”

As I once responded to a dear friend’s question regarding my feelings; I have never supported war, but when one resides in a country governed by such a regime—killing young and old of one’s own people without mercy—and each day when venturing out onto the streets, uncertain if one will return alive, there is no other conclusion to draw!

via Lewis Lafontaine 🙏

Carl Jung’s perspective on war is complex and nuanced. He viewed war as a reflection of deeper psychological processes in individuals and nations, rather than just a political clash. Jung believed the “shadow” – the darker aspects of the human psyche – significantly influences this, with nations projecting undesirable traits onto enemies. He warned against the dangers of mass psychology and unconscious forces overwhelming reason, which can lead to destruction.
Jung’s views on war extend beyond military tactics; they explore the psychological roots of conflict, highlighting self-awareness, the risks of unchecked unconscious forces, and how individuation fosters peace.

Recalling the phallus dream and brick games, Jung forms associations leading to his adult views on global devastation and “rivers of blood.” In autumn 1913, he sensed a sombre atmosphere, an oppression that appeared to emanate from external sources, as if something significant lingered in the air. He recalls how this feeling grew stronger over the months, eventually leading to a remarkable vision that took hold of him:

“I saw a monstrous flood covering all the northern and low-lying lands between the North Sea and the Alps. When it came to Switzerland, I saw that the mountains grew higher and higher to protect our country. I realised that a frightful catastrophe was in progress. I saw the mighty yellow waves, the floating rubble of civilisation, and the drowned bodies of uncounted thousands. Then the whole sea turned to blood.” Jung recalls several recurring dreams, regarding them as premonitions of world destruction leading up to the First World War.”

Anyway, I’ll just have to deal with it, just like so many others who have the same concerns. I truly hope this situation comes to a swift and favourable resolution, ultimately leading to a free and prosperous Iran.

An Innocent Little Mistake!

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2007 The Card Trick by Jake Baddeley

As I reflect on my past life, the passing years prompt me to recall memories, and I see how I wish to revisit specific moments to alter them or improve them. I have led an adventurous life (as you may recall from my series of posts about my memories), and I acknowledge that I have made numerous mistakes, which I deeply regret. However, with guidance from great thinkers, I have learned to view these mistakes from a different perspective: The Value of Experience!

It is a prevalent issue for people around the world to avoid making mistakes. I, myself, am one of those who strive for perfection, and I recognise that it is misguided!
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe says, “Geschlagener Quark macht breit, nicht fest!” (Beaten curd becomes broad, not strong!)

“If we look at the problems raised by Aristotle, we are astonished at his gift of observation. What incredible eyes the Greeks had for many things! Only they committed the mistake of being overhasty, of passing straightway from the phenomenon to the explanation of it, and thereby produced specific theories that are pretty inadequate. But this is the mistake of all time, and is still made in our own day.”

From Maxims & Reflections, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; Science, 559

Additionally, Carl Gustav Jung reminds us that we can make mistakes and learn from them.

Whatever we look at, and however we look at it, we see only through our own eyes. For this reason, science is never made by one man but by many. The individual merely offers their contribution, and in this sense, I dare to speak only of my way of seeing things.
~Carl Jung, Modern man in Search of a Soul, p.84.

From carljungdepthpsychologysite.blog/

Plato proposed that absolute knowledge can be gained through acquaintance, meaning through intellectual insight into the otherworldly Forms. Jung shared a similar notion regarding acquaintance with the archetypes of the “unus mundus” (one world), representing the primordial, unified reality from which all things originate. Nevertheless, in contrast to Plato, Jung asserted that archetypes cannot be perceived directly. Instead, we can comprehend their psychic significance, gaining at least a hint of absolute knowledge.

I believe we can make mistakes, but after each one, we should take a step back and carefully examine how and where it happened, then try to approach the experience more thoughtfully. Experience teaches us more than thousands of books ever could!

Jung inspired individuals to engage with the world and savour life, rather than rely solely on theoretical knowledge from books. He regarded the unconscious mind as a treasure trove of experiences accessible through reflection and symbolic language. Ultimately, Jung’s work emphasises that while books and knowledge are valuable, they shouldn’t overshadow the importance of direct experience and self-reflection. Genuine growth and understanding flourish when we engage with our surroundings and explore our inner lives.

Sometimes a tree tells you more than can be read in books.
~ C.G. Jung; Letters Volume 1; Page 179.

Experience, not books, is what leads to understanding.
~Carl Jung, CW 12, Para 564

Thank you for reading; have a lovely holiday! 🙏🤗🌹💕

My (Carl Jung’s) Most Difficult Experiment [P. 1]

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Regarding foresight, few individuals possess this ability, or perhaps it exists in everyone, yet most fail to recognise it. I knew some of my relatives, and one of my aunts had mastered it. She had seen ghosts in her large, old house, conversed with them, and could perceive events (in dreams) before they occurred. My brother Al also possessed such a gift, particularly in the final years of his life when he underwent surgery on his head to remove a tumour. I do not know if it is a gift, a curse, or a blessing; nonetheless, I would treasure that.

I, myself, have a small example: I had a dream in which one of my customers, an elderly woman I had driven to the doctor for many years but could no longer assist because she needed special transport, urgently called me to ask if I could pick her up and take her to her doctor. I wondered why I had dreamt of her after all this time. Two days after my dream, while driving a guest from her neighbourhood, she told me she recognised me as the person who had driven her friend from next door for a long time and asked if I knew she had passed away. I said no and asked when it had happened. She replied it was the night before last, the same night I had dreamt of her!

Dream analysis stands or falls with [the hypothesis of the unconscious]. Without it, the dream appears to be merely a freak of nature, a meaningless conglomerate of memory fragments left over from the day’s happenings.
~Carl Jung
“Modern Man in Search of a Soul”, p.2, Psychology Press

Now, let us read about one of the great minds in this field: Carl Gustav Jung. He was among the most sensitive and intuitive visionaries of all time. Here, he talks about his dreams, odd and extraordinary dreams. Once, he was even afraid that he had schizophrenia.

<Although it is from The Red Book, which everyone might have or may have even read, I believe many still do not notice the fineness in the “Introduction” at the beginning of the book, as I find it fascinating.>

From Carl Jung’s “The Red Book, Liber Novus: A Reader’s Edition,” by Sonu Shamdasani. (Introduction)

In 1912, Jung had some significant dreams that he did not understand. He gave particular importance to two of these, which, as he felt, showed the limitations of Freud’s conceptions of dreams. The first follows:

I was in a southern town, on a rising street with narrow half-landings. It was twelve o’clock midday–bright sunshine. An old Austrian customs guard or someone similar passes by me, lost in thought. Someone says, “That is one who cannot die. He died already 30 – 40 years ago but has not yet managed to decompose.”

I was very surprised. Here, a striking figure came, a knight of powerful build clad in yellowish armour. He looks solid and inscrutable, and nothing impresses him. On his back, he carries a red Maltese cross. He has continued to exist since the 12th century, and he takes the same route daily between 12 and 1 o’clock midday. No one marvelled at these two apparitions, but I was extremely surprised.

I hold back my interpretive skills. As regards the old Austrian, Freud occurred to me; as regards the knight, I myself.

Inside, a voice calls, “It is all empty and disgusting.” I must bear it. (Black Book 2, pp. 25-26)

Jung found this dream oppressive and bewildering, and Freud was unable to interpret it.

(In 1925, he gave the following interpretation to this dream: “The meaning of the dream lies in the principle of the ancestral figure: not the Austrian officer – obviously he stood for the Freudian theory – but the other, the Crusader, is an archetypal figure, a Christian symbol living for the twelfth century, a symbol that does not really live today, but on the other hand in not wholly dead either. It comes out of the time of Meister Eckhart, the time of the culture of the Knights, when many ideas blossomed, only to be killed again, but they are coming to life again now. However, when I had this dream, I did not know this interpretation” (Introduction to Jungian Psychology, p. 42).

Around half a year later, Jung had another dream:

I dreamt at that time (it was shortly after Christmas 1912) that I was sitting with my children in a marvellous and richly furnished castle apartment – an open columned hall – we were sitting at a round table, whose top was a marvellous dark green stone. Suddenly, a gull or a dove flew in and sprang lightly onto the table. I admonished the children to be quiet so they would not scare away the beautiful white bird. Suddenly, this bird turned into a child of eight years, a small blond child, and ran around playing with my children in the marvellous columned colonnades. Then, the child suddenly turned into the gull or dove. She said the following to me: “Only in the first hour of the night can I become human while the male dove is busy with the twelve dead.” With these words, the bird flew away, and I awoke. (Black Book 2, pp. 17-18)

In Black Book 2, Jung noted that it was this dream that made him decide to embark on a relationship with a woman he had met three years earlier (Toni Wolff, Ibid., p. 17). In 1925, he remarked that this dream “was the beginning of a conviction that the unconscious did not consist of inert material only, but that there was something living down there (Introduction to Jungian Psychology, p. 42). He added that he thought of the story of the Tabula Smaragdina (emerald tablet), the twelve apostles, the signs of the Zodiac, and so on, but that he “could make nothing out of the dream except that there was a tremendous animation of the unconscious. I knew no technique for getting to the bottom of this activity; all I could do was just wait, keep on living, and watch the fantasies.”

I include this footnote to highlight his insatiable greed and relentless pursuit to decipher the meaning behind his dream and how he developed the interpretation.

Ibid., pp. 40-41. E. A. Benner noted Jung’s comments on this dream: “At first, he thought ‘twelve dead men’ referred to the twelve days before Christmas, for that is the dark time of the year, when traditionally witches are about. To say ‘before Christmas’ is to say before the sun lives again, for Christmas day is at the turning point of the year when the sun’s birth was celebrated in the Mithraic religion… Only much later did he relate the dream to Hermes and the twelve doves” (Meeting with Jung: Conversations recorded by E.A. Brenner during the years 1946-1961 [London: Anchor Press,1982; Zürich, Daimon Verlag, 1985], p. 93). In 1951, in “The Psychological Aspects of the Kore”, Jung presented some material from Liber Novus (describing them all as part of a dream series) in an anonymous form (“case Z.”), tracing the transformations of the anima. He noted that this dream “shows the anima as a elflike, i.e., only partially human. She can just as well be a bird, which means that she may belong wholly to nature and can vanish (i.e., become unconscious) from the human sphere (i.e., consciousness)” (CW9, I, § 371). See also Memories, pp. 195-96.

These dreams led him to analyse his childhood memories, but this did not resolve anything. He realised that he needed to recover the emotional tone of childhood. He recalled that as a child, he used to like to build houses and other structures, and he took this up again.

While he was engaged in this self-analytic activity, he continued to develop his theoretical work. At the Munich Psycho-Analytical Congress in September 1913, he spoke on psychological types. He argued that there were two basic movements of the libido: extraversion, in which the subject’s interest was oriented towards the outer world, and introversion, in which the subject’s interest was directed inward. Following from this, he posited two types of people, characterised by the predominance of one of these tendencies. The psychologies of Freud and Adler were examples of the fact that psychologies often took what was true of their type as generally valid. Hence, what was required was a psychology that did justice to both of these types (“On the question of psychological types,” CW 6).

Although this captivating story continues, I will share it in parts to facilitate understanding and enjoyment. Thank you for taking the time to read!

PS: In case someone interested, I will try to write about my new condition in a separate post. 🙏💖

A Deeper Look into Our Sufferings Reflection!

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Next week, I have my surgery appointment, and before I go under the surgeon’s knife, as the Germans say, I wanted to say “a short” goodbye. Since I know most of you are doing very well, as I receive your posts every day, every hour, you can send your positive thoughts towards my surgical table in between!

There are no words to describe the suffering and pain I endured, as I understand that one must experience it oneself to truly grasp its affliction. I hope that none of you experience that!
What I can say with certainty is that I have gained invaluable insights. I learned about my weaknesses and the extent of my power. I have discovered how low one can go and where the steps are to climb up.

It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasure of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.
~Joseph Campbell

I learned about my deep depression, where tiny fairies would converse with me. I’ve learned to remain resilient despite all challenges, echoing Ernest Hemingway’s words: “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” Additionally, one of his characters, Harry Morgan, states in “To Have and Have Not”: “A man alone ain’t got no chance,” yet he persistently strives to do his best! Of course, I had support from my adorable wife, son, and a few friends. Nevertheless, during my most challenging times, it was ultimately up to me to endure that pain alone. I’m very stubborn about seeking help!

As I conclude my post, I would like to acknowledge my mentor, Dr. Jung, and his perspective on suffering:

via: Carljungdepthpsychologysite.blog With heartfelt thanks to my friend and teacher, Lewis Lafontaine.

Letters of C. G. Jung: Volume 2, 1951-1961

Dear Herr N., 28 April 1955

Your ideas bring you up against a general cultural problem, which is infinitely complicated.

What is true in one place is untrue in another.

“Suffering is the swiftest steed that bears you to perfection,” and the contrary is also true.

“Breaking in” can be discipline, and this is needed for the emotional chaos of man, though at the same time it can kill the living spirit, as we have seen only too often.

In my opinion, there is no magical word that could finally unravel this whole complex of questions; nor is there any method of thinking or living or acting which would eliminate suffering and unhappiness.

If a man’s life consists half of happiness and half of unhappiness, this is probably the optimum that can be reached, and it remains forever an unresolved question whether suffering is educative or demoralising.

In any case, it would be wrong to give oneself up to relativism and indifferentism.

Whatever can be bettered in a given place at a given time should certainly be done, for it would be sheer folly to do otherwise.

Man’s fate has always swung between day and night.

There is nothing we can do to change this.

Yours sincerely,

C.G. Jung ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Page 248.

I hope everyone enjoys a tranquil and relaxing time; take care and stay healthy. 🙏💖🌹

The Unconscious Mind!

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Sorry, it’s me again! I intended to share a brief message on Facebook, and I thought, why not just do it on my site, too? So here it is: We must look deeply around us and think twice. I send you all immense gratitude and wish you a lovely weekend.😁🤗💖🙏🦋🌹

Title image; Art by Andrew Ferez

From Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 7: Two Essays in Analytical Psychology,

via Carl Jung Depth Psychology and Craig Nelson

I must recall at this point a serious misunderstanding to which my readers often succumb, and doctors most commonly.
They invariably assume, for reasons unknown, that I never write about anything except my method of treatment.
This is far from being the case. I write about psychology.
I must, therefore, expressly emphasize that my method of treatment does not consist in causing my patients to indulge in strange fantasies for
the purpose of changing their personality and other nonsense of that kind.
I merely put it on record that there are certain cases where such a development occurs, not because I force anyone to it, but because it springs from inner necessity.
For many of my patients, these things are and must remain double Dutch.
Indeed, even if it were possible for them to tread this path, it
would be a disastrously wrong turning, and I would be the first to hold them back.
The way of the transcendent function is an individual destiny.
But on no account should one imagine that this way is equivalent to the life of a psychic anchorite, to alienation from the world.
Quite the contrary, for such a way is possible and profitable only when the specific worldly tasks which these individuals set themselves are carried out in reality.
Fantasies are no substitute for living; they are fruits of the spirit which fall to him who pays his tribute to life.

By Craig Nelson


The shirker experiences nothing but his own morbid fear, and it yields him no meaning.
Nor will this way ever be known to the man who has found his way back to Mother Church.
There is no doubt that the mysterium magnum is hidden in her forms, and in these, he can live his life sensibly.
Finally, the normal man will never be burdened, either, with this knowledge, for he is everlastingly content with the little that lies within his reach.
Wherefore I entreat my reader to understand that I write about things which actually happen and am not propounding methods of treatment.
~Carl Jung, CW 7, Pages 223-224

The Intoxication of Mythology

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Mythology (derived from the Greek word ‘mythos’, meaning ‘story’, and ‘logos’, meaning ‘word’) studies a culture’s sacred narratives or fables, known as myths. These stories explore various aspects of the human condition: good and evil, suffering, the origins of life, place names, cultural values, and beliefs regarding life, death, and deities. Myths reflect a culture’s values and beliefs. Mythology may also concentrate on specific collections of myths, whereas history examines significant past events and real individuals. Central characters in myths include gods, demigods, and supernatural beings. The earliest myths date back over 2,700 years, particularly in the works of the Greek poets Homer and Hesiod. Scholar Joseph Campbell defines four essential functions of myth: metaphysical, cosmological, sociological, and pedagogical.

“The wonder is that the characteristic efficacy to touch and inspire deep creative centres dwells in the smallest nursery fairy tale—as the flavour of the ocean is contained in a droplet or the whole mystery of life within the egg of a flea. Because the symbols of mythology are not manufactured, they cannot be ordered, invented, or permanently suppressed. They are spontaneous productions of the psyche, and each bear within it, undamaged, the germ power of its source.”
-Joseph Campbell / From The Hero With A Thousand Faces

However, we can trace back to the ancient Assyrians, where we discover the epic of Gilgamesh (a form of the name derived from the earlier Sumerian form) and Enkidu. Honestly, whatever I know or feel passionate about that subject, I owe it to Al, my brother, who opened the mysterious gate for me to this fascinating world. We cannot overlook the allure of these stories, which not only expand our imagination but also impart a great deal of wisdom through their narratives. Thus, as Dr Jung emphasises here, possessing a myth is of considerable significance. There may even be some truth hidden within it; who knows?

(Parenthesis open) I have tried to write my usual “two posts,” though it has shown me that I do not quite fit as I usually do! I must confess that she, Resa, spurred me to work, for which I am very grateful. I also thank all my friends who attempted to support me, even if it sometimes sounded like Marie Antoinette’s supposedly quoted remark to the starving people of France: “If there is no bread, let them eat brioche!” Although there is no evidence that she actually said this. Also, I must rest. Nevertheless, I thank you all. (Parenthesis closed)!

Painting (Oil) Original Artwork by Greg Known The Abducted Europe

I have selected an intriguing excerpt from the Red Book, Liber Novus, Introduction by Sonu Shamdasani, Reader’s Edition, to share. It illustrates the significance and necessity of having a myth for every individual. I have created a summary to keep it concise!

In 1908, Jung bought land by Lake Zürich in Küsnacht and built a house where he lived for life. In 1909, he resigned from Burghölzli to focus on his practice and research. His retirement coincided with a shift in interests toward methodology, folklore, and religion, leading to a vast private library. This research culminated in “Transformations and Symbols of the Libido,” published in two parts in 1911 and 1912, marking a return to his intellectual and cultural roots. He found this mythological work thrilling; in 1925, he reflected, “It seems to me I was living in an insane asylum of my own making. I went about with all these fantastic figures: centaurs, nymphs, satyrs, gods and goddesses, as though they were patients and I was analysing them. I read a Greek or a Negro myth as if a lunatic were telling me anamnesis. (Introduction to Jungian Psychology, p. 24). The late nineteenth century witnessed a surge in comparative religion and ethnopsychology scholarship, with primary texts being translated and examined, such as Max Müller’s “Sacred Books of the East,” which Jung owned, offering a global relativization of Christianity worldwide.

In Translations and Symbols of the Libido, Jung differentiated two types of thinking: directed and fantasy thinking. The former is verbal and logical, exemplified by science, while the latter is passive, associative, and imagistic, represented by mythology. Jung argued that the ancients lacked directed thinking, a modern development. Fantasy thinking occurs when directed thinking ceases. This work extensively studies fantasy thinking and the mythological themes present in contemporary dreams and fantasies. Jung linked the prehistoric, primitive, and child, suggesting that understanding adult fantasy thinking illuminates the thoughts of children, savages, and prehistoric people. (Jung, The Psychology of the Unconscious, CW B, s36. His 1952 revision clarifies this [Symbols of Transformation, CW 5, s29]. In this work, Jung synthesized 19th-century theories on memory, heredity, and the unconscious, proposing a phylogenetic layer of mythological images present in everyone. He viewed myths as symbols of libido, reflecting its movements, and used anthropology’s comparative method to analyze a wide range of myths, calling this “amplification.” He argued that typical myths correspond to ethnopsychological developments of complexes. Following Jacob Burckhardt, he referred to these as “primordial images” (Urbilder). One key myth, that of the hero, represents an individual’s journey to independence from the mother, with the incest motif symbolizing a desire to return to the mother for rebirth. Jung eventually hailed this discovery as the collective unconscious, though the term emerged later.

Myth!

The Symbologist “The Red Book_ Liber Novus” By Kathryn Harrison (via Carl Jung Depth Psychology)

In a series of articles from 1912, Jung’s friend and colleague Alphonse Maeder argued that dreams had a function other than that of wish fulfilment, which was a balancing or compensatory function. Dreams were attempts to solve the individual’s moral conflicts. As such, they did not merely point to the past but also prepared the way for the future. Maeder was developing Flournoy‘s views of the subconscious creative imagination. Jung was working along similar lines and adopted Maeder’s positions. For Jung and Maeder, this alteration of the conception of the dream brought with it an alteration of all other phenomena associated with the unconscious.

In his preface to the 1952 revision of Transformations and Symbols of the Libido, Jung wrote that the work was written in 1911 when he was thirty-six: “The time is a critical one, for it makes the beginning of the second half of life, when a metanoia, a mental transformation, not infrequently occurs (CW 5, p. xxvi). He added that he was conscious of the loss of his collaboration with Freud and was indebted to the support of his wife. After completing the work, he realised the significance of what it meant to live without a myth. One without a myth “is like one uprooted, having no true link either with the past, or with the ancestral life which continues within him, or yet with contemporary human society (Ibid. p. xxix).

As he further describes it:

   “I was driven to ask myself in all seriousness: “What is the myth you are living?” I found no answer to this question and had to admit that I was not living with a myth, or even in a myth, but rather in an uncertain cloud of theoretical possibilities, which I was beginning to regard with increasing distrust … So, in the most natural way, I took it upon myself to get to know “my” myth, and I regarded this as a task of tasks –for—so I told myself—how could I, when treating my patients, make due allowance for the personal factor, for my personal equation, which is yet so necessary for a knowledge of the other person, if I was unconscious of it?” (Ibid.)

The study of myth had revealed to Jung his mythlessness. He then undertook to get to know his myth, his “personal equation”. (Cf. Introduction to Jungian Psychology, p. 25) Thus, we see that Jung’s self-experimentation was, in part, a direct response to theoretical questions raised by his research, which culminated in Transformation and Symbols of the Libido.

PS: I will add a follow-up to this article in the future. 🙏💖

On the Following Night, However, I Had a Vision.

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Hi everybody. Since Wednesday, our furnace has broken down, and my plans have been disrupted! I wanted to write some posts, but my brain is almost frozen! That’s why I took an old post from my other site (I really don’t know who created it; I didn’t!), which I also took from my valued friend, Lewis Lafontaine and his blog.🙏

So, here is an extraordinary vision from Carl Jung’s remarkable book, The Red Book. I hope you will enjoy it, and I wish you all a thrilled New Year.

Title image: Angel by Samuel Bak

Sir Galahad, source: George Frederic Watts

As he came around the following night, however, I had a vision: I was with a youth in the high mountains. It was before daybreak, and the Eastern sky was already light.

Then Siegfried’s horn resounded over the mountains with a jubilant sound. We knew that our mortal enemy was coming.

We were armed and lurked beside a narrow rocky path to murder him. Then, we saw him coming high across the mountains on a chariot made of the bones of the dead.

He drove boldly and magnificently over the steep rocks and arrived at the narrow path where we waited in hiding.

As he came around the turn ahead of us, we fired at the same time, and he fell slain. Thereupon, I turned to flee, and a terrible rain swept down.

But after this, I went through a torment unto death, and I felt certain that I must kill myself if I could not solve the riddle of the murder of the hero.

Then the spirit of the depths came to me and spoke these words:

“The highest truth is one and the· same with the absurd.” This statement saved me, and like rain after a long, hot spell, it swept away everything in me which was too highly tensed.

From The Red Book, via Carl Jung Depth Psychology

Then I had a second vision: I saw a merry garden clad in white silk, with forms walked, all covered in coloured light, some reddish, the others blueish and greenish.

I know; I have stridden across the depths. Through guilt, I have become a newborn.

We also live in our dreams; we do not live only by day. Sometimes, we accomplish our greatest deeds in dreams. On that night, my life was threatened since I had to kill my lord and God, not in single combat, since who among mortals could kill a God in a duel? You can reach your God only as an assassin if you want to overcome him.

But this is the bitterest for mortal men: our Gods want to be overcome since they require renewal. If men kill their princes, they do so because they cannot kill their Gods and because they do not know that they should kill their Gods in themselves.

If God grows old, he becomes a shadow, nonsense, and he goes down. The greatest truth becomes the greatest lie, and the brightest day becomes the darkest night. As day requires night and night requires day, so meaning requires absurdity, and absurdity requires meaning.

Day does not exist through itself; night does not exist through itself.

The reality that exists through itself is day and night.

So, the reality is meaning and absurdity.

Noon is a moment, midnight is a moment, morning comes from night, evening turns into night, but evening comes from the day, and morning turns into day.

So meaning is a moment and a transition from absurdity to absurdity, and absurdity is only a moment and a transition from meaning to meaning.

Oh, the German hero, Siegfried, blond and blue-eyed, had to fall by my hand, the most loyal and courageous!

He had everything in himself that I treasured as the greater and more beautiful; he was my power, my boldness, my pride.

I would have gone under in the same battle, and so only assassination was left to me. If I wanted to go on living, it could only be through trickery and cunning.

Judge not! Think of the blond savage of the German forests, who had to betray the hammer-brandishing thunder to the pale Near-Eastern God nailed to the wood like a chicken marten.

The courageous were overcome by a certain contempt for themselves.

But their life force bade them go on living, and they betrayed their beautiful wild Gods, their holy trees and their awe of the German forests.

What does Siegfried mean for the Germans! What does it tell us that the Germans suffer Siegfried’s death!

That is why I almost preferred to kill myself in order to spare him. But I wanted to go on living with a new God.

After death on the cross, Christ went into the underworld and became Hell. So he took on the form of the Antichrist, the dragon.

The image of the Antichrist, which has come down to us from the ancients, announces the new God, whose coming the ancients had foreseen.

Gods are unavoidable. The more you flee from God, the more surely you fall into his hand.

The rain is the great stream of tears that will come over the people; the tearful flood of released tension after the constriction of death had encumbered the people with horrific force.

It is the mourning of the dead in me, which precedes burial and rebirth.

The rain is the fructifying of the earth; it begets the new wheat, the young, germinating God. ~Carl Jung, The Red Book, Pages 241-242