The Unlived Life of the Parents One of the most potent forces upon the psyche of the individual, according to C.G. Jung, is the unlived life of one’s parents. By this he means the potentials of the parents that have remained unrealized and the personal qualities that have never been developed or expressed. Jung, however, […]
Jungian Psychology and Dreams This month I find myself thinking about the meaning and purpose of dreams a lot. Apparently, I find myself in good company as many of July’s blogs from the field of Jungian Psychology took the dream as their focus. Jung had enormous respect for dreams. He was wary of using a […]
Recently, I watched an episode of Nova ScienceNow on sleep that demonstrated some of the power and mystery of the unconscious mind. In the episode the host, Neil deGrasse Tyson, reports on some of the latest research that shows a strong link between learning and sleep. Sleep and Learning Photo courtesy of pedrosimoes7(CC Attribution) There […]
In my previous two posts I have written about the call to adventure and the journey to find one’s own voice that follows that call. In this post I want to talk about what it means to begin speaking out and the courage it takes to do so. At the conclusion of my post Hearing […]
Last week I wrote about the call that initiates us on our own personal hero’s journey and suggested that sometimes that calling takes the form, initially, of depression. According to Jungian analyst, Aldo Carotenuto, the symbol of the call is “the image of the person who breaks with the past, his or her preceding life, […]
The Hero’s Journey From the perspective of Jungian Psychology, myths and fairy tales are images of typical psychological experiences presented in story form. As Joseph Campbell demonstrated in his seminal book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, the mythological motif of the hero’s journey is one of the most ubiquitous themes in mythology. The journey […]
Jungian Psychology and Psychotherapy Here is June’s gathering of blog posts on the topic of Jungian Psychology. These are some of the posts that caught my attention this past month and I pass them on to you here for your consideration. This month’s theme focuses on the practice of psychotherapy. Despite, at times, elaborating on […]
What does it mean to be authentic? In a recent post I suggested that “at the heart of Jungian therapy is the aim of experiencing and living an authentic life” and presented some material from Carl Jung’s writings in support of that idea. For Jung, authenticity emerges through the process of individuation, which is the […]
Carl Jung was a prolific letter writer. Much of Jung’s writings can be very difficult reading, particularly when he digs deep into complex subjects like alchemy. But his letters are often poetic and reveal his humanity and his passionate engagement with the struggles of living an authentic and meaningful life. The following letter, to an […]
