Individuation and Authenticity It could be argued that at the heart of Jungian therapy is the aim of experiencing and living an authentic life. That is not the language that Carl Jung used, but it does express a central idea of his psychology, which he called ‘individuation.’ Put very simply, individuation is the process by […]
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net This is the conclusion of a two-part post in which I examine several common experiences of discontent at work, as seen through the days of the week. In part one, I introduced signs #1-3: Monday Mourning, Terrible Tuesday, and “Can’t Get Over the Hump Day.” This second post resumes […]
“Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad.” ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky According to Carl Jung, when we lose what he called the ‘symbolic’ dimension of our work and understand it only in economic terms, we experience suffering. What Jung calls symbolic, Dostoevsky, in the quote above, calls ‘meaningful work’. […]
One of the questions that I received during my webinar, Networking For Introverts, last Wednesday was: “What is the evolutionary value of introversion?”It’s a great question and I wasn’t very satisfied with the answer I gave at the time. So here are some of my further thoughts regarding this: Two of the characteristics associated with […]
Outer Work Most of the attention that we give to our work goes to things that are external to who we are as individuals. Our working imaginations are primarily concerned with such things as wages and benefits, the daily commute, our interactions with co-workers, and the tasks with which we are charged. When we think […]
“For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” (1 Cor. 1:25) Two years ago, at just about this time of year, I was preparing to take the Propaedeuticum — or Stage 1 exams — at the Jung Institute of Boston. This set of exams […]
Image courtesy of graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net I read a lovely passage on the value of limitations, written by Parker Palmer. As someone who tends to be a bit of a puer (the eternal youth), I can easily dream of infinite possibilities, but struggle with the down-to-earth finite practicalities, which are born of limitation. […]
Positive Psychology is an approach to psychology that seeks to understand what factors are at work in healthy states. It seeks to make a scientific understanding of things like happiness, taking the position that happiness is not the absence of unhappiness, but a positive state that can be cultivated and increased. Recently I was directed […]
This quote showed up several times in my Twitter feed recently: “The only thing we have to fear on this planet is man.” ~ C.G. Jung This was a frequent theme for Jung later in his life, particularly after having witnessed the horrors of the first and second world wars. Here is a clip of […]
There is a report of an interesting study on Psych Central about how metaphors are processed in the brain. The main point is that when someone hears a metaphor with a textural quality, the parietal operculum, the region of the brain that senses texture through touch, is activated . This is an interesting study for depth psychology for, as […]