Insights from Ireland: My Associations to the Dream
Now that I’ve related my dream from the night we arrived at the Jungian conference in Ireland, I’d like to use it to demonstrate how I work on my dreams. Every year I start a new file on my computer and write out dreams in the order of their arrival, giving each one a number, date, and title. I try to include every detail, image, event, color, plot change, behavior, thought and emotion I can remember.
A Love Affair With Carl Jung
Without Jung’s encouragement I would never have had the nerve to follow my passion for writing. Even if I had, I wouldn’t have had anything to write about. The only thing I know much about is the inner journey to self-discovery and the practices that guide me; and writing is the only job I’m good for!
A Masculine Wound: An Obsession With Winning
But recent dreams and events are making me more aware of masculine wounds. Robert Bly, one of our most eloquent voices for healthy masculinity has written, “By the time a man is 35 he knows that the images of the right man, the tough man, the true man which he received in high school do not work in life.”
Cultivating Our Sensitive Side
“We can’t be complete if our sensitive side is not cultivated.” On hearing these words last weekend I touched the Notes icon on my iphone and wrote them down before I lost them. I was sitting in the studio of dancer and choreographer Douglas Dunn with about 25 fellow travelers who had come for a long weekend […]
Soul-Making Halfway in Between
A typical Westerner, Carl Jung approached his soul-making work by strengthening his mind with logic and will-power until his ego-spirit mustered the courage to step aside. This allowed soul to move into consciousness, revealing disowned parts of his psyche. In the process, his unique creativity was released. The East historically begins its quest by quieting the mind and practicing physical austerities aimed at humbling and displacing the ego-spirit.
Circle of Dreamers
Sometimes my responses to your comments are so packed with new information that I wish I’d saved them for another blog post so readers who don’t subscribe to my comments won’t miss them. This happened when I stayed up very late the other night to reply to Therese’s comments about the dream in my last post, A Solitary Dance.
A Solitary Dance
Dream #4360: A Solitary Dance. I’m in a large room that feels like a living room or study in an old house. Three men around my age are in here with me. They are somehow familiar and it feels comforting that they’re here. They’re doing a slow, solitary dance around the room, each in his own way, in a counter-clockwise circle.
Dreams About the Creative Instinct: Part II
In my previous post I shared a dream from 22 years ago that dramatized a conflict between my ego’s career ambitions and the Self, the central archetype of my psyche that was “encouraging” me to trust my creative instinct. I didn’t understand the meaning of the dream because of my ego’s resistance to change.
Which Masculine Archetypes Are Strongest In You?
Nobody can describe the archetypes with any certainty because they are deeply unconscious. However, there are many theories based on research and careful observation of human nature. Mine is largely based on Jungian psychology.
Coming Home to Integrated Spirituality
This month marks the second birthday of this blog. Writing it has been an extraordinary experience in many ways, but the most meaningful and joyful part has been meeting you. Knowing you are out there has been deeply comforting, and reading your inspiring thoughts and figuring out how to respond has had a powerful impact on my work. I love it that our dialogues have motivated me to clarify my thinking and explore new ideas. Most of all I appreciate how you’ve helped me trust myself and be bolder about sharing my truths, especially concerning religion and spirituality.
