Be True To The Law Of Your Being

TAO's presence in this world / Is like valley streams / Flowing into rivers and seas. Tao Te Ching 

I'm reading Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard at last and much enjoying it. When Matthiessen first came across the following passage from Jung it was a joyful and significant moment for him. I also found it wildly exciting when reading it yesterday:

The fact that many a man who goes his own way ends in ruin means nothing . . . He must obey his own law, as if it were a daemon whispering to him of new and wonderful paths . . . There are not a few who are called awake by the summons of the voice, whereupon they are at once set apart from the others, feeling themselves confronted with a problem about which the others know nothing. In most cases it is impossible to explain to the others what has happened, for any understanding is walled off by impenetrable prejudices. 'You are no different from anybody else,' they will chorus, or, 'there's no such thing', and even if there is such a thing, it is immediately branded as 'morbid' . . . He is at once set apart and isolated, as he has resolved to obey the law that commands him from within. 'His own law!' everybody will cry. But he knows better: it is the law . . . The only meaningful life is a life that strives for the individual realisation — absolute and unconditional — of its own particular law . . . To the extent that a man is untrue to the law of his being . . . he has failed to realise his life's meaning.

The undiscovered vein within us is a living part of the psyche; classical Chinese philosophy names this interior way 'Tao', and likens it to a flow of water that moves irresistibly towards its goal. To rest in Tao means fulfilment, wholeness, one's destination reached, one's mission done, the beginning, end, and perfect realization of the meaning of existence in all things.

Today's mantra: Resist not Tao, follow not the crowd but your own inner voice, be true to the law of your own being.

Mandala

I sketched every morning in a notebook a small circular drawing . . . which seemed to correspond to my inner situation at the time . . . Only gradually did I discover what the mandala really is: the Self, the wholeness of the personality, which if all goes well is harmonious. CARL JUNG Memories, Dreams, Reflections

I sketched this simple mandala for myself some time ago; it helped me create order and clarify direction in a life which seemed, at the time, chaotic and anarchic. The circle signifies the unity of the universe (macrocosm) and the unity of the self (microcosm); all eight segments are individual, yet closely related — equally important parts of the whole. This is my life as creative self-expression; all aspects are essential to me, though some aspects may exert greater influence than others at different periods. Facets such as sexual, emotional, family and social relationships are not represented by this particular mandala, but that is not to say these things are not important — they inevitably impinge on and colour all the wedges, since everything is connected.

Further light on the meaning of each segment:

1. Private: This is the core of the self, the mysterious and unknown self, the self which has an inner, secret life, an almost primitive and animal-like self, the part of the self which is only partly acknowledged by oneself and hardly ever by others. However, it is a defining part, and necessary for mental, physical and spiritual survival. It's associated with instinct, emotion, creativity, irrationality, spontaneity and the unconscious, and can be dangerous — though it's even more dangerous if unrecognised or ignored. It's that part of the self which Freud and Jung and countless novelists have exposed in their work. 

2. Reading: One can only ever read a tiny proportion of all the books one wants to read. You have to evaluate, discriminate, be guided by chance, fate and circumstance. My current reading is focused on history, geography, travel, literature, the arts, biography, natural history, popular science, folklore, myth, religion, spirituality, philosophy, cookery, gardening and health.

3. Writing: Poetry, Blogging, Other.

4. Arts: Music, plastic and visual arts, photography, literature.

5. Walking: Long and short distances, different modes of travel, Europe, landscape, geology.

6. Cookery: Recipes, cookery books, world cuisine.  

7. Gardening: Plants, flowers, trees, fruit, vegetables, gardening books, design, wildlife.

8. Health: Stretching, resistance and cardiovascular exercises, walking, running, yoga, meditation.

Let me hasten to say that this is an 'ideal' framework, a mental paradigm which is never completely realisable; nevertheless, it's good to have goals and guidelines. It makes me feel better to lay things out like this, to prioritise what's really important in my life, and helps me realign myself at those times when I'm suddenly conscious I'm frittering away the hours.

A Dangerous Method

A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them. CARL GUSTAV JUNG

With my new interest in psychotherapy,  you can imagine how keen I was to catch up on David Cronenberg's latest film, A Dangerous Method. I saw it last Thursday at Nottingham's excellent, independent Broadway cinema. It's not a great film, but a very good one nonetheless.

It's about the relationship between Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Carl Gustav Jung (Michael Fassbender), their friendship and subsequent falling-out. As Freud's star fades, the ambitious Jung is more than ready to carry the torch. The foci of Jung's interests are much wider than Freud's, going beyond Freud's purely sex-oriented obsessions into the realms of telepathy and the paranormal. This 'unscientific' approach irritates Freud, and is a major factor in their split. The love interest in the film centres on Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), a highly intelligent but disturbed patient of Jung's. She responds well to Jung's pioneering 'talking cure', so well that he invites her to be his clinical assistant. Despite Jung's initial feelings of guilt — he has a wife and family — they become lovers. Their sexual relationship is based on sadomasochism (Spielrein associates flagellation with sexual arousal, after being regularly spanked as a child by her father). When their affair comes to an end, Spielrein turns her attention to Freud, provoking Jung's jealousy.

I do recommend going to see this film. It's beautiful to look at, full of intelligently scripted conversation, and wickedly subversive. Also it's interesting to witness the early days of psychoanalysis, a time when researchers in this field were very much misunderstood and derided by the medical profession and by society in general.     

Self-Awareness

Therapy training programs and their teachers are merely the whetstones on which the novice therapists hone their instruments. Those instruments are the selves of the therapists. NED GAYLIN Family, Self And Psychotherapy: A Person-Centred Perspective

Some sharp-eyed readers may have spotted a plethora of counselling and psychotherapy books in my 'WHAT I'M READING' widget lately. The reason is: I've just begun an Introduction To Counselling Skills course. According to the book Counselling Skills In Context (edited by Sally Aldridge and Sally Rigby), there are three major aspects to a Counselling Skills programme: learning the skills, understanding the theory and cultivating self-awareness. It's the last one which particularly intrigues me. It's this aspect which clearly differentiates counselling/psychotherapy courses from courses on most other subjects.  

How can we claim to even begin to understand the minds of others if we have no insight into our own minds? It struck me today, as I was wondering what direction my blog might take in the future, that I could harness my blog to this pursuit of self-knowledge. Perhaps, through thoughtful, self-exploratory blogging, I might arrive at a deeper level of self-awareness. It's only by writing down your thoughts and feelings as clearly and honestly as you can, by examining them and expressing them in words, that you can really get to grips with what you are thinking and feeling, and why you are thinking and feeling it. That's what I believe, at any rate. It seems to work for me. And, actually, it's been one of my motivations for blogging from the very start.

I'm not quite sure yet what format this will take — it may be fluid and experimental — but I view it as a challenge: a valuable and enriching one, even though it may be painful at times.

... it is his own hurt that gives the measure of his power to heal. CARL GUSTAV JUNG The Practice Of Psychotherapy

Bollingen Tower: Kindling A Light

At Bollingen, I am in the midst of my true life, I am most deeply myself. CARL GUSTAV JUNG

Bollingen Tower, Lake Zürich

I'll end my series on literary and spiritual 'towers' with the tower built by the Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist, Carl Gustav Jung. In 1922 Jung began work on a spiritual retreat near the village of Bollingen on the northern shore of Lake Zürich — which became known as Bollingen Tower. He kept enlarging the house over a period of many years. His intention was to create an architectural symbol for the structure of the human psyche: the whole conscious and unconscious mind. After the death of his wife in 1955 Jung added a second storey, which for him represented an extension of consciousness achieved in old age. As a child, Jung had often imagined a castle on an island in a lake — a symbol of the unconscious inner stronghold of the self. Now his dream had become a physical reality.

Jung spent several months a year at Bollingen, where he was able to fulfil his great need for solitude. His life there was of utter simplicity: he cooked, chopped wood, fetched water from the well, sailed boats on the lake. He painted murals and carved in stone. Most of all he went deep within himself, into the dark recesses of his mind. He encountered universal archetypal figures such as the 'anima' figure of Salome, and the 'animus' figure of Philomen, whom he identified as his personal, spiritual guide. And he described these psychic discoveries in the manuscript that was published much later (in 2009) as the Liber Novus or The Red Book.

I've been fascinated by Jung ever since I read his autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, in my early twenties; and I'm constantly amazed how contemporary his ideas still feel. He did much research into the field of symbols and dream interpretation. He explored alchemy, astrology, the occult, literature, sociology and Eastern philosophy. He originated the terms 'extrovert', 'introvert', 'synchronicity' and 'collective unconscious'. Jungian thought still permeates our current concerns with personality, the self, the causes and cures of neurosis and psychosis, and the spiritual life.

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. CARL GUSTAV JUNG

Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people. CARL GUSTAV JUNG

A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them. CARL GUSTAV JUNG

Thanks go to Ruth for inspiring this post.

(Image from Wikimedia Commons)

The Birth Of An Archetype

To my mind it is more important that an idea exists than that it is true. CARL JUNG

Santiago certainly exists, the place itself and the myth of the wandering apostle. All those routes, all those shells, all those shrines. Botticelli may have conceived Venus, born out of a scallop shell, but the figure of James, without any foundation in fact, only the roots of legend and myth, was born so many years earlier with his shells intact. A bright star, a shepherd, and the birth of an archetype. James, close to Christ, but still, simply one who is 'on the Way'. Everyman. The Wayfarer. The Pilgrim. When it suited the times and the culture, he was turned into a soldier, devastator of the infidel. Today he has shaken back down again into being a simple, pilgrim force.

There is such freedom in the myth of James and in the final celebration of the cathedral itself. A healing feast for the psyche. The present Pope has been to Santiago, but the myth led to the Pope. The myth retains its freedom. Like some extravagant theatre of texture and imagination, its lack of certainty is its strength.

From On Pilgrimage: A Time To Seek (1991) by JENNIFER LASH

6 Facts About Hermann Hesse

A longing to wander tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening. HERMANN HESSE Wandering

6 facts about Hermann Hesse:

1. Both of his parents were Christian missionaries.

2. He had intense conflicts with authority figures such as his parents and teachers - which resulted in him being placed in special schools, even in a mental institution.

3. He worked in bookshops until the publication of his novel Peter Camenzind enabled him to lead an independent life as an author.

4. He was exempted from military service due to an eye condition. All his life he was afflicted with nervous disorders and headaches.

5. He underwent long periods of psychoanalysis following the death of his father, the sickness of his son and his wife's schizophrenia.

6. He knew Carl Jung personally.

Hopes And False Hopes

2 quotations from Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections...

We rush impetuously into novelty, driven by a mounting sense of insufficiency, dissatisfaction, and restlessness. We no longer live on what we have, but on promises, no longer in the light of the present day, but in the darkness of the future, which, we expect, will at last bring the proper sunrise. We refuse to recognize that everything better is purchased at the price of something worse; that, for example, the hope of greater freedom is cancelled out by increased enslavement to the state, not to speak of the terrible perils to which the most brilliant discoveries of science expose us.

********************

Yet death is an important interest, especially to an aging person. A categorical question is being put to him, and he is under an obligation to answer it. To this end he ought to have a myth about death, for reason shows him nothing but the dark pit into which he is descending. Myth, however, can conjure up other images for him, helpful and enriching pictures of life in the land of the dead. If he believes in them, or greets them with some measure of credence, he is being just as right or just as wrong as someone who does not believe in them. But while the man who despairs marches towards nothingness, the one who has placed his faith in the archetype follows the tracks of life and lives right into his death. Both, to be sure, remain in uncertainty, but the one lives against his instincts, the other with them.

Memories, Dreams, Reflections

Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Erinnerungen, Träume, Gedanken) is the title of the last work by the great Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1865 - 1961). He wrote this semi-autobiographical book in collaboration with Aniela Jaffé. It was published 2 years after his death. If I were to recommend an accessible way of approaching Jung's thought and method, I would urge that you read this book first of all.

One of Jung's original contributions to the illumination of the human mind and soul was his idea of the Collective Unconscious - later renamed by him the Objective Psyche. In contrast with the Personal Unconscious, the Collective Unconscious is "a reservoir of the experiences of our species", and is manifested in common archetypes and symbols across all cultures and peoples, and through the intuition of dreams.

My Camino was an experience shared alike by pilgrims of all ages and nationalities and sexual orientations and skin colours and socio-economic groupings and religious faiths; pilgrims of the past, the present and the future. A kind of Collective Camino Unconscious at work. And by extension this applies to any pilgrimage, every pilgrimage. Indeed, to the pilgrimage we call Life itself.

The photos were all taken in simple pilgrim albergue lodgings on the Camino Francés in northern Spain. They show Jim at Astorga, Philippe at Mansilla, and Tere, Fernando and Irene at Belorado.