jung

How can the shared imaginal realms of Jung and Tolkien empower us to navigate our personal journeys and transform our understanding of self and community?

In exploring the uncanny shared imaginal realms of Jung and Tolkien, author Becca Tarnas uncovers a profound intersection of depth psychology and mythopoeic literature, revealed in their seminal Red Books. Amid the early 20th century's upheaval, both authors undertook personal and universal journeys into the psyche, employing active imagination to engage archetypes such as the shadow, anima, and hero. Their works, brimming with symbolic meaning and mirroring profound psychological truths, beckon us to contemplate transformation, individuation, and the potency of the feminine principle within. By crafting intricate narratives and psychological insights, Jung and Tolkien charted the inner landscapes of human experience, underscoring the universal struggles and spiritual depths that bind us all. Their exploration of nature, the environment, and the darker facets of the psyche showcase the transformative power of literal and metaphorical journeys, guiding us toward enlightenment and self-realization.

Prepare to discover what the psychological and creative processes behind the works of Jung and Tolkien reveal about the universal journey of self-discovery; how to access and interpret your own imaginal realms to deepen your understanding of the personal and collective unconscious; which aspects of Jung's and Tolkien's methodologies can be applied to enhance self-awareness and artistic expression; whether the challenges and insights presented in their works have parallels in contemporary psychological practices and personal development; why the exploration of imaginal realms is crucial for personal growth and the cultivation of a richer, more connected sense of community…and so much more.

READ A COPY OF THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/shared-imaginal-realms-of-jung-and-tolkien/ 

Rebecca Tarnas is an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her research includes depth psychology, archetypal studies, literature, philosophy, and the ecological imagination. She is an editor of Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology and author of Journey to the Imaginal Realm: A Readers Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (https://a.co/d/7zIUX4K). She is researching and writing a biography of Stanislav Grof, a co-founder of transpersonal psychology.

 For more information about Becca, check out her website: https://beccatarnas.com/

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How do our interactions with the seemingly mundane objects around us reflect and influence our deeper psychological processes and connections with the broader universe?

Jung held a fascinating belief in the soulful essence of inanimate objects. He engaged in daily greetings with his kitchenware at Bollingen Tower, expressing a unique form of animism that extended deeply into his personal and professional life. His collection of beer steins, each with its name, served not only as vessels for drink but as partners in dialogue, reflecting his practice of active imagination. This relationship with objects underscores Jung's broader theories on the collective unconscious and synchronicity, suggesting that everything is interconnected and ensouled. His approach, echoing through the practices of figures like Marie Kondo, invites us to reconsider our relationships with the material world, hinting at a deeper, more mystical interaction with the everyday items that populate our lives.

Prepare to discover…who Jung truly was beyond the textbooks: a visionary who conversed with the soul of the world, from the kitchenware in his hands to the beer steins that whispered archetypal secrets; when the curtain between the animate and inanimate thinned for Jung, revealing itself in the quiet dawn at Bollingen Tower and in the sacred routine of morning toast preparation; how Jung transformed mundane interactions with objects into profound dialogues with the unconscious; what depths of meaning Jung found in the ordinary, where beer steins became the custodians of myth and a toaster named "Gemütlich" embodied the alchemical transformation; where Jung's theoretical explorations took physical shape; whether Jung's practices were mere quirks of genius or essential keys to unlocking the mysteries of the psyche; which of Jung's possessions were not just objects but talismans, each named beer stein and the cherished toaster "Gemütlich," serving as conduits to deeper understanding and self-realization; why Jung embraced such a mystical relationship with the material world, illuminating his belief in a universe where every particle, every object, speaks the language of the soul, urging us to listen and learn from the symphony of the seemingly silent.

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How do we interpret and evaluate C.G. Jung's complex legacy in light of his interactions with Jewish individuals and the allegations of antisemitism, considering the nuanced historical context in which he lived and worked?"

Assessing Jung's possible antisemitism is complex and requires a nuanced understanding of his historical context and personal relationships. His involvement in psychoanalytic societies during the Nazi era has led to accusations of antisemitism, yet his actions and writings suggest an intimate, dynamic, and protective relationship with Jewish colleagues and theories. Jung tried to shield Jewish analysts by leveraging his position, indicating his efforts to mitigate the impacts of Nazi policies on his Jewish colleagues. His correspondence and professional interactions with Jewish individuals, including Freud, show admiration, critique, and misunderstanding, reflecting the complicated dynamics of early psychoanalytic circles. Critics and supporters of Jung need to consider the evolution of his views over time, acknowledging both problematic aspects of his work and his contributions to psychoanalytic thought that transcended racial and ethnic boundaries.

Prepare to discover…who Carl Jung was, his relationships with Jewish individuals and communities, and the controversy surrounding allegations of antisemitism in his work and personal beliefs; when Jung's significant interactions with the Nazi party lead others to question his allegiances; how Jung's theories, were influenced by and, in turn, influenced Jewish scholars, demonstrating a complex interplay between Jungian psychology and Jewish thought; what specific allegations of antisemitism have been made against Jung, the evidence for and against these claims, and the broader implications of his work within the context of 20th-century antisemitic movements; where Jung stood in relation to the Nazi regime and antisemitism, including his professional and personal actions that have been scrutinized for either complicity or opposition to antisemitic policies; whether Jung's interactions and theoretical disagreements with Sigmund Freud, as well as his comments on Jewish psychology, can be considered antisemitic or reflective of the era's complex cultural and scientific dialogues; which aspects of Jewish mysticism and philosophical thought, particularly Kabbalah and Hasidism; why the narrative surrounding Jung's work, his alleged antisemitism, and his relationship with Jewish intellectuals remains a subject of intense debate, reflecting the challenges of disentangling a historical figure's legacy from the socio-political context of their time…and so much more.

FIND THE DREAM WE ANALYZE HERE: https://thisjungianlife.com/antisemitism/

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Sex fascinates us. Whether we turn toward it, flushed and excited or away from it, tense and disquieted. Archetypal images of sex adorn the thresholds of ancient temples and inform most mythological systems. Shiva and Shakti, in their union, create the universe – she’s providing all forms for his undifferentiated light. The gods beget gods as they mate, giving rise to infinite imagistic permutations of cosmic and personal qualities. These religious images of creation and pleasure inform our individual psyche granting sexuality a numinous intensity. 

Human culture shapes our initial attitudes toward sex. When infused with monotheistic religious feeling, sex is held as a sacrament subject to the rites and rituals believed to protect the couple from its overwhelming power and god’s jealous monitoring of the behavior. Polytheistic religions generated a multiplicity of god-forms and related myths to reflect a wide variety of possible relationships to sex and its outcomes. Pan, the lusty fertility god of the rut, Aphrodite the mistress of beauty and refined passion, Anteros the god of love returned, and Pothos, the god of sexual yearning – the infinite diversities of sexual expression, were held by related images and protectively tended by their devotees.

With the age of enlightenment that inevitably led to the current juggernaut of science and empirical attitude, we disposed of the archetypal images of sex, driving them into our personal and collective shadow. Defenses like shame and resentment keep the gods of sex at bay. At war within our bodies, they cause genital tissue to ossify and choke off requisite blood flow. 

Freud was foremost in the battle to understand and liberate trapped sexual forces. As a neurologist, odd cases of functional disorders came to his attention – a patient who mysteriously could not feel a limb or a loss of sight without organic cause. His rigorous exploration of symptoms and personal narrative led him to a theory of psychosexual development which clarified how sexual energy, when thwarted, could lead to a host of mental and physical suffering or neurosis. Jung expanded the theory, suggesting there were many kinds of psychic energy, in addition to sex, that produced symptoms when trapped by unnatural attitudes or traumatic interference. He accepted the creative reality of sexuality and was an early champion of sexual diversity and self-determination.

As moderns, we have tried to liberate sex by reducing it to a transaction, making it subordinary and thus non-threatening. Kinsey championed the natural fluidity of sexuality by surveying and analyzing personal erotic experiences and publishing them – he tried to restore consciousness to the diversity of sexual themes, hoping it would broaden modern attitudes and cultivate acceptance. The chorus of explainers now spans widely from biopsychosocial researchers to evolutionary psychologists, gender role theorists, to social constructionists. Add to that list theologists, talk show hosts, and podcasters, and we can all agree – we can’t seem to take our eyes off sex.

Here’s the Dream We Analyze:

“I was running a marathon in the desert. First, I saw pueblos, familiar from an old dream. Then I saw a sleeping dragon, then a stack of rainbow-colored rocks. Finally, I entered a taqueria, and the man behind the stand gave me a sugar-covered tortilla. Then a woman with a veil came in.”

REFERENCES:

From Freud to Jung: A Comparative Study of the Psychology of the Unconscious by Liliane Frey-Rohn. https://a.co/d/63atnIv 

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: The Classic Guide to Understanding the Opposite Sex Paperback by John Gray. https://a.co/d/4ZWjSmW 

The Kinsey Institute, https://kinseyinstitute.org/ 

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Guest Iain McGilchrist is a renowned psychiatrist, researcher, and author. His 2009 book, The Master and His Emissary gained worldwide fame for showing how differences between brain hemispheres affect our perceptions - and guide our lives. Each hemisphere has a radically different ‘take’ on the world: the left sees what is in the theater spotlight, whereas the right hemisphere understands the whole play.

Both are part of the theater of our lives, but the narrowly focused left hemisphere has increasingly taken over in the modern world. The right hemisphere offers a more spacious perspective: connectedness, complexity, and creativity - and has a direct and demonstrable effect on physical and mental well-being. Jung says, “One must never look to the things that ought to change. The main question is how we change ourselves.” McGilchrist shows us how: paying attention to what we are paying attention to reintroduces us to who we are - and aliveness. 

REFERENCES:

A 10,000 essay and summary of McGilchrist’s ideas is available free on Kindle. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008JE7I2M/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_8QPW3VT6QMZQ08C7VK9T 

Iain McGilchrist: The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World. Kindle Edition only. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KY5B3QL/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_RP260867DNVHG84JYANK 

Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World https://www.amazon.com/dp/0300245920/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_7JP0MQCZ71W0PJ5HGVM4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 

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In this lecture, Dr. Peterson discusses the creation stories in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, and describes the parallels with the stories of the development of the Buddha from childhood to early adulthood, using the archetypal schema developed previously in the course.

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The Pentagon recently released a film of a UFO made by Navy pilots. Although such credible documentation is new, UFO sightings go back to ancient times and surged after World War II. 

Interstellar travel then seized the collective imagination, and the ongoing abundance of books, television shows and films signals the emergence of a new mythology. In his treatise “Flying Saucers,” Jung took a phenomenological stance, acknowledging experiences of sightings without concretizing them as physical or dismissing them as fictional. 

Alchemists projected psyche onto matter at a time when its transformational properties inspired reverence and awe. Today, no matter what other truths are out there, UFOs reach “beyond the realm of earthly organizations and powers into the heavens, into interstellar space, where the rulers of human fate, the gods, once had their abode in the planets…”

Dream

I’m in a Catholic Church that is crumbling down with my mother and a priest. At the bottom of the building there are some wooden boxes and there is a big, brown female marsupial there. I am told by the priest to kill her, but I don’t want to, so instead I hit her repeatedly on the head with a book. 

At some point she reacts and moves. She does not attack me but opens her mouth like a vagina, and before leaving she tells me: At least you won’t have kids that make you older and make you fat. She departs and I feel somehow relieved to have some definition about the topic of having children or not.

References

Jung, C.G. Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies(Amazon).

Harper, Patrick. Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld (Amazon).

Polyamory, a current phenomenon, endorses open relationships with multiple lovers. The term means many loves, and polyamory strives to legitimize the benefits of non-monogamous romance and sexuality among adults.

Jung engaged in an open, extramarital relationship with Toni Wolff. Does polyamory represent an overthrow of outdated cultural mores in an age when sex can be safe? Or is committed, often sanctified bonding a deeply rooted part of human nature and development? There are parallels in the development of a relationship between two people and the relationship of ego to the unconscious.

Jung discovered that the alchemical images in The Rosarium Philosophorum, depicting stages of relationship for a couple, illustrated the individuation process. Is polyamory a way of rationalizing ego gratification and avoiding monogamous commitment? Or is polyamory a call to forgo outmoded cultural restrictions and experience connections with others that can facilitate inner growth?

Dream

"I am walking alongside the man that I am currently dating. He is on my right side. Suddenly on my left side, the man I am still in love with appears with the woman he has a child with (in waking life, he has a child with a woman he did not marry and co-parents. I am still not over him and wish we were together). In the dream, he has had another child with her. I’m surprised he’s had another child with her. It makes me think he has had even more intimacy and “work to do” with her in his life path. I am stuck in the middle... the man I am dating is on my right side, but I am not really interested in him (even though he treats me wonderfully in real life, he doesn’t feel like “the one”). The man I desire is on my left, with a woman and two kids, a life and world he’s been focusing on. He sees me, and I feel this strong and pleasant attraction and connection between us - like a youthful friendship mixed with love - I realize/know that he continues to be interested in me too, even though we are apart. I wake up, confused but happy to have a positive dream about his feelings towards me (In waking life, I continue to regret our breakup and he has ignored attempts I have made to rekindle a friendship and begin communication again)."

When we speak of being triggered, what exactly is it that sends us into a familiar  arc of feeling and behavior we may later regret? That mysterious force seems external and can elude our ability to locate it within. Jung called these autonomous and unconscious incursions complexes, and he discovered them through his Word Association Test.

A subject’s delayed or inappropriate reaction to a stimulus word such as tree or house indicated an unconscious disturbance that could then yield to understanding. Complexes are a fundamental part of our inner landscape: our experiences cluster around innate human patterns, emotions, bodily sensations, and personal memories.

We are complexed when we are automatically, emotionally and physiologically aroused, often in ways that are out of proportion to the situation. We begin to transform a complex by noticing, naming, and claiming it as our own. Then we can catch it before we react—and instead, respond. Complexes are constellated, clustered together like stars—and they can shine their light on our unconscious patterns. 

 Dream

"I am going to become the next queen of England. But first, I had to clean a lot of food and trash from an audience seating area (like stands at a sports arena). I asked the Queen if I was making a mistake by becoming the next queen. She said yes, and that I will have no time to give to my own children (once I have them). A young male adviser to the Queen was assisting her and helping to set everything up for the transition. On a break from cleaning, I went down to a craft fair and visited some old ladies and talked to them about the beautiful art they made. My grandmother was there, trying to print a photograph I took of a Legislature building. I returned to my task and at 6:00 PM, I made my way to sit on the right arm of the Queen's chair, ready for the ceremony." 

A new year often symbolizes a new beginning, with resolutions to make specific lifestyle changes related to self-improvement. Research indicates, however, that up to 88% of these resolutions fail. If changes—no matter how worthy--are imposed by ego alone, the unconscious is likely to have its say by rebelling.

Meaningful change requires the willingness to sit at the crossroads of inner conflict, steep in its mystery, and honor the opportunity for relationship rather than repression. Contemplation before action includes inner assessment of readiness, resources, and response-ability.

Sacrifice is required, external programs or people may provide support, and the goal must be aligned with purpose inspired by the Self. Jung stated that we don’t solve our problems, we grow bigger than our problems. Meaningful change and renewal occurs when we have engaged an inner conflict and thereby become more whole.   

Dream

"I'm in a fortress with a tall tower and I'm participating in some kind of sacrificial ritual. I know there are other participants but I don't see them. We have to answer a question correctly or face a painful death. I fail the test and am brought to the top of the tower for the sacrifice, which involves being cut into pieces. I run away and throw myself off the top of the tower to avoid that torture. I hit the ground and find myself back in the tower, having to throw myself over the edge again to escape the sacrifice. This happens multiple times."

The archetype of the trickster shows up in ambiguity, duplicity, contradiction and paradox. Usually depicted as masculine, trickster has been featured in tales worldwide through history. We see him as a boundary crosser, shape-shifting imitator, versatile adapter, and disrupter of norms whose deceptions often backfire on him.

Our inner trickster causes ego’s intentions to go haywire, and shows up as slips of the tongue, forgetting something important, or dream behavior that jolts the waking mind. Trickster’s disregard for rationality and rules disrupts stasis and rigidity, paradoxically helping to establish standards and create culture. Trickster lies at the heart of art and story, enlarging our world by imaging and voicing psychic truths.

Trickster confronts us with our limitations, and can be counted on to teach us flexibility and humility with irreverent humor.

Dream

"I’m walking along the edge of a wood along a path. I see a stag emerge from the wood and then the rest of his deer herd join him. I think ‘wow how magical’, but it quickly becomes evident that they are a threatening presence. The stag starts running towards me and the rest of the herd follows. I run as fast as I can, but as I start to feel the stags breathe on my back, I realize that I cannot out run him. I decide to grab him by the horns and throw him down. I kill him."

References

Hyde, Lewis. Trickster Makes This World, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (Amazon). 

Although a secret is usually considered information deliberately kept from others, we also keep secrets from ourselves. Internal secrets consist of emotionally laden knowledge that consciousness represses; the price of such secrets may be a complex or neurosis.

Secrets can alienate us from ourselves as well as others, and are often fueled by shame, guilt and fear. Family secrets can be especially burdensome, even toxic. However, secrets can also serve positive purposes. Sharing a secret can strengthen friendship through a special bond of trust. Secrets help social life run smoothly; initiatory rites may be secret to enhance the significance of a life passage; secrets can help children and teens realize their unique and separate selves; and secrets can protect others from harm.

Secrets are also essential to psychoanalysis: secrets can be safely discovered and will be well contained in the temenos of the consulting room.

Dream
"A man is recovering from an illness, sitting down on a chair. He calls me for protection. As I go forward towards him, he looks to his right side to some human figures (females) hidden in the dark. He is afraid of them, he tells me. I come close and hug him and notice that he has a very thick and voluminous hair. His hair emanates energy. I wake up feeling this high energy around my arms."

References
Westover, Tara. Educated (Amazon).

Something's going on in Scrooges soul...and it's tired of waiting for an invitation.

Charles Dickens’ novella, A Christmas Carol, vividly portrays the journey to healing and transcendence. It was written in a fever, released on December 19, 1843, and sold out before Christmas. Ebenezer Scrooge’s visitations by the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come are vivid depictions of the path from trauma to transformation. As in psychotherapy, Scrooge revisits his past; by reclaiming the feelings he exiled as a child, Scrooge discovers compassion and connection.

The visitation to the present shows Scrooge familial abundance of spirit despite material poverty and possible death for Tiny Tim (also a representation of Scrooge’s own emotionally crippled inner child). The last scene, like the lysis of a dream, shows Scrooge the bleak future to which his miserly ways lead. Scrooge’s encounters with transpersonal power break through his defenses and transform him into a man of joyful and generous heart. Scrooge has learned from his former partner’s ghost that:

“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”  

And so, as Tiny Tim declared, "God bless Us, Every One!”

Although these Jungian concepts have become familiar psychological terminology, they remain difficult to understand. According to Jung, animus and anima are innate psychic structures shaped significantly by the archetypal world, whereas the shadow is predominantly shaped by personal experiences of ego formation. Whereas shadow tends to be rejected, animus and anima fascinate and attract. Although images like sol / luna or yin / yang amplify the a priori nature of these inner opposites, the animus corresponds to the paternal Logos and the anima to the maternal Eros. Parents are the first external experience of this innate predisposition, and a developmental psychic trajectory may be inferred from mythology and individual dream images. Animus and anima represent adaptation and attitude to the inner world; they serve as the bridge to the collective unconscious and are experienced as “other.”

 Dream

In the first scene, my guy and I are watching each other masturbate over Skype. He's in his house and he ejaculates on his real wood floor. In the second scene, we're in my parents' house; they aren't there but there are children's toys around. He masturbates himself and ejaculates on their laminate wood floor. I'm anxious about this and clear up. In the third scene, I arrive in a cavernous Victorian public restroom below ground level, in London. The first chamber is a men's urinal and lots of men are pleasuring each other, it's a lively scene and they invite me in but I refuse. I move to another chamber, which is a spa, but I don't go in. In between the two chambers is a lecture theatre, and my guy is giving a work presentation to an audience. He doesn't acknowledge my arrival and I sit next to the projector under the raked chairs where the audience is sitting, and watch him present. He won't be able to see me, as he'd be blinded by the projector, but I can see him.

 References:

Anima and Animus by Emma Jung

We all shed tears. We cry when we are sad, but also when we are glad, surprised by beauty, love, or touched by other deeply felt and uniquely human experiences. Tears, and our access to them, are part of what makes us human, and when we cannot find our tears we have lost a vital link to feeling, whether for another or a part of ourselves. In their negative aspect, tears can signify the falseness of crocodile tears or affective hardening and bitterness; teardrop tattoos represent experiences of violence. In this episode Deb, Lisa and Joseph circumambulate various aspects of the significance of tears, using the touchstones of fairy tales, alchemy, myth, religion and more to uncover the importance of tears, especially in their redemptive, or whole-making, aspect.

Dream:

I was a prince in a European kingdom in the Middle Ages. I was gathered with the royal family in a small but lavish room of our castle. The kingdom was suffering due to the ineptitude, corruption, and libertinism of the royal family. One princess was a harlot, and drained funds that ought to have been spent on the people. I conspired with the monk, robed in black, to kill the royal family in order to save the kingdom. I slaughtered all of them with my sword. I even killed the children present, feeling the cruelty of my act, because I knew that if I let them live they would grow up to take revenge on me. There was gallons of blood. After the killing was done, I was physically and emotionally drained, and I didn't know if I had actually saved the kingdom or committed pointless slaughter. The kingdom was nearly empty, for much of the populace had fled earlier due to the royal family's corruption.

Images of physical dismemberment are often used in fairy tales, dreams and art to depict psychological fragmentation, numbing and other forms of disconnection. Such cut-offs, dissociations, and splits may be related to earlier relational trauma, and constitute defenses against experiences perceived as too overwhelming for consciousness to absorb or even acknowledge. Experience can be dissociated, or dismembered, behaviorally, emotionally, bodily, and by denying memory or knowledge of events. Jungian Analyst Donald Kalsched posits an inner dynamic that is both protective and persecutory. Such understandings can point the way to a healing process of re-membering those parts that have been cut off, thereby giving disowned feelings and experiences a fully felt place in consciousness.

The Dream

"In this dream, I remember being in a building that reminded me of a hospital or perhaps an asylum. It was very clinical looking (i.e. lots of steel and glass, white and silver walls / trim, people in smocks or scrubs). I was walking up a small stairway and looked through a doorway to see blood and body parts on the ground in front of me. Somehow I know that it was two separate bodies, but I do not know who they belonged to. When I saw the body parts, I was anxious and had to stop myself from passing out inside the dream because I had a feeling that whoever did that to the bodies could be nearby. As I gathered myself, I began to walk away from the bodies very calmly to avoid drawing attention to myself. As I walked away I saw a man, probably in his fifties or sixties, also a stranger, carrying a silver platter with more body parts. As I passed him, he said hello and smiled as if nothing were out of the ordinary. I then ran out of the building and vaguely remember running through a maze that had been set up on a basketball court until I was outside the building in a small grass field. The building was made of brick and seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. It had that look that many academic buildings have on college campuses."

References

Kalsched, Donald. The Inner World of Trauma, Routledge, 1996.

Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book, Harper, 2008.

Little, Margaret. Psychotic Anxieties and Containment: An Analysis with Donald Winnicott.

Henderson, Joseph L. and Dyane N. Sherwood. Transformation of the Psyche, Routledge, 2003.

For an image of The Golden Head

Synchronicity is a concept that has fascinated thinkers across disciplines for decades, and few have delved as deeply into its nature and implications as the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. According to Jung, synchronicity refers to meaningful coincidences that defy rational explanation but that feel infused with a sense of significance or destiny. But how do we recognize such coincidences, and what role do they play in our lives and psyches?

 Jung himself was driven to explore the concept of synchronicity by his encounters with analysands who described unusual coincidences that seemed to be tied to their inner experiences and conflicts. For example, a patient might think of a long-lost friend just before they receive a call from them, or while discussing a dream scarab, a similar insect flies through the office window. These events felt charged with meaning and often served as powerful catalysts for psychological growth and transformation.

 But what makes a coincidence truly synchronistic, as opposed to just a random or arbitrary occurrence? Jung argued that synchronistic events are characterized by their emotional intensity and their association with archetypal situations, such as death, illness, or relationship crises. In such contexts, our consciousness is often altered, and our usual defenses and rationalizations are temporarily suspended. This creates an opening for the unconscious, with its symbolic and mythical dimensions, to break through and communicate with us in a language of images, dreams, and omens.

 From a theoretical physics perspective, synchronicity can be seen as a manifestation of non-locality or the idea that seemingly separate entities can influence each other instantaneously, regardless of distance or time. This concept challenges the classical view of causality and suggests that the universe operates on a web of interconnectedness and interdependence, where every event is part of a larger pattern or order. In this sense, synchronicity can be seen as a bridge between science and spirituality, as it points to a deeper level of reality that transcends our limited senses and rational faculties.

 But how can we discern whether a coincidence is truly synchronistic or just a product of our own biases or wishful thinking? Jung emphasized the importance of personal experience and intuition in such matters, as well as the need for critical reflection and testing against external reality. For example, if we have a dream of a friend who we haven’t seen in years, we might interpret it as a sign to reconnect with them, but we should also consider whether there are other possible explanations, such as recent news or memories that triggered the dream.

 Ultimately, the meaning of synchronicity is not something that can be fully grasped or measured by our rational minds alone. It is a phenomenon that invites us to expand our awareness and sensitivity to the mysterious and numinous aspects of life and to connect with the deeper patterns and archetypes that underlie our personal and collective existence. As Jung put it, synchronistic events are those in which an inner subjective event is mirrored by an objective one, the coincidence being so striking that it is difficult to regard it as merely accidental.

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What are we to make of coincidence? From the numerological cats cradles we weave around famous events to the curious ways human lives converge through time, coincidence seems to fly in the face of reason and even suggest the supernatural. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe explore the synchronicity, statistics and psychology of coincidence.

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