SURVIVING MASS TRAUMA: How did Jung process catastrophic events?
This Jungian Life
The great catastrophe of Jung's generation was the rise of Nazi Germany and WWII. His insights into the collective psyche of nations remain relevant today as we grapple with war and violence worldwide. Prepare to discover how collective hysteria and moral downfall lead to loss of individual responsibility and susceptibility to authoritarian control, whether collective guilt and the psychological impact of evil affects not just perpetrators but entire societies leading to collective moral crisis, when national fixations on power and technological prowess compensate for deep-seated inferiority,...
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NIGHTMARES: How do I stop awful dreams?
This Jungian Life
"The monsters that chase you in dreams are not trying to hurt you. They just want to reunite with their creator………...… that's you, dummy." (Quoted from an unnamed Jungian analyst overheard at a cocktail party.) Today, we analyze four nightmares submitted by listeners: BBQ Cats, Blood Red Sky, Tsunami, and Malevolent Presence. Our dreams are always trying to correct our waking personality. They are a kind of psychospiritual medicine tailored just for us. When we avoid healing advice from the dream maker, pressure builds in our unconscious. Gentle suggestions...
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DO WE INHERIT OUR PARENT’S FEARS?
This Jungian Life
What wisdom do fairy tales hold about childrearing in our modern world? Briar Rose is the foundation for the familiar fairytale Sleeping Beauty. It addresses the complicated consequences of unconscious parenting. While it is understandable we wish to protect our children from harsh realities, too much shielding can hobble them later in life. We may hide our shadow from ourselves and our children, but it will irrupt uninvited one day, casting the family into chaos. Instinctive reactions often hold us in suspended animation, but they may also offer a way toward healing. “Parents...
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DUMBO'S FEATHER: Are there hidden messages in Disney cartoons?
This Jungian Life
What hidden messages make Disney cartoons so impactful and enduring? Disney cartoons were groundbreaking. They introduced synchronized soundtracks in 1928, and today, they create extravaganzas that sweep audiences into tears and laughter, offering role models of virtue. Archetypal themes, often drawn from fairytales, thrum through the storylines appealing to the archaic levels of our psyche. Prepare to discover where Hermes is hidden in one of the characters, how childhood trauma activates archetypal helpers, whether Dumbo is a symbol of hope or a defense against maturation, how separation of...
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Aaron Balick – Why does social media weaponize our reactions?
This Jungian Life
Aaron Balick is a psychotherapist, speaker, consultant, educator, and author of The Psychodynamics of Social Networking. Social media invites snap emotional reactions, muddling clear thinking and escalating global tensions. It feeds on our anger, oversimplifying complex problems which blocks our ability to empathize. Nuanced explanations are demonized as if seeking to understand was an affront. If we learn to pause and reflect, we can overcome social media's divisive influence and discover middle-ground solutions in both personal and world affairs. Prepare to discover where emotional...
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FAME: Why Do We Create Icons Then Destroy Them?
This Jungian Life
Today's technology allows us to be seduced by the possibility of fame and celebrity tempting the ego to claim what does not belong to it. In earlier times, fame was garnered slowly through work in the arts, scholarship, religion, and the military. Today, unprecedented, almost instantaneous communication has made fame a commodity in itself. Novelty performers, entertainers, influencers, and sports stars—especially if young and glamorous—can become the victim of "audience capture." Fame tempts the ego to claim what does not belong to it, and the person may become identified with...
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JUNG'S PARANORMAL ENCOUNTERS: Why did strange events follow him?
This Jungian Life
If we lean into strange experiences with gentle curiosity, we may discover a level of psyche that acts directly on objects. Many of us have uncanny coincidences like thinking of a friend at the exact moment they ring us on the phone, but what about physical things breaking apart for no reason or luminous apparitions at our bedside? We often explain them away to reduce our anxiety, but Jung found them fascinating. He maintained a scientific attitude while accepting strange phenomena he could not explain. Eventually, he created a psychology of radical acceptance that creates space for the...
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LOW ENERGY: Where can we source the drive to take action?
This Jungian Life
Lisa, Deb, and Joe, Jungian analysts and co-creators of This Jungian Life podcast, have introduced thousands of clients to an inner world with unexpected resources. Many people just can’t rally to do what’s necessary and improve their lives. Is it possible they just don’t carry much vitality, or is some inner conflict blocking their access? We share personal stories of ‘energy loss’ and offer insights into purposelessness. Jung tells us inner energy flows according to its own laws, but if we can’t harness it? Prepare to discover why some people are naturally low-energy,...
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REUNIONS: Is there value in remembering our younger selves?
This Jungian Life
Deb and Joe are Jungian Analysts, authors, training analysts, and co-creators of This Jungian Life Podcast. [Lisa was away lecturing this week.] Most of us feel anxious at the thought of reliving the complicated and often painful experiences of our youth. When we receive a school reunion notice, we might be tempted to ignore it. Yet, on an archetypal level, we are drawn to re-unifying our current and past identities. If we accept the invitation, we may find unexpected joy and forgotten memories that restore something inside us. Prepare to discover why we plan and attend reunions, whether...
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Donald Kalsched – Can running our minds like a democracy save us?
This Jungian Life
Don Kalsched is a Jungian Analyst, an expert on treating trauma, author of two books, The Inner World of Trauma and Trauma and the Soul. Jung discovered our inner world is populated by various imaginal figures representing powerful psychological forces. If we treat our minds as democratic spaces, it can safeguard us from internal and external authoritarian influences. Prepare to discover the parallels between a balanced mind and a healthy society, whether viewing internal conflicts through a democratic lens is healing, which insights foster harmony, why democratic philosophy is transformative,...
info_outlineA planned, collaborative termination is the ideal way to bring a depth-oriented therapeutic process to a close. The client may have resolved a problematic life issue and/or have achieved an abiding sense of wholeness. When both partners feel the client’s sense of completion and readiness for a new phase of life, this kind of termination can feel like a graduation, albeit with the poignancy farewells also entail. There are also less satisfying endings for both therapist and client. The fit between therapist and client may not be good enough to form a strong bond; illness, death or a geographic relocation may derail the process; interpersonal conflict may fail to be resolved; or financial difficulty may impose a premature ending. Jung compares a depth psychological process to combining chemicals in a vessel: although the goal is change in the service of individuation, both people are always affected.
Dream
"I'm a student in a classroom. I recognize one student, someone I know who, like me, has a talent for deception and manipulation, but he is malicious and I am not...I've put a lot of work into not letting these aspects of myself run amok. This student is clearly not interested in the class and doesn't want to be here. I then realize this is a sort of "personality" class that we've been assigned because of our troubling traits. The teacher (a female I don't recognize) is on the verge of tears as she flips through a stack of papers which I understand to be transcripts of conversations between this other student and people he's treated badly...using their secrets against them, things like that. Another student leans over to me and whispers "she's going through yours next" and I say "but I don't do things like that". The teacher looks up at me still visibly upset, about to cry. She says to me "You're supposed to come back next week, right? Well, don't come, I don't have time to spend on a MAILBOX student like you" and I say to her "The way you're feeling right now, I've been making people feel like that my whole life and I'm very sorry."