Episode 258 - SCHADENFREUDE: Why do we enjoy seeing others fail?
This Jungian Life
Schadenfreude, the joy in someone else’s misfortune, is a common human experience. We often feel it when someone we believe deserves it embarrasses themselves or is caught in a scandal. Nietzsche once said, “Humor is just schadenfreude with a clear conscience.” This is true, as many comedic scenes involve some form of hilarious undoing. However, when this pleasure becomes malicious, it can be troubling. Some rules govern schadenfreude. We feel pleasure when an envied person is shamed because it tarnishes their status, making them seem less superior. We delight in the failure of...
info_outline
Episode 257 - The PIED PIPER & the terrible costs of rejecting shadow
This Jungian Life
The Pied Piper story holds a dark secret that has repelled and fascinated us for over 500 years. It asks, "What does it cost to banish our shadow?" At its surface, it looks like a simple morality tale cautioning us to be prudent and fair. Rats overrun a town, and the locals are beside themselves. A magical piper vibrantly dressed offers a solution too good to be true. His pipe weaves a tune that leads rats to their doom – and they drown in the ocean so neatly. Thrilled at first, then cunning and foolish, the town leaders refuse to pay the piper for his service. In turn, he entrances...
info_outline
Episode 256 - The ORPHAN: symbol of eros, pathos, and hope
This Jungian Life
The archetype of the orphan, closely related to the hero, evokes powerful feelings of abandonment, deprivation, and hope. From Harry Potter to Little Orphan Annie from Daenerys Targaryen to Cinderella, orphans who triumph over adversity remind us that healing the inner child is possible. The factual history of orphans is frequently heartbreaking. In the ancient world, unwanted infants were subject to abandonment or death through exposure. In the US, moved 200,00 children from NE coastal cities to live with farm families between 1853 to 1929. Journalists exposed the nightmare...
info_outline
Episode 255 - PASSING THE TEST: embracing the refiner’s fire
This Jungian Life
The word test originally referred to an earthenware vessel in which metals were smelted to separate ore from dross. Like ancient vessels holding the heat of the refining fire, our task is to contain the tension of the test. Tests smelt fantasy from the ore of reality and force us to adapt. If a test feels arbitrary or unfair, we may be failing to dissolve the dross of inadequacy, limitation, or shame. Tests require us to develop the ego strength to put our courage, morals, and perseverance on the line—and withstand the ego wounding of failure. Ultimately ego itself is put to the test. Jung...
info_outline
Episode 254 - AWAKE TO THE WORLD: Jung’s Ethical Stance
This Jungian Life
Despite volumes written on morality and ethics, how do we determine what’s right? Values distilled over time by family, faith, and nation define and denounce wrong, but the effort to banish shadow only allows it to emerge as projection onto others. We decry in ‘them’ what we deny in ourselves. Jung says, “The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality…for to become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects [of oneself]…as present and real.” We have all faced a moral dilemma at some point in our lives, questioning our own judgment and...
info_outline
Episode 253 - IRRESISTIBLE INVITATIONS: the powerful seduction of possibilities
This Jungian Life
Invitations are a subtle siren song, tapping into our primal human need to be chosen combined with our thirst for novelty, making them an irresistible force. When you receive an invitation, it is a moment of recognition, an invitation to be a part of something greater, to feel wanted, valued, and accepted. In the hierarchy of human needs, the sense of belonging takes a top priority, surpassed only by our basic requirements for survival. There is power in inviting and being invited. The myth of Baucis and Philemon, who innocently invited Zeus and Hermes to dine in their humble cottage, and were...
info_outline
Episode 252 - APHRODITE’S SHADOW: Drowning in Beauty
This Jungian Life
When the goddess Aphrodite claims us too fully, over time, our bodies become abandoned temples of physical perfection, sexual allure, and romantic passion. Her seductive archetypal power has captivated us for eons, but in today’s world, the enhancements of fashion, beauty, and physical appearance have intensified veneration of this goddess. However, her enchantments can have profound consequences, particularly when it comes to aging and the pressures of perfection. In this episode, we delve into the mysterious realm of the archetype with guest Arlene Landau, Ph.D. - a...
info_outline
Episode 251 - Sacred Marriage: A Fusion of Instinct, Spirit, and Grit
This Jungian Life
Marriage is a mystery woven into the fabric of time. A 4,000-year-old contract etched in stone bears witness to its timeless significance. But what is the meaning behind this union of two souls? Jung saw the definition of marriage as an alchemy of instinct and divinity, a blending of the physical and the spiritual. It is a bond that extends beyond legal and familial ties into the realm of the sacred. The purpose of marriage is a journey of individuation, a chance for each partner to grow and flourish within the embrace of a supportive union - it is a crucible of transformation. Tempered...
info_outline
Episode 250 - The Schizophrenia Complex: How Do We Love Those in Chaos?
This Jungian Life
Guest Eve Maram, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst in Orange, CA. Her book, The Schizophrenia Complex, presents a clear-eyed and compassionate understanding of our encounters with severe mental illness. The submergence in unconscious chaos that defines schizophrenia triggers negative emotions in others—yet Jung on psychosis showed that we are different from those patients only in degree. Significantly his Word Association Test proved that the unconscious influences everyone’s daily life in multiple ways. Moreover, Jung’s psychiatric work with psychotic...
info_outline
Episode 249 - Bipolar Disorder: A Jungian Perspective
This Jungian Life
Imprisoned by the sea with his son Icarus, mythological craftsman Daedalus constructed wings to escape. Beeswax held feathers in place, so Daedalus told Icarus not to fly too high or too low: the sun’s heat would melt the wax and sea spray would weigh the wings down. Elated, Icarus flew too high--and fell. Like Icarus, the moods of people with bipolar disorder swing from soaring into mania to sinking into depression. This disorder affects at least 2% of the population worldwide, with genetics by far the major contributor. BP is a major cause of disability and can also be a factor in...
info_outlineMelancholy evokes images of poets and artists for whom suffering and giftedness go hand in hand. Creative ability as compensation for affliction is depicted in Greek myth by the god Hephaestus. Rejected by his goddess mother and cast out of Olympus, alienated Hephaestus forged magnificent, magical objects for the gods. Such archetypal imagery can inform our understanding of the kind of depression that seems intrinsic but may have roots in early, adverse childhood experiences of emotional deprivation or rejection. Early loss, separation from a primary caregiver, or relational abandonment can have lifelong repercussions. Such disruptive events, though not available to consciousness, nonetheless infuse adult attitudes and attachments. To name the void creates space for mourning and healing, and like Hephaestus, finding the inner fire to forge something new.
Here's the dream we analyze:
“In my dream I am walking, I think toward a house. I'm walking through a wilderness area that has many, like at least 2 dozen, dead rabbits. They are dismembered. And I look at them, but when I do, I feel that I have violated their death. I'm not sure. I know a wolf got them but I never see the wolf. I see one of the rabbit's faces, and even though it is missing it's lower half (and is quite bloody), I know its soul is still alive, though its body is dead. I don't ponder this for very long in the dream. After that, I pass the rabbits, and I'm in the yard of what I think might be my home. But it is flooded - the aftermath of a flood. There is a large (80 foot) oak tree in the middle of the flood waters. Next to it is a tower of toadstools, each growing on top of one another. They are beautiful. They are lime green and white, almost glowing. I never go into the house because I'm amazed by the mushrooms. I take picture after picture of them from various angles.”
REFERENCES:
Film: Melancholia; Kirsten Dunst, Alexander Skarsgard. https://play.hbomax.com/player/urn:hbo:feature:GYVLQ2wCF_6TDXgEAAACc
The Ultimate Rumi Collection. Three books by Coleman Barks, https://a.co/d/c99kiYA
GIVE US A HAND!
Please become our patron: https://www.patreon.com/ThisJungianLife
RESOURCES:
Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/
Enroll in our Philadelphia Jungian Seminar and start your journey to becoming an analyst: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/seminar.shtml
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisJungianLife/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjungianlifepodcast/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisjungianlife/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisJungianLife