Send us a text In this episode: We take a deep dive into the experience of depression and explore how a grasp of symbolic material can enrich our understanding of this difficult and all-too-human experience. Sources for quotes and more: "Hidden in the neurosis is a bit of still undeveloped personality, a precious fragment of the psyche lacking which a person is condemned to resignation, bitterness, and everything else that is hostile to life." ~ C.G. Jung in The State of Psychotherapy Today in '...
Mar 18, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Send us a text In this episode: We pick up on the previous episode’s exploration of the idea of the numinous and consider its effect on our psychological and spiritual health. Sources for quotes and more: " You are quite right, the main interest of my work is not concerned with the treatment of neuroses but rather with the approach to the numinous...." ~ C.G. Jung in 'Selected Letters.' Episode 22: The Idea of the Holy Episode 13: Living An Authentic Life “Even a happy life cannot be without a m...
Mar 11, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Send us a text In this episode: We discuss the concept of the numinous and how we can begin to attune our awareness to these depths of life experience. Sources for quotes and more: "In speaking of religion I must make clear from the start what I mean by that term...." ~ C.G. Jung in Psychology and Religion from 'Collected Works, vol. 11.' Episode 10: An Instinct for Meaning “There is no religion in which it does not live as the real innermost core, and without it no religion would be worthy of t...
Mar 04, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Send us a text In this episode: We explore the ways that our dreams can sensitize us to the sacred dimensions of the life both within us and around us. Sources for quotes and more: "Christians often ask why God does not speak to them, as he is believed to have done in former days...." ~ C.G. Jung in 'Man and His Symbols.' Episode 19: Dreaming and Reality “All dreams reveal spiritual experiences.” ~ C.G. Jung in 'C.G. Jung Speaking.' "Psychologically, I am using the word to mean anything which ov...
Feb 25, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Send us a text In this episode: We confront the dismissive attitudes that many people have about dreams and explore recent research that confirms the meaning and value of dreams. Sources for quotes and more: “The dream is often occupied with apparently very silly details, thus producing an impression of absurdity..." ~ C.G. Jung in On the Psychology of the Unconscious from 'Collected Works, vol. 7.' Episode 19: Dreaming and Reality Francis Crick's "garbage dump theory of dreams" discussed in 'Th...
Feb 18, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Send us a text In this episode: We explore how paying attention to our dreams can help us to expand our experience of the depth and meaningfulness of life. Sources for quotes and more: Harriet Tubman and Paul McCartney dream stories found in 'The Secret History of Dreaming' by Robert Moss. Abraham Lincoln dream story as told in 'Recollections of Abraham Lincoln 1847-1865' by Ward Hill Lamon. "There is a dream dreaming us," from Laurens van der Post from 'Where Will All the Stories Go?' in Parabo...
Feb 11, 2021•22 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Send us a text In this episode: We confront the undeniable influence of the unconscious on our psychological life and what it reveals about the complexity of who we are. Sources for quotes and more: “Whatever name we may put to the psychic background, the fact remains that our consciousness is influenced by it in the highest degree...." ~ C.G. Jung in 'The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man' in Collected Works, vol. 10. Study from the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences reviewed at: 'A New T...
Feb 04, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Send us a text In this episode: We explore Jung’s notion of the reality of the psyche and look at the ways in which our inner world shapes and colors our experiences in the outer world. Sources for quotes and more: “ ‘All that is outside, also is inside,’ we could say with Goethe...." ~ C.G. Jung from Psychological Aspects of the Mother Archetype in 'Collected Works, vol. 9i.' “Nature is what works and moves by itself..." ~ Alan Watts from 'Become What You Are.' Babies Can Recognize Emotion in F...
Jan 28, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Send us a text In this episode: We complete our read through of the story, The White Snake, and uncover the stages involved in the work of bringing our creative potential to life. Sources for quotes and more: The White Snake from 'Grimms' Household Tales,' translated by Margaret Hunt. Episode 14: Serving the Inner Life, pt. 1 Episode 15: Serving the Inner Life, pt. 2 "laying an infinitesimal grain on the scales of humanity's soul...” ~ C.G. Jung in 'The Practice of Psychotherapy, CW16.' 'Just as...
Jan 21, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Send us a text In this episode: We continue to read through the Grimms' fairy tale, The White Snake, and discovering what it can tell us about what it means to take up a right relationship with our own creative depths. Sources for quotes and more: The White Snake from 'Grimms' Household Tales,' translated by Margaret Hunt. Episode 14: Serving the Inner Life, pt. 1 Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell “One can scarcely help admiring oneself a little for having seen more deeply into thing...
Jan 14, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Send us a text In this episode: We begin to read through the Grimms' fairy tale, The White Snake, and to explore what it has to say about the creative challenges of doing our inner work. Sources for quotes and more: The White Snake from 'Grimms' Household Tales,' translated by Margaret Hunt. Episode 1: What is the Symbolic Life? "Fairy tales are the purest and simplest expression of the collective unconscious psychic processes..." ~ Marie-Louise von Franz in 'The Interpretation of Fairy Tales.' ...
Jan 07, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Send us a text In this episode: We reflect on the New Year, letting go of what is past and turning toward what is to come. Music: " Dreaming Days " and " Slow Vibing " by Ketsa are licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Like this podcast? Please consider leaving a review at one of the following sites: Apple Podcasts Spotify Or, if you are able, support the show with a donation at Buy Me a Coffee: Support the show Connect with me: Instagram (@digital.jung) Facebook (facebook.com/jungiananalyst) Bluesky (...
Dec 31, 2020•12 min
Send us a text In this episode: We explore what it means to live an authentic life and how it can lead us to a place of resilience and meaning. Sources for quotes and more: All quotes from Sections 1 - 3 -- "Discover Yourself," "Learn from Traditional Wisdom," and "Do Not Seek Happiness" are taken from an article titled The Art of Living from the book 'C.G. Jung Speaking.' “The urge to become what one is is invincibly strong, and you can always count on it, but that does not mean that things wil...
Dec 24, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Send us a text In this episode: We look at two different kinds of thinking and explore how each influences our experience of ourselves and the world around us. Sources for quotes and more: "Do we ever understand what we think? We only understand that kind of thinking which is a mere equation, from which nothing comes out but what we have put in..." ~ C.G. Jung from 'The Stages of Life' in Collected Works, vol. 8 "Directed thinking is the working of the intellect in which one takes a quantity of ...
Dec 17, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Send us a text In this episode: We confront the difficulties of the inner life and consider the hard work of learning to live creative and authentic lives. Sources for quotes and more: "Everything good is costly and the development of the personality is one of the most costly of all things." ~ C.G. Jung from 'Collected Works, Vol. 13.' "It's easy to do what is not good, and things that harm oneself..." from 'The Dhammapada' translated by Gil Fronsdal. "Creative work requires a loyalty as complet...
Dec 10, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Send us a text In this episode: We discuss the psyche’s affinity for religious expression and it’s meaning for the experience of our own psychological depths. Sources for quotes and more: “I do not, however, hold myself responsible for the fact that man has, everywhere and always, spontaneously developed religious forms of expression..." ~ C.G. Jung from 'Modern Man in Search of a Soul.' "the farthest star and the mud at your feet are a family." ~ Mary Oliver from 'Upstream.' Episode 3: The Heal...
Dec 03, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Send us a text In this episode: We look at our complicated relationship with technology and the challenge it poses in our experience of the symbolic life. Sources for quotes and more: "All time-saving devices, amongst which we must count easier means of communication and other conveniences, do not, paradoxically enough, save time..." ~ C.G. Jung from 'Return to the Simple Life' in Collected Works, vol. 18 "A violent and complex stimulation of the senses...” ~ Alan Watts from 'The Wisdom of Insec...
Nov 26, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Send us a text In this episode: We discuss how we can know and express what Carl Jung calls “the unique and unrepeatable experience” that we are. Sources for quotes and more: "The whole of yourself is certainly an irrational entity, but this is just precisely yourself..." ~ C.G. Jung from 'C.G. Jung Speaking.' Each person “represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way, and never again.” ~ Herman...
Nov 19, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Send us a text In this episode: We discuss what Carl Jung called “the decisive question”: the need for a relationship with the infinite. Sources for quotes and more: "The decisive question for man is: Is he related to something infinite or not?" ~ C.G. Jung from 'Memories, Dreams, Reflections' "Without a direct link to the transcendent, we're just one member of a series, replaceable by any other individual of the same species; we lose our uniqueness and with that our dignity." ~ Raimon Panikkar ...
Nov 12, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Send us a text In this episode: We look at the symbol of the heart and consider its central place in the practice of the symbolic life. Sources for quotes and more: "The most beautiful truth..." ~ C.G. Jung from Collected Works vol. 18, par. 1292 Last week's episode: The Living Symbol The Man Without a Heart fairy tale "The heart is the organ that produces true knowledge, comprehensive intuition, and gnosis of God..." from Henri Corbin in 'Alone With the Alone' Story of Solomon asking for an "un...
Nov 05, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Send us a text In this episode: We explore the elusive nature of symbols and offer some suggestions about ways that we can strengthen our ability to perceive them. Sources for quotes and more: "A symbol, then, is a living Gestalt, or form..." ~ C.G. Jung from 'The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga.' Jung and the Story of Our Time by Laurens van der Post "A word or an image is symbolic, when it implies something more than its obvious and immediate meaning." ~ C.G. Jung from 'Man and His Symbols.' "Whe...
Oct 29, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Send us a text In this episode: With help from some of the symbols in the story of Parzival, I discuss the surprising importance of vulnerability in the process of psychological growth. Sources for quotes and more: "Only through our feebleness and incapacity are we linked up with the unconscious..." ~ C.G. Jung from 'The Tavistock Lectures,' Collected Works, vol. 18. Jacob and the Angel from Genesis 32:25 - 29, Sefaria.org The Man Watching by Rainer Maria Rilke (Robert Bly translation) "There's ...
Oct 22, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Send us a text In this episode: In this episode, we look at a factor that Carl Jung felt was a central need for psychological healing. We discuss what it is, the circumstances that constellate this need in our lives, and the attitude necessary to cultivate it. Sources for quotes and more: "Among all my patients in the second half of life..." ~ C.G. Jung from 'Psychotherapists or the Clergy,' Collected Works, vol. 11. "We cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life's mornin...
Oct 15, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Send us a text In this episode: We look at one of the major barriers in the practice of the symbolic life today — the problem of noise. How does this problem change our experience of the inner life? And what, if anything, can we do about it? Sources for quotes and more: "Noise protects us from painful reflection..." ~ C.G. Jung from 'Selected Letters,' p. 163 "In the deepest heart of all of us there is a corner in which the ultimate mystery of things work sadly" ~ William James from 'Is Life Wor...
Oct 08, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Send us a text In this episode we explore two key questions: What is the symbolic life? How do we begin to live it? Sources for quotes and more: "Now we have no symbolic life..." ~ C.G. Jung from 'The Symbolic Life' in Collected Works, vol. 18 (CW18), par. 627 "Our soul may never have rest in anything which is beneath itself." Julian of Norwich from 'Showings' (Classics of Western Spirituality) "The standardized, mass-produced, 'normal' human being..." & "the creative meaning and potentialit...
Sep 29, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 1
