A DYNAMIC TASK OF OUR AGE: INTEGRATING THE FEMALE ENERGY PRINCIPLE.

I'd like to say something very practical about Jungian depth psychology. And how it has much to offer psychologically/spiritually in explaining and navigating our chaotic and urgent times.

 Carl Jung, Swiss M.D., research/theoretical  psychotherapist, suggested a hundred years ago that we are moving from a prolonged  age when the 'masculine principle' has been  dominant; that of conquering, penetrating, breaking down, differentiating and analyzing  everything. Reason more than feeling and intuition being of highest value for example. 

This was needed for that age of development in Western Civilization: colonization, the industrial revolution, scientific medicine, modern technology and two fateful world wars are some of the outcomes, both positive and negative. Now the 'feminine principle' is seeking to correct that long, but in an evolutionary sense necessary, over abundance of the 'masculine principle' energy. 

Both principles are part of every man and woman's deep psyche. A woman can have an over balance of the masculine attitude as likely as a man for example. Jung would suggest there has been an excess of 'masculine principle' energy in most every aspect of social expectations, religion, economics and politics. 

It is more natural, thus easier by her nature, for a woman to be in touch with the 'feminine principle' than it is consciously for a man. But both, from cultural and sometimes religious influence, can miss developing it to the degree needed for adaptation today. In general all persons stand in need to further recognize and integrate in our age the 'feminine principle' and the attitudes and behaviors that flow from it. The 'feminine principle' has to do with healing, uniting and smoothing the way, of accepting and valuing differences in people, of not seeing 'difference' as an alert to violence or to fight or flight. But to stand in the middle so to speak, to be a bridge and not a wall in human commnication and relationships.

Bridges Are Symbolic Of  The 'Connecting Work'  of the Feminine Principle

 Ironically I see the 16 other GOP candidates' incapacity to stand up to D. Trump's outrageous hateful statements and extreme flip -flops an indication of these competitors not having yet a well developed feminine side (This may be  typical of a majority of men at the present time). We would have seen a very different story if they had a well developed feminine energy. They did not exhibit the skill of engaging in a 'feminine principle' way. Instead they experienced him as an overwhelming, threatening  masculine force and meekly allowed him to take over the discussion with

his contradictory and divisive message. This is a serious development in any democracy which depends on open, honest and safe communications. A strong dose of the 'feminine principle' at work, as I will explain, was needed on that debate stage where the masculine was overpowering.

Walls Of Division Are Symbolic Of The  ' Masculine Principle' At Work

Ideally if the others had been more 'in touch' with the feminine principle they would have in a clear and absolute way called him out from the start. Because part of the feminine principle is like if a mother's child is about to be harmed or kidnapped, she will retaliate  quickly and absolutely to put an end to it. This is seen in a mother bear regarding her cubs. Mess with her cubs and you will hear from her, not tomorrow but right now. The true feminine principle is not anything to mess around with. It will intervene promptly against any damaging falsehood and intimidation of every kind. In this sense it has 'fire in its eye' and tolerates no slick effort to scam and mislead regarding human well being.  

We presently lack this protective spirit in America. We let the bully, intimidator and the boisterous have their way with the community. We stand aside for the most economically leveraged to be 'in charge' as if they know best for what is needed for everyone. These are the disastrous short comings of the male principle gone too far.

We lack a full measure of well developed feminine principle but it is gaining strength; not to conquer the necessary male principle but to bring it to a healthy balance with the feminine. This feminine 'end the nonsense' attitude is in contrast to male planning, strategizing and conquering behavior toward others so effective in the past age. What did not happen on the GOP debate stage during this primary is one indication of the deficiency of 'feminine protective principle' at work psychologically in our culture. 

 From the psychological perspective both  men and women of our culture in general  stand in need of, and evolution is pushing us, discovering and implementing the feminine principle, to bring about a new personal and collective balance of mind and heart in our culture. (BTW, the Christian gospels can be interpreted as strong feminine principle teachings but they have instead traditionally been used to reinforce the 'male principle' attitudes of Western Civilization.)

Donald Trump

Another practical observance of depth psychology is that of the naturally occurring 'women's  movement' of the past five decades involving  women finding and integrating their 'inner masculine' selves, just as men have been pushed to discover the 'feminine within'. This has been showing that women can be just as strong objective thinkers, planners, leaders and conquerors as any man. A Hillary Clinton is an 'in our face' example and symbol of this capacity in woman. Naturally the emerging 'feminine principle' will be the target of much resentment and attack no matter who the personal woman is that carries its  psychological energy.  

Humanity does not make great social/psychological/spiritual changes without an internal fight. Also such cultural changes are far greater than any of the individuals involved. There is a 'greater than us mind' of evolutional type reality that pushes and invites us to higher levels of consciousness. No actual man or woman is perfectly developed and balanced in this ideal way. We can only be moving toward it, cooperating with it, not resisting it. And I sense hopeful  signs that many persons are doing

 that.(Note: The sizable win by Trump in 2024 for president over Pamala Harris would appear to be a setback to gaining a stronger feminine energy in the American Collective psyche. And it is. But it is not a surprise given the many millennial dominance of our Western male-centered patriarchal cultures. Rest assured the feminine archetypal energy will not disappear. It may take this hard unexpected dose of open male principle dominance for more people to 'see' that resisting the equal place of the feminine will do more harm to the nation and to both women and men. 

In the long run I suspect history will show that to fight against the present evolutionary necessity of a rising feminine principle will only delay our culture meeting the pressing psychological/spiritual needs of humanity. And the nation's intense suffering will continue.)

Hillary Clinton

The key according to Jungian thought is for there to be a steady move toward the proper balance of 'male and female psychological/spiritual energy principles' in women and men personally and in the collective consciousness. This is the way that men become 'really' more manly and women 'really' women. 

Men and women remain truly different but each can be and is now equally called to develop these psychological awarenesses and attitudes of the feminine principle as needed for personal development. Only through this kind of inner personality development can men and women together, in equal and complementary fashion, be enabled to confidently engage the threatening new needs and problems of our post modern age.

OBAMA... UNCOMMONLY FORWARD THINKING PRESIDENT... July 14, 2015

I'm thinking our president may be one of the most visionary persons in high public life in recent times. This 'deal with the devil' (Iran) is nearly a perfect example of the Jungian notion that you do not rid the 'shadow' within or without by ... destroying it , crushing it and trying to live as if the shadow is not real or powerful. We have become so accustomed to just beating the crap out of 'the enemy' that we have nearly lost the capacity to interact creatively with any scary 'other'. This reminds me of that metaphorical statement of Jesus, ' you had better strike a deal on the way to judgment with your adversary or you will pay every penny.' Metaphorical truths have their moments when they are exactly and literally true in the outer human real situation.

I am feeling grateful that Obama seems to have been thinking far more into the future from the start of his presidency than the themes that were the hot ones in the news all along. He had dreams of creative solutions to some of the biggest problems. I imagine he envisioned today, and why it was the right thing to do, before he ever entered the office. I'm pretty amazed and proud of his accomplishment(s).

BTW.... just listen to the 'smaller' voices all over the air waves. Someone said, ' it is late in the day when small persons cast long shadows.' Its good to see there are some very large persons that come along in history. I know many do not, and perhaps cannot, agree with this assessment. I am  open to other opinions also.

God, Man, Woman And Love...December 12, 2010... note to Edward Fudge

Suddenly The Clouds Spoke In Clear Images

During my spiritual/emotional development the past twenty five years I was drawn to various authors along the way. Much of this reading did not leave me with details I can recite but  remain alive and influential in my conscious activity and memory. I think they had even a deeper effect on parts of me that had lain barely or not conscious for the first forty years of my life. I doubt that I am unusual in that respect but my experiences made me sensitively conscious of such things. If I felt a harmony  with the ideas that came to me in my reading they became a part of my conscious value system. At least this is how it seems to me that much of my change/development has occurred.

But more profound than my reading was the advent of a different world, that of 'dreams and visions.' No theme was more central to my 'vision' experience than that of  'man and woman loving.' I can recall being utterly spellbound and fully alert for hours as every imaginable image of man and woman loving formed in the early morning clouds over my parked car in North West Houston. The couples had expressions of ecstasy on their closed eyed faces. There was a sense of total mutuality, equality and tenderness in every image. Preceding these vivid images A large 'Adam and Eve' appeared in the sky and passed over me. The couple was holding the serpent between them and they were exercising some restraint on it. Following the 'love images' there was a repetition of large flying eagles. From that first experience for days and into months I was being  astounded, impressed and entertained by a near continuous flow of images formed in the 'things' of nature. The images were continuously in the clouds, any fog or smoke that was available, the trees, grasses, rocks and also human made things. lt was an experience as if all of nature and the physical landscape were alive and communicating to me. I was connected with my total surroundings. There was no division between mind and matter, between spirit and nature. It was all one and all connected. The images were nearly always available if I had the time and solitude to attend to them. I needed to be alone to do this for I was very aware that I would appear  'strange'  to any onlooker as I gazed into a fog or  focused on the grass of a field. I managed to keep living in a normal human way, teaching middle school science and my physical health was good. My verbal and intellectual capacities seemed significantly stronger during the months I was experiencing  this sense of  'connection.'

Adam and Eve 1192 German Art

 Fortunately, I was quite isolated  at the beginning of this time in my life so could give much attention to the images. Early on a central image was a playful feminine personality who gave me an assurance that 'she' was a reliable friend. 'She'  was much more than human and had direct influence on what was happening in every continuous detail of my life but also of all the world about me. But she was also full of playful tricks and frequently led me in 'circles' whether I was in my car driving or attempting to do some task or errand. 

At some point I began to look back at my life and see how 'she' was behind many of behaviors long before I was conscious of  'her' reality as a part of me.  'She' was definitely imploring me to trust her as a guide in every detail of life. I once asked aloud to her, “ Do you ever get serious?' 

At that moment three crosses with skulls on top of each appeared in the clouds and before I was done contemplating  on that a mushroom cloud formed and filled the space above. Early on I asked her, 'Is Jesus the literal Son of God?' Her answer was an image of the head of a gorilla being gently pulled, as in birth, from a human  birth canal.

The Location Of The First 'Visions' -18 Years Later

I had spent the night before the first visions occurred on the streets of downtown Houston with homeless people, myself being temporarily homeless. I was presently without a formal job and extremely aware of the difficulty that my family was experiencing without my being physically present with them. I was a man in psychological suffering as I had never experienced it. My suffering was embedded in spiritual ecstasy and the uncertain psychological landscape between conflicting  'polarities' including 'Eros and Logos', 'freedom and destiny', 'order and chaos', 'spirit and matter', 'female and male', 'individuality and community' and 'heaven and earth.'  A person having such an encounter with the archetypes of the Collective Unconscious(the 'Jungian opposites')  also may experience an integrating and uniting of them within where something  genuinely beneficial be birthed. Only with such a harmonizing of the opposites with both aspects informing and completing each other might a gift be received for both the individual and the community s/he is a part of. 

At age 41 then I had a reasonably well developed and growing personal theology which, though greatly challenged, provided some support.  No doubt the stress of my outer situation made me more susceptible to such a necessary  'revelation' from the Collective Unconscious. Any one of these 'visions' left me at first with only two words to even try to convey what was happening: 'miracle and ecstasy.'  And these words had little personal place or meaning in my theology at that time. But these kinds of reality occurred time after time for many weeks, even months and years  from when it first began.

Recently a neurologist I was seeing for a neck injury asked me out of the blue if I had read the book When God Was A Woman by Meril Stone? I told him I had just completed it. We were both struck by the important historical information it establishes. I was amazed not only that he had read it but that he asked me if I had. That motivated me to  re-read the chapter specifically on sexuality. It regards those women who lived in the Goddess temples of nearly all Eastern pre- Hebrew cultures who were referred to as 'sacred women'. They are described as being involved in sexual worship there with 'strange men.' Sometimes after some years of work for the Goddess in the temple they later married to become very good and reliable wives. Any children born through this temple sexual expression kept the mother's family name and she was their parent.   There was no dishonor in those ancient cultures for these women. Quite the opposite. Children were not bastardized or likely abandoned or abused who came from temple births. These women were sometimes wealthy land owners. Such  sacred sexual practice was considered just that, not irresponsible unconscious, unremembered sex for sex sake. 

On first becoming aware of such historical realities the modern Westerner cannot fathom it and is likely to turn away in disgust at what was once deeply held and honored religious experience. What the 'stranger men' experienced was expected to be a passage into a deeper realm of spiritual reality and  responsibility to the community. This was religious experience that honored the place of living Eros in human spiritual development. Our culture has no such way or place to honor Eros and so this living god/human power goes 'underground', becomes unconscious, to arise in the modern world as unsacred pornography and or nearly socially arranged marriages as a way to 'control' it. Religion and State have cooperated in these unsuccessful and fear based ways of relating to Eros. I think my 'vision' experience was saying loudly that Eros must be returned to our culture. I most definitely am not suggesting we return to literal temple sexual expression but that the air and spirituality of that statement of Eros find a way to live in the hearts and responsible relationships of couples and lovers in the post modern age. Our culture has instead created an ugly and nonspiritual model of women and men's sexuality. Only later did commentators take the word that then meant 'sacred woman' and translate it, with very negative intent, to 'temple prostitute'. Thus demeaning such women and the Eros of life they helped their culture to celebrate and connect with. 

The Hebrews, and other male centered cultures, tried to drive all this out and created the first strong patriarchies in human history. In patriarchy lineage, unlike matriarchy lineage where the parent is obvious for it is the mother, had to be 'proven and kept protected' by the established order. This became a task for the religious hierarchy, the Levitical Priests and law makers, for the Hebrew nation. Thus sexuality outside of marriage, no matter how loving or committed, was described off -hand as sinful, base, low life and immoral.  The Hebrew law of Moses made this punishable by death for women. The Bible clearly shows there was no such strong law against men for there was no need to keep men from having sex with 'strangers' or outside marriage to protect the patriarchy lineage. Any woman a man secretly impregnated simply was put death. There was a constant message from Yahweh warning the people to stay away from the 'groves' where the ancient feminine goddesses and matriarch religion was still alive and Eros had not been turned into something evil. Often, the Levitical priests and the Hebrew prophets called for an all out assault on the native goddess religions of this land that flowed with 'milk and honey' well before the Hebrews attempted to make it exclusively their own.

At all times for any surviving child, it was made known who its father was. This is what drove the theme of the sinful nature of a woman having unmarried sex. The Adam and Eve story blaming woman making her character suspect put this into powerful mythical language that has more than any image shaped Western  thought about Man, Woman and Sexuality. The 'sexual laws' also had much to do with economics and keeping the wealth of a male run family in tact and under male control.  This  successfully totally shifted ancient cultures   from   a Female description of God to a totally male one.  From this Yahweh of the O.T. was born intonthe Collective Consciousness of the Hebrews. The shamefulness of female sexuality, more than any mortal sin, and the control and demeaning of women was sold eventually to all of Western society...first through Judaism and then Christianity(not with the help of any authentic view of Jesus' view of sexuality). So there is a good reason why a woman has never adorned  most protestant pulpits or likely even distributed communion until recent decades, why a man committing 'adultery' is defined as a sin against the woman's husband or father even if it were non consensual by the woman ....not to mention that a woman has never been a Catholic priest or President  of the U.S.A. I add that there are places in the Hebrew scripture and history where the positive aspects of Eros Love are strongly supported, such as the Song Of Songs at near the center of the Bible.

My 'visions and dreams' regarding human sexuality are not proposing a return to temple sexuality nor is their purpose to demonize Judaism, Christianity or Islam. Such confirmed historical  information about human sexuality and images of God means we need to UNDERSTAND the human spiritual path that has been trod in leading up to our presently internalized meanings of God, man and woman, the very fundamentals of life. We urgently need to take responsibility for the effect that these historical movements have on our present sexual identity. We need to acknowledge this all has indeed happened and shaped us.  Then we can be more responsible for what we really value from it all and experience that famous quotation that. 'you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free...

 If the son sets you free you shall be free indeed.'  Jesus did not invent these timeless truths but he surely with an unusually expanded consciousness was aware of them, believed them and no doubt experienced them as central to his human life.

This basic information of When God Was A Woman, firmly documented even by conservative archaeologists, is mind boggling, and if assimilated by many Westerners would change in amazingly positive ways what it means today to be woman and man. The most profound implication of this information is central to the very first and most indelible 'visions' I had in Houston. An implication is it is likely many, if any, Western men are close yet to loving a woman as men and women are  potentially capable of loving. 

The only way a man could ligically begin to more fully love a woman is for him to have had the internal experience of 'God being woman' just as strongly as he has experienced God being male. Until that reality becomes more conscious a man cannot possibly bring  

the spiritual and psychological levels of agape and certainly not phileo and Eros to their fullness in relating to a woman. 

This is astonishing and also very encouraging. It surely would threaten and anger many men to hear this now but it brings with it the possibility of a man experiencing loving a woman in an ecstasy and innocent intimacy that has only been a painful dream for him up to now. He can theologically return to the Garden and be with Eve, not in 

dreaming innocence but with a full knowledge of good and evil(transcended as reflected in such modern images of the couple holding the serpent)!!  I do believe in this evolving reality. The historical facts I think are bearing it out. This archetype of When God Was A Woman  has lived eternally in all our Collective Unconscious.  I wish the book by that title would receive an ever larger reading by men and women.  And it is a corollary of all this that also women, who have not had some experience of God really being feminine, cannot fully appreciate themselves and love others, including men and children, to near their human potential. 

So if women and men could have a clear outer, logical fact based, and inner archetypal  experience of  God As Woman, it  would propel a level of love in a culture to a new evolutionary level. The New Testament appeal for humans to 'love one another' would be realized to a level that has likely not happened since  Jesus, or one of his elevated consciousness, personally loved a woman, perhaps even Mary Magdalene. 

To me, and I trust many others, God is just as much woman as man. To a significant level I've been blessed with that experience, both outwardly and inwardly. I do not know why this has been my and some others' experience but it has. I don't know if I am to be blessed or only somehow burdened by it. Up to now it seems to have been both. I know I highly value it either way for I believe it is a truth sorely needed in a spiritually drifting world.  Blessings,  Jim

P.S. Some years ago I read  The Sacred Prostitute by Nancy Qualls  Corbett which I literally stumbled across. She is the wife of the late Gene Qualls.(Gene was my Birmingham Jungian therapist during the summer of '85. I  was able to get back to him three days after the 'vision' experience described above began. That was also the last time I got to meet with him. It was as if he had helped me give birth to this 'new world of oneness.' Within two weeks I was teaching Jr. High math/science and back at home with my family.  I'm sure my life would have shattered if I had not been able to get back to my family environment but my 'vision' experiences, though less intense, had only just begun. Being home and interacting with family kept my feet on the ground and was a continual essential reminder of the mortal person I was.  I'm confident Nancy Qualls Corbett  must have referred to this work When God Was A Woman?  I have a hard time fathoming  how a woman steeped in the culture of North Alabama, the same as me, could have written such an astounding chronicle on this subject. She must have had a profound  experience of God as Woman?  I wonder who was first drawn to leaving Dr. Gene Quall's medical practice and becoming Jungian therapists, she or her husband?  I was not drawn to Jungian thought out of conscious intellectual curiosity but out of emotional and spiritual survival as a human being. These things are not matters of interesting curiosity to me. They have been and are matters of living and dying at many levels.  Blessings, Jim Hibbett

DON'T GIVE UP ON YOUR UNIQUE CALL...KEEP WORKING...October 13, 2024

 https://www.facebook.com/share/p/amdjRofo1Umnrsky/

FINDING COURAGE TO OWN OUR OWN PERSONAL DESTRUCTIVENESS....October 23, 2024

 This is central to the unwelcomed, but essential, message from the wisdom of Carl Jung. This is  from some 100 years ago. Such personal enlightenments by enough folks appear now to be the change that could still 'heal and save' our socially/spiritually rapidly deteriorating human/divine world.

THAT NECESSARY LONELINESS OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY...September 18, 2024

The most difficult lesson I've faced as an adult is the

unending need to survive, regardless of how broken I feel

inside.

It doesn't matter if my heart is aching, if I'm mourning the loss of someone I love, or if I'm too tired to even get out of bed. Life doesn't wait for me to catch my breath. It keeps moving forward, indifferent to my pain, and I'm left with no choice but to push through, even when every part of me is screaming for a moment of rest.

But what's even harder is realizing that no one truly prepares you for this. We grow up believing in the comfort of happy endings, only to be met with the harsh reality that survival often means pretending you're okay when you're not. And maybe that's the hardest part-not just surviving, but doing so quietly, without letting the weight of it show. Yet, through it all, we find strength we never knew we had, because despite the heaviness, we keep moving.

- LJ Blossoms.

‐------------------‐--------

I think our lives are far more solitary and individual journeys than we like to accept.  That aloneness can make us think something has gone wrong.

But we don't imo live the most important moments of challenge, struggle and victories as a team, family, or group but as a single individual human being.

We can't, and hopefully come to where, we wouldn't want to change that. This is why it is the individual human that is the highest value in the created world and that is what each of us is.

Only knowing this unique 'alone experience' can we come closer to knowing who and what we are. And there we may find, with all its acknowledged flaws and imperfections, something that has won our love and respect. I'd wish that for every person. Jim

DREAM: REVISITING MY RELIGIOUS HERITAGE....AUGUST 12, 2024

 I was raised and became a full-time minister in the non-instrumental Church of Christ. It was strongly formative for me and I'm grateful for the nurturing and objective Bible knowledge it gave me. 

I began an unexpected personal development process in1981while participating in Clinical Pastoral. Education(CPE). This led me to a broader view of the Bible's nature and the Christ story than could fit the general COC point of view.  That distance increased after I was released from my 8-year ministry in 1984.

I've sometimes felt resentful about the restrictions the COC perspective places on persons' spiritual growth and its tendency toward exclusion and divisiveness.  And a natural, however long-time Unconscious, superiority its beliefs encouraged in me. And perhaps to the minds of other members through the years.

Dream: I was presently in a gathering and worship service of a mainline COC congregation. There were friendly conversations, and I had no interest in bringing up my differences in a perspective I once shared with them.

THOUGHTS:

I think the dream suggests me accepting that my development necessarily led me from the strong emotional ties I had with the COC until midlife. That I rightfully and gratefully can own the COC environment as my important religious heritage. I can drop any tendency to not respect the people there. And instead to engage with them as important and mutual brothers and sisters.

Note: One ministry that is part of this denomination is that of Landon Saunders. There is now a department bearing his name at Abelene Christian University. His more human-valuing emphasis was at the center of my 'growth spurt' in 1981. And his materials are ones I still respect and find consistent with my understanding of the 'spirit of Christ'

                        Landon Saunders

https://acu.edu/library/saunders-center/

ONE MAN'S CREATIVE ESCAPE FROM LIFE'S ABYSS...August 5, 2024

FINDING ONE'S WAY....August 4, 2024

At age 38 in 1913, Carl Gustav Jung* was a successful world-renowned Switzerland psychiatrist and university researcher/professor.  Sigmund Freud, already credited with scientifically proving the reality of the Unconscious, which unknowingly is working in our words and behaviors, had named Jung heir to carry on his work.

But at this juncture Jung realized that his view of the Unconscious was much broader and potentially more promising than Freud's. He, partly consciously and partly unconsciously, forced a permanent separation of the two men. 

This resulted in Jung finding himself in a no-man's land without patterns or guidelines to follow for his personal and professional life. This has, and undoubtedly will, happen to others. It must, at the time, be an experience of stumbling into a meaningless abyss amid one's orderly life. 

He knew he must go his own way however lonely and separated. He resigned from his prestigious positions while continuing to see his patients. He would seek answers for the questions his abyss experience had assigned to him. He knew now he would search within himself, his natural dreams and focused fantasies, as well as outer resources which came and seemed relevant to his fatefully assigned task.

As long as a person's life continues the well-worn and socially acceptable paths of family and religious/cultural expectations, one avoids the situation described above. And life with its normal troubles, ups and downs goes in rather typical and generally expected ways to its physical end.

This collective type of path usually provides an adult with some reasonable sense of meaning, purpose and hope in life. Thus, one does not experience the more extreme trauma of a more individually unique and dangerous journey. This would be in the long run, I suspect Jung would agree, a fuller experience of both a person's human and divine nature.

Such an unexpected turn in life can be understood more hopefully as a person 'falling' into their genuine human uniqueness. And being significantly torn away from the general collective, more comfortable and predictable patterns of life.  It can be a time of severe meaninglessness and hopelessness for an individual. A person could live only so long in that state without tragically losing their healthy mind. 

There are many examples of other persons having similar experiences. Some have found themselves making needed and noble contributions to humanity. We may become aware of such persons in our education but may know little about how they found their way out of the life-threatening personal abyss. 

So, it may still be uncommon knowledge to describe how such persons stumbled onto a 'path less traveled' and of the costs and ecstasies they then encountered. Ones which only indirectly led to their much-needed contributions to culture.

With no examples in his early 19th century culture to guide him, how did Jung find his way into a creative meaning for his personal existence and a unique sense of a purpose for his life?

A primary path out of his abyss was stumbling onto some previous historical examples of persons and communities which had recorded similar inner experiences and images which Jung was having. Inner experiences of the Collective Unconscious he was faithfully recording along with some from his modern patients. 

Two important resources which arrived to him were writings from the ancient Christian communities of Alchemists, mystics and Gnostics. Another was an ancient Chinese document titled The Secret Of the Golden Flower.  As he saw connections between himself and these ancient writings, he enthusiastically plunged into a laborious study of them for what his contemporaries would have seen as mostly non-sense. 

But to Jung they became ever-more-clear answers to questions which his personal 'fall into the abyss' of the Unconscious had posed to him. 

All this mushrooming discovery over four plus decades was very much anchored in what had previously been to him and his culture, and I suspect to Sigmund Freud, Unconscious. 

He found this to be a living stream of material which potentially lies within reach of every human being. It could result in great leaps in the psychological and spiritual evolution of individuals and of our species. It might foster the arrival of a desperately needed transformation of human values for emerging times. And it could lead to important strides in understanding and compassion among humans worldwide. This, in turn, may curtail our present collective path toward destruction of ourselves and our Earth home.

A reason I'm moved to write this is that some of our human peers may 'fall' into the abyss of their own human/divine uniqueness. They may find Jung's path, and the ideas and processes he rediscovered, a rich resource. This might help some escape despair and bring back to culture much-needed treasures. Treasures from the cosmic expanse of the Collective Unconscious, which connects us all, for the creative evolution of a safer and higher quality of human life on earth.

* Historical references are accurate to my best knowledge.

SCIENCE WITH DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY OFFERS A HOPEFUL EMERGING WORLD-VIEW...May 5, 2024

 Science has  proven with dazzling results to be humanity's best tool for investigating and exploring the physical/material realities of the universe and the measurable energies which cause changes.

However, our developed materialistic sciences do not claim to explore the non-material, that is the psyche/spiritual realm, realities which are, if not now more,  important to human quality-of-life as the material factors. 

C.G. Jung's Analytical Psychology (Depth Psychology) has for a hundred years used the scientific critical thinking approach to explore the inner human world of real psyche/spiritual 'facts' such as occurring dreams, intuitions, human mythologies and active imaginations.

The use of scientific rigor in the exploration of both our outer and inner worlds makes possible a developing world-view which honors the wholeness, physical facts and inner psychic facts, of being human. We  each have both a 'real' outer and inner world. 

This inner world exploration through Analytical Psychology is still in its infancy compared to the 400 years of practicing materialistic science. The potential of positive rewards( which world threats are showing is needed) for humans' increased knowledge of ourselves toward the healing of lives and of the world is inestimable. 

Hopefully, we are at a point of human development where strong/fearful biases against the exploration of our inner/spiritual world are lifting, so that a new epoch of learning is well underway. 

This new knowledge may be well expressed by the ancient astrologically famous symbol of Aquarius, the 'water bearer' which pours much needed healing waters of transformation and wisdom upon humanity and our earth.

THE WISDOM THAT LIGHT SPRINGS FROM CONSCIOUS DARKNESS...April 5, 2024

Jung reported that authentic enduring light comes from a person who acknowledges his/her own darkness. The quote below says the same, as well as many other enlightened voices and revelations of wisdom over the ages. If one would face the true darkness he experiences as an individual he might ignite some light which must be the primary reason each of us is here.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/75M2FnRZqKTxu7Ba/?mibextid=oFDknk

JUNG -THE POTENTIALS OF THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUSNESS...April 5, 2024

It seems modern Western cultures have lost trust or belief in what we humans have originally evolved from, ie the Collective Unconscious(all previous human experience and more.) So no longer are our lost souls positively nourished by it. We are like trees with no roots. It is our dangerous human condition now. 

That does not mean the Collective Unconscious(The depth-psychology hypothesised avenue, within all of us, from which all perceived ideas and activities of God have come through the ages.) will ever cease to be in us. 

It can work negatively, perhaps now the world-over, to get our attention and also can respond very positively if enough of us, as individuals, become more open to it. For example, giving sincere attention to our nightly dreams and becoming acquainted with our natural intuition function.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/oM4yUF8beyDvDNGn/?mibextid=oFDknk

THE GOOD OF CHRISTIANITY CASTS A LONG SHADOW..April 5, 2024.

What a negative shadow the good of Christianity casts on the world from earliest times till now. We should not be surprised. All good casts a shadow, whether a person, a movement or an institution.

It seems to me that only a growing consciousness of many individuals of this psychological/spiritual fact can presently recover our species and the Earth from self destruction. If not, we are sure to create violence, hostility, hate and divisions far worse than our predecessors could imagine.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/UY49qXdaDJSrwWgt/?mibextid=oFDknk

SIX BIG BROTHERS REVISIT...February 24, 2024

This is quite personal yet I think significant enough to share, maybe about how we are all so much formed through our experiences of others in our original environments, important impressions we may not need to ever outgrow.

As I came near the end of my usual hot-bath time I spontaneously added more hot water with my big toe. (This must have hinted that I was not yet ready to leave. Unconsciously there was more in store.)

Soon, above me, as if, in the air were clear images of the upper torsos and faces of my six older brothers.  It struck me just how strongly their presences have been and remain valued by me. Significantly, it was not any particular words, admonitions, or ideals that mean so much but more something like their auras, their personal unique essences beyond any words. 

Being from twenty to seven years older than me, so of no conscious typical brotherly-competition, I was free to adore each one in their very unique impressions. So in this vision-like moment words would have been very out of place.

As I left home at eighteen years, except for the oldest, my brothers remained in our NW Alabama hometown or nearby. My brothers cast no conscious shadows toward me but each was for me a unique and warm light in life. It was real but also in a sense surreal.

Once I left home, my experience of them may be describable as a strong 'participation mystique'. Their impressions were always close by me in a strong adoring attachment that was significantly unconscious, dream-like and so, in a sense, not of this world.

When I was in much psychological distress in 1985 and unable to move forward, four of them drove to Houston and physically rescued me. Unless that displayed their shadow aspect, which it did to me at the moment, it was in fact a grand unspeakable display of brotherly love.

In this vision-like moment their essences were captured for me as a gift; personally and as a team, each one essential, shoulder-to-shoulder: Rufus, Lester, George, Ike, Gene and Barry. This was not primarily unconscious childhood nostalgia or typical 'participation mystique' but an objective evaluation and appreciation, of how it was, experiencing each of them in my mortal life. 

The two other persons, long passed, who live in me similarly as these six brothers, and who so much, primarily wordlessly, participated in my early human formation and identity, are my mother and father, Rufus and Anne Lester Hibbett, 'mamma'  and 'daddy'.

HOW CAN SO MANY AMERICANS IDENTIFY WITH CULTURE-DESTROYING VALUES?..January 20, 2024?

My comments are from my and, I think, a Jungian perspective. Deep in our collective human psyche, mostly UNCONSCIOUS to us all, are 'archetypes' which are energized images, stories and patterns of ancient human attitudes and behaviors. These energies have forever historically been able to possess(strongly unconsciously effect human personal and collective attitudes and values) persons and whole groups of persons. This is nothing new and comes with great cultural changes in epochs, say every 2000 years. Such changes can be overall good or extremely bad.

 

Rioters attacked police & the U.S. Capitol Jan 6, 2021; physically threatening the vice president and others. Assembled congress persons hid for their lives.

Neagatively, such disruptive collective posession often involves a hyper egotistic charistmstic personality who claims he alone can make everything better, just trust and follow him. 

Because this process is truly UNCONSCIOUS one is not aware it is happening to oneself and feels she/he is fully in control of their own choices and decisions. 

No one escapes this possibility happening to them. So it's essential persons be intentionally conscious and at least aware that there IS, fully proven by Freud in a somewhat negative way 100 years ago, a REAL and active unconscious dimension working in us all personally and collectively. This is our human condition for good and bad. 

Vigilant awareness is our best protection against possession during such upheavels. We are in such a time Jung believed. During such times we are all likely to negatively project (transfer) our own unconscious 'shadow aspects' onto others, assuring ourself with dogmatic certainty that we know who the real devil is in all this.

So we might should have some empathy for those who appear to have become significantly different than they used to be in a culturally destructive and sometimes over-excited and unwarranted optimistic way. 

Wisdom would say to always remember it 'can happen to me' in various unexpected ways. Our ego's resistance to respect, BELIEVE or TRUST in the reality of the Unconscious assumes we, by our ego self-willing alone, can live purely rational/balanced lives. This misguided belief, with no credit or recognition given to our own irrational behaviors and attitudes, is the greatest present enemy to a healthy sustained American culture. Such a one-sided view sets us up for our own lack of a more genuinely unbiased/objective cultural attitude. 

And we might find ourself lining up with many others who would unintentionally crush the most positive aspects of American ideals with its collective goal of a 'checked and balanced' democratic life for all our neighbors, here and beyond.

Such a personal 'wholesome' psychological/spiritual balance is most needed, desirable, and I think still possible, in these ominous days. 

Best wishes to us all in our transitional troubling times.

THE MANDALA AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE DIVINE...January 19, 2024

My art efforts are like a second grader; I'm no artist. But during a difficult life transition I drew many mandalas*, sometimes using colored pencils. I often started with a circle and maybe some spokes to the center. Later I learned to draw a hexagon and then an octagon to begin. After getting that foundation I just let my hand continue -as if on automatic pilot, not by any ego designed plan- to fill in detail as it emerged. No rush, just being there with it. 

I became aware the ego tries to take over the drawing process and make the design. So I resisted that by relaxing and releasing any expectations of the outcome.  Jung believed this was a channel through which the Unconscious expressed itself. Sometimes I was unsure if the product was the ego's doing or something larger and unconscious to me? For what it's worth, I came more and more to trust it was what Jung calls the all-embracing Self representing its state through me. Neither dreams nor creative  mandalas seem like something my conscious ego would have ever thought or planned.

**

I found it a therapeutic and settling activity and often it changed my conscious attitude. It can be a welcomed centering experience. I may have spent an hour at times, as it began generating more detail, repeating a design throughout the containing edges. There are often many repeating motions and I try to always be consciously aware of the outer boundary and the center. It feels, in the end, like something 'whole' or 'complete' has been created. 

Best wishes if you try drawing your own mandalas. It's safer, as in life, to not take oneself too seriously. It can be a nice distraction and some fun. I do think it should be a very private activity.

*The word mandala means 'circle'. The mandala pattern is used across most religious traditions. It represents wholeness, holiness and all things encompassed by the Divine. It seems mandalas occur very frequently throughout nature and find themselves adorning many famous temples, mosques, cathedrals and ordinary churches.

**This sketch was initiated by a nightly dream. The image was about 'walking in Philadelphia for the first time.' The message was about 'love in the world.' Philadelphia is called the city of 'brotherly love' and is named by one of the Greek words for love -'Phileo' meaning mutual/honest friendship.

A NEEDED CORRECTION IN USING SACRED TEXTS(Bible)....January 14, 2024