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