Through a Jungian Lens

Habitat for Humanity - Women Build

Thanks to my positive experience with the SoFoBoMo challenge, I have decided to enter into a provincial photo contest here in Saskatchewan, Canada.  I am allowed to enter up to three photos in total into one or more categories.  I chose to submit three photos which I will post here. The rules state that the photos can’t be enhanced in any way using software with the exception of some “minor” cropping.  I submitted all three just as they came out of the camera without changes to contrast, light, shadow, colour, tint – whatever.  The prize is small, but it really isn’t about the prize; it’s about doing it, going through the process.  Thanks SoFoBoMo and Paul Butzi.

Mule Deer on the Fringes of a Praire Town

The first photo is entered into the category:  People of Saskatchewan.  My wife (the woman in the photo) took part in the Habitat For Humanity – Women Build 2008 and intends on repeating the experience this summer.

The second photo is entered into the category:  Flora or Fauna of Saskatchewan.  Just last week I got this photo of two mule deer just outside of our little town on the prairie.

Saskatchewan - Canada's Breadbasket to the World

The third and last photo was entered into the category of Saskatchewan Scenery.  The photo contains a natural scene that could be found just about anywhere in the southern part of the province, a ripening crop, a grain storage bin and an old tractor tire – all found under the wide expanse of sky.

Does the environment play a part in the psyche of a person?  In my opinion, it does.  As adults, we often choose a place that best meets our needs whether it be for quietness and few people, or an urban setting that surrounds one with community.  Choosing the place that best meets these needs feeds the soul.  Any other place and one is left feeling restless, agitated, even negative.  It isn’t really a contest between nature and nurture.  As humans we need both – I need both.

Fences.  Most of the time I don’t care for fences, especially when wandering out in the countryside.  Yet, I do understand the need for fences.  It’s all about boundaries.  Sometimes it is about keeping animals out of a field, sometimes it is about keeping animals within a field; but, more often than not, fences mark the line that separates different landowners, the same as one finds within towns and cities.

Boundaries are usually easy to maintain when one is dealing with most people.  However when we are in closer relationships, boundaries become problematical.  The closer the relationship, the more blurred the line that separates.  Why?  I think it has to do with projections, when we unconsciously attribute to another, various aspects of our personal shadow whether those aspects are positive or negative.  Shadow contains both aspects.  Withdrawing projections allows us to get to know the reality of a person, lets us separate from them so that each has the opportunity to be unique.

I have been somewhat of a slow learner with regards to this as for too many years I have had a father-complex that has tainted any of my relationships to other males.  It took a lot of conflict with those men who were in authority positions over me before I realised that it was my shadow that was at the root of the problems rather than them.  Of course, it doesn’t mean some of them were wisely handling their authority positions.

Now that I have somewhat dealt with the father-complex, I become a better man in relation to other men, especially in relation to my son and my sons-in-law.  I don’t have to always be right.  I can see and appreciate their strengths.  This makes it easier for me to be with them, and easier for me to be with myself.  Doing the work always pays off.