Through a Jungian Lens

Two fields, side by side; one is wheat (the dark side) and one is flax (the light side).  These fields are found on the north-west side of our community.  The sharp line separating the fields suggest and either-or choice.  Taking this photo for this post was intentional.  I have to admit that as soon as I saw this scene I knew that it was what I wanted for this post about duality, polarity and holding the tension of opposites.

But before I enter into that, I will take a moment to talk about my current writing project, the novelized story of my father-in-law.  I am taking a lot of liberties in writing the story based on a lot of research about people and life in Galicia from 1850 to 1925.  I have written over 7,000 words so far and have yet to have the protagonist of the story born.  To be able to understand motivations for how and why he lived life the way he did, it is important to have a foundation about his father and his grandfather.  Of course, this is because I believe that complexes ruled over consciousness for most in the past (or for that matter, in the present as well).  Understanding the man is more important that simply relating known facts of his life.  For, with knowing him, one easily forgives him and thus paves the way for self-forgiveness.  As well, it makes the book thicker and hopefully more interesting to read.

Holding the tension between non-fiction, the facts as I know them, as told to me, and fiction which provides for a ‘fuller’ story allows something else to emerge.  Rather than fact of fiction, what emerges is an energized possibility, a mytholigical reality.  Perhaps in the end, this will result in a story more truthful than one that sticks to known facts.