Archive for October 15th, 2009
Approaching the Unconscious – Voluntarily or Involuntarily
Yes, there is snow on the ground this morning. I have to admit that it does look clean and beautiful, so pristine with its sharp lines and contrasts. One can almost sense that the darkness has been banished beneath a white cloak. Now if only it wouldn’t get so cold!
Winter freezes the soil, slows down so much of what we call life. We like to hibernate, hide under warm sweaters and blankets. More often than not, even the mind is numbed as folk retreat into heated homes to watch television. But, too much of this winter means also a lack of sunlight. So, we retreat into a zone of depressive silence, silent even to ourselves, caught in a constrictive container. We slow down and feel all the aches and pains of past injuries and illnesses. Yet, we don’t challenge any of this, we simply endure, waiting for winter’s end. If we are lucky, we will emerge at the other side of winter without letting lose the inner demons, without dealing with the darkness within that matches the darkness without. But …
Every person must live the inner life in one form or another. Consciously or unconsciously, voluntarily or involuntarily, the inner world will claim us and exact its dues. If we go to that realm consciously, it is by our inner work: our prayers, meditations, dream work, ceremonies, and Active Imagination. If we try to ignore the inner world, as most of us do, the unconscious will find its way into our lives through pathology: our psychosomatic symptoms, compulsions, depressions, and neuroses. (Johnson, Inner Work, 1986, p. 11)
