Through a Jungian Lens

This is another photo taken while driving from my home in Saskatchewan to my son’s home in Alberta.  This is an older bridge that has quite a bit of rust showing after a long winter which requires the use of salt in order to allow driving with more safety, something that is “normal” for Canada.

I like photos of bridges but I don’t really care for crossing bridges.  Well, I think I had better explain this a bit better.  When I was younger, bridges brought out fear in me – I am afraid of heights.  Now, I handle the fear much better and only feel a slight dis-ease when walking on bridges, especially close to the edges of the bridge.  I know that it is necessary to get across this bridge if I am to get to my destination, so that helps as well.  The same is said for all the other bridges, even those that seem fragile and extremely narrow.

It helps to have a guide when tackling these bridges encountered.  Even now, in the time passed midlife, I do better with a guide.  For example, the footbridge I had to cross on my journey to the Arenal Volcano.  It didn’t “look” very safe to me, especially with the declining light of night’s quick approach.  The guide gave me enough confidence, especially since I knew that he had made this journey numerous times.  Still, I felt each sway of the bridge and a small tightening within as I stepped onto the bridge and began the crossing.  My calm only returned when I was safely on the other side.

It isn’t much different with one’s journey of individuation, one’s journey of the psyche through life.  It is good to have a guide when one meets with fear and depression.  How does one “trust” the storms that are a necessary part of the transitions such as I noted in yesterday’s post?  With the approach of storms and terrifying bridges, one is often paralyzed by fear.  What if fear is trying to tell us to “stay away” from this place, to go a different direction?  Without a guide, one gets stuck, frozen.  This is the time when a guide can show us a way forward.

Too often I have seen people retreat into drugs, into alcohol or any other “aide” that allows them to sit still in their fear rather than face the times of transitions.