Through a Jungian Lens

Sometimes light allows for interesting images – well, I have to restate that – always, light allows us to have interesting images.  Light is the what allows the dark stuff to take shape and become “interesting” and useful.  For example, if one came upon the barbed wire in the darkness, then the barbed wire would become an evil force that would either pierce or trip one – a foe.  Yet, if one came upon the same barbed wire in the daytime, the sharp points become warnings rather than threats.  Light changes one’s perspective.

Consciousness does the same thing.  As children we are told about bogeymen, and all manner of things that are meant to keep us in check, to keep us somewhat safer in a world that is perceived as unsafe.  As we become more aware of the dangers, more aware of the nature of the world, we let go of the projections.  Yet knowing that this is a natural way to move from unconsciousness towards consciousness, we don’t seem to learn from our own lessons.  We continue to hold to projections that don’t stand up to scrutiny.  We hold to partisan politics, to fundamentalism, to enemies that are almost faceless and deny evidence that would tell us that our projections are not in fact reality.  We build barbed wire enclosures to keep out the adult bogeymen only to find that we have not kept out the darkness, but that we have imprisoned ourselves with the very protective barriers that we have built.