Through a Jungian Lens

Down but not out.

As some of you might know, I am staying at the home of my son while waiting for my wife to arrive then leave for another teaching year in China.  My grandson, pictured here, is not in the best of health at the moment so is not able to be his usual active self. That is okay for the moment as it provides the two of us with quiet time together, a comforting time for grandfather-grandson bonding.  I have been blessed with six grandsons, each of whom has managed to sneak his way into my heart and in whom I know I have become a permanent fixture in their individual hearts and minds.

As much as I talk about individuation, I don’t forget about relatedness.  It’s easy to grasp relatedness when it comes to one’s family.  But, when it comes to strangers, those distant from face-to-face contact, it is not near as easy to comprehend.  With effort we can accept a sense of relatedness because of social media and other media such as music and television – yes we sense a relatedness to musicians who touch our souls and actors who tell our hidden stories.  But what about those in distant houses, distant communities and countries that we don’t hear or see?

I think of how one child is born to a family in a different place and time and how that has influenced not only me, but millions if not billions of people.  We call these kind of individuals heroes of villains.  These are people who create waves of change that impact win ways that make it into our history books.  But what about a child born into a life that remains invisible to most of us and lives a life that remains hidden?

Each life causes ripples, some wash over us as if they are tsunamis, others cause the faintest of waves, almost as if they aren’t even there.  Waves that are barely registered are waves none the less.  And, each wave washes over our being, our psyche in ways that we never understand despite the distance and the time.  And, in realizing this, I pay a bit more attention to my own presence and try to be a bit more honest with myself and with others so that the waves I create will do more to nourish consciousness, nourish light than darkness.