Through a Jungian Lens

Emerging out of the muck

I found these words written by a Chinese poet, Zhou DunYi, that somehow touches deep within me, words that speak to hope and even a promise when I find myself in darkness, wandering around seemingly lost in the muck of the swamplands.

“I love the lotus because while growing from mud, it is unstained”

Over the years while living in Asia, I have been captivated by the lotus and have taken so many photos of the flower that it begs the question of why do I continue to take these photos, such as the one here which I took in February in Thailand. Of course the answer is simple – the beauty and purity of this flower emerging from dark and dank waters is symbolic for me of my own journey of healing.

When I listened to Guy Corneau talk about his journey of healing, physical and psychological healing, at the end of March, the image of the lotus somehow came to my mind. In the last part of the workshop, when Guy talked about the conversation with the cells of the body (mp3 part 1 – 3 minutes), I saw the image of the roots of the lotus reaching into the darkness and finding within that darkness, motes of light that were then carried above the water and transformed into the blossom which held golden light at the centre. Today, I want to try and take you on the journey that Guy took us on in his last meditation/visualisation – the “Dialogue with Cells (mp3 part 2 – 20 minutes).”

• Relax opening your body and mind and feel your breath and enter into a meditative state
• Go within and find your heart and feel the presence of the light and energy
• From your heart, go visit a place within you that is in pain, some place that feels rigid, a part of you that is suffering
• Listen to the pain, the suffering without thinking or trying to fix it, just listen, be open to what your body is telling you
• Acknowledge, confirm what you hear from these cells which have been waiting for you to listen
• Set these cells free, thanking them for their work which is done
• Reach into the bones and draw out stem cells and take these cells to the site in need of healing
• Imagine the stem cells interacting with the diseased site, the injured site and out of that interaction emerges a “warming light” that bathes the site
• Feel that light and radiance spread throughout the body creating an aura of light bathing the body
• imagine yourself in perfect health
• ask the question – what will I do with this health?

Guy talked about going through this meditation/visualisation exercise twice a day as part of his healing process. It is important to realise that this exercise didn’t replace the other efforts for healing. Guy was adamant that all understand that his process was one of integrative medicine. He insisted that one trust the doctors and engage the doctors in dialogue about adding in traditional methods, acupuncture, meditation, diet, etc. Guy talked to us about working with the doctors and taking responsibility for the process rather than seeing oneself as a victim and leaving all the work and responsibility in the hands of the doctors.  Together with the doctors, one creates the conditions which allow the body to heal itself.

I know that this sounds somewhat simplistic and easily ridiculed by some, and can easily be taken as a “sure cure” approach by others. However, one needs to be aware that in truth, if it is time for the angel of death to visit and draw another soul home, the best we can do is to prepare ourselves as best we can to make that final earthly journey with some dignity knowing that we are not victims, but heroes on our journey, even the final stage of our journey when it is most needed.

To my friend, Walt Pascoe and to any others who are fighting cancer or other serious conditions of physical and/or mental health – be courageous and dare to do more while yet being humble in the face of something larger than ourselves. As is said in Arabic – Insha’Allah.

Note: The two mp3 files noted above are in French.