Through a Jungian Lens

Thankfully, this isn’t a recent photo, but one from almost two weeks ago upon my return to Canada.   I went looking for this photo as it was one that I felt needed to appear here.  Looking out my window the sunrise is applying a light coat of golden paint to the fields and the few buildings that I can see, a huge contrast to this scene.  Yet this is the scene that my head is experiencing in spite of what my eyes see.

I have seasonal allergies and they are now raging.  Snow mold on the now exposed grass and dead leaves aren’t nice to me, neither are the constant dry and dusty winds.  The poplar trees are beginning to show new leaf buds and that will make the situation worse in short order.  Of course, like any normal person, I take appropriate medical aids to make the allergies more bearable but they only add a fog and lethargy as they do their thing in allowing me to breath easier.  I say all of this, not to garner any sympathy (I get enough of that at home), but in order to contrast and inner and outer world.  Though we often think of the mind as separate from the body, both are intricately linked and affect each other.  Think of the yin-yang symbol where opposites are constrained tightly together yet maintaining their unique separateness within the container.

All of this is to serve as an intro to my thoughts of the next book,  Through a Jungian Lens:  Sol and Luna, which will be this year’s project for SoFoBoMo.  I have chosen to focus on Jung’s essay, “The Personification of Opposites” from volume 14 of the Collected Works, Mysterium Coniunctionis.  I plan on taking the photos and writing the text likely starting on June 12th, the date of the first full moon during the two month “fuzzy month” for the SoFoBoMo project.  And, like last year, I expect that I will bring much of that stuff here in my posts.  Other than the topic and the ideas from CG Jung, nothing is yet decided.

So, in spite of my allergies, I am still able to focus enough to find my way down my particular path.  Tomorrow’s post will likely return to its usual, more reflective nature.

I went for a walk yesterday afternoon, my first real walk since I have come back to Canada.  The blizzard kept me indoors for a couple of days and my allergies stole whatever energy I had on the other days.  The allergies are still going on strong but I knew that I had to get out or else I would simply turn into a zombie.

Out in the countryside, I found this lone seagull standing on the ice-covered lagoon looking rather lonely.  I would imagine that he felt abandoned and alone out in the cold, a feeling that I share at times when depression decides to pay another visit.  Depression, as described in this article, Fighting that Frozen Feeling, steals one’s energy to do things and to interact with people.

So what to do with this feeling?  Well, the first thing is to realize that there is some purpose at work.  The depression isn’t simply an incident of chaos.  As my friend Ur-Spo reminds us:

In the Jungian theory, depression is a symptom of a wrong direction, or a necessary step of discarding false matters to make room for real psychological growth. So, in Jungian psychology, depression is not an ‘illness’ per se – it is a signal; sort of like a ‘red warning light’ that comes on when your engine has a problem. (Ur-Spo, Spo-Reflections, Depression From a Jungian Point of View, January 6, 2008)

Rather than fleeing or trying to deny the depression, one looks carefully at the depression in order to see what needs attention.  Yes, there are roots, past events that can be held as responsible for the depression’s origins.  However, it is something about the present that is not quite right according to the psyche, something that needs to be brought to light so that energy or libido can be freed up so that normal living can continue.

With energy freed, one begins to feel warmed by the spirit, the inner sunshine which then thaws the soul.  Being able to move again, one can then relate again with others in a life-affirming manner, so that one is no longer alone and out in the cold.

The fog is beginning to lift.  My medications are finally beginning to do their thing allowing me to be less forced into a world of tunnel vision due to the pressure in my head, one of those side effects of having allergies.

One of the good things about suffering physically is the fact that it has helped me find a theme for my photo book project – tunnel vision.  I have ideas of content for the photos, and have been wondering how I would unite the various photos to form a theme.  Presentation using a tunnel view such as this photo was my answer to my “self”. I am also thinking that I would have a poem for each photo – or a quote from one favourite Jungian book so as to accentuate the presentation as a unified document.

Tunnel vision is part of my life, part of my journey.  Thinking more about tunnel vision, I realised that we are all wandering through this earth dimension with tunnel vision, limited by our shadow, limited by how little of the personal and collective unconsious we have yet faced.  Tunnel vision limits not only our sense of “self” but also our knowledge of “other”.  We are small islands of light that are drawn to each other in the darkness, yet unable to fully see each “other” because of the surrounding darkness.   And, we live in mystery and confusion in our relationships as a result of the surrounding darkness.