Through a Jungian Lens

Today’s photo could be considered “flawed” because of the over exposure at the top.  But, it serves a purpose for me because of the excessive light from the sun.  Light.  Consciousness.  Having taught developmental psychology for a number of years, I can’t help but think of that journey of development from the pre-natal waters in darkness, to the bloom of full adulthood when one is standing tall in the light, tall and proud.  It is a long journey that is all uphill.  But, like this photo, once one has crested the bridge of life, it is necessary to descend, to move back toward the darkness, towards death where human consciousness is no longer.

I want this post to focus on the high point of the bridge.  If one looks into the water, into the reflections of consciousness in the body of the collective and personal unconscious, one sees what is not evident above the water, above the bridge.  One sees that the self that walks this bridge, must go over the sun, go over the father in order to become a full adult.  It’s about becoming the authority over one’s self rather than allowing one’s self to be the subject of the authority of others, especially one’s personal father, or the collective father represented in one’s community, one’s country, one’s religion.

“Also associated with the father imago is the issue of authority.  By whose authority do we live our lives, make our decisions, practice our professions, conduct our journeys?  Authority as concept is neutral; in praxis it is always valenced.  Any authority, no matter how benign an well-intentioned, can exclude its opposite and over time become oppressive.  No child can ever wholly evolve into his or her own truth without finding an authentic inner authority.  For this reason, the individuation process obliges some form of overthrow of the external authority, whether modeled by the personal parent, the broader culture, or the resident tribal deity.” (Hollis, Mythologems, p. 47)

As one grows up, one discovers self as a separate being.  One also discovers that one is helpless at first and must depend upon the Mother and the Father.  The original power of these two figures are grounded as archetypes into our very soul.  The Mother as nurturer and as the source of life.  The Father as authority and the energy of life.  The task of growing up leads us to overthrow their authority.  Rather than to have one’s father’s voice echo in one’s head and heart guiding all of one’s decisions, one must become the authority.  One shifts from being the child to the adult, from being the “subject” to the ruler.  One shifts from being a member of a church to being at one with deity, to finding that there is no separation between self and deity.

It’s a long journey, not an easy one.  It is a journey that leaves one alone in so many ways.  Individuation.  And when one has completed the journey, one returns to being at one with others seeing that there is no real separation between self and other as all are part of the whole.