Through a Jungian Lens

Shadows and light at sunrise

This morning, while sitting on the sofa waiting for the sun to rise, I caught the first rays that came through the window and saw how they created a sense of gold even though nothing in this scene has any actual golden colour. Golden light appeared for a moment and painted a scene, then it left leaving in its wake ordinary reality.

After I had taken the photograph, I returned to sit with my cup of morning coffee and noticed that the golden glow had disappeared and everything was back to normal. If I hadn’t taken the picture when I did, I would have soon forgotten the shifted moment in time when another world had appeared. I could look upon this moment in time as simply a moment in time that has no meaning other than natural light shifting. Or, I could look upon this moment as meaningful – meaningful to me.

I know that I see the world through a lens that catches nature as if all of nature is alive, even the reframed nature at the hands of man. I see purpose and meaning in all that is around me. I can’t accept the idea of a meaningless world.

“If one feels that the universe is absurd and devoid of meaning, then the burden of meaning falls directly upon the shoulders of the individual. If meaning is not implicit in the structures of nature and the evolution of history, then it is clearly the task of humans to render their lives meaningful through the quality of their choices.” (Hollis, Tracking the Gods, p. 13)

I know quite a few people who view the world as having very little meaning for them. As Hollis suggests, these people I am thinking about have invested all of their meaning in their work, their families and perhaps their possessions. Outside of these boundaries there is no meaning. It is hard to say one way is right and another way is wrong, but I do feel that the loss of the numinous, the magical and the mythical leads to a life of spiritual poverty. Possessions get old and need to be replaced over and over again in an attempt to recapture that momentary sense of satisfaction of ownership. Career often is more concerned at sucking all of one’s energies for the benefit of unseen others and a fickle economy. Families grow, change, expand, contract and through all of these passages and transformations still leave us feeling alone – one becomes dependent on others for meaning and when alone, meaning evaporates.

I have retired which has forced me to search elsewhere for meaning. My children have grown, built their own small families in different communities.  Things have long lost their magic and have become only functional objects. I have been forced to choose between a meaningless universe and a universe in which animate and inanimate have worth, meaning and purpose on a scale that is beyond my capacity to fully understand. I choose a universe filled with gods, goddesses, magic and meaning; I choose a universe in which everything I do, say, think, and dream has meaning.

Philippine sunset

As usual while on a holiday which involves the sea, I find myself taking many, many photos of sunsets and sunrises. This photo was taken while walking toward a small village down a rough road not too far from the villa that was home for ten days while in the Philippines.  Sunsets are particularly appealing because of the colours, especially the gold.

In the second half of life, there is a resonance with late afternoon and its golden light and the gold that appears in the sky with sunset.  Each evening up and down the beach I was able to see people gather to honour the setting sun, to wonder at the colours.

For me, sunset and sunrise are the times when I feel the numinous presence of something that can only be described as the ultimate presence, the source of my spiritual nature

Now that I am back at work, I am already planning the next tropical adventure where again I will bask in sunshine and make my private ceremonies of sunrise and sunset.

I took this photo just a short while ago while looking out from the back doorway of my son’s home in Toronto area.  I was glad to see the skies showing promise of sun rather than the predicted cover of clouds with showers as I have planned on a day of wandering through the city with my camera.  Staying at my son’s home for a short visit is my nephew who often reads this blog.  He was watching as I took this early morning photo as the smell of freshly brewed coffee had beckoned him to join me in the main room of the house.  I asked my nephew to choose from the collection of photos and then to make the choices of lighting (shadows, increased light, decreased contrast) to get the final look.  Tracey, this post is for you!

The colours in the sky are real, the oranges and gold tints on the higher clouds promised sunshine for at least some of the day and the thought of some sunshine put a smile on my face.  I love the light as it allows me to better see and capture ideas with my camera.  But more than that, the light allows me to better find the shadows that lurk otherwise hidden.  When the skies are gray and overcast, shadows can’t be found.  All is seen as though through a damp and filter making scenes appear almost lifeless, or should I say, listless.  Wandering through the grayness in the absence of direct sunlight is more like being in a cocoon, waiting for life to restart.  Waiting.  Waiting.

With the appearance of a small crack in the blanket of clouds, a few rays of light immediately transform the world from a place of suspended animation to a place of vibrancy, a world of vitality.  At last life can begin again, renewed with a new day’s light.  This daily renewal of sunrise brings hope and a promise should we dare to do our part in entering into the journey that awaits, the discoveries promised with new light.

Carpe diem!  Seize the day!

I woke up early this morning, much too early for the the sunrise.  So I waited patiently for the expected time of sunrise.  When ten minutes after sunrise had passed and still no sun, I assumed that the clouds were going to force me to miss this event.  A half hour after the official sunrise, the sun finally made its appearance over the island.  I took this photo from the deck on the eighth floor of the hotel looking out over the bay.  Now, I am satisfied that all was not lost because of cloud cover.

I was dreaming again last night.  Once again I found myself preparing to teach a new session at the university.  At the last minute I was given the chance to create a new course based on my interests in psychology.  In the dream I enthusiastically accepted the challenge only to just as quickly begin doubting myself, the doubting that once the authorities found out what I was actually going to teach, that I would be allowed to teach this course.  There were no books for the course because it was all coming from my head based on all of my research and how this has all sifted out to create a way of understanding for me.  And then I realised that this wasn’t about a new course to teach at the university, but more of a template for what I need to do as a teacher and as a writer.

Perhaps there is a process of distilling that is happening that will provide me with the template for the book that is to come, a gift to any who would read it?  I do know that I am to hold the tension of waiting a bit longer.  The time for some concentrated writing is drawing closer.  And, I must not be so quick to doubt and dismiss.

Sunrise in Phnom Penh in February, 2011

I had the luxury of being able to sleep in this morning, but the body decided that I had been in bed long enough. I have been dreaming again.  The dreams last night were different than usual and are worth a comment here.

I found myself in a “tense” situation in which I had to perform rituals of an unknown nature, movements that I can’t recall.  I do remember my having to speak words in the process and the words were not in a language that I currently know.  My mind tells me that the words are from some southern Asian country.  I do know that I was fluent in the language and had no problem saying the words that needed to be said for the ritual.  At the same time, I was aware that I was speaking a tongue that my mind couldn’t translate – it was as though a part of me was able to watch a scene from a different place and time, one in which I was still present.

I woke about three times during the night only to fall back asleep and continue to take part in the same story over and over again.  Finally, it was as if I simply accepted the event as real and was able to let go of the dream.  It was at this time that I “rose” from sleep and became alert to the fact that dawn was about to break.

I waited for an appropriate amount of time and was rewarded with the appearance of the sun.  All is well and as it should be.

Just a side note for all those interested in the photograph – the only thing I have done to this photo is to crop it to fit this post.  The photo as it is, is an unedited effort.  I was lucky.