Stephen Farah, Author at Applied Jung

The Genius-Demon of Women: and the Challenge of Staying Sane after 35

I am currently working with a most exceptional woman through a process of articulating the hidden, or what Jung called the second, personality. Whilst doing this work I had the most astounding realisation about the genius-demon that lies in a woman's soul, and brings a great charge of libido with it that is so very difficult to contain in today's world. This awakening came to me the way so many truths do. It is something I have been aware of...

November 14, 2011

By Stephen FarahArchetypes, Jungian Themesfeminine archetype, midlife crisis, women9 Comments

Tao and the psychology of transformation

When I was doing research recently about Taoism, I was astounded at how civilized China was in the 11th century BC. They were the first government to print paper money, they had invented gunpowder, used a compass to derive true north and had a permanent navy. They printed books and the people were well educated. Women were respected and ran their own successful businesses. There were retirement villages and public clinics supported by a social welfare infrastructure. They traded iron,...

November 4, 2011

By Stephen FarahPracticallyTao, transformation0 Comments

The Secret of the Golden Flower

I want to share a story with you about The Secret of the Golden Flower.[1] How I came across it, the journey it took me on and something of what I learnt along the way. The story begins Lü Yán, also known as Lü Dongbin (796 CE-1016 CE) was a Tang Dynasty Chinese scholar and poet who has been elevated to the status of an immortal in the Chinese cultural sphere, worshiped especially by the Taoists. Lü is one of...

October 21, 2011

By Stephen FarahJungian Themes, Narrative AnalysisThe Secret of the Golden Flower8 Comments

The Great Lie

Do you believe a man can escape his destiny? I believe a man does everything he can until his destiny is revealed to him. Nathan Algren, The Last Samurai. As long as I live I will never forget the line or the sentiment. I believe it expresses something profoundly important about living authentically and with courage. I want to share with you a small part of what it takes to 'do everything you can until your destiny is revealed to you,' and why it...

October 2, 2011

By Stephen FarahIndividuation, Practicallydestiny, individuation0 Comments

What does the Perfect Life Look Like Today?

Anja was listening to radio 702 the other day (isn't she always). Anyway, she told me about a caller to the show, who said, the problem with the youth today is that they no longer have role models. Or, if they do, their role models are less than 'ideal'. The caller went on to say that in yesteryear the ideal profession was to become a doctor or a lawyer (I would add chartered accountant to that list), but these lofty professions...

September 18, 2011

By Stephen FarahLiving Meaningfully, PhilosophicallyA meaningful life, in search of meaning2 Comments

The 3rd Critical Step to Becoming a Human Being

In one sense, at least, life is quite simple. At any point in time you are either busy being born or you are busy dying. In the world today this is usually understood in a physical sense- our identification with our bodies is absolute. This is the reason for the obsession with youth and youthful appearance that frequently endures long past when such a 'youthful appearance' is appropriate or attractive. The inescapable truth though is that nature is a bitch. That beauty...

September 5, 2011

By Stephen FarahIndividuation, Jungian Themesindividuation, spiritual0 Comments

Unfortunately…it seems We Will Have to Kill the Child

I don't know about you, but I truly love children. Of course I love my own children, but beyond them I love children generally. Children possess a humanity which is absent in most adults. They know how to love, how to laugh, how to cry, and perhaps most importantly how to play. What is life, after all, if we're not at play. Sometimes I encounter kids who seem like little adults, embedded in reality; or as Freud would put it, living...

August 22, 2011

By Stephen FarahArchetypes, Practicallyarchetypes, child4 Comments

Why Dont You Act like Youve Got a Pair: or, How to Find Your Inner Cowboy.

Once a long, long time ago in a land far, far away there was a particular type of man. A man who lived life as if he had a pair. This truly was an exotic creature, not to be confused with your garden variety metro-sexual. I speak of a man that is not some lily livered, hormonally imbalanced, girl man. A man who measured himself by how he crushed his enemies underfoot, how many women he had taken to his bed,...

August 8, 2011

By Stephen FarahArchetypes, Practicallyarchetypes, cowboy0 Comments

The Birth of Self

What I really need is to get clear about what I must do, not what I must know, except insofar as knowledge must precede every act. What matters is to find a purpose, to see what it really is that God wills that I shall do; the crucial thing is to find a truth which is truth for me, to find the idea for which I am willing to live and die - S'ren Kierkegaard. There is little doubt that this...

July 11, 2011

By Stephen FarahPhilosophically, SelfJung, self3 Comments

Limitless: How Far, How Fast, and How Much, can You Achieve?

This post is inspired by the movie Limitless. If you haven't seen it yet, go and see it tonight- trust me, it's that good. The plot is fairly simple. The main character Eddie Morra is a down and out writer, late twenties, whose life is going nowhere fast. When, through a series of circumstances, he comes into possession of a drug, NZT-47 which increases his cognitive abilities beyond belief. He goes from Mr. Dopey to a Albert Einstein/John F. Kennedy hybrid...

May 30, 2011

By Stephen FarahBook and Movie Reviews, Practicallyconsciousness, Limitless, themes0 Comments

Author - Stephen Farah