Memories, Dreams, (and) Reflections of Stephen Anthony Farah

With apologies to C. G. Jung Some general context What follows is an attempt to synthesise and make meaning from my very own Jungian journey of the last fifteen years. Besides borrowing the title from Jung’s biography Memories, Dreams, Reflections, I follow in the footsteps of two of my students, Tasha Tollman and Linda Hawkins, who have previously written pieces along these lines for publication on this site. I am not into the white washing or spin doctor style of...

July 20, 2015

By Stephen FarahIndividuation, Jungian Themes, Narrative Analysis, PersonallyJung, jungian perspective, Living meaningfully, myth, narrative27 Comments

What Story are You Telling (?): a Peek Behind the Scenes of Personal Narratives.

I want to share an exercise with you that I have found to be quite illuminating.[1] This exercise, seemingly very simple (almost simplistic), provides a powerful tool to examine the nature of the story you are telling. This exercise can help you to: Locate yourself and your narrative. Discover what archetype/s you are constellating in your personal narrative. Better understand what it means (i.e. how it feels and influences) to constellate an archetype in your narrative and sense of identity. Perhaps most importantly...

February 4, 2013

By Stephen FarahArchetypes, Jungian Themes, Narrative Analysis, Practicallyindividuation, meaning, personal narratives, stories6 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

Who are you: Really?

How would you answer the question: Who are you? You might answer with a name. So in my case I might say: I am Stephen, or I am Stephen Farah. But this is limited and somewhat flawed answer to the question. You existed prior to being named, legally you can apply to change your name, and frequently people use an alias for one reason or another. Whilst a name has a power over you it is not who you inalienably are. If it were,...

April 4, 2011

By Stephen FarahNarrative Analysis, Practicallyconsciousness, identity0 Comments

The Story of Truth (part 2)

This is an amplification of an earlier post on the subject of truth and the stories we tell ourselves about it, to read the original post The Story of Truth click here.

Let me begin with a story, the story of truth

Once a long time ago in a land far away (well not far maybe), there lived a man who desperately wanted to know the truth. Eventually he could resist the impulse no longer and leaving his wife and children he...

February 20, 2011

By Stephen FarahNarrative Analysis, Practicallynarrative, story, truth0 Comments

The Story of Truth

The more time I spend thinking about the significance of stories in our lives the more amazed I am at how significant these stories are. The first peak behind the curtain I got into this, was on a warm summers evening whilst I was walking through downtown Tucson. Under an azure sky splashed with broad strokes of pink and fine highlights of red from the setting sun. A comforting warm breeze blew as I walked along side a philosopher I had...

August 28, 2010

By Stephen FarahNarrative Analysis, Personallynarrative, truth0 Comments

A Near Drowning in Paradise and Memories of 9:11

I was fortunate through the good graces of a friend to spend 7 days in Tofu Mozambique recently. It truly is an unspoilt paradise and I found myself deeply moved by the awesome beauty of the untamed, natural coast. Tofu is unmediated and naturally quite different to the virtual island experience of a 5 Star Resort. Anyway suffice to say it was breathtaking and for the week that we were there we existed in a sublime almost surreal state...

June 25, 2010

By Stephen FarahNarrative Analysis, Practicallyapperception, narrative0 Comments

The Problem with Heaven

I think we have to consider the possibility that the church may be fibbing when they tell us about heaven. To clarify, by: church- I am referring to all forms of religion which propose an afterlife in paradise.The problem, as I understand it, is if you or I were to find ourselves in a place where all our problems had been resolved, a utopia where we knew only bliss, where all the problems we have, ever...

May 7, 2010

By Anja van KralingenNarrative Analysis, Philosophicallynarrative0 Comments