[This is a duplicate of a post first published by the author on Facebook in 2019.] I recently came across a Facebook post from an acquaintance, Amanda Patterson, which read ‘South Africa is basically one big crime scene.’ It went on to list the ‘most dangerous places to live in 2019’, South Africa, disappointingly, came in second place. So close! Brazil topped the list. Still, I think 2020 could be our year. You can hear the rule of law and...
The problem with individuation, as described in the work of C. G. Jung, beyond its maddeningly enigmatic character, is that it is a somewhat grand aspiration. It is a lofty idealised notion conceived in the reified atmosphere of Küsnacht on the shores of Lake Zurich in Switzerland. Having had occasion to visit Jung’s residence there I can confirm that it has about it a decidedly Olympian aegis. This idea of “individuation” birthed in such elevated Apollonian climate, was further refined...
This past weekend I had the extraordinary privilege of attending the Jung’s Red Book for our Time: Searching for Soul in the 21st Century symposium held at Eranos and Monte Verità in Ascona (Switzerland).[1] This short post is intended to capture what stood out for me at the conference and an attempt at some type of synthesis from the various related but also quite diverse papers. This is not intended as a journalistic account as it is too...
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, worshipped especially by the Taoists. Lü is one of...
Reflections and confessions in the aftermath of the year 2020This will be the third in a sequence of annual confessions I began in 2018. The motivation for these is to connect and form common cause with the students entering the Nigredo Stage of the Magnum Opus Programme that commences each year in January, to conduct my own psychic housekeeping, and to take a moment to pause and reflect on the virtue and vices of the year I have lived through....
A Summary and Review by Shane Eynon, PhDAuthor: Carl Gustav JungOriginal title: The Black Books 1913-1932. Notebooks of TransformationTranslator: Martin Liebscher, John Peck, Sonu ShamdasaniPublisher: Philemon Foundation and W. W. Norton & Co.Publication date: 2020Pages 1648ISBN 9780393088649The Black Books (Jung, 2020) have been promoted primarily as the source material for the Red Book (Jung, 2009) in the material used by the publisher (Philemon Foundation, 2020). The text of The Red Book draws on material from The Black Books between 1913 and 1916. Approximately fifty percent...
Emma Jung wrote two papers on the Anima an Animus. Personally, I think she has been overlooked as a significant contributor to Jungian Theory. I decided to write a post about her papers to capture as concisely as possible her valuable perspective.
As long as one is alive, sane and living in the world you can be sure of having to face and negotiate problems. Much like death and taxes, problems come with the territory. To quote the Bard, To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep No more; and by a sleep,...
Jrdan Peterson – Slavoj Žižek debate 19th of April 2019 Sony Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Authors note My notes are shorthand for the actual debate and fail to capture the rhetorical devices employed by the interlocutors. I paraphrase throughout and all direct quotes are in quotation marks. My apologies for grammatical errors, I wanted to get these notes out whilst there is still interest in the debate. Consequently, after spending several hours listening to the debate and writing up the notes...
This article relays a conversation I had with Artemis. I shared our thoughts with my daughter who insisted that I write about it. I met Artemis years ago when she attended one of our courses. She contacted me a few months ago to ask me to support her through her divorce. We have had many conversations since her separation. As with anyone who has gone through divorce, the toughest part is to redefine yourself as a single person. Artemis felt that during...
