Individuation is the act of becoming a distinct and integrated unity. It is the explicit realisation of what was previously implicit and latent. Once a rose individuates it is no longer just a flower or even just a rose; it is a rose of a definite and distinct type. Now naturally in the case of a rose this is just what it always was, it was always a rose of this type. However, this distinct type and its characteristic...
In my last post Transference: the Saviour the Madonna and the Slut, I dealt with the issue of transference and some of the ways this affects our lives and our relationships. Now I want us to consider the flipside of that coin, counter-transference. Simply, counter-transference is what happens when someone transfers onto you and you react to their transference. This reaction can take two typical forms: You transfer your unconscious contents onto them in response to their transference, which means...
At the very heart of psychoanalysis is the issue of transference- counter transference. Transference is a technical term describing a somewhat mysterious phenomenon that occurs when the patient 'transfers' their relationship with one or both of their parents onto the psychoanalyst. When we say they 'transfer' this relationship, what is meant is that, this is done unconsciously. On the surface the relationship consciously is between patient and psychoanalyst, however underpinning this conscious relatedness is another unconscious relatedness, between the patient...
This is a guest article written by Dr. Celia van Wyk. An Introduction. While studying for my BA in Counselling, my lecturer one day approached me, asking if I would be interested in attending an information session on sandplay therapy. As an ex-teacher who felt that I had “moved on” since my teaching years, more working with adults at that point, I was not particularly interested. She asked me again a while later, and I decided to attend for the sake...
My mother is 73. Last year August my father passed away and she was left alone after 52 years of marriage. A few months later, due to miscommunication, all the trees in her back garden were cut down. She was devastated. Three weeks ago, she was attacked, robbed, tied up and left for dead. She was only found two days later. She is now moving to a retirement village when she gets released from hospital. She has suffered a tremendous amount of loss. Her husband,...
“A rose by any other name... “ is not a rose actually, it may look like a rose, smell like a rose, draw blood as a roughly grasped rose is want to do, but, you will grant, it simply cannot be a ‘rose’. A passage (a footnote to be precise) from Jung’s essay on synchronicity[1] made quite an impression on me when I came across it a few years ago. It has to do with that very strange...
Jung identified the persona as the bridge between the ego and the external world; in just the same way as the anima forms the bridge to the inner world. The persona is simply your public personality, the face you show the world. The better developed your persona is the better you will get on in the world. This is a generalisation and suffers the limitations of any generalisation. Naturally some people get on pretty well with a very poorly developed...
Oscar Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend on Valentines Day. He was devastated and cried uncontrollably at his first court appearance and frequently at his bail hearing. His affidavit stated that that he believed that there was a burglar in his bathroom whom he shot, only to realise to his horror that he had shot Reeva Steenkamp. Whether his version of events is true or whether, as the state claims, the killing was in fact intentional, i.e. murder, remains undecided....
Sugar man met a false friend On a lonely dusty road Lost my heart when I found it It had turned to dead black coal Silver magic ships you carry Jumpers, coke, sweet Mary Jane Sugar man you're the answer That makes my questions disappear Sugar man 'cos I'm weary Of those double games I hear Sugar man, Sugar man, Sugar man, Sugar man, Sugar man, Sugar man, Sugar man Sugar man, won't you hurry 'Cos I'm tired of these scenes For the blue coin won't you bring back All those colors to...
Although not our natural state, I believe in the possibility of a truly meaningful and fulfilled life. A life lived with a sense of profound excitement and awe; a life where the depth, complexity and beauty of the cosmos live in us. I don’t suggest that suffering is not a reality, or that I have personally reached such an elevated state of consciousness. I suggest rather, that much suffering we do endure is illegitimate and that: a meaningless existence, boredom, lack of purpose, a...
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