Carl Jung is my hero. He may not have been
perfect in his personal life (Who amongst us can cast the
first stone?). But what he brought forth in his vast and
unfathomable wisdom of the psyche has been the most thrilling
aspect of my consuming studies into our human nature -- my
passion, and life's work.
"Know Thyself!" has pranced around
in my mind for decades as such a wise saying. Yet, as I sit
here tonight I'm aghast at how much I'm just now comprehending
what those two words actually mean. Jung said, If we want to
understand the psyche, we have to include the whole
world." He knew it all exists within us, and only there!
Without psyche, our inner life, we don't even exist! Somehow
he cracked the code of the Mystery of Life. And for his deep
and penetrating analytical/inspirational work, I am so very
grateful.
Now, as I enter into Eupsychia's newest phase
of work -- that of bringing to the first 28-day treatment
program a transformational model of addiction recovery that
really works -- I'm basking once more in Jung's brilliant
influence. In the 1930's he was present at the inception of a
new movement called Alcoholics Anonymous, founded by a few who
were desperately seeking healing for what "the most
depraved poison, alcohol" could do to those who could not
handle it. His now famous formula "spiritus contra
spiritum" was a revelatory contribution to this group --
one he believed it would take decades for us to comprehend.
This maxim has now become the major influence in my work. With
this statement Jung makes note of the fact that the words for
the "highest religious experience" and for that
"depraved poison, alcohol" are one and the same:
spiritus. Therefore, he concluded that it requires a spiritual
experience to counteract a problem with 'spirits.' Bill
Wilson's "white light" experience was the form his
own spiritual awakening took that removed his craving for
alcohol and turned his life around.
And today, I want to take this seminal idea
into the wider field of humanity's plight itself: I'm
convinced that it's going to take a full-blown spiritual
experience to counteract the problem with 'spirits gone
astray.' Human nature is running amuck; many lives on this
planet have become unmanageable, due to the ravages of war,
threats of war, poverty, abject fear for survival, greed,
ignorance, pride, and separatist thinking. Need I go on?
Yet we all know in our hearts what's right. We
all know that it's only to love and be loved, to care and be
cared for, that really matters -- to anyone, ever.
Once again, thanks to the work of
consciousness explorers such a Jung, we know now that
spirituality is not a goal. It is not the result of prayer or
meditation. Spirituality is not a treatment outcome. It is not
something to be earned by good works. Spirituality is our
essence.
And this is not a religious proposition, but a
universal understanding today, even scientifically. Physicists
now say that we are light, and are not passive bystanders
being acted upon by creation; that we are participating in
creation as its co-creators with our Creator. Brain
researchers tell us our brain functions like a hologram,
containing all that's ever been or will be, just awaiting our
explication and recognition. And this is Carl Jung's
collective unconscious. Mainstream religion says "I and
the Father are one." And the Twelve Step philosophy of
A.A. aligns us with a Higher Power. Spirituality is our true
essence. And when we violate our very nature, we are like hot
house violets trying to thrive in a snowstorm; we're in dire
straits.
But even with all this validation for our true
nature that even science now brings, the recognition of our
nature as spiritual has not nearly had the cultural or
psychological impact it must eventually have. We've not yet
even begun to realize the implications of what we already
presume. Our agencies and institutions haven't even considered
developing guidelines or funding for helping us live in the
world as spiritual beings. Or for carrying out our inherent
destiny as the offspring of our Creator! We've not awakened to
the impact of this identity as fact, still thinking, behaving
and planning our projects and programs as though we are mere
separate egos needing to be fixed, or fed. And worse,
medicated! In my opinion, we are trapped by our own intellects
that are rapidly becoming too small to contain us anymore. And
this is terribly dangerous: You know how difficult it is to
overcome an intellect's rigid beliefs.
The integration of our psychological and
spiritual nature is our next right step here on earth, if we
are ever to birth the Self here, our incarnated soul. The Self
is a transcendent Being that is a mixture of an integrated ego
and soul. The soul came here deliberately to take form as
individual personalities so it can inspirit the human race by
expressing its qualities through us. Those qualities are love,
bliss, intense joy, playfulness, full concentration in the
now, and a deep compassion for all creation. As we awaken to
this fact that we are this soul, we start to become whole. Not
perfect, but whole; there is a difference. In a state of
wholeness every part of our essence activates, which gives us
the capacity to be fully present here, in mind, body and
spirit, and to live in more than one dimension at once. It
widens us into a whole new category of being -- where we
manifest the intelligence of the Self, God's original image of
how we each are to be. We live as whole, individuated
statements of this God-nature, our divine Human Blueprint or
Archetype.
So you can each see what you duty is here: We
are to come fully into ourselves. And stop this mucking around
in parts of life that don't really turn you on. When your
light goes out, you get quite dim; the soul has removed itself
from your body. And you're then being driven only by some
sub-part of yourself such as Victim, Saboteur, Critical
Parent, Codependent, or Addicted Personality -- a wounded
fragment of your ego who lacks wisdom and only looks out for
you! And, worst of all, your creative juices dry out. We
become arid, bored, and boring.
But we don't have to let that happen to us.
For we get signs, and help "from above." Whenever
you feel the wounded symptoms coming on, just know it's either
time to move on, or to bring Spirit to right where you are
standing by remembering that
Without the transcendent and the
transpersonal, we get
sick…or else hopeless and apathetic. We need something
bigger that we are to be awed by and to commit ourselves
to. - Abraham Maslow
And remembering that this "bigger
someone" lives right inside your own mind and heart. At
the center of your consciousness, like the nucleus of a cell,
lives a "spark of mind" representing your Grand
Design, a core identity who is your true Self -- the Self. We
are all an expression of this archetypal One. Therefore, we
will suffer desperately as long as we continue harming any one
of our brothers or sisters here.
We are here to enliven this earth and its
inhabitants by merging our two natures, a well-seasoned ego
with the soul. A healthy ego knows the ways of the world,
while the soul enlightens us and pulls us "up and
out." At certain points, each of you will do an
"about-face" and turn once more toward Spirit.
You'll shift from being under the influence of the Law of
Involution (enfoldment in life's conditions -- how the soul
goes to earth school to learn how to be human) to that of the
Law of Evolution (unfoldment toward our Source), and we move
on, carrying with us that which we've learned and integrated
-- seeing now through a wider view how all our suffering has
had a sacred purpose.
To stay absolutely calm and clear during these
rapidly-shifting times, it's crucial that we remember to
balance the four pillars of conscious living: study,
meditation, inner work, and outer service. Don't do any one of
these too much or too little, or each can bring you harm.
Currently, it's our job to stay on top of the churning waters
of emotionalism and not sink into the torrents of depression,
anxiety and fear that are so rampant today. It's time for us
to really take these words of Dr. Jung to heart:
"What, on a lower level, had led
to the wildest conflicts and to panicky outbursts of emotion,
now looks like a storm in the valley seen from the mountain
top. This does not mean that the storm is robbed of its
reality, but instead of being in it, one is above it."
And it's here in this higher consciousness
that we are called to station ourselves for the moment. Be
well!
In loving service,
Jacquelyn Small
Jacquelyn
Small, LCSW, is an author and workshop leader emphasizing
experiential processes that heal the emotions as a way to
spiritual clarity and renewal. Her books include, Transformers
and Awakening in Time. The Sacred Purpose of Being
Human, will be released in Spring 2005 through HCI
Publishers. Jacquelyn is the Founding Director of Eupsychia
Institute, a national non-profit service organization. Visit
her website at
www.
eupsychia.com or email her at jacquie@austin.rr.com.
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