Inspirational Quotes
The human psyche shows that each individual is an extension of all of existence.
Stanislav Grof
“In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.”
Carl Gustav Jung
“We cannot change anything unless we accept it.”
Carl Gustav Jung
The Psychology Perspective
In today’s post, we explore the collective nature of psyche. Far too often, I see people turn to the field of psychology, believing that it has something to do with the mental or the body that houses the mind. Most believe that it has something to do with health or worse, its opposite illness. However, mental health and/or illness is not necessarily a subject of the mind or body. Instead, it is part of something much greater. In order to understand the nature of psyche, we must turn to the collective knowledge base of philosophy, history, and even religion to understand how the three aspects of being, body, mind, and spirit interact within the essence of our being so that we may realize our Self Potential.
The psyche is an extension of all existence. This ideal predates scientific notions of psychology, is foundational in the Buddhist ideals of Atman and Brahman, and forms the basis from which Jung’s notion of the self/Self construct exists between individual and universal consciousness.
The term psyche in ancient Greek meant “soul” and “breath” interchangeably. It was not a construct of mind; in fact, the practice of the healing profession to isolate these constructs within the body and/or mind, of which it is part, is a relatively new phenomenon. Before, the symptoms of the mind were seen as aftereffects of collective energy responses common to all people; they were not seen as an illness of the mind and/or soul from which it sprang.
Carl Jung created an entire psychology that honors the symptoms of the psyche as being a catalyst for profound self growth, a process he termed Self-Realization. Carl Jung was well aware of the way symptoms stand as a catalyst for profound individualized psychological growth. We too can learn a great deal from the history of his psychology by striving to discern the lesson held within each symptom the body and/or mind creates. Symptoms are pathological only if we allow them to move us in that manner. Each can be a catalyst for demise or profound levels of Self-Realized growth. At a minimum, they form the foundation for the lessons our soul craves in order to realize its full potential. At a more profound level, it may just be the collective presence of that higher power calling us to Realize our true potential.
I welcome your thoughts and comments.
©2020 by Dr. Thomas Maples