Inspiration
Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.
Carl Jung
Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain.
Carl Jung
A Father’s Guide to Wisdom
The bible guides us to understand that our original state was one shrouded in darkness. This does not veer too far from a psyche-spiritual truth. For we are told, and it is not too far of a stretch for the imagination to understand that life in the womb is also shrouded in darkness. This paradise of complete emersion, one where the simple complexity of life is lived for the developing child, is dark, hidden, unknown, but nevertheless, the foundation of life. But like life, all good things must come to an end, and the death of our gestational journey gives birth to the life journey, and thus the cycle of Saṃsāra begins.
Saṃsāra is a Sanskrit word that defines the circuitous nature of life. This is an archetypal motif that defines cyclicality of life, matter, and existence. It is the death and rebirth process unfolded, that elemental cornerstone that lays the foundation of all psyche-spiritual development. It is the paradox of existence itself, driving death forward to meet new life, and in such beautiful form, it drives life forward to meet its eventual end.
If to live is to die, and to die is to live, my mind begins to wander about the nature of life’s meaning. A question begins to touch upon the confines of my mind, and the openness of my heart to understand… What is the meaning of all this anyways? How can we grow in a manner that lets us overcome those dark areas that pull us within, so that we can find light in the dark, or transcendence from the descent.
The Archetypes of Light and Darkness
Got Depression? This is not solely a mental health concern. We depress to shed light upon emotional truths. It is a psyche-spiritual phenomenon that literally presses us into the dark emotional spaces fear, anger, sadness, guilt, and shame. It pushes us to descend, so that we may shed light upon the dark matter of our personal and collective history, a process that underlies anyones capacity to break free from the chains that bind the soul.
We are told to fear those dark places. If you get stuck in that well for too long you are emotional, mental, or even worse off, depressed. “Take a pill for this…” “hey lets get a drink…” “there’s always tomorrow.” These are the anthems from which this darkness rears its ugly head. But the answers are not to be found in a pill, alcohol, or even drugs for that matter. For these create biological environments that do nothing to solve the problem at hand. They only mask this death process by creating false light, false spirit, false realizations created through masking the ember that grows within the confines of the dark, sooty, ashy nature of the soul’s presence in our life.
The dark nature of the soul tempts us to go within, to tend to this ashes present, so that the glowing ember of spirit can be found, and passion ignited to new ends once not thought possible.
Idleness and Stagnation
To live is to die. But what life do you want to live?
To live is to make moments. But oftentimes we get stuck within the confines of our mind. STOP! There is no surer way to decrease the longevity of life than to give up hope, idle, and stagnate. This is a dark place that invites you naturally to go within, but its consequence is too bleak if you stay in that well for too long. It calls you to go within, find the golden ball once lost within its depths, so the union between the child and adult, frog and princess can take place. It is through the depths of this wellspring that our happily ever after forms.
There is an old saying. “Idle hands are the Devil’s work.” When the hands are idle for too long, the brain begins to work, and we all know the consequence of that. Even our primordial ancestors understood the pain associated with taking a serpent’s advice. But Jung in these quotes above points us to a new direction. One that is inclusive of work as a paradigm shit away from the confines of mind. Simply use your hands. Move, don’t idle. This is a key to life… to love… to happiness. We even call the act of love and act of making. We work at it, and in doing so it works upon us.
With many Prayers and Blessings my Friends. Believe… Achieve… Advance Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams. (Dr. Tom)
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