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SCROOGE on the COUCH: how the numinous transforms

Dec 24, 2020

Something’s going on in Scrooge’s soul…and it’s tired of waiting for an invitation.

Charles Dickens’ novella, A Christmas Carol, vividly portrays the journey to healing and transcendence. It was written in a fever, released on December 19, 1843, and sold out before Christmas. Ebenezer Scrooge’s visitations by the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come are vivid depictions of the path from trauma to transformation. As in psychotherapy, Scrooge revisits his past; by reclaiming the feelings he exiled as a child, Scrooge discovers compassion and connection.

The visitation to the present shows Scrooge’s familial abundance of spirit despite material poverty and possible death for Tiny Tim (also a representation of Scrooge’s own emotionally crippled inner child). The last scene, like the lysis of a dream, shows Scrooge the bleak future to which his miserly ways lead. Scrooge’s encounters with transpersonal power break through his defenses and transform him into a man of joyful and generous heart. Scrooge has learned from his former partner’s ghost:

“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”  

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

And so, as Tiny Tim declared, “God bless Us, Every One!”

References:

Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1712674218/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_rHe3FbWK5H8FF?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Resources:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams:  https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

2 Comments

  1. Mamie Krupczak Allegretti

    Hello Joseph, Lisa and Deb,
    Thank you. This is one of your very BEST episodes. You give an excellent and I would even say SPIRITED analysis. After listening to all of your podcasts, I definitely think one of your strengths is analyzing a specific piece whether it be a film, fairy tale or literary piece. You give a thorough and tight analysis here. I would love to know where that Jung quote comes from (the one about taking responsibility). In general, I also think it would be very helpful to cite where you are getting Jung’s quotes. Thank you again for your great podcasts. My husband and I really enjoy them and they’ve led to some profound conversations!

    Reply
  2. Mamie Krupczak Allegretti

    Hello again,
    That quote is from Psychology and Alchemy (Vol. 12), paragraph 152. I was thinking about the quote and happened to open my book to just this quote. Synchronicity!

    Reply

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