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Forging the Upward Thread: Why do we create religions?
The religious function is part of who we are — as natural as needing food or love. It’s the inner drive that pushes us to find meaning, to touch something larger than ourselves. Jung saw that if we don’t tend it, it doesn’t go away; it twists itself into addictions, compulsions, or a kind of soul-sickness. Religion, in the deepest sense, isn’t about belief systems. It’s about real encounters with the Self — the larger reality inside us that humbles, heals, and reshapes us. Dreams, symbols, and moments of awe are how Psyche keeps that connection alive. Without them, the energies meant for growth get stuck or spill out in destructive ways. In this episode you’ll learn how to stay open and reimagine ways the sacred can speak to you.
Trauma Can Be Rewritten: The Use of Art to Reimagine Our Past and Grant Us New Life.
Viviane Silvera animated 30,000 of her hand-painted images to explore how traumatic memories are formed, stored, and ultimately transformed. Her animated documentary, SEE MEMORY, traces the intimate story of a young woman caught between past and present; her film captures the fragmented texture of trauma and the healing that becomes possible when painful memories are witnessed. In our conversation with Viviane, we explore her process of recovering lost memories and how opposing perspectives can constellate new attitudes toward trauma. We discuss cutting-edge findings on the way the brain stores and changes memory and reveal the intersection of art, science, and psyche.
How to Develop Your Inner Guidance: charting a path through the current chaos with Jung’s insights
Inner guidance is Psyche’s built-in orienting system, a silent interlocutor that Jung named the Self. When the ego listens to that source, life organizes around an inner axis rather than around social noise. The conversation begins in dreams: every night the unconscious compensates for one-sided attitudes and sketches latent possibilities, offering images that ask to be amplified rather than solved. Even a “snippet” is enough; when recorded in a temenos of morning journaling, the material becomes a living letter whose meaning ripens across weeks or years. Symbols such as the abattoir, the dictator, or the mysteriously delivered “blessings” in the dream transcript confront the dreamer with shadow, sacrifice, and the double face of unconscious gifts—each theme urging dialogue rather than repression.
Shadow and Self in Adolescence: navigating rage, love, and individuation
Adolescence is a transitional life stage marked by profound biological, psychological, social, and cultural changes. Spanning roughly the second decade of life (and often extending into the early twenties), it bridges childhood and adulthood in complex ways. Modern research views adolescence not just as a biological phase of puberty, but as a multifaceted phenomenon involving brain maturation, identity formation, shifting social roles, and symbolic meaning.
From Worry to Insight: making sense of uncertainty
Worry is the mental process of anticipating possible troubles, setbacks, or risks—and trying to manage them through continuous thought. It’s distinct from anxiety, though the two states overlap. Worry tends to be more specific and verbal: we can usually put it into words, such as “I’m worried about missing my flight” or “I’m worried about the results of that exam.” Anxiety, on the other hand, is broader. It involves an emotional and physiological response—racing heart, sweaty palms, tense muscles—and often lacks a clearly nameable cause. While we can remain relatively functional when worrying (performing daily tasks, maintaining our routine), anxiety can feel more like a system‐wide alarm, activating deep bodily stress responses and pushing us to hypervigilance or avoidance.
Detective Archetype Decoded: tracking symbolic clues
The detective archetype speaks to a universal drive for uncovering what has been concealed. This impulse emerges whenever communities sense the weight of secrets, crimes, or enigmas that destabilize ordinary life. By taking on the role of investigator, the detective strives to reestablish clarity and order, reflecting humanity’s innate desire for comprehension. Yet the archetypal detective does more than solve puzzles; he or she addresses the fundamental mystery of how darkness and truth coexist.
Unlocking the Power of Your Shadow
f you’ve ever been startled by an impulsive action or a sharp comment you later regret, you’ve likely met your shadow. The shadow refers to aspects of ourselves—traits, impulses, fantasies—that we’d rather not claim as our own. These hidden dimensions lie outside our everyday awareness, shaping behaviors and blocking us from deeper intimacy with ourselves and others. At first glance, it can be unsettling to acknowledge these unwelcome parts of psyche. Yet it is precisely through learning to see, hear, and eventually befriend them that we gain an honest sense of who we are. It requires us to move beyond denial and projection and bring these aspects into conscious dialogue. The reward? Reduced self-sabotage, enhanced creativity, and greater capacity to connect with loved ones from a more authentic place.
The Boundary Paradox: How Limits Create Freedom
Psychological boundaries are the invisible lines that define our limits – what we consider acceptable or unacceptable in interactions and within ourselves. The term boundary is metaphorical, borrowed from the idea of a line separating areas: what lies “in-bounds” is permitted, while what lies “out-of-bounds” is off-limits. In practice, personal boundaries help clarify where one person ends and another begins, both physically and emotionally. Maintaining healthy boundaries is widely regarded as a hallmark of emotional maturity and well-being. crucial for preserving one’s identity, safety, and mental health in relationships and social life.
