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Eavesdrop on Lisa, Deb, and Joseph as they engage in lively, sometimes irreverent conversations about a wide range of topics and dream analysis through the lens of depth psychology provided by Carl Jung.
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DUMBO’S FEATHER: Are there hidden messages in Disney cartoons?
The feather in “Dumbo” holds symbolic magic. Holding it tight, he leaps from dependency to loss, then audacious growth. He must believe the feather holds power before placing it in himself. We all need symbolic objects or talismans to project our potential onto. How else could we find it?
Aaron Balick – Why does social media weaponize our reactions?
Reactivity often usurps reflective response, with social media fueling instantaneous, reflexive reactions. This hampers thoughtful decision-making and obscures the other party’s perspective, trapping discourse within a reactive cycle. Emotional reactivity, a necessary short-term survival mechanism, can become a long-term maladaptive response, leading to perpetual defense rather than constructive dialogue. Such sustained reactivity is evident in the widespread use of social media, where the nuanced, truth-seeking aspects of communication are eclipsed by the platform’s inherent design that favors sensationalism and emotional contagion. This environment diminishes the capacity for mutual understanding and comprehensive evaluation of complex social issues, fostering a climate where binary thinking and polarization thrive.
FAME: Why Do We Create Icons Only to Destroy Them?
Fame tempts the ego to claim what does not belong to it, and the person may become identified with his or her role, especially as others have an urge to find a hero, wise man, leader, or transcendent figure. Jung wrote about the mana personality—a larger-than-life person with charismatic power and energy. Magicians and priests, infused with special knowledge and god-like capabilities, are emblematic of mana personalities. Followers are then imbued with the mana person’s special qualities, as we see in audience reactions at concerts or rallies.
JUNG’S PARANORMAL ENCOUNTERS: Why did strange events follow him?
Many of us have uncanny coincidences like thinking of a friend at the exact moment they ring us on the phone, but what about physical things breaking apart for no reason or luminous apparitions at our bedside? We often explain them away to reduce our anxiety, but Jung found them fascinating. He maintained a scientific attitude while accepting strange phenomena he could not explain. Eventually, he created a psychology of radical acceptance that creates space for the unexpected, including each person’s unique soul.
LOW ENERGY: Where can we source the drive to take action?
Many people just can’t rally to do what’s necessary and improve their lives. Is it possible they just don’t carry much vitality or is some inner conflict blocking their access? We share personal stories of ‘energy loss,’ and offer insights into purposelessness. Jung tells us inner energy flows according to its own laws but if we can’t harness it?
REUNIONS: Is there value in remembering our younger selves?
We organize reunions because we yearn to reconnect with old friends, recall shared experiences, and reignite a sense of community. We all need meaningful social contact and enjoy nostalgia. While coming together can feel alluring, actually attending the event may evoke a spectrum of ambivalent feelings. We’re likely to feel judged for our achievements, appearance, or socioeconomic status, especially compared to our peers. Transitioning into adulthood is often tumultuous, marked by intense negative experiences, and revisiting those periods can be daunting. Attending reunions can inadvertently reactivate traumatic memories, making the decision to participate a delicate one for many of us. Seeing a former bully or revisiting a dorm can bring back the anxiety, fear, loneliness, or sadness of those formative years. We might even find ourselves sweating or feeling trapped. Recognizing and validating our fears is crucial.
Donald Kalsched – Can running our minds like a democracy save us?
Jung discovered our inner world is populated by various imaginal figures representing powerful psychological forces. If we treat our minds as democratic spaces, it can safeguard us from internal and external authoritarian influences.
Why Do We Push People Away? Understanding our Defenses
Defense mechanisms function as unconscious psychological strategies we deploy to navigate reality and sustain a consistent self-image. They act as a shield, guarding against feelings of anxiety, shame, and vulnerability. They are feeling states that prompt us to avoid contact and trick us into thinking they protect us against emotional harm.
Selkie Folklore: Should we force soul to serve us?
The Selkie swims ashore at night, sheds her seal skin, hides it, and delights in her human form. In Celtic lore, she is the wild feminine soul, a creature of land and sea, innocent and beautiful, who cannot thrive in domesticity.
INITIATIONS: universal processes that spark transformation
The archetype of Initiation is primordial, and its force shapes our transformative transitions. For Jung, this change reshapes spiritual, emotional, intellectual, behavioral, and social dynamics.
Informed by his anthropological studies, Jung understood the necessity of formal ceremonies, accentuating their role in facilitating separation from parental influences and integration into the adult community. These rites fulfilled archetypal developmental demands to mark a clear break from childhood and foster a deeper connection with the adult community, often through physical and symbolic rites. On a cultural level, these ceremonies helped contain unconscious forces that made collaborative culture possible.
THE BARBIE MOVIE: Can it Dismantle an American Myth?
In 1959, the Barbie doll hit the market and created a stir. American mothers objected to her sensuous form, so Mattel marketed it directly to children, a tactic never used before, and it worked. The maternal archetype of Hera, sentinel of the social order, goddess of childbirth, and protectress of the home, was supplanted. Aphrodite, the captivating goddess exuding an aura of beauty, desirability, and persuasive allure, had arrived.
From SHAMANISM to JUNG: Understanding’ Loss of Soul’
“Loss of soul amounts to a tearing loose of part of one’s nature; it is the disappearance and emancipation of a complex, which thereupon becomes a tyrannical usurper of consciousness, oppressing the whole man. It throws him off course and drives him to actions whose blind one-sidedness inevitably leads to self-destruction.”
CG Jung CW6, para 384
