Dear Depth Psychology Alliance book club participator,
I want to welcome you to the book club for the month of February. During this month we will discuss my book The Cycle of Life: Themes and Tales of the Journey, and I invite you to share your thoughts, comments and questions on this theme.
I write these lines from my home in Ra'anana, a small town north of Tel Aviv, at the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. This is the narrowest part of this small country, around 9 miles from the sea to Israel’s border with the Palestinian National Authority in the east (the local bus will take you cross-country).
This place in which I live, seems to eternally waver back and forth between profound creation and relentless destruction. Here, history fuses with mythology, and the heart of three monotheistic religions beats from within an area of a third of a square mile; a heartbeat that sends hurricanes of the spirit and floods of blood, across the face of the earth. From this same harsh earth arose, as well, some of humankind’s most powerful beliefs and influential individuals.
Hope and despair are common visitors in the souls of the peoples that dwell here, coloring their passions in dark red and their spirits in deep blue. You will find the terrors of war alternating at your doorstep with the dreams of reconciliation, reminding you how small we humans are, particularly when we have power and guns in our hands (on all sides). We are constantly reminded of the responsibility that rests on the shoulders of Psyche in each and every one. As Jung said, man’s psyche is the origin of all coming evil.
I have shared my thoughts about these issues in other books.* However, one further characteristic brings us to the cycle of life: the seasons. Here, at the eastern Mediterranean (which means “the sea in the middle of the earth”), the seasons don’t flow gently into each other. The seasons that soften the transition between summer and winter are very brief, sometimes barely noticeable. Likewise, the transitions along life’s journey, from the fires of adolescence to the gray ground of adulthood, for instance, may be sharp and painful. In some, this may evoke resistance and the desire to stay forever young, as in the puer aeternus or the puella aeterna, the eternal youth, who refuses to grow up. Others may prematurely, and sometimes unprepared, have to take on the burden of adult responsibilities, experiencing how the fire and the spirit of youth are extinguished.
My book focuses less on actual development through life’s stages, but rather on the archetypal core of the respective stages, or ages of life, from the perspective of their archetypal meaning. Consequently, the emphasis is not on the child’s development through the stages of childhood, but rather on the child as carrying the image of living in “the mysterious world of mythical images and magical relatedness,” as Gerhard Adler says.
I suggest that whoever wants to participate travels the journey of the book in whatever personal way you find suitable. The reading of the book’s 182 pages easily lends itself to be divided in four: first week we’ll concentrate on the journey, second week on the child, third week on adolescence and adulthood, and fourth week on old age. But find your own path! Sometimes, some of us, start reading a book from the end, or are drawn to a chapter of particular interest. I do suggest, however, that we share thoughts and comments according to this weekly schedule, to keep a certain structure in a world that too easily lends itself to chaos.
So this first week, let us focus on the journey. I have chosen the image of the river, from its source, and then the course the river of one’s life may take, until it finally dissolves in the sea. When Jung, in his essay on the stages of life, emphasizes the importance of ‘problem’ on life’s journey, his intention is clearly living the conscious life. What does that mean? How do we live consciously?
Please be free to relate in whatever individual way you choose, with comments and questions. I will respond regularly, and I hope it will be an enjoyable journey together.
If you are interested, you may listen to or watch an interview that Bonnie Bright conducted with me.
Furthermore, there will be two drawings, one on February 14th for The Hero and His Shadow, and one on the 28th for Enemy, Cripple & Beggar. The winner of the book will be announced the following day.
Looking forward to sharing thoughts and perspectives along the journey,
Erel Shalit
*Please see my The Hero and His Shadow (the most recent, revised edition of this book was published this January by Fisher King Press); and Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return (if you sign up for my newsletter, you will receive a free pdf eBook edition of the novella, but those of you who, like me, prefer the ‘real’ thing, can purchase it at Fisher King Press, Amazon or elsewhere).
Replies
Dear Erel,
While reading about The Adult and The Senex I looked up a poem by A. Marvell :
But at my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near.
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity
I think this describes the frightening facts of the human condition.
By the way, I love the way you use the Hebrew names , as a hint to describe the problems of the cases you mention
Carita
Dear Deborah,
Thanks for your comment! I apologize for having taken time to respond, since I have been preoccupied preparing my lectures for my upcoming visit to the States, which includes a lecture and a workshop on the Cycle of Life in Denver, very beginning of March.
"Midlife, meaning and mortality" belong together. Strangely, meaning has less implication when we sense unlimited growth, and enters the picture primarily when we are in touch with the duality of the reality of life. So midlife, whenever that takes place in an archetypal sense in one's individual life, implies careful and attentive listening to the voice from within, and restricts the ego's belief in unlimited freedom. The attentive listening to that inner voice is crucial – and in Hebrew, listening and meaning come from the same root – shma. So when King Solomon asks for Wisdom, he in fact asks for "a listening heart" (often translated as an understanding heart).
Erel
The winner of this week’s drawing is Leslie Harris, who will receive a copy of my book The Hero and His Shadow. Next drawing will be in two weeks’ time, at the end of the month, for Enemy, Cripple and Beggar.
Dear participators,
I greatly appreciate sharing these weeks with you. Soon we’ll leave the Child behind us, which happens all too soon in the life of many of us. Moving into the age of youth, raising the banners of renewal, trying to keep the fire burning and the spirit alive, at a time in our life when we are exposed to pressures from all quarters: the Child within wants to regressively pull us into the fantasy of Paradise, the adults into the gray reality of obligations and unending exams, and the acne and the heart-aches sometimes make us withdraw into the pains of loneliness and the pains of a miserable world. We may feel anger and fury, no matter at whom, perhaps mostly anger at home, unable to balance the stirrings of life.
And then, how quickly don’t we find ourselves in front of the gates of Delphi, asked to ‘know thyself,’ forced to give up any narcissistic illusions we may have harbored. Soon we have to recognize defeat, accept the burdens of adulthood, until in midlife we wonder and, hopefully, ask the questions that, when lucky, forces us to contemplate the meaning of our life –which, however, all too often is avoided, by our attempts to escape into an illusion of youth.
Erel Shalit
As you say in the above, so many people can remain a puer or puella aeternus for their whole life. Or one can reach midlife and have the midlife crisis at a late age, not in midlife at all, but in one's old age. A person can be 70 - 80 before they reach some maturity.Or have I misunderstood this completely ?
Kind regards, Carita
Dear Carita,
you are so right! I believe the realization of one's mortality is at the core of the midlife crisis, which spurs some to turn to a younger partner, often the age of one's children, in an attempt to escape the essence. Others may go "deep into the forest" (cf. Dante) and confront the issue. However, this may not be at the actual development stage of midlife (it is interesting, though, that both Freud and Jung had their midlife crisis between 38 and 44). I also believe that we will see changes in the pattern, one of which will be, I believe, around 60-65. But if we keep to the essence of the midlife crisis and its maturational element, this certainly may happen at a much later age, as you point out.
Erel
Yes, I myself have difficulties in meeting the demands of this maturational element of midlife. Some relationship problems became for me a catalyst to wake up and change my ways . I realized I had some issues that needed being attending to if I were ever to mature . Depth Psychology has given a lot of insights to me as have this book. I have made some modifications in my life and especially in my way of viewing the world.
Carita
The midlife crisis with its tensions of meaning-making--"know-thyself," while integrating a mature acceptance of finality without teetering into despair! Quite a journey. Reminds me that from an archetypal perspective Apollo, the Delphian god, represents self-knowledge and building something of lasting value whilst his trickster twin, Dionysus, is the chthonic unraveler--the psychopomp. Of course, a psychopomp can guide one to new vistas in the unconscious--a great gift of midlife--but Dionysus is a difficult energy--so easy to teeter into unconsciousness (despair) while in his realm (as Dante demonstrates). I find myself, at midlife, daily navigating this delicate minefield and it "ain't" easy. So grateful to depth psychology as it has taught me, aided me, in holding the tension consciously and with as much grace as I can muster. This material is very evocative, so a bit of stream of consciousness right here.
Dear Deborah,
Thanks for bringing James Hillman! He certainly knew who he was, and the wonderful fire and spirit of the puer in him brought pleasure, poetry and provocation to many of us. And while he might have been reluctant to the senex polarity in him, it certainly was there, in the wisdom based on depth and knowledge, not only the puer's 'inklings' (which he writes so beautifully about). He is and remains an inspiration for so many of us,
Erel
Hello Erel and All, I am finding the reading to be a delicious experience: like a delicacy to be savored, and thoroughly enjoyed. I was trained in human development both in undergrad and in graduate school. This is the missing link! Being guided to look from this vantage point makes for a true opening and expansion in understanding of our Individuation process. I look forward to the many comments to come.
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