Blogs

I would like to announce the publication of my new book - Symptom, Symbol, and the Other of Language: A Jungian Interpretation of the Linguistic Turn. A brief description and link appear below.

Every statement about language is also a statement by and about psyche. Guided by this primary assumption, and inspired by the works of Carl Jung, in Symptom, Symbol, and the Other of Language, Bret Alderman delves deep into the symbolic and symptomatic dimensions of a deconstructive postmodernism infatuat

A master yogi sought out depth therapy, entered my consultation office, and immediately related, "Last night I dreamt that my shushumna was burnt to a crisp. I was horrified and knew that I had to address this today." The shushumna symbolized the central life channel that flows with energy, both masculine and feminine. Over the course of his work, we explored how he had lost balance, burned too hot with too much masculine energy. The nightmare symbolized irritability and his sense of being out o

The situation is bleak. The dark side has taken over again, the proof of which is how regimented and violent its soldiers are, and the light is being held only by a rebel band, guarded by a republic. The two great masculine heroes—Luke Skywalker and Han Solo—have lost faith in their power to create change, so Han has gone back to trading and Luke is hiding out.

But Princess Leia has not lost faith. She is a general for the Resistance to the Nazi-like First Order, having traded her royal status fo

By Carol S. Pearson

Most people have no idea that the stories inside our heads determine much of what we notice in the world or how we string our observations together to make meanings of them. This suggests that stories that are invisible to us define a good deal of what we experience, so we continue to live these stories as if they were reality when they are not, even when they make us miserable. Understanding this can help us listen to others who see situations differently than we do. We can r

Medicine for the soul appears at the beginning of each year. In a special way, we receive signs and dreams that uniquely help us. Patients this week have related dreams of what the new year holds in store regarding growth potential, exploring dark areas of mind, and discovering illumination. 

Contemporary Shamanism (FB 1.6.15) offered, "May your year ahead be full of medicine. May your access to the multidimensional worlds be of ease and grace and may all that you need to support you both in spir

In this third blog inspired by the murdered children of Sandy Hook I want to look at the archetypal image of the King.

The Archetypes: In their great book King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine, Jungian psychologists Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette envision a four-part masculine psyche divided into the Lover (the image of relatedness and deep passion for life), the Magician or Magus (awareness and insight), the Warrior (focused aggression and devoti

"This is a world not of sciences, but of religions... And it is a peculiarity of most religions -- indeed, a general condition of faith itself -- that those who believe in one eschew all others, regard their God or their gods as the true divinity, and their system of conduct as alone irreproachable. Thus the heart of religions... consists of a superior intellectual posture, an absolute intolerance." -- Philip Wylie, An Essay on Morals, 1947.

A funny thing happened as I wrote this. In my previous

Of course, all three monotheistic traditions (as well as Hinduism, Japanese culture and our own Greek mythological heritage) contain esoteric threads that reject puritanism and find the modesty doctrine irrelevant. But we are talking about sex, gender, morality, renunciation, segregation, power, politics, rebellion and control in our contemporary lives.

As recently as 2013, the Iowa Supreme Court agreed that a dentist was correct in firing his female employee because she was “too attractive” and

I first posted this essay in December 2015. But in February 2018, after a national uproar over allegations of sexual harassment and rape by dozens of powerful men, it seems even more relevant, and I have greatly expanded it.

What do you think when you see a woman wearing a Muslim head scarf or veil? I certainly experience quite a mix of feelings and judgments. Whereas most Americans once thought it was a mere curiosity, now we can’t escape the constant flow of images – and political fear mongerin

"The latest large event -- the engineering of a large-scale atomic chain-reaction, because it involves not just the opinions but the bodies of our species, too -- has waked up every archetype, every instinct, in the billion-year-old breast of humanity. It is hoped by multitudes that the psychological shock will have even more benefit... in better times... from all the fragments of atoms men can harness. It may, if a man at last appreciates he is an animal and takes charge of himself instead of t

     “Will you catch me when I fall?”  Those are the words of a refrain from a Danish song by the group Danser med Drenge (Dancing with Boys).  The image helped me recall the old trust games used in group-building back in the day.  Someone stood in the center of a group, crossed their arms across their chests and closed their eyes.   They were to fall backwards, trusting that they would get caught before they hit the ground by their co-workers.  That exercise was used to ‘teach’ trust among peop

Daryl Sharp, founder and publisher of Inner City Books, has dedicated his life to promoting an understanding and practical application of the work of C.G. Jung. We are delighted to be able to join the Depth Psychology Alliance - a forum that shares this passion. We look forward to an interesting exchange of ideas. We'd love to see you on our Facebook page, where we feature our own titles -- all exclusively by Jungian analysts -- and occasional special offers and tidbits of history. Daryl Sharp m

Part of the work of bringing soul back into the world is learning to address this world — and each other — with beautiful, complex, multi-faceted, nuanced (slight difference, shade of color, mist, vapor, cloud) language (tongue; Spanish: lengua), and to know how our words have evolved over many centuries from their original Greek, Latin or Germanic meanings. English in particular is a mish-mash (mash: to mix with hot water, reduce to a soft pulpy consistency) of influences, because English histo

"If he sees the world as I see it -- a world of men... acting in national concerts, and privately, by instinct -- a world of men who rationalize what they do so that it will seem holy, or noble... or a personal evidence of "righteousness" -- a world of men who possess sudden and enormous physical strength but hardly more sense than apes -- and if this spectacle afflicts the days and hours of the reader with as much misgiving and anxiety as I have suffered from it, and if he finds in himself no e

Call the world… “The vale of Soul-making.” – John Keats

To be born is to be weighed down with strange gifts of the soul, with enigmas and an inextinguishable sense of exile.  – Ben Okri

Remember, and failing that, invent. – Monique Wittig

As a mythologist I am neither objective nor dispassionate, but interested (to “be between”) in complication (“folding together”). Although I do regret not taking Latin in high school or Greek in college, I proudly admit to being an amateur (from amare, “to love”).

The Souls of White Folk Pt. 5: A Community Discussion on the Archetypal Roots of the Trauma of Racism in America

Racism, Healing, Redemption, Justice, and Reconciliation  

“Can we talk of integration until there is integration of hearts and minds? Unless you have this, you have only a physical presence, and the walls between us are as high as the mountain range” – Chief Dan George (Nerburn, 1999, p. 76).

"Most of these people will never make the headlines and their names will not appear in Who'

The Souls of White Folk Pt. 4: A Community Discussion on the Archetypal Roots of the Trauma of Racism in America

Racism, Trauma, Sacrifice, and Evil  

"…[T]hey are so artless and free with all they possess, that no one would believe it without having seen it. Of anything they have, if you ask them for it, they never say no; rather they invite the person to share it, and give as much as if they were giving their hearts; and whether the thing be of value or of small price, at once they are content

In the last few years several events had made it clear to me that the gun pow