Resonance of Masks

In ancient Greek theatre, masks were used not only to make it easier for the actors to play more than one part and go beyond their real identity, but also they helped to amplify the voice and amplify the character being played - in other words, they served to create resonance.  Just so with the Jungian idea of persona - the mask we put on to present ourselves in a suitable way, to help us be in tune, resonate, with society.   We can have multiple persona to suit each different situation.  The Champernowne Summer Course provides the opportunity to experiment, to 'play' with different parts of ourselves and see where it takes us. With this knowledge we have more resources to tap into, not only for enriching ourselves, but also to use for the masks of persona.

Unblocking the resistance to dealing with the climate crisis

This Thursday, 19th January, Sarah Halford will give a talk to the C G Jung Club London entitled 'Psyche's Seasons: Jungian Psychology and Climate Crisis'.  The evidence is becoming more and more clear that we are in a crisis situation ecologically, yet, for some reason, the motivation is not there en masse to do enough about it.  I would suggest this is to do with our 'dislocated psyches', with so many being out of touch with true nature, both their own personal one and with nature in the world.  In Jungian psychology, everything is connected with everything, so the two aspects go together.  Sarah tackles this by offering useful new perspectives informed by the bridges Jungian psychology and Celtic myths can offer toward a renewed orientation to the planet and to the suffering embedded on each dislocate psyche. 

Many ways to experience the divine

Richard Dawkin's book 'The God Delusion' appeals to the increasingly secular world of Western culture.  However, it only negates the existence of the God of religion, not the divine, the spiritual per se.  Our need to be in touch with the divine is evidenced by increasing participation in other spiritual practices.  With the decline of formal religions there has been  an increased interest in various other forms of spiritual practice - keying in the 'spirituality' category on Amazon books and there are 75 pages of them (a few are 'religious' but the vast majority are not).  This need was a view taken by Jung at a time when religions were still more paramount, it being an inherent part of everyone's psyche and he saw that it could be experienced in many ways, according to what suits the individual.
He wrote "Christian education has done all that is humanly possible; but it has not been enough.  Too few people have experienced the divine image as the innermost possession of their own souls"