Individuation | Brian Collinson

Entries Tagged as 'Individuation'

“They Want Google to Tell Them What They Should be Doing”

September 6th, 2010 · 6 Comments · Carl Jung, Individuation, Psychology and Suburban Life, Self, decision, freedom

Eric Schmidt, the Chairman of Google said recently, “I actually think most people don’t want Google to answer their questions. They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next.” But is he correct? Do we actually want Google to tell us what to do?

The Not-So-Simple Task of Simply Being Honest, Part 1

August 25th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Identity, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, Shadow, depth psychology, inner life, persona, psychotherapist, truth, unconscious

We all like to feel that we know ourselves, and that we are fundamentally honest with ourselves, but is it so? Sometimes deliberate not-wanting-to-know keeps us from being conscious of things that we really need to understand for our own individuation process. To set yourself on the course of being fundamentally honest with yourself is to set yourself on the path of encounter with the unconscious.

Under the Surface of Suburbia

August 20th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Carl Jung, Halton Region, Home, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Mississauga, Oakville, Peel Region, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, collective consciousness, depth psychology, psychotherapist, soul, suburbia / exurbia, unlived life, wholeness

Under the surface of suburbia, life is the same here as it is anywhere else. The endless communities of single family dwellings stretch out and stretch out, beyond where the eye can see. Yet beneath the appearances, there are a myriad of individual lives. People are moving through life towards their individual destinies, with happiness or with discontent, with sorrow or exultation, with unresolved pain and grief, or with yearning. Each of us is a story, and each of us is a journey, and that the only real freedom is in finding our own true nature.

Escaping the Grip of Regret, Part 3: Through Phoenix Gate

August 11th, 2010 · 4 Comments · Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Shadow, complexes, depression, depth psychology, guilt, inner life, regret, soul, therapy, unconscious, unlived life, wholeness

Hopefully I have succeeded in making one very central thing clear: regret is not some peripheral thing in our lives that is going to be cleared away by simply improving our thinking. It strikes deeper. It is much more fundamental. How then are we to deal with the presence of regret in our lives? To answer this question in our own personal way, we have to meet this question for ourselves head on.

Escaping the Grip of Regret, Part 2: The Power of Regret

July 29th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Hope, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, The Self, complexes, compulsion, decision, depression, depth psychology, guilt, inner life, life passages, midlife, regret, soul, therapy, unconscious, wholeness

In my last posting, I tried to open up the whole subject of regret, and the powerful and sometimes crippling place that it can occupy in our lives, and how we can be held in slavery to regret of all the choices we could have made differently, or courses of events that could have turned out differently. In this posting, I’d [...]

Let’s Keep Jung’s Red Book Away from Spiritual Hucksterism

July 21st, 2010 · 5 Comments · Carl Jung, Identity, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, Shadow, The Self, archetypal experience, archetypes, collective consciousness, collective unconscious, unconscious, wholeness

Jung’s Red Book, which I wrote about in an earlier post, has created quite a stir in certain circles, and has been very well popularized. It has had quite an impact in cultural and literary circles, and has gained a lot of attention in the media. The Red Book documents Jung’s own profound psychological struggle in a manner so eloquent and deep that it is difficult if not impossible to describe. However, those of us who love Jung need to be careful not to portray it as some kind of divine revelation composed by a semi-divinity which answers all questions. Jung was very human, and he continually invites us to fully enter our own humanity.

CG Jung’s Approach: Not for Everyone, but Essential for Some

July 16th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Carl Jung, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, The Self, Wellness, inner life, soul, therapy, unconscious, wholeness

Let’s face it: there are a lot of different forms of therapy / counselling out there. So, why would someone choose to work on themselves with a Jungian therapist, as opposed to another type of therapist? Well, here’s a list of 6 prominent factors, which certainly led me to do Jungian analysis, and which ultimately convinced me [...]

Anxiety Behind the Mask, Part III: Heart Trouble

July 11th, 2010 · No Comments · Carl Jung, Current Affairs, Identity, Individuation, Jungian psychology, Lifestyle, Meaning, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, collective consciousness, collective unconscious, depth psychology, inner life, persona, popular culture, soul, symbolism, unconscious, wholeness

Anxiety Behind the Mask, Part III, Heart Trouble
…I asked him why he thought the whites were all mad.�
“They say that they think with their heads,” he replied.
“Why of course. What do you think with?” I asked him in surprise.
“We think here,” he said, indicating his heart. [Italics mine]
Conversation between Ochway Biano, Chief of the Pueblo Indians and [...]

Anxiety Behind the Mask, Part II

July 2nd, 2010 · 2 Comments · Film, Identity, Individuation, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, The Self, creativity, inner life, popular culture, soul, spontaneity, wholeness

Anxiety Behind the Mask, Part II, The Armoured Self, My Prison
In the course of thousands of years of mechanical development, the mechanistic concept, from generation to generation, has anchored itself deeply in man’s biological system. In so doing, it actually has altered human functioning in the direction of the machine-like…. Man has become biologically rigid. [...]

Anxiety Behind the Mask, Part 1

June 22nd, 2010 · 2 Comments · Film, Identity, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, inner life, mythology, persona, popular culture, soul, unlived life, wholeness

When I was 9 or 10 years old, I was an insatiable Iron Man fan. I used to race to the local drug store every day to see if a new issue of my hero’s adventures had hit the stands yet. I still admire Stan Lee and those who developed the Iron Man character: he [...]

Brian Collinson

Journeying Toward Wholeness