Unconscious | Brian Collinson

Entries Tagged as 'unconscious'

Psychotherapy and Renewal: Persephone’s Big Comeback

April 5th, 2011 · No Comments · analytical psychology, archetypal experience, Carl Jung, depth psychology, inner life, Introversion, journey, Jungian, Jungian analysis, life passages, mythology, personal myth, personal story, psychological crisis, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, renewal, Self, soul, therapist, therapy, unconscious

The Persephone myth conveys a natural movement in psychological life For Persephone, it is only as she is detached from her familiar world, and descends to the Underworld that she can bring the blessing and the gift of the seasons, of new green life, and fecundity. Sometimes the encounter with life’s circumstances and with the unconscious can seem like a sudden plunge into darkness and descent into the underworld. But the underworld has its own gifts that it brings. Only those who can accept those gifts, and eat the food of the underworld, can bring the gift of life and fertility back to the “surface world” of their everyday lives.

In January, with Mind, Body, and Instinct

January 20th, 2011 · No Comments · archetypal experience, archetypes, body, Carl Jung, consciousness, cravings, dreams, inner life, instinct, Jungian analysis, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, seasonal affective disorder, self-knowledge, The Self, unconscious, wholeness

This post is much more directly concerned with the subjective experience of mind, and especially of body and instinct…. Modern humans can be very cut off from the instinctual basis of life, and even from being aware of our bodily existence…. But, even so, as Jung tells us, the instinctual side continues to function, along with the whole broad psychic processing of of inner and outer experience. It’s always with us, and one important way to move closer to wholeness is to work actively to be aware of that.

A Jungian Psychotherapist’s Symbol Book

November 11th, 2010 · No Comments · analytical psychology, Carl Jung, dreams, Jungian, Psychology and Suburban Life, symbol

Symbols can have tremendous emotional power. When they resonate with us, they can affect us right down to our very core. And sometimes, after we really encounter them, they can even change us, right down at the center of who we are.

The Not-So-Simple Task of Simply Being Honest, Pt 2: Shadow

September 14th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Carl Jung, depth psychology, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Shadow, soul, The Self, unlived life, wholeness

As I indicated in Part 1 of this post, if we really get serious about the task of being honest with ourselves, sooner or later, we are going to run into what Jung calls the Shadow. The Shadow represents all those parts of ourselves that we do not, or do not want to, acknowledge as [...]

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

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

Brian Collinson

Journeying Toward Wholeness