The Self | Brian Collinson

Entries Tagged as 'The Self'

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 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. [...]

The Symbolic Power of Home, Part 2: Where is Home?

June 10th, 2010 · 5 Comments · Carl Jung, Halton Region, Home, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Meaning, Mississauga, Oakville, Peel Region, Psychology and Suburban Life, Relationships, The Self, depth psychology, inner life, therapy, wholeness

In the first part of this series, I wrote about how the experience of connection to a specific place that is home can be powerful and profound. However, there are also many people for whom there is no connection to a sense of home. And, for any of us, there can be many times–perhaps long periods–when [...]

Trust and Betrayal, Part 2: 4 Simple, Difficult Truths

June 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · Hope, Meaning, Psychotherapy, Relationships, The Self, depth psychology, parent-child interactions, psychological crisis, therapy, trust

Following on from my last blog post on trust and betrayal, the following are four truths about the experience of betrayal of trust. They are surprisingly easy to state. However, really taking in what they mean for our lives is likely a much bigger psychological task.
1. An Experience of Betrayal Can Deeply Impact A Person’s Ability to [...]

Trust and Betrayal

May 24th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, The Self, depth psychology, life passages, psychological crisis, trust, wholeness

In my recent blog post on “Crisis“, I indicated that one of the gravest things that can happen to people is the experience of betrayal in those close relationships with others whom they trust deeply, and upon whom they depend. I feel strongly that this is an area worth exploring further, and some of my readers have [...]

The Symbolic Power of Home, Part 1: Michaelle Jean

March 16th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Current Affairs, Home, Hope, Identity, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Mississauga, Oakville, The Self, archetypes, depth psychology, soul, suburbia / exurbia, symbolism

I think that many Canadians’ imagination and empathy has been caught by news stories of our Governor General, Michaelle Jean, who has been in the news here quite a bit this week.

Her Excellency is herself a native of Haiti who came to Canada at age 11 in 1968. In the last few days, she has returned to [...]

Here in the Middle Years of Life: Is That All There Is?

February 28th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Anxiety, Hope, Identity, Meaning, Mississauga, Oakville, Psychotherapy, The Self, depression, depth psychology, inner life, life passages, midlife, soul, stress, suburbia / exurbia, therapy

The great jazz artist Peggy Lee performed the following beautiful, highly disturbing yet haunting song in 1969, at midlife, in her 50th year:

I doubt that questions get much more real than those in this song. And the question that Peggy Lee sings about here is of the type, that, for many people, can become achingly urgent at [...]

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Between Childrens' and Parents' Needs: the Generational Anxiety Sandwich

February 15th, 2010 · No Comments · Current Affairs, Jungian analysis, Psychotherapy, The Self, complexes, compulsion, depth psychology, parent-child interactions, parental complex, therapy, unlived life, wholeness

In this post, I would like to write about something that may have a sense of "taboo" about it.
For many of us in the present day world, a powerful struggle goes on in our middle years. There are greater and greater demands on our personal reserves of compassion, empathy, time, energy and money. These resources are [...]