In a session with my therapist, I detailed my mind’s vacillation between the intuitive and the analytical which, from my current understanding, is representative of anima/animus, yin/yang, head/heart, opposites in wisdom traditions with the goal of stitching into an integrative whole. The work is part of Jung’s individuation process, which also involves blending in the collective unconscious.
He recommended I read, Becoming Whole: A Jungian Guide to Individuation, and I’m halfway through the short volume with plans for multiple reads until the new-ish to me concepts take root. The book contains two published lectures and seminars by Bud Harris, Ph.D.
On my cycle north from downtown Chicago, making exceptional time due to SSW winds, I paused to sit on a lakefront park bench. The above photo, taken at that moment, encapsulates the split I experience that diminishes my momentum and growth. On one side, Lake Michigan flows and shifts in confluence with the other forces of nature. On the other side—steel grids of control and accomplishment (actually, not as apparent in my .5 phone photo as it was in person, due to all the friendly trees populating the urban space.)
Simply put—I feel something and then talk myself out of it. I get in my own way. I’m constantly trying to reconcile the head, heart, and gut, but find each one reigns as monarch of the mountain until it’s shoved aside, leaving no room for collaboration and resulting in a life that feels off-balance.
Last November, I started a short story about two sisters—one named Ocean and the other City, with the last name of Atlantic. For years, I’ve been enamored with the girl + bot series by Chris Appelhans. It amazes me how your unconscious makes known what needs to be reconciled, within yourself and within the collective.
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