… the sound of crickets chirping on calm summer nights…
Adversaries, Psychology, and World Politics
Statement of Study
In The Experience of “Negative Otherness”: How Shall We Treat Our Enemies (2002) psychologist Stephen Gilligan, Ph.D. argues for an alternative to dealing with our enemies rather than simply fighting or fleeing. He claims that these two options are often insufficient, limited in their effectiveness to resolve conflicts.
Read the rest of this entry »
Both talk about an “Objective Psyche.”
For Jung this was a better term for the Collective Unconscious.
Merleau-Ponty said that the Objective Psyche resides in cultural objects. In relics and landscapes, one finds proof of the presence of the Other, of other people, beneath a veil of anonymity. One is seen in the pipe for smoking, in the spoon for eating, in the bell for ringing; and it is in the perception of a human act and another man or woman that a cultural world is verified. – paraphrased from the French Phenomenologie de la Perception, 1945
I went to a seminar at the Jung Society where Paula McKinnon talked about complexes. I would like to recount the information here.
We started out by naming what we’ve heard: father complex, power complex, inferiority complex, oedipus complex, money complex, etc, etc. We know we have a complex when there is an extreme emotional response to a situation in life.
Complexes form in childhood, in parent relationships, and in relationships we’ve had with others. They are the result of conditioning childhood experiences pertaining to instinctual patterns and survival; events, traumas and difficulties.
They can be explained in terms of cause and effect. Complexes are pieces of ourselves that were split off from the ego and driven into the unconscious through acts of repression.
I dreamed that Dad died. The feel of the dream was similar to when he was in the hospital and almost died in real life. In my conscious world I had revisited some very old feelings from the era mom and dad kept splitting up and getting back together- once a year for almost a decade. These feelings came up talking about our wedding and listening to some music that reminded me of a trip I took a few years ago that also reminded me of dad’s infidelity and both mom and dad’s broken hearts. I remembered vividly huge waves of rage, disappointment, helplessness, and frustration. I had been unable to separate myself from their drama, and I spent my teenage years, already hard years, severely depressed. I was in so much pain, seeing them in so much pain, that I literally tried to kill myself. From what I gather, a symbolic death happened too in my psyche, a part of me split off, and my development was arrested at a time that I was angry that my parents were not taking care of me as they should. I have seen this manifest in my life, as I have emotionally held others responsible when it comes to my well-being. When I am sad, I need you to x, y, and z.
I was crying and I asked Chris to hold my hand. He said some things that helped me. Assigning blame to someone else was simply not empowering. Why then, would I choose these parents, this situation? Maybe I had an ancient habit of Self-abuse! Another way to look at it, is, in order to know who we are, we must learn what we are not. It is true, I am a nurturer! Under all of the self-abuse, I am a very nurturing person. How fitting– before, when, attuning to my unconscious, I asked my pain what it looked like. I saw an image of a big, cave-sized gaping vagina. What a symbol of the feminine. I must be going through a transformation of turning a negative archetype into a positive one. And to confirm, possibly I dreamed the death of my father, who symbolizes all those old feelings. I want to be free of them. In my dream, I said to myself, luckily I had called him and stayed in touch in the last days of his life. Love wins, and transforms.
The next night, last night, I dreamed that I didn’t want to marry Chris. I was chasing some bodybuilder. This is a strange incongruency that I haven’t figured out yet.
Yoga postures are like the Platonic Forms
Yoga is an opening
of the body
into geometric shapes.
Putting the mind
where before had just been darkness
Matter that is unaware of what it is holding
Opening to the essence of the form
Staying with the feeling
Moving through any discomfort
Perfecting the union of mind and body
Matter becoming conscious
What is it like to be a …
Triangle Mountain Tree Rock Eagle Bridge Dog Child
Nina Lois is a graduate student at the University of Colorado at Denver obtaining a Master's Degree in Humanities with a B.A. in political science. Her passions are broad when it comes to the human condition. She is deeply interested in philosophy, psychology, environmental and social justice, peace studies, music, nutrition, tradition, and progress. 
Upon her imminent graduation, she wishes to contribute to the health, wealth, and happiness of the community through involvement, writing, and research. For goodness's sake, love the body, cultivate the mind and a garden, and feed the soul!
She can be contacted at nlturtledove[at]gmail[dot]com
Steam from the coffee
Permeated our nostrils
An oboe carried a raw melody
in through the open window -
Lace curtains waved in an afternoon breeze
Drawing attention away
From paintings dotting greying walls
to an unfocused point
suspended somewhere in the air
The perfect scene of a film,
My czech cousin and I agreed. Who is to recognize the voice of the calling?
Thanks again