Eternalised

Eternalised

In Pursuit of Meaning. My life’s task is to help as many people as possible who seek to enrich their lives with value and meaning. read less
Society & CultureSociety & Culture
The Psychology of Astrology
29-11-2023
The Psychology of Astrology
The Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung studied astrology for over 40 years, and was primarily interested in the way astrology could help to explore the psyche. For Jung, astrology represents the sum of all the psychological knowledge of antiquity. The notion of seeing mythic narratives through patterns in the heavens is one of the earliest attempts to link the outer world with the inner world. The well-known Hermetic dictum, “As above, so below,” is key to astrology. It is the idea that man (the microcosm), is influenced by the universe (the macrocosm). That is to say, truths about the nature of the cosmos may be inferred from truths about human nature, and vice versa. At the exact moment of birth, each person receives the typical qualities of the libido or energy which is characteristic of him or her. Time, or the moment understood as a peculiar form of energy, seems to coincide with our psychological condition. For Jung, this leads to a peculiar hypothesis, that our personality does not have to do with the position of the stars, but rather with the qualitative effect of time, also called synchronicity, based on the ancient Stoic concept of cosmic sympathy. ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate a coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⭐ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (3:54) The Zodiac: Wheel of Life (5:06) The Basics of Astrology (9:37) Microcosm and Macrocosm (10:44) Astrology becomes Astronomy (11:48) Astrology and Carl Jung (17:12) Astrology as Ancient Psychology (20:02) Astrological Age and Precession of the Equinoxes (23:12) Qualitative Time (27:02) Astrology and Synchronicity (28:23) Sympatheia: Cosmic Sympathy (29:00) Psychoid and Unus Mundus, Pleroma, Anima Mundi (30:00) Planets as Archons (Gnosticism) (30:50) Spirit of the Depths and Spirit of the Times (32:28) Jung’s Thoughts on Astrology Before Death (33:15) Fate and Free Will (36:13) Individuation and Daimon (Soul-Image) (38:20) Exoteric and Esoteric Astrology (39:25) Aquarius: The Coming New Aeon (43:31) Conclusion
The Psychology of Angels
25-10-2023
The Psychology of Angels
Angels have fascinated human consciousness since the beginning of time. The word angel derives from the Greek angelos, which is the default translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mal’ākh (literally “messenger”). The angel is a messenger between God and mankind. Whether we talk about angels, daimons, djinns, fairies, or any other of such beings, they all hold something in common, despite their difference in appearance, namely, they are all archetypal images of the same fundamental pattern, the archetype of the ethereal being. These spirits coexist with us; they just exist at another level of reality. As the archetypal image of the call, the angel initiates individuation, the journey towards wholeness of personality (the Self), as well theosis (union with God). Therefore, angels can help us both psychologically and spiritually. The integration of the angel archetype allows us to examine the nature of our essence or soul, the uniqueness that asks to be lived in each of us, and that unfolds itself during our lifetime. Thus, angels carry our true vocation, which is a calling, towards the meaning of our life. ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate a coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⭐ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (2:22) Angels in Zoroastrianism (3:33) Ba-soul, Genius, Daimon (6:25) The Transmigration of Souls and Reincarnation (8:10) Djinns, Fairies, Elementals (9:10) The Archetype of The Ethereal Being (9:50) Subtle bodies (10:18) The Role of Angels in the Creation of Evil (12:42) The Purpose and Motivation of Angels (14:35) The Anthropos (Primeval Man) (15:24) The Celestial Hierarchy: First Choir (17:20) The Celestial Hierarchy: Second Choir (17:53) The Celestial Hierarchy: Third Choir (20:40) Swedenborg and Blake (22:12) The Psychology of Angels (27:23) The Angel of Death (27:55) The Angel’s Call (30:16) Angels: Individuation and Theosis (32:58) Angels and The Numinous (34:13) The Invocation of Angels (36:08) Angels and Dreams (37:05) Jacob’s Ladder and Soul Geography (38:38) Wrestling with The Angel (40:40) The Integration of The Angel Archetype (42:16) Conclusion
The Psychology of The Wise Old Man (Sage)
25-09-2023
The Psychology of The Wise Old Man (Sage)
The Wise Old Man or Sage is an archetype that is recognised by almost everyone, be it in stories, games, movies, or everyday life. In myth he is often shown as one living in isolation, meditating and living a simple life deep in a forest, in the mountains, or in other uninhabited places. The Wise Old Man is a lover of wisdom, and uses his experience to guide others. He is portrayed as a mysterious person or a wizard, in contact with nature and the numinous and unseen forces that permeate our existence. The Wise Old man appears as a teacher of wisdom such as King Solomon from the Bible. In Hermeticism, he is Hermes Trismegistus, the fount of all wisdom and the teacher of the mystery of all ages. In China, the sage is Lao Tzu ("old man" or "old master"), the founder of Taoism, while in India there are the sadhus and yogis. In Arthurian Legend he is Merlin, in Nietzsche he appears as the prophet Zarathustra, and in Carl Jung as Philemon. In modern popular fiction we have Yoda, Gandalf and Dumbledore, among others. In the individuation process (the lifelong journey towards psychic wholeness), the archetype of the Wise Old Man is late to emerge, and is therefore seen as an indication of the Self (the total personality). ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate a coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⭐ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (1:35) The Symbolism of the Desert (3:30) The Hermit and The Wandering Ascetic (5:00) The Wise Old Man Archetype (12:32) Senex and Puer Aeternus (14:47) The Dark Side of The Wise Old Man (18:34) The Wise Old Man and The Hero (19:44) The Dangers of Identifying as The Sage (21:00) The Hermit in Tarot (24:35) The Hermit and The Madman Archetype (27:18) Facing Death in Old Age (28:08) The Forgotten Art of Solitude (32:48) The Sage’s Journey: The Search for Truth (35:20) The Eternal Inner Centre (37:24) The Book of Ecclesiastes: Meaninglessness (38:47) The Truth Shall Set You Free (39:50) Conclusion
The Quest for the Holy Grail (The Self)
23-08-2023
The Quest for the Holy Grail (The Self)
The Quest for the Holy Grail has fascinated the Western consciousness for a long time. It epitomises the true spirit of Western man and is, in many ways, the myth of Western civilisation. It is a perennial and timeless pattern that expresses fundamental concerns of the human condition. The Holy Grail is a mysterious object guarded by a king in a hidden castle. It has been described as a cup, dish, or a magical stone that can provide healing powers, immortality, eternal youth, and unlimited nourishment. It represents the fulfilment of the highest spiritual potentialities in human consciousness, which endows the world with a symbolic and spiritual meaning. The quest for the Holy Grail is always more or less the same, it is the hero’s journey, at the end of which one obtains the “treasure hard to attain.” It is the search for that which makes life most meaningful. Psychologically, the Holy Grail—like the philosophers' stone—is a symbol of the Self, the psychic totality and ultimate wholeness of the human being. The soul which represents the life principle, is that wondrous vessel which is the goal of the quest, whose final secret can never be revealed, but must ever remain hidden because its essence is a mystery. ☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate a coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⭐ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Support on Patreon⁠⁠⁠ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (2:44) Perceval and the Grail (9:35) The Continuations of the Grail Legend (10:35) The Grail and The Philosophers’ Stone (13:46) From Grail to Holy Grail (23:17) Holy Grail: The Spirit of Western Man (24:41) The Treasure Hard to Attain (26:10) The Eternally Alone (27:52) The Holy Grail as the Self (29:19) Balancing Light and Dark (33:12) Merlin: The Wise Old Man Archetype (36:53) Conclusion
The Psychology of Fairy Tales
23-07-2023
The Psychology of Fairy Tales
Fairy tales fascinate us and give us a sense of warmth and home-coming that comes from the mythical realm of the imagination, a necessary complement to our everyday life. We are fundamentally story-telling creatures, and there is much we can learn by reflecting on the fairy tales heard in childhood. They seem almost magical because they connect us with emotions deeply buried within that cannot find expression in outer life, because as we grow up, the world of imagination is shunned by our peers, considered as unproductive and good for nothing. Fairy tales can provide us with a sense that we are not alone in our life struggles. Humans have faced these struggles in one form or another since the beginning of time, and fairy tales represent this fundamental concern of the human condition. Psychologically, fairy tales reflect our inner landscape, and the characters can represent aspects of our own personalities. Jungian analyst Marie-Louise von Franz writes: "Fairy tales are the purest and simplest expression of collective unconscious psychic processes. Therefore, their value for the scientific investigation of the unconscious exceeds that of all other material. They represent archetypes in their simplest, barest, and most concise form." ☕ ⁠⁠⁠Donate a coffee⁠⁠⁠ ⭐ ⁠⁠⁠Support on Patreon⁠⁠ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (3:43) What are Fairy Tales? (8:15) The Origin of Fairy Tales (11:39) Faërie, Fairies and Eucatastrophe (13:00) Fairy Tales and Collective Unconscious (18:19) The Interpretation of Fairy Tales (21:31) Rituals and Archetypal Stories (22:15) The Most Ancient Form of Tale (23:16) Individuation in Fairy Tales (25:14) The Three Feathers (28:42) Interpretation: The Three Feathers (30:39) Rumpelstiltskin (34:05) The Frog King or Iron Henry (37:15) Beauty and The Beast (40:15) Hansel and Gretel (43:06) Sleeping Beauty or Briar Rose (46:42) Conclusion
The Psychology of the Devil
24-06-2023
The Psychology of the Devil
The Devil goes by many names: Satan, Lucifer, The Great Beast, Beelzebub, The Prince of Darkness. He is the adversary, the accuser, the tempter, the deceiver, and the one who divides from God. The Devil is incredibly wicked and evil, but also intelligent and witty – he is the father of all tricksters – that is what makes him so dangerous. The English word “devil” derives from the Greek diábolos (“the one who divides”). Diabolic is the term in contemporary English. The Greek verb dia-bollein literally means to tear apart. These divisions occur in almost every facet of our lives: race, sex, religion, politics, and economics. The demonic is an inversion of order. Temptation is the ordinary activity of the devil. It is a real thing for us in each and every day. It begins with deception, buying into the lies of the devil, who promises good, only to deliver evil. The goal of this is to create division or inner conflict in ourselves. In despair, we numb ourselves with pleasure or diversion, which can lead to addiction. Hell is that state of mind which has abandoned itself so completely to a given sin that it cannot act independently of that sin. ☕ ⁠⁠Donate a coffee⁠⁠ ⭐ ⁠⁠Support on Patreon⁠ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (1:18) Daimon (2:06) Pan: The God of Panic and Pandemonium (3:24) Scapegoating, Projection, God-Complex (5:38) The Devil: The One Who Divides (7:06) The Characteristics of the Diabolic (9:05) Deals with the Devil (13:30) Archetypes, Ego-Inflation, and Delusion (14:35) The Fall from Paradise (Felix Culpa) (16:52) The Devil and Christ as Lucifer (Morning Star) (20:09) Satan (The Adversary) and Job (23:52) The Ultimate Tragic Story (24:29) The Harrowing of Hell (25:16) Satanism: Evil Disguised as Good (27:02) The Psychological Activities of The Demonic (31:08) Carl Jung on the Devil (Shadow) (33:23) The Devil in The Major Arcana (34:13) The One-Sided Western Image of God (36:50) Summum Bonum: The Highest Good (37:22) Privatio Boni: The Absence of Good (37:56) Deus Absconditus: The Hidden Dark Side of God (39:00) The Apocalypse (Revelation) and Enantiodromia (43:00) Conclusion
The Psychology of The Fool
25-05-2023
The Psychology of The Fool
The fool is one of the most relatable, intriguing and recurring figures in the world. There have been fools who have caused surprise and laughter since time immemorial. We worship folly by seeing it in people and in the world and by willingly displaying it in ourselves. It is one of the timeless archetypes, which we all inherit at birth. Many of us suffer from the absence of the fool in our lives. Frenetic and upright, we take ourselves too seriously. As William Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Forgetting that playfulness is a basic human need, we wonder why we so easily become bored and exhausted, losing all capacity for spontaneity, authenticity, and passion. The antidote to this would be to give the fool archetype some space in our lives. “The soul demands your folly; not your wisdom.” - Carl Jung ☕ ⁠Donate a coffee⁠ ⭐ ⁠Support on Patreon⁠ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (2:00) In Praise of Folly (3:45) The Wise Fool (5:15) The Fool as Truth-Teller (6:24) Fool, Clown and Trickster (10:24) The Medieval Court Jester (13:54) The Shakespearean Fool (14:38) Parsifal: The Quest for The Holy Grail (17:47) Don Quixote (20:02) Dostoevsky’s The Idiot (22:17) The Fool as Hero (22:54) Ivan The Fool (24:50) The Fool’s Journey (Tarot) (27:57) The Number Zero in The Fool (29:32) Symbolic Transformations of The Fool in Tarot (31:42) The Fool: Precursor to Transformation (34:44) The Dark Side of The Fool (36:04) The Fool and the Child Archetype (36:45) The Fool: The Inferior Function (38:08) The Holy Fool
The Psychology of Nightmares
27-04-2023
The Psychology of Nightmares
Nightmares. We all have them. But what exactly do they mean? Why do we have bad dreams? Is there any psychological meaning behind them? Nightmares are the source of much of the horror we see in stories, myths, movies and games. They are an encounter with the dark side of the unconscious, which often includes facing some of the most painful aspects of who we are. And one does not know what that part of oneself is, until one confronts it. Nightmares are the most substantial and vitally important dreams, and are of therapeutic value. They wake us up with a cry, as if all our repressed content forms a bubble which expands until it bursts one night, and we experience a nightmare. They are the shock therapy nature uses on us when we are too unaware of some psychological danger, and shock us out of deep unconscious sleepiness about some dangerous situation. As if the unconscious says, “Look here, this problem is urgent!” The psyche tells us to “wake up” and face what we have neglected. The majority of nightmares represent opportunities for personal healing through much-needed emotional release. ☕ ⁠Donate a coffee⁠ ⭐ ⁠Support on Patreon⁠ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (3:00) Dream-Motifs in Nightmares (3:37) Lilith: The First Nightmare (5:07) The Origin & Folklore of Nightmares (9:09) Non-REM Sleep (Night Terrors) (10:36) REM Sleep (Nightmares) (11:43) Nightmare in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment (15:40) Fever Dreams and Franz Kafka (17:36) Post-Traumatic Nightmares and Recurring Nightmares (19:00) Precognitive Nightmares (20:36) Carl Jung and The Meaning of Dreams (26:07) The Shadow and Nightmares (28:32) The Devouring Mother Archetype (30:39) Active Imagination (33:08) Lucid Dreaming (36:14) Nightmares and Artists (37:40) Nightmare Artists: Beksiński and Giger
Philosophy: The Love of Wisdom | A Guide to Life
14-01-2023
Philosophy: The Love of Wisdom | A Guide to Life
Philosophy is a mode of life, an act of living, and a way of being. Modern philosophy has forgotten this tradition, and philosophical discourse has all but overtaken philosophy as a way of life. Philosophy is not just an intellectual discipline, which can get abstract and divorced from the real world, but is most importantly a way of life that teaches us how to best live our lives.    Philosophy is a mode of existing in the world, which has to be practiced at each instant, and the goal of which is to transform the whole of the individual’s life. Real wisdom does not merely cause us to know: it makes us “be” in a different way.    Ancient philosophy proposed to mankind an art of living. By contrast modern philosophy appears above all as the construction of a technical jargon reserved for specialists. ☕ Donate a coffee ⭐ Support on Patreon ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (2:18) Philosophy as a Way of Life (7:12) Socrates (8:53) Master of Dialogue: Know Thyself (13:30) Plato (15:58) Idealism: Platonic Forms (17:15) Parable of the Cave (19:33) Plato’s Cave in The Matrix (20:16) Plato’s Tripartite Theory of the Soul (22:36) Philosophy as an Exercise of Death (24:56) Aristotle (27:06) Hellenistic Schools (28:25) Cynicism (31:45) Pyrrhonism (34:46) Stoicism (39:45) Premeditatio Malorum (41:03) Memento Mori (42:24) Voluntary Discomfort (43:54) Epicureanism (50:12) Similarities Epicureanism & Stoicism (50:57) Neoplatonism (57:45) View from Above: Cosmic Consciousness
The Psychology of The Man-Child (Puer Aeternus)
08-10-2022
The Psychology of The Man-Child (Puer Aeternus)
The term puer aeternus is Latin for eternal boy. Carl Jung used the term  in the exploration of the psychology of eternal youth and creative  child within every person.    It is an archetype, and like all archetypes, has both a positive and a  negative side. It can bring the energy, beauty and creativity of  childhood into adult life, or thwart self-realisation and doom us to  both unrealistic adolescent fantasies and experiencing life as a prison.     The puer is the man-child who refuses to grow up, take responsibility,  and face life’s challenges, he expects other people, typically his  parents, to solve all his problems. He tries to go as high as possible  away from reality, ending up like Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn’t grow  up, who lives in Neverland, a place where people cease to age and are  eternally young. The puer aeternus is also known as the Peter Pan syndrome. This has become an increasingly common problem in our modern age.   Those who find themselves unable to commit to work, to form satisfactory  relationships, to commit to the discipline of education, to carry the  weight of responsibility, or who feel that their life has become  meaningless, will find the integration of the archetype of eternal youth  invaluable in their life. ☕ Donate a coffee ⭐ Support on Patreon ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (2:36) Adult Struggle with the Paradise of Childhood (15:08) Senex and Puer (16:55) The Role of Play in Jung’s Life (19:24) The Puer Aeternus and The Little Prince (26:16) Integration of Puer Aeternus
The Psychology of The Trickster
16-09-2022
The Psychology of The Trickster
There is perhaps no figure in literature more fascinating than the trickster, appearing in various forms in the folklore of many cultures. Trickster is witty and deceitful. He is the timeless root of all the picaresque creations of world literature, and is not reducible to one single literary entity. Trickster tales have existed since ancient times, and has been said to be at the very foundation of civilisation and culture. They belong to the oldest expressions of mankind.    Tricksters are the breakers of rules, agents of mischief, masters of deceit, and boundary crossers. He is an agent of change, and is amoral, not immoral.   Trickster is at one and the same time creator and destroyer, giver and negator, he who dupes and who is always duped himself.    Psychologically, the trickster is an archetype, part of the collective unconscious. Trickster is everywhere, he is an eternal state of mind.    The integration of the trickster archetype allows us to go from being ruled by our own self-centred ego to a new way of living, in which one has integrity and relatedness. It allows us to become aware of our true emotions, behaviours, and thoughts, that our unconscious persona is hiding, and without which there is no individuation at all. ☕ Donate a coffee ⭐ Support on Patreon ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⌛ Timestamps (0:00) Introduction (0:45) What is The Trickster? (2:35) Primitive Form of The Trickster (3:48) Trickster and Laughter (5:50) Trickster as Agent of Change (7:35) Trickster as Creator and Destroyer (9:40) Trickster as Amoral (10:50) Trickster Figures (17:32) The Psychology of The Trickster (22:10) Trickster and Shadow (24:04) Trickster and Ego Inflation (26:15) The Trickster in Alchemy (29:08) Conclusion