The Quest: Vision in an age of Crisis. Economic & Financial Crisis. Jungian Psychotherapy

S2 Ep89 The Ecological Catastrophe. Part 3 - to be published October 1st 2023

There are now some changes to the structure and timing of these podcasts.

Firstly, the Spanish language podcasts, which have explored the life and work of Carl Jung, have now ended. For the forseeable future there will only be the English speaking podcasts.

Secondly, I am moving the podcast release dates to the first of the month - an easier date to remember rather than the mid-month timing. Hence S2 Ep89 will be released on October 1st 2023 with subsequent podcasts on November 1st, December 1st etc.

The overall theme of the podcasts remains - the quest for vision in an age of crises. The current set of episodes are on the Ecological Catastrophe of our Age. As preparation for the coming episode you could read the highly recommended and freely available internet version of The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review. You could start with the Headline Messages (just a few pages) and then read the Abridged version. The full text is for the highly motivated student - who knows this might include yourself.

This current set of episodes is placed within the larger context of our exploration of the multiple crises of our age (dramatically referred to as the Ten Horsemen of the Apocalypse) which, in addition to the ecological, will include the economic, financial, political, social, health, military, technological, clash of ideas and ideologies (including the Culture Wars, Woke etc. ), and spiritual crisis of our age. En route we will encounter extraordinary possibilities emerging in the 21st century - such as transformations of human nature, global totalitarianism. modification, replacement or even extinction of Homo sapiens, and spiritual transformation.

As you will readily appreciate this is an ambitious undertaking, will take a number of years, and has to be done at a pace which will allow me to complete this task. So I ask for your patience. I also ask for your support, which you can do in two ways: firstly, by telling others of this podcast series; secondly by studying the content of this freely available podcast series (and its references) as seriously as you can. If you can accompany this with a spiritual practice, so much the better. Logic, argument and reason are important, yes, but the vision of spiritual experience is the decisive factor in the type of knowledge or gnosis we seek. As a Jungian analyst I am also very much in favour of combining this with deep self-examination. 

 I also run periodically (say once a year) a 100 day meditation online programme based on the Secret of the Golden Flower. Also there is a parallel series of lectures and meeting (called the Quest) which takes place once a month online. For more details, including contact information, you may consult my website www.alanmulhern.com

 

S3 Ep37. Últimas visiones y pensamiento de Carl Jung. Spanish Language.

Este es el episodio final de nuestra serie de podcasts sobre la vida y obra de Carl Jung. Este ha sido un proyecto conjunto entre el Instituto Venezolano de Psicología Analítica (representado por María Leonor de Planchart y Beatrice Rojas) y el Quest (representado por Alan Mulhern).

Terminamos, como deberíamos. con las propias visiones y pensamientos de Jung al final de su vida, tal como se cuentan en los capítulos finales de Recuerdos, Sueños, Pensamientos.

Estos incluyen: su experiencia cercana a la muerte; su posterior convicción de que la vida en esta tierra era como una caja tridimensional especialmente construida a la que llamamos "realidad"; sus pensamientos sobre la existencia después de la muerte; su conciencia de que esta vida era una proyección de una realidad más profunda; su convicción de que la civilización occidental necesitaba recuperar un ancla mitológica sin la cual estábamos perdidos; sus extraordinarias reinterpretaciones de la sabiduría, las religiones y las mitologías antiguas para reanimar el alma de la humanidad; y su creencia de que un amor profundo es la base del universo.

Jung escribió: “Hasta donde podemos discernir, el único propósito de la existencia humana es encender una luz en la oscuridad del mero ser”.

Pocas veces ha habido tanta luz en la oscuridad como la de Carl Jung.

S2 Ep88 The Ecological Catastrophe. Part 2

Life has always been dependent on and deeply interlinked with climate. The earth passes through great cycles of glacial and warming conditions with enormous consequences for the promotion or restriction and even extinction of life. Hominins, our ancestors, adapted to changing habitats and climatic environments. The genus Homo, of which Homo sapiens is but one species among others, had an even greater capacity to adapt. Nevertheless many of them succumbed to extreme climate change. Homo sapiens with its higher level brain power, symbolic thought and language, wider social and trading networks, more complex tools and weaponry was the most able to manage the increasingly colder and extreme climatic conditions and consequent changing food supplies. So far.

However the extremity of environmental and climatic change continues to our own period and we are reminded of Toynbee’s acute observation that civilization has to continually manage its challenges or face extinction. The same applies to species. Our species, Homo sapiens, is now a global business civilization and despite all its creativity is in great danger.

Climate change, often very severe, quite simply has been one of the biggest factors in earth history. And it has been one of the most powerful influences also in human history.

S2 Ep87 The Ecological Catastrophe. Part 1

This is the start of a mini-series on the ecological catastrophe of the Anthropocene. In the first episode the emphasis is on climate but subsequent ones will explore other components of this crisis, for example the great destruction of  bio-diversity, otherwise known as the sixth extinction event.

The current ecological emergency is undeniable. But evidently it can be ignored.

Can the attack upon nature be characterised as evil since it is a prime example of the destruction of Life and the Good?

Can something of the magnitude of Business Civilization,  the first example of a truly global civilization, reform itself to the extent required to avoid catastrophe?

Can a global leadership emerge that stops fighting and squabbling?

Will a global totalitarianism be required and will this lead to a world dystopia?

Can we rise to meet the scale of the challenge we face?

Do we realise that what is required is not just some new inventions leaving our standard of living and way of life intact  but rather a vast paradigm shift and a change in our very thinking and way of life?

Episodes will continue to  be released  around the 15th of the month.

S3 Ep36. El símbolo de Cristo - interpretación de Jung

“La descristianización de nuestro mundo, el desarrollo luciferino de la ciencia y la tecnología, y la espantosa destrucción material y moral que dejó la Segunda Guerra Mundial han sido comparados más de una vez con los acontecimientos escatológicos narrados en el Nuevo Testamento.

Cristo es este mito viviente de nuestra cultura. Es nuestro héroe cultural que encarna el mito del hombre primordial divino ...La imagen de Cristo es el arquetipo del Self”. Sin embargo, el símbolo del Cristo celestial carece de totalidad en el sentido psicológico moderno, ya que no incluye al luciferino que está separado. El cristianismo era muy consciente de esto, pero lo llamó privatio boni. Significaba la ausencia del bien más que una realidad positiva por derecho propio. Lucifer corresponde al Anticristo, la mitad oscura de la totalidad divina y humana. En el concepto cristiano, el arquetipo de la totalidad se divide irremediablemente en dos mitades irreconciliables que conducen en última instancia a un dualismo metafísico: la separación final del reino de los cielos del mundo de los condenados". Jung: Christ a Symbol of the Self. Aion CW Part 2

S2 Ep86. The Light of Higher Consciousness

Human nature is the integrated but at the same time conflicting combination of six parts of our development: animal inheritance, emotional structure, conscious ego intelligence, the unconscious, higher consciousness, and what Jungians call the Self. These have evolved over millions of years and many of them are a unity of conflicting parts. Despite their conflict there is also a transformational intelligence, the Self, within the psyche of mankind, which is capable of creating harmony within itself, diminishing repression and malevolence.

At the same time as the emergence of death awareness the higher self is then triggered into existence and this is closely related to love. Our higher self has many attributes such as higher intuition, illumination, revelation, music, art, poetry, and advanced forms of symbolic thought which are revolutionary in evolution. The level and range of our abstract symbolic understanding and expression are extraordinary.

The existence of the higher self in humans, we suggest, is a result of the inherent spirit in the cosmos, the anima mundi, an intelligence in nature and evolution. It cannot be really explained by a materialist view of evolution for it has little, if any survival value. It is grace, primal spirit, embodied in matter.

 

S3 Ep35. Jung y El Libro Tibetano de Los Muertos

El Libro Tibetano De Los Muertos describe las experiencias de la conciencia en el intervalo entre la muerte y el renacimiento y se divide en tres bardos:

El Chikhai Bardo - "el momento de la muerte" que tiene la experiencia de la "luz clara de la realidad".

El Chonyid Bardo - "la experiencia de la realidad" que presenta la experiencia de las ilusiones cósmicas.

El Sidpa Bardo o "bardo del renacimiento", que es el resultado del karma y tiene imágenes típicamente de hombres y mujeres copulando que conducen al renacimiento.

En el proceso de la muerte hay una posibilidad de liberación, pero muy pronto comienzan las ilusiones que conducen a la reencarnación. Las luminarias se vuelven más débiles y la visión más aterradora.

Jung dice:

“Las instrucciones son tan detalladas y están tan completamente adaptadas a los cambios aparentes en la condición del hombre muerto que todo lector serio debe preguntarse si estos sabios y viejos lamas no podrían, después de todo, haber vislumbrado la cuarta dimensión y rasgado el velo del mayor de los secretos de la vida.”

 

S2 Ep85. Origins of Evil. Part 2

Since mankind began to think morally the question of the origin of evil was a continual problem. We examine  some examples. We begin with the Ancient Egyptians and the Judaic tradition. Special focus is on the myth of Osiris and Seth on the one hand and Cain and Abel on the other.  The contribution of envy and malevolence to conflict and evil is noted.

 

S3 Ep34. Elementos básicos de la enseñanza budista y la metafísica tibetana. Spanish Language Series

Estamos encantados de continuar con los podcasts del Quest. Antes de continuar con la experiencia de Jung con la metafísica tibetana será útil cubrir algunos elementos básicos de la enseñanza budista, ya que el budismo es el fundamento de la espiritualidad tibetana.

“Si podemos reconocer las apariencias del bardo dharmata como la energía de sabiduría de nuestra propia mente, no hay diferencia entre el perceptor y lo percibido, y esta es una experiencia de no dualidad. Entrar completamente en esa experiencia es alcanzar la liberación que surge en ese momento en el estado posterior a la muerte cuando la conciencia puede darse cuenta de que sus experiencias no son más que la mente misma.”

S2 Ep84. Origins of Evil. Part 1

This is the first in a  miniseries on the origins of evil.  Creative and destructive forces exist as universal principles and underpin life on earth and the consciousness of humanity. The essence of evil in the psyche is the destruction of the good. This is  the "Satanic", malevolently opposed to the life-giving and creative. A distinction is made to the "Luciferian" which is a movement to consciousness and therefore while liberating is also the root of our alienation. Much of what we think of as bad, negative, egoistic  in humans originates in our animal ancestry and has evolved. However when primate  instincts, appetites and sexuality pass through the prism of human consciousness they are easily magnified and distorted. 

 

S2 Ep83. Tibetan Buddhism. Light in the Darkness.

The famous painting of the Tibetan wheel of life is in the grip of the Lord of Death. At its centre are two concentric circles: the outer shows the ascending and descending paths with souls in the death and rebirth cycle; the inner shows three animals, a pig, a snake, and a rooster which symbolise forces within human nature that perpetuate this cycle and are responsible for the suffering in life.

 

The pig represents ignorance, avidya, which is a basic misrepresentation of reality. The snake represents aggression which in the human species reaches a malignancy unprecedented in the rest of nature. The third is the rooster symbol – lust, desire and insatiable greed. These three are surely responsible for much of the darkness in the human species.

 

The Tibetan Book of the Dead can be used to guide the dying person through the experiences of consciousness after death, but it is also used during life by those who want to prepare for what will come after death. Liberation from the wheel of rebirth is actually possible in the after-death states or bardos.

S3 Ep33. Jung y El Libro Tibetano de la Gran Liberación. Spanish Language Series

Este episodio continúa una miniserie sobre las observaciones de Jung sobre textos orientales y explora sus comentarios sobre El Libro tibetano de la Gran Liberación, desconocido para Occidente hasta su primera publicación en 1954. El próximo episodio examinará sus comentarios sobre el Libro tibetano de los muertos.

Al igual que otros de sus comentarios, como los del I Ching y El Secreto de la Flor de Oro, aquí Jung pretende construir un puente desde el budismo tibetano a su escuela de Psicología Analítica. Por ejemplo escribe:

“… el inconsciente es la mente matriz con la cualidad de la creatividad adjunta, el lugar de nacimiento de todas las formas de pensamiento y similar a la Mente Universal de Oriente. Estas formas de pensamiento o arquetipos son omnipresentes y atemporales ... Por medio de la función trascendente no solo ganamos acceso a la Mente Universal sino que también llegamos a comprender porqué Oriente cree en la posibilidad de la autoliberación.”

S2 Ep82 Jung and the Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation

This episode continues a miniseries on Jung’s observations on oriental texts exploring his comments on The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation unknown to the West until its first publication in 1954. The next episode will examine his comments on the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Like other of his commentaries, such as those of the I Ching and the Secret of the Golden Flower, Jung is here aiming at a building a bridge from an unfamiliar Eastern religion, in this case Tibetan Buddhism, to a Western psychology, namely his school of Analytical Psychology.

For example he writes:

“… the unconscious, for Analytical Psychology, is the matrix mind with the quality of creativity attached to it, the birthplace of all thought forms and akin to the Universal Mind of the Orient. These thought forms or archetypes are omnipresent and timeless ... By means of the transcendent function we not only gain access to the “One Mind” but also come to understand why the East believes in the possibility of self liberation. If, through introspection and the conscious realisation of unconscious compensations, it is possible to transform one’s mental conditions and thus arrive at a solution of people’s complex, one would seem entitled to speak of self liberation”.

S2 Ep81. The Turning of the Year

No matter what the crises of the collective the individual has the opportunity of realising the inner light that lies in us all. This episode explores the Taoist text The Secret of the Golden Flower which describes in an extraordinary manner how to access this light through the meditation process.

The episode ends with a beautiful song The Turning of the Year by Mark Dunn of The Bringers of Change whose music albums can be found on Spotify etc. and as CDs at www.fallingarecords.com

The free meditation programme following the Secret of the Golden Flower starts Jan 23rd.

The Quest Lecture series (as distinct from these podcasts) starts Jan.28th.

There will be no podcast episode in January. The next one will be Feb.15th 2023.

 

 

 

S2 Ep80. Answer to Job. Part 8. Appraisal.

In this last episode of this miniseries I give Jung’s main argument and its pros and cons.

My feelings about the difficulties of the work are as follows:

Firstly, relevance. How much can it offer the modern world?

Secondly, isolationism -  its removal from the other analytic disciplines.

Thirdly, certain inconsistencies which may confuse the reader.

Fourthly, contradiction - whether the archetype of the Self is the totality or a specific archetype.

Fifthly, the inherent difficulty of the text.

Some of its strengths are as follows:

1: Its passion and tremendous personal conviction.

2:  Its roots in childhood experiences (visions, dreams).

3: Answer to Job has extra depth because of the number of esoteric traditions it is linked to.

4: Jung speaks with many voices, as it were out of the depth of many traditions.

5:  The audacity of the text.

6: Jung uses a new voice – that of archetypal psychology combined with mythology  and gnosticism.

7:  Answer to Job reinforces Jung’s impact on the practice of psychotherapy.

8: Answer to Job has a deep theological critique of Christian and Judaic civilizations.

9:  Jung insisted on the dangers of an apocalypse in our times.

10: Jung insists on the overarching metaphysical dimension to human existence.

S3 Ep32. Respuesta a Job Parte 9. Relevancia al mundo moderno. Spanish language series

Este es el episodio final de la miniserie sobre la Respuesta  a Job de Carl Jung. Aqui presento un resumen de su argumento  y doy dos ejemplos de la relevancia para el mundo moderno. En primer lugar, su temor de un apocalipsis moderno. Sin embargo, el vio la posibilidad de un proceso de individuación al traer esto a la conciencia. En segundo lugar, la relación de este texto con la práctica actual del análisis junguiano.

S2 Ep79. Answer to Job. Part 7. Questions and Responses.

The penultimate episode in this miniseries on Jung's Answer to Job asks the following questions of this text:

Q. Why is there no "real" history, sociology, or political science in the Answer to Job and indeed in Jung’s work in general?

Q. Are there other interpretations of the Answer to Job.

Q. How unusual is Jung’s interpretation?

Q. Jung speaks of God in many ways. Explain further.

Q. Does the theory of evolution change all bible studies including the Answer to Job?

Q. How can God be the totality and at the same time be a specific component of the unconscious?

Q. What impact has Answer to Job had on the practice of Jungian psychotherapy?

S3 Ep31. Respuesta a Job. Parte 8. Valoración crítica. Spanish language series

Este es el penúltimo episodio de esta miniserie. Examinamos las dificultades y fortalezas del Respuesta a Job.

Las dificultades incluyen:

Su relevancia; su alejamiento de las demás disciplinas analíticas; ciertas inconsistencias que pueden confundir al lector; una contradicción - si el arquetipo del Self es la totalidad o un arquetipo específico; la dificultad inherente del texto.

Algunas de sus fortalezas incluyen:

Su pasión y tremenda convicción personal; una profundidad adicional debido a la cantidad de tradiciones esotéricas a las que está vinculada; Jung habla con muchas voces, como si saliera de muchas tradiciones; la audacia del texto; Jung usa una nueva voz - la de la psicología arquetípica; impacto en la práctica de la psicoterapia; una profunda crítica teológica de las civilizaciones cristiana y judaica; advertencia de los peligros de un apocalipsis en nuestros tiempos; inclusión de la dimensión metafísica global de la existencia humana.

 

S2 Ep78 Answer to Job. Part 6. God wants to create humanity ... but not quite

A resume is given of the episodes so far. Responses to the following questions are given:

Q. Is God separate from us?

Q. How can God be a personality as he mostly appears to be in the bible?

Q. If the dualism of good and evil is contained in God then what is the point of the individuation process in human beings?

Q. How can God be the archetype of the Self?

Q. Jung speaks of the God in different ways in Answer to Job. Is he inconsistent?

Q. How is it possible that God can be equated with the unconscious?

Q. What does Jung mean by God wants to create man but not quite?

S3 Ep30. Respuesta a Job Parte 7. ¿Hay una explicación en la historia judaica y cristiana para la literatura apocalíptica? Spanish language series.

En este episodio queremos responder a las siguientes preguntas

¿Por qué no hay historia 'real', sociología o ciencia política en el libro?

¿Qué explicación histórica podría ofrecerse para la literatura apocalíptica?

¿Por qué la interpretación de Jung es atípica?

Como la teoría de la evolución cambia todos los estudios bíblicos, incluido la Respuesta a Job.

¿Cómo puede Dios ser la totalidad y al mismo tiempo ser un componente específico del inconsciente?

Además, en el episodio de hoy contamos un sueño notable que Jung tuvo en 1920 en su visita al norte de África. Su interpretación del sueño es fascinante e ilustra material importante en la Respuesta a Job.