Wednesday, November 05, 2008

One for the Jungians


Like millions of other people I wept with joy and relief last night too. And I'm not even American. I had to stay up till 4 am GMT in order to watch history get made.
I also laughed, early this morning. Because I suddenly remembered something the Jungian analyst Robert Johnson once said about the importance of honouring the Shadow.


Johnson pointed out that we can often prevent the Shadow’s tendency to mess up our lives and plans and projects if we can ‘get in first’ and find creative, symbolic ways of honouring it. Kind of like bringing offerings to a tricky god.
And I had a funny vision. I thought how splendidly auspicious it would be if the new puppy were to wee right in the middle of the carpet in the oval office on the very first day.
What do you think of that idea, you Jungians out there? Taking on the Presidency in these troubled times is going to be one helluva challenge. Do you think a propitiation like that might be good insurance? If so, I'm sure it could be arranged.

7 comments:

Nina said...

lol, this really made me laugh :-)

MaryContrary said...

The image is very funny but the thought is intriguing. When things go too smoothly we can't help wonder when everything will fall apart.

Elderwoman said...

Precisely! Which is why I love the idea that we can pre-empt it with a symbolic action.
That, I believe, was why the kings of old always had a court jester, to play tricks and symbolically mess things up. And it's why Death always takes part in the carnival procession. We need to acknoweldge the dark side of everything, for whenever we don't it will take us by surprise.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I love this, too.
I SO hope it really happens.
It's just not very funny when it is the King who is the jester.

What a relief. I think the energy from all around the world really helped.

THANKS!

Anonymous said...

Marian,
It was a good thing we did, electing Barack Obama. I'm very proud of us right now. After 8 years of Bush the people finally woke up and made their collective voices heard!
I'm no scholar of Jung but I think things will be shaken up quite a bit over at the White house in the next few years, both politically and practically speaking.
Yay!

PEACE said...

Perfect! I am wondering if someone White House Personnel is assigned dog duty...so to speak?

Anonymous said...

Hah--seems like more a matter of when than if--that first Oval Room
wee, I mean