Re: Thinking outside the box+

[Guest guest]

Steve, that is a remarkable manifesto that u have written. I can feel where u are coming from. I accept yr criticisms but regret that u do not take up my most important point: the collective projection upon the imams in question.

Suicide bombers have to have some convictions to override the survival instinct. What do u think that wld be? Pure hate? or a bargain w/Allah?

I once read a psych study ab killing. The killers in question - I think in Africa - were unanimous that once u have killed 1 or 2, it doesn't matter anymore. A life ceases to be precious n u might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb. Killing bec transpersonal. A power numbness.

Jung was not afraid to address wh happens w/'l'abaissement du niveau mentale'- n the bestiality going on in Iraq n Darfur et al suggest hell is spread upon the earth not under it. But heaven is spread upon it too n "men do not see it.' {Gosp acc to ]

The contrast between the news/ads on TV reminds me of the medieval Totentanz motif, where illustrations of people dancing included a skeleton.

It will be interesting to see what happens wh the Pope goes to Turkey n Bush to Jordan??

U have to admit that the dialog betw 'faith n reason' is on the world stage. The dichotomy of our moribund Age of Pisces.

I do not claim to be an expert in Islamic history but I have a right to voice my opinion based on 2 things: 1) I have traced the impact upon history in broad terms through the evolution of consciousness in the astrological [astronomical] Ages thanks to a lifelong interest in the matter. Read my book THE HEAVENS DECLARE. 2) ! have an abiding trust in collective unfolding. Despite appearances to the contrary, we did not create ourselves, the solar system is still running on time, and humanity seems to continue to be a work in progress.

As I am now 84, in a countdown to my demise, I write hopefully that the feminine will come to our rescue in time to come.

Love is stronger than hate. Not eros alone but agape. I almost died in 1949, haemorrhaging w/miscarriage, blood press down to 3? n had an out-of-body exper -same as Emerson's it seems n antedating Jung's. We all went out into space n looked down at the small earth. I was asked the question: Can you love enough?

It changed my life.

So, love fr one continuing to be

ao, the Silly Old Woman

[Guest guest]

>We all went out into space n looked down at the small earth.

Sounds like an experience I had and in addition to the small earth, I saw it surrounded by what I learned several years later could be a version of Indra's web. It was profound for me.

Blissings,

Sam

Don't believe everything you think. ~ Bumper StickerMany of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view. ~ Obi-Wan Kenobi Choose your illusion carefully. ~ UnknownWho looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. ~ C.G. Jung (from a letter to Fanny Bowditch, dated 22 Oct 1916 in Volume I of the Letters of C. G. Jung)A dream is an answer to a question we haven't yet learned how to ask. ~ Fox Mulder on the X-FilesJust because I believe something doesn't mean it's true; just because I don't believe something doesn't mean it's untrue. ~ Sam

[Guest guest]

Sounds like an experience I had and in addition to the small earth, I saw it surrounded by what I learned several years later could be a version of Indra's web. It was profound for me.

Sam, what were the circumstances for u wh this happened? Am so delighted to get confirmation!

love

ao

[Guest guest]

>what were the circumstances for u wh this happened? Am so delighted to get confirmation!

I was doing a meditation and from somewhere I got this urge to ask to "see my true self." I have no idea where that boldness came from but the vision that eventually followed was truly amazing. The vision starts in a vale in the pines in the mountains where it's nearly dark but there's still a clear blue sky above where the sun still shines. First my "true self" arises from the pine needles carpeting the earth, and stands in front of me for a time, later to be joined by others that are similar. They all stand silently in witness for a while, tongues of flame in the darkness, tongues of flame that threw neither heat nor light but that were accompanied by a roaring as of wind but nothing moved on the air.

Then one by one the tongues of flame took off in swirling flight into the now-dark sky and my POV changed to one out in space looking down on the lovely blue and white pearl of the earth. I saw zooming pinpoints of light trailing threads of light around the globe and I knew these were the tongues of flame I'd seen previously. As their paths crossed to make a mesh, there was a pinpoint of this intense diamond-like light at each intersection and I knew that each point was aware of and was known by each other pinpoint. Then there was eventually a golden net around the earth which now seemed to be lit from within as it slowly continued to rotate within the net.

When I suddenly realized I was now trying to control the vision, it ended.

I think maybe I've posted this in more detail before but I'm not sure. I'll add the full adventure after my sig.

Blissings,

Sam

Don't believe everything you think. ~ Bumper StickerMany of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view. ~ Obi-Wan Kenobi Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. ~ C.G. Jung (from a letter to Fanny Bowditch, dated 22 Oct 1916 in Volume I of the Letters of C. G. Jung)Just because I believe something doesn't mean it's true; just because I don't believe something doesn't mean it's untrue. ~ Sam

… Then while doing a meditation where I decided to offer up my annoyingly persistently wandering thoughts as a prayer rather than trying to quiet them or ignore them as I usually did, I suddenly had the intuition to ask to see my true self and I stated my intention as exactly that, “Let me see my true self.†Without any real expectation I then continued to sit and watch the always-fascinating light and color show behind my eyelids.

A while after I stated my intention to see my true self, abruptly in some way I “see†that I’m sitting near the edge of a high mountain glade surrounded by a pine forest. It's deep dusk, nearly dark, where I am among the trees but the sky high above the mountains still holds a lingering intense daylight blue shading to indigo blue where night is approaching. Suddenly I hear a deep-throated roaring as of a powerful wind or a wildfire or a cataract but I can’t locate where it’s coming from. It seems to be all around me rather than being localized in any one place or direction. But there is no wind, no storm, nothing moves the trees. Then, not too far in front of my folded legs (I assume they’re there; I actually seem to be more of a point of view than a body), I see the tip of a great narrow tongue of red-gold flame, like a sword blade, slowly begin to rise, pushing through the thick layer of pine needles that carpets the ground. The flame inexorably lengthens and rises high, high, toward the bright though darkening sky. The blade exudes a sense of nearly overwhelming majesty and power, intensely alive yet detached. I feel my mouth gape as my head tips far back to stare upward at it as the tip of the blade ascends higher and higher. I'm in absolute awe and disbelief that this could possibly be an answer to my stated intention. That couldn’t be “me!†But by now I’ve learned a bit so I decide that since I made a request, it behooves me to accept whatever response I get. So I simply sit and “see.†And listen.

Eventually the sword-flame stops rising and for a few moments simply stands in front of me and burns majestically. I say it “burns,†but it doesn’t flicker like a flame, its fierce glow is steady. In spite of its brilliance it casts no light on or under the darkened trees around the glade. Nothing is charred, there is no heat cast off from it. All that power and energy is incredibly and impersonally self-contained. It almost seems as if it’s displaying itself for me but I have no idea if it’s even aware of my presence. It’s nearly as tall as the huge pines. The roaring is all-pervasive now and I can feel its energy penetrating as well as emanating from my body. Yet, as powerful as it is, it doesn’t hurt my ears nor does the brilliance of the flame hurt my eyes. I feel no fear but only stunned awe.

After an indeterminate time, the tips of other similar sword-tongues of flame begin to push through the pine needle carpet on the floor of the glade behind “my†flame and they rise equally high. The roaring inconceivably increases, though the sound doesn’t seem to be coming directly from the flames. I still can’t tell where it might be coming from, it’s just there, all around me and, in one way or another, in me. Finally there is a forest-within-a-forest of dazzling, improbably quiet, sword-flames in the roaring dell. There's a space between "me" as I sit there on the ground and "me," the flame, which also is a bit separated from the army of other flames who all stand in front of the sitting me in a slight semicircle. In spite of this multitude of brilliant beings, for I have no doubt that’s what they are, there still is no light or heat from them to brighten the darkness under the pine trees.

After a short time, suddenly, without any warning or apparent signal, one tongue of flame from within the middle of the group shoots skyward in an erratic corkscrew trajectory, sort of like a Roman candle, and disappears into the now dark sky. Then another and another, more and more of them, faster and faster, until the air is filled with twirling red-gold lights that grow smaller and smaller as they rise, until only I and "my" flame are left in the dark glade. Then I don't know if my flame gets smaller or if my viewpoint changes but I now find myself looking directly down at its sharp tip from which angle the flame now appears as an incredibly small but intensely brilliant sparkling white diamond-like point.

Then I'm abruptly out in space looking at a distant blue and white earth displayed against rich, black velvet darkness. All about the planet I see these zooming, sparkling points of light leaving trails of luminosity that form a mesh-like grid around the planet. Where trails cross, a brilliant point anchors the intersection and I understand that these glittering points are the flames that a short time before stood in formation in the glade. Each point can in some way see and be seen by each other point, or, more accurately, each point is aware of each other point and knows that all others are aware of it, too. The activity stabilizes and I see the blue/green/white earth turning and glowing with its own internal radiance within the mesh of light generated and anchored by flames turned into dazzling points of light.

At this moment I caught myself trying to direct this vision in some way and it ended immediately. I was now sitting on my cushion in my living room.

Need I say that I was stunned and overwhelmed? No imagination, my eye! None of my exercises of various kinds nor any of my previous experiences had prepared me for something like this. It was astounding in its clarity. Its emotional impact left me no doubt that the tongues of flame were living beings, not to overlook that the earth also appeared to be alive. My first instinct was to attempt to deny that this event was in response to my intent to see my true self. Not the least reason was that I didn’t know how to accept that my true Self gave out such a powerful presence. This sense of Self didn’t fit at all well with my ordinary sense of self. I was afraid that if I accepted that my vision as a valid response to my request then I would at the very least be in huge danger of great egoic arrogance. Not only that, but my egoic self had real trouble wrapping its head around the idea that I might not actually be the powerless victim of the vagaries of life that I’d so often and for so long thought myself to be. I gradually collected myself. I decided that as difficult as it was for me to accept, this experience had obviously come in answer to my stated intent and only an ungrateful wretch would deny or repudiate it.

As for what it “meant,†aside from my intuitive understanding that the flames and the earth were actually entities, I didn’t know. Accepting the fact that such a thing had occurred was difficult enough; trying to figure out a meaning was more than I could contemplate then. I had no idea what the forming of the net or grid around the earth was supposed to represent but I felt that I had been shown something of significant import. It has occurred to me over the years that parts of this vision bear some resemblance to the description of Pentecost as described in the Bible where the Holy Spirit appeared as a colossal roaring sound and tongues of flame settled on the heads of the apostles. In this biblical account it’s said the sound and the flames represented the granting of wisdom as well as indicating the active entry of God into the lives of his people. I don’t want to lay claim that anything like this was suggested by my vision and yet, I can’t help but notice the similarities in the descriptions. Would that I could feel wise.

Several years after this experience I read about something called the Net of Indra, which is a Hindu concept that says that everything in the universe is connected to every other thing in the universe as with a net, and that any action by any one thing thus affects the entire universe. It’s also described as having the intersections of the mesh anchored by conscious sparks of light that reflect and are reflected by all the other sparks. If there is any meaning to this resemblance, again, I don’t know, but I find it quite interesting that this vision seems to draw upon some significant archetypal themes.

[Guest guest]

Alice says: >>Suicide bombers have to have some convictions to override the survival instinct. What do u think that wld be? Pure hate? or a bargain w/Allah?<< --Release from shame, and shadow projection. I wonder if there's also an element of self-transcendence in the act of blowing oneself up surrounded by one's enemy's civilians and children. >>I once read a psych study ab killing. The killers in question - I think in Africa - were unanimous that once u have killed 1 or 2, it doesn't matter anymore. A life ceases to be precious n u might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb. Killing bec transpersonal. A power numbness.<< --Recognizing one's victims as human would be nearly impossible at that point. It would take a dialogue with other victims to change perceptions, and that would mean getting out from behind the group mythology (in which victims are evil

or weak and deserve to die) and becoming an individual again. >>Jung was not afraid to address wh happens w/'l'abaissement du niveau mentale'- n the bestiality going on in Iraq n Darfur et al suggest hell is spread upon the earth not under it. But heaven is spread upon it too n "men do not see it.' {Gosp acc to ]<< --What's sad is that if enough people got involved, people in Darfur could be saved, and the words "never again" would actually mean something. But we have shopping to do, and what does Africa have to do with holiday sales? >>The contrast between the news/ads on TV reminds me of the medieval Totentanz motif, where illustrations of people dancing included a skeleton.<< --Great image.>>It will be interesting to see what happens wh the Pope goes to Turkey n Bush to Jordan??<< --I think it may

turn out to be a positive thing, as long as the Pope doesn't buy into the notion that Armageddon involves an Islamic army attacking Israel and being repelled by a Terminator-like Jesus, with blood flowing several feet high (is that even possible?) in the streets for miles around. >>U have to admit that the dialog betw 'faith n reason' is on the world stage. The dichotomy of our moribund Age of Pisces.<< --True. The missing like is faith in action, which I think is gaining ground. People are intrigued by heroism, and hopefully it won't all take the form of military force.>>As I am now 84, in a countdown to my demise, I write hopefully that the feminine will come to our rescue in time to come.<< --From what I've seen, the 60's generation, many now in their 60's, are carrying the seeds of a future society. What's missing is the link between retirees and kids in

high school and college. Everything is in place except the connection between generations and tribes. There is hardly any connection between Western progressives and Iranians, and much of the cooperation between Americans and Palestinians is based on condemnation of Israel rather than nonviolence or creative protest. Without those links, things will not go nearly as well as they might. But there are a lot of retirees out there who feel connected to the fate of the world and want to see their grandchildren live in a sane world. Once they team up with the young, watch out.

Cheap Talk? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates.

[Guest guest]

Reminds me of the ubiquitous Apollo 17 photo of the earth:

http://dayton.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGES/SMALL/GPN-2000-001138.jpg

I have a poster of this picture framed and it has become an icon for me.

I have always loved the image of Indra's web, the unity of everything,

and especially the connections between the flames or points of light,

the unconscious connections between conscious points.

Thank you both!

> alice wrote:

>

> We all went out into space n looked down at the small earth.

>

> sam replied:

>

> Sounds like an experience I had and in addition to the small earth,

> I saw it surrounded by what I learned several years later could be

> a version of Indra's web. It was profound for me.

[Guest guest]

Dear Sam...thank you so much for sending in your vision. It was really

amazing. Alice mentioned that it might inspire a painting. I have a painting

called The Matrix that seems to reflect some of the ideas in your vision. It

shows a reclining woman from just below her breasts to the bottom of her

chin. There is an opening in her body through which we can look into her

heart. In the painting the woman herself represents the Earth in the net of

Indra, which we can see behind her. She perceives the Net through her heart

(we see the Net in its three dimensional form when we look through the

opening into her heart). As she perceives the Net her true Self is born

within her heart as the Diamond Body. Your account really enriches my

understanding of this painting.

<<<3

Carol

http://www.carolspicuzza.com/galleryfrm.htm

[Guest guest]

>I have a painting >called The Matrix that seems to reflect some of the ideas in your vision.

Hi Carol,

That's a wonderful painting and it's the sort of work I wish I could do. I love abstract and impressionistic painting and yet, except for when I was in day therapy, I seem to always end up with (poorly done) "realism," even when the subject is absolutely not realistic. It's disappointing. But I'll keep working. *S*

As for this vision of the universe, I seem to have had it in several different forms but with essentially the same meaning. I'd have sworn I had a vision very similar to the one you describe as The Matrix but a rather quick perusal of my meditation journal didn't find it. However, I did find one that is sorta the same and there was another one that I had in an auto repair shop, of all places! that also hit the same theme.

The first one was well over six years ago and the impetus was similar to the original one I posted, namely, to see the trueness of something, in this case, to discover my God-image. After the usual getting into a meditation I suddenly had this image of a huge heart against a dead black background. It was shaped like a valentine heart rather than a physical heart and had depth and thickness, like one of those puffed heart necklaces. Oh, and the vision was preceded not by my usual light and color show but by a deep rose-pink color, a very intense and sophisticated color of rose, not normally my favorite color.

In spite of its valentine-y look, this heart was alive and beating or rather, pulsing, and it just hung there for a few moments. Then it slowly began to crack open in a jagged line from top to bottom, still pulsing the whole time. The two sides began to separate and open like doors and inside I saw more velvet blackness and then I realized it was really a vision of a starry universe. This was then suddenly replaced by a pastoral scene that was, normally for me, just tooo sweet and romantic and peaceful, but without people or animals, etc.

Then I slowly moved or was drawn into the open heart and enfolded in it as the sides came back together. I was swaddled in a soft, warm, dark place and I could feel the walls of the heart compress and relax against me as it pulsed. The sensation was of being totally safe and protected. (I know, I know, the symbolism isn't lost on me.) I thought, "Gee! this is sort of like a cosmic massage!"

But wait, there's more! LOL

For a short time it felt as if I was trying to force a competing image, a dark side to balance the wonderful peace I felt and I had to struggle to relax and just see what would happen next. Nothing happened so I thanked my guides, etc, saying I realized that what I'd seen was my God-image and then, with a sense of daring and trepidation at the same time I asked to see what God was *really* like! Talk about bold!

Anyway, nothing happened for a short time and then I had a split second vision of a dark creature that resembled the head of a wolf as painted in medieval times. It was shaggy and jagged with white fangs dripping slaver and the eyes were slitted and pale. Surprisingly, I got no sense of evil from it and I felt no fear when I saw it. I almost felt that this was a test of some sort and my reaction was more important than what I saw. I remember a vague, puzzled feeling of "Why would they do this? It's not really scary and they should realize it doesn't worry me."

Nothing happened after that.

Now, as to the vision in the auto repair shop, I'll just append it below. It's an excerpt from my manuscript and maybe nobody wants to read it as part of the main email.

Blissings,

Sam

Don't believe everything you think. ~ Bumper StickerChoose your illusion carefully. ~ UnknownWho looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. ~ C.G. Jung (from a letter to Fanny Bowditch, dated 22 Oct 1916 in Volume I of the Letters of C. G. Jung)Just because I believe something doesn't mean it's true; just because I don't believe something doesn't mean it's untrue. ~ Sam

I once had a vision while sitting in the waiting room of an automobile repair shop! It was totally unexpected and instantaneous and takes much longer to describe than the actual event took. I sometimes wonder if others have had similar experiences and because the incidents happen so quickly or because the person didn’t note them or write them down, the events were simply lost. Maybe they were pushed aside or overlooked, forgotten because they didn’t fit in with our standard paradigm of consciousness. Perhaps our connections to our center are activated more often than we suspect and the hurly-burly of our lives causes us to not even notice.

This brief event occurred while I was sitting in the waiting area of the shop where work on my vehicle was taking several hours. There were people constantly coming in and out and there was talking and the usual loud and distracting noises coming from the repair bay so it was not the kind of situation where one would be expected to easily meditate. Knowing that I'd have to be there for quite some time I'd come prepared with pens and writing paper as well as several books including The Creation of Consciousness by Edinger, and My Grandfather's Blessings, by Naomi Remen, M.D. Dr. Remen’s book contains stories ranging from her childhood as the daughter of socialist intelligentsia parents and the granddaughter of an Orthodox rabbi and Qabalah scholar, through her experiences as a medical student, pediatrician, and counselor to people with cancer and terminal illnesses. There is much warmth and wisdom in this book and a great deal to think about, with an eclectic blend of Jungian symbolism, Buddhist thought, Christian references and Jewish wisdom.

I was reading a story of a young family practitioner, much beloved (to her own bewilderment) by her many patients. She described how she'd been aware of a vast sadness underlying her entire life, even as a child, and how the awareness of so much pain and suffering in the world had broken her heart. It was her sense of compassion engendered by this broken heart that had led her to the practice of medicine and to which her patients undoubtedly were drawn.

As I read this I suddenly was in touch with the puzzling sense of grief and sorrow that has often seemed a part of the basis of my own life. Immediately I saw in my mind's eye a single huge, beautiful left eye looking directly at me at my own eye level. A tear formed in the inner corner and slowly traced a trail downward over the contours of a face that wasn't there. When it reached the lower “cheek,†the tear clung to the end of the liquid trail and swelled larger and larger as more fluid flowed in. Then I saw contained within the teardrop was an entire universe, the soft blackness of space with moons and stars, planets and whizzing comets and novae, a profusion of all that we think of when we think of a universe. Once the eye appeared aware that I had seen this I zoomed out to a point where I could see two eyes (the other was dry), and then the vision was gone. All of this happened in just a split second or so, about as fast as I can blink and much more quickly than I can tell about it. And frankly, I almost ignored it.

But it was so amazing that I quickly sketched it, made notes, and bemusedly reflected on the experience for a few moments. What was that all about? Taking a deep breath, I finished reading Dr. Remen’s book, thinking that maybe later I'd consider the meaning of what I'd seen. I next began to read the Edinger text. I was startled to very shortly come across a reference to the Eye of God and I couldn't help but be struck by the synchronicity. Edinger states that seeing the Eye of God is the ego’s experience of being the object of an action instead of being the subject as it prefers to perceive itself to be. That is, psychologically, the ego likes to think of itself, in effect, as the watcher, not the watched. This makes it feel it’s in a position of authority, of control. Edinger goes on, “In psychological terms the Eye will be destructive of all in the ego that is not appropriately related to the Self. In other words, it will destroy inflated ego-Self identity….†In effect, the ego gets its legs kicked out from under it and discovers its proper place. And finally, “If the archetypal image of the Eye of God has been activated it means that one is going through an ordeal analogous to that of Job.â€

If this did represent the Eye of God (or the Self) it truly made me feel as if I was being observed. As with the breathtaking tongues of fire, I felt no fear, only awe and a sense of deep compassion that radiated toward me. The gaze was very intense, as if there were a message of some sort being imparted. At the very least, I felt that something saw deeply into me. The eye expressed intelligence, calmness, and a sense of controlled passion. Perhaps I'm reading more into it than was there but it was as if there were an instantaneous download or information dump that might take me a while to sort out.

[Guest guest]

Dear Sam...with those kinds of images in your head it would be fascinating

to see a painting. Maybe you're better at it than you think?

That deep rose color you mention reminds me of something in alchemy but I

can't quite remember the details, would have to look it up. You mention

being enclosed in a heart. That is what is happening in my painting The

Sower. The figure is in a cave of hematite (blood stone). She is in the

heart of the Earth so to speak to undergo some sort of initiation. I suppose

that this is how a new god-image forms. People find they have certain images

in common and then they build over the decades as people find each other and

the unc elaborates on the images.

I like the wolf. Isn't the wolf an image that combines the light and the

dark, the wolf being the animal of Apollo (cons)? Maybe it is a fitting

god-image. I suppose if we ask to really see god it would always have to be

in the form of some image or feeling.

Amazingly enough I'm working on a painting right now that seems to have some

of the imagery of your auto repair shop vision. In my case the tear is

coming from the universe and entering our world. I'll post it when it's

fininshed. Thanks again for sharing these, they give me a lot to think

about.

Carol

Sam wrote:

In spite of its valentine-y look, this heart was alive and beating or

rather, pulsing, and it just hung there for a few moments. Then it slowly

began to

crack open in a jagged line from top to bottom, still pulsing the whole

time. The two sides began to separate and open like doors and inside I saw

more

velvet blackness and then I realized it was really a vision of a starry

universe. This was then suddenly replaced by a pastoral scene that was,

normally

for me, just tooo sweet and romantic and peaceful, but without people or

animals, etc.

Then I slowly moved or was drawn into the open heart and enfolded in it as

the sides came back together. I was swaddled in a soft, warm, dark place

and

I could feel the walls of the heart compress and relax against me as it

pulsed. The sensation was of being totally safe and protected. (I know, I

know,

the symbolism isn't lost on me.) I thought, " Gee! this is sort of like a

cosmic massage! "

But wait, there's more! LOL

For a short time it felt as if I was trying to force a competing image, a

dark side to balance the wonderful peace I felt and I had to struggle to

relax

and just see what would happen next. Nothing happened so I thanked my

guides, etc, saying I realized that what I'd seen was my God-image and then,

with a

sense of daring and trepidation at the same time I asked to see what God

was

*really* like! Talk about bold!

Anyway, nothing happened for a short time and then I had a split second

vision of a dark creature that resembled the head of a wolf as painted in

medieval times. It was shaggy and jagged with white fangs dripping slaver

and the

eyes were slitted and pale. Surprisingly, I got no sense of evil from it

and

I felt no fear when I saw it. I almost felt that this was a test of some

sort and my reaction was more important than what I saw. I remember a

vague,

puzzled feeling of " Why would they do this? It's not really scary and they

should realize it doesn't worry me. "

[Guest guest]

>with those kinds of images in your head it would be fascinating >to see a painting. Maybe you're better at it than you think?

Hi Carol,

One of the greatest frustrations of my course in Transpersonal Studies (Accessing and Expressing the Higher Self through the Visual Arts) was discovering that I have such great difficulty in being able to put down what I "see." I've always had a moderate degree of artistic ability but when it came to these "pictures" I was greatly disappointed to discover that my "ability" didn't translate. I complained about it constantly to my mentor. He said that perhaps some studio training might benefit me but that really wasn't necessary. Since there was considerable time pressure to not only see what I could/might "see," but to get some sort of presentation ready for submission, I hope he's right but it was discouraging enough that I haven't really sat myself down to try it again. I'm always "too busy" with something else to allow myself the quiet time to really apply myself. First it was my thesis/book, then writing short stories, etc. But maybe when the time is "right"...

>People find they have certain images >in common and then they build over the decades as people find each other and >the unc elaborates on the images.

This is something that continually amazes me. Finding thematic descriptions of my own experiences in others' words validates and emphasizes the reality of archetypes for me. I "came" to Jung almost by accident and have never really "studied" his writing because I'd discovered at least some of what he wrote for myself. Reading his works, therefore, was almost a sort of homecoming, to find things that verified my own experience. That's why, when the discussions here get into the scholarly and erudite, I'm completely lost. I don't "study" Jung because I've lived him.

>I like the wolf. Isn't the wolf an image that combines the light and the >dark, the wolf being the animal of Apollo (cons)? Maybe it is a fitting >god-image. I suppose if we ask to really see god it would always have to be >in the form of some image or feeling.

The wolf has always been one of my favorite symbols but it's never been the kind of wolf this image was. I've had Wolf come to me in other visions, like during shamanic journeys, and it's always very, very different than this slavering silhouette. I guess maybe some more research on the various symbology of wolf might be worthwhile. In the meantime, any ideas you - or anyone else - has in this regard would be most welcome.

I just found a little bit in A Dictionary of Symbols by J.E. Cirlot. Among other meanings he indicates that the wolf represents prime matter, as used in Maier's Scrutinium Chymicum, which shows a wolf burning in a furnace. He also cites Jung in saying that animals stand for the non-human psyche, the world of sub-human instincts and the unconscious areas of the psyche.

As Jack Benny so eloquently put it, "Well!"

So I guess it's not so weird after all - except that the symbol in the vision was so fearful and frightening or at least it seemed it was intended to be. It wasn't.

>In my case the tear is coming from the universe and entering our world. I'll post it when it's >fininshed.

I'd be very interested to see it. Lemme know.

Blissings,

Sam

Don't believe everything you think. ~ Bumper StickerChoose your illusion carefully. ~ UnknownWho looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. ~ C.G. Jung (from a letter to Fanny Bowditch, dated 22 Oct 1916 in Volume I of the Letters of C. G. Jung)A dream is an answer to a question we haven't yet learned how to ask. ~ Fox Mulder on the X-FilesJust because I believe something doesn't mean it's true; just because I don't believe something doesn't mean it's untrue. ~ Sam