Happy Birthday!

We just passed an anniversary -- on February 2, Jung At Heart turned 6. Here is the first post I made 6 years ago -- I recently ran across this powerful quote from Jung on therapy:"The principle aim of psychotherapy is not to transport one to an impossible state of happiness, but to help (the client) acquire steadfastness and patience in the face of suffering. " -C.G. JungHow very different this view of therapy is from the current preoccupation with happiness and positive psychology! Jung understood that suffering is a part of life, that it has meaning and that to live fully is to know that suffering will be a factor in one's life throughout life. If I look back on my own life, I know that I have learned most from those times which were difficult and often painful, not because I wanted to but because of the choices and consequences i faced at those times. The good times, the times of great happiness are wonderful and I have celebrated and cherished them and look forward to more. But it has been in those dark times when I have had to face myself and look deeply into my life and my actions that I have grown most.Reflecting on consolations and desolations, joys and sorrows is a part of many spiritual practices. Matthew Fox wrote in modern terms in Original Blessings about the Via Negativa, the path that takes us into darkness. So much of post-Enlightenment culture has been about the flight from darkness that many of us have lost sight of the meaning an...
Source: Jung At Heart - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs