November 28, 2023

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel like each page of text for our upcoming seminar includes a provocative, fabulous idea. Like this one, for instance: “Fantasy is the creative function—the living form is a result of fantasy.”

That quote alone induces a great deal of food for thought for me. But within just a couple of paragraphs, Jung explores a great deal more. In this particular section, he explains how a specific young woman (a cousin of his) transformed herself out of a mediumistic, semi-psychotic state into a respected professional in Paris. He explores the tension of opposites at play within her, ghosts and ancestors, the transcendent function, and the value of dreams.

“We count upon fantasy to take us out of the impasse; for though people are not always eager to recognize the conflicts that are upsetting their lives, the dreams are always at work trying to tell on the one hand of the conflict, and on the other hand of the creative fantasy that will lead the way out. Then it becomes a matter of bringing the material into consciousness.”

Jung speaks about the back-and-forth relationship that must be employed between the conscious situation and the unconscious fantasy: “[O]ne has to keep in mind that the unconscious can produce something disastrous to us.” Yet, one must also be aware that it is only the unconscious that knows the way through the tension; and that the transformation of a life situation does not always come with ease. “[O]ne must be careful not to prescribe to the unconscious—it may be that a new way is required, and even one beset with disaster. Life often demands the trying out of new ways that are entirely unacceptable to the time in which we live, but we cannot shrink from undertaking a new way for that reason.”

Again, that final sentence alone could fuel a meditation, discussion, or essay. I want to write it down and put it up on my wall as a daily reminder.

I’m looking forward to the conversations that will unfold around these ideas and so. much. more. in our seminar that starts this Friday!

Our text is “Introduction to Jungian Psychology: Notes of the Seminar on Analytical Psychology Given in 1925,” from which the above quotes are drawn—page 11. (There is an e-book version of this text too.)

As always, class recordings will be shared with registered students within a few hours of class, and an online discussion will be ongoing throughout the week for anyone who wants to participate. Scholarships and discounts are also always available to anyone who needs financial assistance in order to participate (no questions asked!); just send an email ASAP to kelley @ salomeinstitute.com.

xo, Satya

Satya Doyle Byock, Director of The Salome Institute of Jungian Studies