Category: Psychology

Evolution of Consciousness: Spiritual Crisis
Psychology

Evolution of Consciousness: Spiritual Crisis

Jessica Davidson16 Comments

Life has an uncanny ability to undermine your sense of self-importance and competence. No matter how hard you try, you’re never going to make sense of it. You’ll never fully know yourself and life will always surprise you. This is good, but we don’t always see it that way. When you identify with your ego… Continue reading Evolution of Consciousness: Spiritual Crisis

Evolution of Consciousness: Embracing the Shadow
Psychology

Evolution of Consciousness: Embracing the Shadow

Jessica Davidson7 Comments

In the last post we discovered how the ego creates the shadow by rejecting anything we find unacceptable. Now we’ll look at what we can do to heal the wounds that cause us problems along the path to wholeness and awakening. All sorts of things can end up in the shadow – it’s not all… Continue reading Evolution of Consciousness: Embracing the Shadow

Evolution of Consciousness: The Dark Side of the Ego
Psychology

Evolution of Consciousness: The Dark Side of the Ego

Jessica Davidson11 Comments

“I only know as much about myself as my mind can work out under its current conditions. And its current conditions are not good.”  Zaphod Beeblebrox, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy We don’t know who we are or what we want. This sounds like a drastic overstatement, but most of the time it’s true.… Continue reading Evolution of Consciousness: The Dark Side of the Ego

Evolution of Consciousness: Kinks in the Mind
Psychology

Evolution of Consciousness: Kinks in the Mind

Jessica Davidson6 Comments

Last time we looked at how consciousness evolves through various stages of development. In this post we’ll look at what happens when this process goes wrong. Back to the house building metaphor: as the foundations for your character are being laid problems can arise which lead to difficulties later in life. If the support structures… Continue reading Evolution of Consciousness: Kinks in the Mind

Evolution of Consciousness: How to Grow a Person
Psychology

Evolution of Consciousness: How to Grow a Person

Jessica Davidson20 Comments

Growing a person is a mysterious process. Most of it happens in the dark, but we have discovered certain patterns that unfold in all people in more or less the same way. Imagine you’re building a house. This is less complicated than growing a person, but it’s a useful metaphor. We’ll leave aside the problem… Continue reading Evolution of Consciousness: How to Grow a Person

Dark Night of the Soul · Psychology

Red Book Dialogues: Dark Night and Soul Retrieval

Jessica DavidsonVideo2 Comments

This brilliant dialogue between Jack Kornfield and Katherine Sanford explores some of the practical applications of Jung’s ideas, such as active imagination and sand play, and they talk about how we can come to terms with our suffering by going on an inner journey, or soul retrieval.

We’ve lost touch with our inner life and that’s why the world is so crazy and destructive. The world has become the dumping ground for what we refuse to face in ourselves – the ‘chaos of our own emptiness’, as Katherine Sandford describes it. We’re experiencing a global dark night of the soul caused by the collapse of the materialism that has driven society for too long. It’s an initiation that demands we live from the soul and become authentic. They also look at the rebirth that follows the dark night and provide a guided meditation to help you discover your hidden inner gifts.

Enjoy!

>More Red Book Dialogues
Psychology

Red Book Dialogues: Becoming Conscious

Jessica DavidsonVideo3 Comments

This is a fascinating and spirited dialogue between Rabbi David Wolpe and Lionel Corbett that explores the process of communicating with the unconscious and bringing it to conscious awareness.

Jung explored this process of becoming conscious in the Red Book, an account of his breakdown and how he came to understand the nature of the unconscious and its archetypes. Rabbi Wolpe and Lionel Corbett look at some of the beautiful images Jung created during his crisis, and have a wide ranging discussion that touches on the nature of the divine, the reality of the psyche, whether a human being is really one with God, and the nature of evil.

Enjoy!

>More on the Red Book
Science Proves Writing Is Good For You!
Psychology · Writing

Science Proves Writing Is Good For You!

Jessica Davidson11 Comments

Writers have always known this, but writing every day can improve your physical and emotional health, and even make wounds heal faster. A variety of studies have found that just 20 minutes writing each day could change your life – for the better. And you don’t even have to be any good at it. The… Continue reading Science Proves Writing Is Good For You!

Psychology Bookshelf
Book Reviews · Psychology

Psychology Bookshelf

Jessica Davidson4 Comments

A selection of recommended Psychology books for anyone on the path to awakening and self-knowledge. These are some of the books I’ve found particularly helpful or inspiring over the years. There are longer reviews attached via links, and more to come… Roberto Assagioli – Psychosynthesis Believing that psychoanalysis was incomplete, Roberto Assagioli began to formulate… Continue reading Psychology Bookshelf

Two Wolves: How to embrace your Dark Side
Psychology

Two Wolves: How to embrace your Dark Side

Jessica Davidson4 Comments

No doubt you’ve heard the story of the two wolves and the importance of feeding the right one. The idea is you’re meant to feed the ‘good wolf’ and the ‘bad wolf’ will wither away from neglect. But this isn’t how the story actually goes. Somehow, our way of telling this tale has become distorted,… Continue reading Two Wolves: How to embrace your Dark Side