So as I was initially exploring Pacifica I would describe my inner state and need for growth as being like a little boat that has gone aground in a lagoon or inlet and now there's algae all around and no fresh water. It is no coincidence that on Thursday, when classes officially started, I felt like I'd boarded a schooner with my satchel of books and fellow passengers and we'd left port and were underway. I could practically feel the sea breeze on my face. Hooray! It does seem like a good sign that my first classes focus on "The Expressive Power of Archetypes" and "C.G. Jung, Individuation, and the Symbolic Life," since I seem full of analogies and images these days.
I've been spending some good time with Jung and here are a couple of favorite quotations so far:
"There is, however, a strong empirical reason why we should cultivate thoughts that can never be proved. It is that they are known to be useful. Man positively needs general ideas and convictions that will give a meaning to his life and enable him to find a place for himself in the universe. He can stand the most incredible hardships when he is convinced that they make sense; he is crushed when, on top of all his misfortunes, he has to admit that he is taking part in 'a tale told by an idiot.'" (Man and His Symbols, p. 76)
"That gives peace, when people feel that they are living the symbolic life, that they are actors in the divine drama. That gives the only meaning to human life; everything else is banal and you can dismiss it. A career, producing of children, are all maya compared with that one thing, that your life is meaningful." ("The Symbolic Life" in Collected Works, Vol. 18, p. 275)
Yep, this is going to be good stuff!
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