“The finest of all symbols of the libido is the human figure, conceived as a demon or hero. Here the symbolism leaves the objective, material realm of astral and meteorological images and takes on human form, changing into a figure who passes from joy to sorrow, from sorrow to joy, and, like the sun, now stands high at the zenith and now is plunged into darkest night, only to rise again in new splendor.” (Jung, CW Vol. 5, Symbols of Transformation, par. 251)
I took this quote out of a smaller book called C,G. Jung: Aspects of the Masculine, published by the same folks who publish the Collected Works. Bollingen has a series of smaller books based on themes which make it easier to follow Jung’s thoughts on these themes across the huge body of Jung’s published works. For those who haven’t invested in the Collected Works, these smaller books make for a less daunting foray into the larger books.
The photo above is reflective of the last post on storms and on some of the comments made by some of the readers here. I took this photo shortly before the arrival of a storm. I knew it was coming and I wanted to capture reflected light as well as the foreboding background of darkness. What I particularly liked about this image was the inclusion of the directional arrow which suggests that there is a safe path through the storm that is coming.
Storms are a fact of nature – human nature and that of the planet. In many ways, nature mirrors the psyche. However there is a difference that is notable – nature is authentic in both its periods of calm and storm. What one sees is what “is.” With the human, it isn’t quite that simple. We have learned the art of creating masks and mirrors so that what we see isn’t often what is the truth. We hide the self as a way of protecting the self. And in the process, we often lose ourselves.
The journey to rediscover the self is one that appears too threatening for most. Rather than take the risk only to find that one is meaningless, most build even stronger masks and do all in their power to silence the inner voices that now become monstrous threatening our very sanity. We have taken a wrong turn and flee. We flee from the inner self who has become the ultimate stranger, the dark and dangerous “other” that takes on the visage of a demon.
Perhaps it would be best to listen to the inner voices, which, like the sign above, show us a path through the storms.
