Episode 181 - Self-Reflection: What Was I Thinking?

This Jungian Life Podcast

Joseph Lee, Deborah Stewart, Lisa Marchiano

Jungian, Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Psychology, Dreams, Jung, Relationships, Selfhelp, Society & Culture, Psychoanalysis

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2021

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jung says, “There is another instinct, different from the drive to activity and so far as we know specifically human, which might be called the reflective instinct.” Self-reflection is correlated with consciousness and is arguably humankind’s unique and essential competency: a meta-cognitive capacity that is aware of its own awareness.

If this is lacking, we may share the fate of Narcissus, who fell in love with his image, mirrored in silvery water--but every time he sought an embrace, his loved one retreated. Because he was unable to reflect on his reflection, Narcissus wasted away from psychic starvation. Many of today’s cultural forces make image supreme and tempt us to identify with reflections and appearances. Instead, we can choose to turn inward and observe ourselves, using consciousness to unite outer and inner worlds, feeling, and thinking. Only seeing into ourselves can clarify motivation, make meaning conscious, and bring our scattered parts into harmony and wholeness.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“I had a dream that I was in a half-abandoned house; it looked old and needed to be renovated. It was spacious with many rooms and corridors. My younger son, four years old, was by my side. He was occupied with something, and I was getting frustrated as I needed to go to the toilet to relieve myself (to do #2). I was getting frustrated as he wasn’t listening, and my urge was becoming greater. I left him behind and started looking for a toilet. I was entering some rooms, and they looked like abandoned, old, destroyed, non-functioning toilets. I realized that I can’t take it any longer, so I decided that the next door I open, I will relieve myself. I opened the door and the room looked disgusting: some feces were just on the floor. I don’t remember seeing an actual toilet; everything looked as if it was abandoned many years ago (e.g., paint peeled off the walls, dust). I stepped into some shit, and somehow it landed on my cheek (I didn’t feel too disgusted but more annoyed, as I just needed to receive myself. I felt “I can’t hold it any longer,” as I started to squat, about to relieve myself. The floor collapsed, and I started to fall down. I had to grab onto something with my hands and to pull myself…and woke up (feeling a bit scared).”

REFERENCES:

Classical Tales of Mythology: Heroes, Gods and Monsters of Ancient Rome and Greece by Thomas Bulfinch

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1839406631/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_PJKRPY1X5QCMHDNHZQJ8

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

Lisa will be giving a zoom presentation on dreams for Oregon Friends of Jung on October 15. Link to sign up is here.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I wanted to mention to our listeners that I will be presenting for the Oregon Friends of CG Young on October 15th and October 16th.
0:14.0	I'll be speaking on dreams. The title of my talk is another whom we do not know, dreams as the voice of the inner companion,
0:24.0	and that will be for a lecture Friday night, and then there will be a workshop on Saturday in which we'll be doing dream interpretation.
0:34.0	So please come on down. It's the Oregon Friends of CG Young. You can see their how to sign up and we'll include a link in the show now.
0:47.0	Have you ever wondered what your dreams mean? Join us in Dream School at thisyounginlife.com and find out.
0:54.0	Young wrote, dreams are a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul.
1:00.0	Dream School is a unique, self-paced online program you can start at any time that unlocks access to your inner world.
1:09.0	Our 12 month program provides the support, knowledge, and guidance you need to reach within, decipher your personal dream code, and harness it to optimize your life.
1:20.0	By enrolling, you'll join an affirming community of fellow travelers, each pursuing a unique quest.
1:28.0	And it's fun. Join us on an adventure to wholeness and healing through understanding your dreams.
1:34.0	Go to thisyounginlife.com and click on Dream School. You'll be taken to our secure checkout. Once you join, you'll get immediate access to our first three modules.
1:46.0	You can get started right away. We look forward to seeing you there.
1:54.0	Welcome to this youngin life. Three good friends and youngin analysts, Lisa Martiano, Debra Stewart and Joseph Lee, invite you to join them for an intimate and honest conversation that brings a psychological perspective to important issues of the day.
2:11.0	I'm Lisa Martiano and I'm a youngin analyst in Philadelphia.
2:15.0	I'm Joseph Lee and I'm a youngin analyst in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
2:20.0	I'm Debra Stewart, a youngin analyst and Cape Cod.
2:30.0	Today we're going to explore the idea of self-reflection. It's something that is so woven into human civilization that we might not even notice it.
2:42.0	And thereby, might not be assessing how well we're doing it. Over the oracle at Delphi was carved the Declaration know thyself.
2:54.0	So there's something ancient in archetypal. There's something intrinsic to who we are as human beings that descends into us through a kind of original pattern.
3:07.0	That insists that we turn inside, that we develop languages, images, concepts, often religious concepts as well, that try to give us language and a way of imagining who and what we are.
3:24.0	You know, I think the capacity for self-reflection is almost so taken for granted that we forget sometimes what a core competency it really is.
3:38.0	The ability to observe and notice oneself with a degree of objectivity, which is it's never perfect.
	...

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