Newsletter 2011

Destruction and Creation:

Facing the Ambiguities of Power

Jungian Odyssey Series – Volume II, 2009

New Orleans, LA, Spring Journal Books, 2010, 202 pp.

This book is a collection of essays on the interwoven themes of destruction, creation and power, and the roles each plays within our lives and in human development. The essays were researched and written for the Jungian Odyssey Conference that took place at the Waldhaus Hotel in Sils-Maria, Switzerland in 2009. It was put on by the International School of Analytical Psychology Zürich (ISAPZURICH), which hosts an annual conference that has taken place in a different part of Switzerland since 2006. Spring Journal Books collaborates in the project by publishing books based on the lectures.

The editors (Stacey Wirth, Isabelle Meier and John Hill) tell us that the subject matter was inspired by a “genius loci—that is, by the spirit of a place.” (p. 1)

Jung figures among the long list of famous guests who stayed at the hotel, but the area is better known for its artists who were inspired by the area’s majestic, rugged beauty. The essays draw on such inspiration and speak of:

... archetypal powers that can dwell within our souls ... in the form of psychological torrents—be they destructive, creative, or destructive for the sake of new creation. The archetype as such can precipitate fragmentation, madness, and even the “dread of nothingness”—as well as transcendence, transformation, discovery and renewal. (p. 4)

The authors explore this motif “... as it appears in philosophy, religion, myth, art, literature, popular culture, historical lives, and the lives of those who enter the analytical consulting room.” (p. 4) Indeed, the wealth of examples drawn from all of these domains to illustrate the conference themes is impressive.

The ten essays and two poems in this volume provide unique, powerful, interesting and captivating points of view on different aspects of the chosen topics, often with surprisingly new and fresh insights. Each text is well researched and provides a rich concentration of powerful material that is best taken in small doses over several readings in order to absorb all of the pertinent content. As always, depending on the reader, some observations will resonate more strongly than others.

Josephine Evetts-Secker opens with an essay on nothingness, insisting that “... meaninglessness can feel like nothingness.” She points out that “each beginning creates; each ending destroys. Both exploit the power of life.” (p. 23) Death is a part of life and paradoxically, conscious awareness of this fact can either make each moment of life seem poignantly rich or unbearably meaningless and pointless. No one is immune; we can all fall under the influence of one or the other side of this powerful archetype.

In his essay: “The Sun God’s Journey through the Netherworld ...” Andreas Schweizer draws inspiration from an alchemical text, the Rosarium philosophorum, which paradoxically gives priority to the ability to destroy the gold rather than to create it. (p. 131) In exploring what this might mean psychologically, he demonstrates that in order to grow in consciousness we have to be able to destroy old mindsets that we have painstakingly built up over time. It is extremely difficult but necessary to let go of and destroy our “dead-right convictions” (p. 132); in fact, it is more difficult than to create them.

He also walks us through an ancient Egyptian tomb (Tuthmosis III from around 1420 B. C. E.) and gives us a wonderful interpretation of the text and symbolic images found on its walls. He is struck by the beauty of the images that describe the material world and infers that “... such imagery (is) intended to tell us that no one should take the risk of descending into the murky depths of the netherworld—or, psychologically speaking, of one’s own nature—without first beholding the beauty of life. A deep truth lies in this sentiment.” (p. 138) While the story of the hero’s journey through the underworld is a familiar one, Schweizer is able to breathe new life into it.

In “The Power of the Dark Side” David Tacey speaks of the need to “give the devil his due,” (p. 60) and to try to see “the unconscious dynamics we are projecting upon others.” (p. 60) Not surprisingly, such advice, regardless of the source, is never popular, nor can it be, “since it asks us to accept precisely what we do not want to know about ourselves.” (p. 60) Undoubtedly, this aspect of the individuation process is so difficult and so painful that we never get used to it.

Citing Jung in her essay on “Dismemberment,” Katy Remark points out that such a “psychological process is admittedly painful and for many people a positive torture. But, as always, every step forward along the path of individuation is achieved only at the cost of suffering.” (pp. 127-8) It is not surprising that while many feel called to explore their inner world, not all stick with it. In the face of such difficulties, it is amazing that anyone does.

Nietzsche’s spirit looms large over the region where the conference took place. It was here that he was inspired to write And Thus Spoke Zarathustra as well as a poem that clearly refers to an archetypal experience.

We know that Nietzsche held a prominent place in Jung’s thoughts and work. Even though at times Jung feared he might share Nietzsche‘s fate, he wrote and lectured extensively on Zarathustra over a five-year period. Paul Bishop’s two-part essay, entitled “Creation—That is the Great Redemption from Suffering, and Life’s Easement,” does justice to the work of both these great men and the archetypal forces that shaped their lives.

According to the editors, this collection of essays contains material that is of interest to both laypersons and clinicians. That said, I believe it may be of even greater value to those who for one reason or another remain outside the analytical setting, grappling with the forces of their inner world on their own and struggling to find their own way on the path to individuation. The deep and universal insights found here just may help others to feel a little less alone and find the vastness of inner space a little less uncharted.

—Roman Rogulski