Thanks for this post Amy and for the lovely photos of Bollingen, I will have to look for more, what a charmingly “imbued” place. While I read about Bollingen I was having similar memories of touring Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin, or Lotusland gardens in montecito. It’s a bit eerie to be in a space designed with so much intent, focus of will, and artistry- by a person to whom that space meant something so important, life affirming, intimate but also designed to be shared with others as it is a home or garden or whatnot. The concept of “rhymes through time” really stuck me as well. If each of our lives are our own myth, it’s those reoccurring motifs, “inside jokes with the universe” that do seem to cause me to pause and pull myself out of the moment and into a bigger consideration of my place in all of it. Are we the chess pieces? Are we moving the chess pieces with others playing along, seen and unseen? Is it really the quantum-level stardust in each of us that are the chess pieces? Big thoughts. Love it. Play is the thing. Really love it.
I can definitely imagine seeing spaces like that in person would feel that way... so much personal history must cling to spaces like that. I love your chess pieces line of thought here and the myriad questions it raises.... I wonder how much the inability to sort out questions will weigh on some of us as we continue to tease at these philosophical threads.
I just saw Taliesin this summer--and I appreciate you bringing it up. I think FLW was trying to create a spiritual experience where people were at one with the land, could appreciate it.
I just caught up reading the comments of week 1 and considering responding but since we are in week 2 it seemed wiser to jump right into week 2 :) I can always go back commenting on week 1.
The density of the chapter made it a bit harder to read but many interesting thoughts.
Points that resonated:
-Play: I just finished a painting course that emphasized the importance of play without concerns about the outcome and without judgement. For most adults, it is really hard. For the course, I had to do a lot of play and on the occasions when I was able to actually play, feeling of time was gone and things just happened (sounds vague but I mean unexpected colour combo's, happy accidents, feelings of joy)
-I love reading mythology, and stories about ancient traditions.
Native American tradition: their respect for everything else around them, how they say thanks for the gifts of life and how they listen to the environment. I could cry thinking about how most people take life and the resources nature gives us for granted. I try hard to be not one of those people but it is not easy. I really enjoyed and learnt from the book ‘braiding sweetgrass, indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teaching of plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
-Wyrd: I like the idea of a web of connections between everything, how nothing is set in stone but always moving and how everything has a part in it. It is both reassuring as well as terrifying.
I am definitely looking more closely, noticing and appreciating things and trying to be more in the moment. Last week I saw a crow sitting on a stop sign that I pass on my walk. It was looking at me intensely and I decided it was telling me to slow down and just ‘be’ for a moment so I tried.
Thank you for sharing what resonated for you in this chapter, Marianne. I really think it helps all of us to hear from each other how different things land and what angles we have on concepts. Your recent experience with the painting class and “play” is a wonderful moment of connection. I am glad to hear the crow moment, too — and that you paid attention to the invitation to slow down.
As a retired editor, what I found most intriguing about chapter 2 was how much Moss did not write. He could have gone on and on about each of these four directions, yet he chose not to. That allowed us to have the leisure to fill in our own blanks, and to explore on our own terms.
As I move into this book, and read ahead on the exercises, I am worried about my inability to remember my dreams. Many years ago, I filled notebooks with dream images. Now I can’t remember , more than a general impression. This, despite that I set intentions every night of remembering my dreams, and of participating in them.
Who knows, this whole process could be life-changing. It might even give me my dreams back.
I agree, Fran…. I was amazed at how reigned in he was in giving a character sketch of Jung and a synopsis of the four frameworks, each of which could obviously have been a book of its own. There’s a clear sense of name- and resource-dropping in this, too, showing a base of knowledge upon which to build. Totally, that makes for a very different chapter, but I see the point, and I appreciate the grounding and the survey of other approaches.
I am with you about dreaming. I started to mention it this week because it comes up a bit in this chapter. I don’t have this recall! Your comment hints that this will be part of some of the exercises. I guess we’ll see what happens. Knowing there are a bunch of them, I would guess that some will work for each of us. Looking forward to it — and I appreciate your cautious optimism ;)
I definitely find myself looking at things more closely this week. It is calming for me to slow down and notice things, to look for meaning, and feel like I am tuning into something wiser than myself, something willing to maybe impart a spark of that wisdom. I think this is perhaps how I should be living anyway, but most of the time I forget to. Somehow making a sort of game out of it has kept me more on track. Hide and seek. I love a good mystery; I'm like a dog with a bone.
When reading about all the roots of these concepts throughout different cultures and times, I couldn't help but wonder what the reasons might be. What were they/are we seeking? A little magic in the mundane? A sense that we aren't alone, that we matter, that answers and help aren't beyond our reach? A sense that we are special, that maybe we are a magical mystery as well, that we are...more? It seems we've always sought to know about things that are beyond us, like a little kid wearing their father's too-big coat and clunking around in his shoes, wanting to someday grow into them. :-) Very interesting book so far.
I’m really glad to hear you are enjoying the book so far…. And finding that it has already made you start looking and noticing in new ways. The more we practice that behavior, the more it becomes a part of us. I think your questions on the why of all of these frameworks are interesting…. I think people have been trying to understand and explain life forever. And of course these questions are at the heart of religions, as well. All of these may end up being different entry points to something similar in terms of understanding, hoping, and making meaning. I definitely get the sense that this author would certainly say “Yes” to many of your questions.
Yes, I would like to be worthy of friends and worthy friends too…
I jumped in with excitement at everyone’s words, and the title — all which led me to listen to an audiobook by the same author —all which convinced me to order the book, which despite being scheduled to arrive this last week has been delayed until Tuesday.
So here I am. Nowhere near catching up.
Still the triumphant sweetness I encounter reading your words, posts and comments keep me thinking, eventually I may have something to say…
You will catch up and…. Even better….. there is no race to this reading. The timeline is slow…. And once we get to the set of exercises, there will be time to think about the various approaches and games and see how they work. I hope the other title you listened to by this author was good? I’m happy you are here - and I hope as you wait for your copy, you just look around each day and notice what you notice.
I enjoyed the second chapter because it took be back to college and the cultural anthropology classes I took. If you study a culture, you are an observer, recording things as you see it. But this book invites us to be a part of these stories and take hold of what we can for ourselves. It’s exciting!
One thing that came to mind (that I think I picked up in class!) is that all cultures have some kind of belief system. That cultures have similar stories or ideas about how it all works isn’t surprising to me.
I have plenty of dreams I remember. Sometimes I’m just left with a feeling from a dream--dread, uncertainty, or hopefulness. Sometimes I’m so glad to wake up and get out of that dream situation! We’ll see how I can use them, maybe. I sometimes get goosebumps or feel a certain energy when I’m talking with someone about something I think is important. I like the idea of a “web of connection” through all people.
I especially liked the sentence “The Center of the World is wherever you are.”
I got a used copy and it has someone else’s notes in it! I like that--a connection to a stranger who wrote in all caps. It gave me permission to underline a few things of my own. This is even signed by the author! Another connection.
I’m totally with you on all cultures having origin stories and mythologies (or religions) to explain things. -- I love that your copy has marginalia. I agree in this book, that might feel really personal. And a signed copy-- that’s a lucky used one! Definitely mark it up with your own tour through it!
* “It’s a rule of skin: truth comes with goosebumps…”
* Connection of synchronicity with the numinous. When I have these experiences it is as if I have been in contact with spirit, with something unseen but always there. It’s a hopeful and exciting feeling.
* Jung’s account of the knife spontaneously breaking, and then soon after, the tabletop. And along with this the idea of acausality (Xmas tree lights and TVs randomly turning on?)
Questions: Can powerful psychological states affect the physical world? How much of a creator of our reality are we?
* I love how, instead of being angry at the wrong stone being delivered, Jung took it as a sign that it was meant for him, and then he subsequently used it to create a work of archetypal art and meaning. The idea of happy accidents.
* In the examples of other cultures, there’s an emphasis on human interaction and communication with the natural world. Keen observation of the animate and inanimate. I keep returning to the thought of how disconnected we mostly are in western culture, and how the natural world is seen as object, something to conquer, to use, not something we’re an integral part of, much less something to receive information or messages from.
Thank you for sharing your notes on this chapter, Adah. I, too, really appreciated Jung taking that unexpected cube and seeing the arrival and accident as somehow meant to be-- and going from there.
Thanks for this post Amy and for the lovely photos of Bollingen, I will have to look for more, what a charmingly “imbued” place. While I read about Bollingen I was having similar memories of touring Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin, or Lotusland gardens in montecito. It’s a bit eerie to be in a space designed with so much intent, focus of will, and artistry- by a person to whom that space meant something so important, life affirming, intimate but also designed to be shared with others as it is a home or garden or whatnot. The concept of “rhymes through time” really stuck me as well. If each of our lives are our own myth, it’s those reoccurring motifs, “inside jokes with the universe” that do seem to cause me to pause and pull myself out of the moment and into a bigger consideration of my place in all of it. Are we the chess pieces? Are we moving the chess pieces with others playing along, seen and unseen? Is it really the quantum-level stardust in each of us that are the chess pieces? Big thoughts. Love it. Play is the thing. Really love it.
I can definitely imagine seeing spaces like that in person would feel that way... so much personal history must cling to spaces like that. I love your chess pieces line of thought here and the myriad questions it raises.... I wonder how much the inability to sort out questions will weigh on some of us as we continue to tease at these philosophical threads.
I just saw Taliesin this summer--and I appreciate you bringing it up. I think FLW was trying to create a spiritual experience where people were at one with the land, could appreciate it.
I just caught up reading the comments of week 1 and considering responding but since we are in week 2 it seemed wiser to jump right into week 2 :) I can always go back commenting on week 1.
The density of the chapter made it a bit harder to read but many interesting thoughts.
Points that resonated:
-Play: I just finished a painting course that emphasized the importance of play without concerns about the outcome and without judgement. For most adults, it is really hard. For the course, I had to do a lot of play and on the occasions when I was able to actually play, feeling of time was gone and things just happened (sounds vague but I mean unexpected colour combo's, happy accidents, feelings of joy)
-I love reading mythology, and stories about ancient traditions.
Native American tradition: their respect for everything else around them, how they say thanks for the gifts of life and how they listen to the environment. I could cry thinking about how most people take life and the resources nature gives us for granted. I try hard to be not one of those people but it is not easy. I really enjoyed and learnt from the book ‘braiding sweetgrass, indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teaching of plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
-Wyrd: I like the idea of a web of connections between everything, how nothing is set in stone but always moving and how everything has a part in it. It is both reassuring as well as terrifying.
I am definitely looking more closely, noticing and appreciating things and trying to be more in the moment. Last week I saw a crow sitting on a stop sign that I pass on my walk. It was looking at me intensely and I decided it was telling me to slow down and just ‘be’ for a moment so I tried.
Thank you for sharing what resonated for you in this chapter, Marianne. I really think it helps all of us to hear from each other how different things land and what angles we have on concepts. Your recent experience with the painting class and “play” is a wonderful moment of connection. I am glad to hear the crow moment, too — and that you paid attention to the invitation to slow down.
As a retired editor, what I found most intriguing about chapter 2 was how much Moss did not write. He could have gone on and on about each of these four directions, yet he chose not to. That allowed us to have the leisure to fill in our own blanks, and to explore on our own terms.
As I move into this book, and read ahead on the exercises, I am worried about my inability to remember my dreams. Many years ago, I filled notebooks with dream images. Now I can’t remember , more than a general impression. This, despite that I set intentions every night of remembering my dreams, and of participating in them.
Who knows, this whole process could be life-changing. It might even give me my dreams back.
I agree, Fran…. I was amazed at how reigned in he was in giving a character sketch of Jung and a synopsis of the four frameworks, each of which could obviously have been a book of its own. There’s a clear sense of name- and resource-dropping in this, too, showing a base of knowledge upon which to build. Totally, that makes for a very different chapter, but I see the point, and I appreciate the grounding and the survey of other approaches.
I am with you about dreaming. I started to mention it this week because it comes up a bit in this chapter. I don’t have this recall! Your comment hints that this will be part of some of the exercises. I guess we’ll see what happens. Knowing there are a bunch of them, I would guess that some will work for each of us. Looking forward to it — and I appreciate your cautious optimism ;)
I definitely find myself looking at things more closely this week. It is calming for me to slow down and notice things, to look for meaning, and feel like I am tuning into something wiser than myself, something willing to maybe impart a spark of that wisdom. I think this is perhaps how I should be living anyway, but most of the time I forget to. Somehow making a sort of game out of it has kept me more on track. Hide and seek. I love a good mystery; I'm like a dog with a bone.
When reading about all the roots of these concepts throughout different cultures and times, I couldn't help but wonder what the reasons might be. What were they/are we seeking? A little magic in the mundane? A sense that we aren't alone, that we matter, that answers and help aren't beyond our reach? A sense that we are special, that maybe we are a magical mystery as well, that we are...more? It seems we've always sought to know about things that are beyond us, like a little kid wearing their father's too-big coat and clunking around in his shoes, wanting to someday grow into them. :-) Very interesting book so far.
I’m really glad to hear you are enjoying the book so far…. And finding that it has already made you start looking and noticing in new ways. The more we practice that behavior, the more it becomes a part of us. I think your questions on the why of all of these frameworks are interesting…. I think people have been trying to understand and explain life forever. And of course these questions are at the heart of religions, as well. All of these may end up being different entry points to something similar in terms of understanding, hoping, and making meaning. I definitely get the sense that this author would certainly say “Yes” to many of your questions.
Hi, again
Yes, I would like to be worthy of friends and worthy friends too…
I jumped in with excitement at everyone’s words, and the title — all which led me to listen to an audiobook by the same author —all which convinced me to order the book, which despite being scheduled to arrive this last week has been delayed until Tuesday.
So here I am. Nowhere near catching up.
Still the triumphant sweetness I encounter reading your words, posts and comments keep me thinking, eventually I may have something to say…
You will catch up and…. Even better….. there is no race to this reading. The timeline is slow…. And once we get to the set of exercises, there will be time to think about the various approaches and games and see how they work. I hope the other title you listened to by this author was good? I’m happy you are here - and I hope as you wait for your copy, you just look around each day and notice what you notice.
I enjoyed the second chapter because it took be back to college and the cultural anthropology classes I took. If you study a culture, you are an observer, recording things as you see it. But this book invites us to be a part of these stories and take hold of what we can for ourselves. It’s exciting!
One thing that came to mind (that I think I picked up in class!) is that all cultures have some kind of belief system. That cultures have similar stories or ideas about how it all works isn’t surprising to me.
I have plenty of dreams I remember. Sometimes I’m just left with a feeling from a dream--dread, uncertainty, or hopefulness. Sometimes I’m so glad to wake up and get out of that dream situation! We’ll see how I can use them, maybe. I sometimes get goosebumps or feel a certain energy when I’m talking with someone about something I think is important. I like the idea of a “web of connection” through all people.
I especially liked the sentence “The Center of the World is wherever you are.”
I got a used copy and it has someone else’s notes in it! I like that--a connection to a stranger who wrote in all caps. It gave me permission to underline a few things of my own. This is even signed by the author! Another connection.
Thanks, Amy!
I’m totally with you on all cultures having origin stories and mythologies (or religions) to explain things. -- I love that your copy has marginalia. I agree in this book, that might feel really personal. And a signed copy-- that’s a lucky used one! Definitely mark it up with your own tour through it!
Favorite parts from chapter 2:
* “It’s a rule of skin: truth comes with goosebumps…”
* Connection of synchronicity with the numinous. When I have these experiences it is as if I have been in contact with spirit, with something unseen but always there. It’s a hopeful and exciting feeling.
* Jung’s account of the knife spontaneously breaking, and then soon after, the tabletop. And along with this the idea of acausality (Xmas tree lights and TVs randomly turning on?)
Questions: Can powerful psychological states affect the physical world? How much of a creator of our reality are we?
* I love how, instead of being angry at the wrong stone being delivered, Jung took it as a sign that it was meant for him, and then he subsequently used it to create a work of archetypal art and meaning. The idea of happy accidents.
* In the examples of other cultures, there’s an emphasis on human interaction and communication with the natural world. Keen observation of the animate and inanimate. I keep returning to the thought of how disconnected we mostly are in western culture, and how the natural world is seen as object, something to conquer, to use, not something we’re an integral part of, much less something to receive information or messages from.
Thank you for sharing your notes on this chapter, Adah. I, too, really appreciated Jung taking that unexpected cube and seeing the arrival and accident as somehow meant to be-- and going from there.