"A major shift in perspective accompanies today’s fast-paced super-highways of information. Jung's and Neumann's comparative studies of consciousness revealed patterns -- evolutionary swings in its focus throughout history. They saw such shifts as reflections of unconscious organizing and centering functions. Their purpose is to re-orient us at certain critical stages to the more diffuse aims of spiritual and psychological development. Until recently, those aims were the province of…

Ever feel lost, despairing, angry, and searching for answers? I have and found some answers through learning how to trigger my body's joy hormones.

• Dopamine rewards accomplishment: Having goals, a purpose, and actively achieving desired outcomes.
• Oxytocin rewards caring and belonging: Feeling connected to and supported by others; giving…

I would like to announce the publication of my new book - Symptom, Symbol, and the Other of Language: A Jungian Interpretation of the Linguistic Turn. A brief description and link appear below.

Every statement about language is also a statement by and about psyche. Guided by this primary assumption, and inspired by the works of Carl Jung, in Symptom, Symbol, and the Other of Language, Bret Alderman delves deep into the symbolic and symptomatic dimensions…

A master yogi sought out depth therapy, entered my consultation office, and immediately related, "Last night I dreamt that my shushumna was burnt to a crisp. I was horrified and knew that I had to address this today." The shushumna symbolized the central life channel that flows with energy, both masculine and feminine. Over the course of his work, we explored how…

The situation is bleak. The dark side has taken over again, the proof of which is how regimented and violent its soldiers are, and the light is being held only by a rebel band, guarded by a republic. The two great masculine heroes—Luke Skywalker and Han Solo—have lost faith in their power to create change, so Han has gone back to trading and Luke is hiding out.

But Princess Leia has not lost faith. She is a general for the Resistance to the Nazi-like First Order, having traded her…

By Carol S. Pearson

Most people have no idea that the stories inside our heads determine much of what we notice in the world or how we string our observations together to make meanings of them. This suggests that stories that are invisible to us define a good deal of what we experience, so we continue to live these stories as if they were reality when they are not, even when they make us miserable. Understanding this can help us listen to others who see situations…

Medicine for the soul appears at the beginning of each year. In a special way, we receive signs and dreams that uniquely help us. Patients this week have related dreams of what the new year holds in store regarding growth potential, exploring dark areas of mind, and discovering…

In this third blog inspired by the murdered children of Sandy Hook I want to look at the archetypal image of the King.

The Archetypes: In their great book King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine, Jungian psychologists Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette envision a four-part masculine psyche divided into the…

"This is a world not of sciences, but of religions... And it is a peculiarity of most religions -- indeed, a general condition of faith itself -- that those who believe in one eschew all others, regard their God or their gods as the true divinity, and their system of conduct as alone irreproachable. Thus the heart of religions... consists of a superior intellectual posture, an absolute intolerance." -- …

Of course, all three monotheistic traditions (as well as Hinduism, Japanese culture and our own Greek mythological heritage) contain esoteric threads that reject puritanism and find the modesty doctrine irrelevant. But we are talking about sex, gender, morality, renunciation, segregation, power, politics, rebellion and control in our contemporary lives.…