PAN-CANADIAN SOCIETY OF ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY (project)
Illustration by C.G. Jung in The Red Book / Liber Novus
Welcome to the draft site of the Pan-Canadian Society for Analytical Psychology.
On this site you will find the first draft of a project to increase awareness of and access to analytical psychology in all regions of Canada through training, education, conferences, and the establishment of a national community focused on the pursuit of these ideas, as we enter the new year of 2023. The spirit of this society will reflect the bilingualism, multiculturalism, Aboriginal character, and the vast geographic space that defines the land and constitutes the soul of Canada. It will be enriched by the vast field of Jungian thought, in dialogue with contributions from other psychoanalytic families.
By clicking on the different keywords in the menu of this site, you will have access to the first beginnings of this project and you are invited to add your email address to the list of subscribers of our site by clicking on the following address: cgjungpcsociety@gmail.com.
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)
The spirit of the depths
“The spirit of the depths even taught me to consider my action and my decision as dependent on dreams. Dreams pave the way for life, and they determine you without you understanding their language. One would like to learn this language, but who can teach and learn it? Scholarliness alone is not enough; there is a knowledge of the heart that gives deeper insight. The knowledge of the heart is in no book and is not to be found in the mouth of any teacher, but grows out of you like the green seed from the dark earth. Scholarliness belongs to the spirit of this time, but this spirit in no way grasps the dream, since the soul is everywhere that scholarly knowledge is not.” C.G. Jung, The Red Book: Liber Novus, Norton & Company Ltd, New York, 2009.
Navigare necesse est, vivere non necesse
To navigate is necessary, to live is not. A Hanseatic motto, quoted by Sigmund Freud in his Thoughts for the Times on War and Death (1915). This quote was attributed to Pompey in 56 B.C. Apparently he was ready to start on his voyage home, when a great storm arose upon the sea and the captains of the ships were reluctant to set sail. But he led the way himself and ordered them to weigh anchor, shouting out to them: “We have to sail, we do not have to live“. What we can interpret as: “if you don’t navigate, life has no meaning, because it leads nowhere!”
Follow one’s own star
To our colleague Fraser Boa who asked Marie-Louise Von Franz: “How is it that so few people follow their own star? Why is the star such a heavy burden (?) [this one replied:] Because following one’s own star means isolating oneself, not knowing where to go, discovering an entirely new path for oneself ( individual), rather than just following the well-trodden paths that everyone is on. It is for this reason that men have always tended to project the uniqueness and grandeur of their own inner world onto outer personalities and to become servants, devoted servants, admirers and imitators of these outer personalities. It is much easier to admire a great man, to become a disciple or a follower of a guru or a religious prophet, the admirer of a great official. […] This kind of attitude is much easier than following your own star.” Excerpt from The Way of the Dream: Conversations on Jungian Dream Interpretation with Marie-Louise Von Franz, by Marie-Louise Von Franz and Fraser Boa, 1988.