http://punctum-saliens.org Leaping Point: Take a flying leap and see where you land Fri, 01 May 2009 02:56:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A few quotes from this excellent paper [Stein. Individuation: Inner Work. JOURNAL OF JUNGIAN THEORY AND PRACTICE (2005) vol. 7 (2) pp. 1-13. Available online here] The principle of individuation defines the essence of the human. It is absolutely fundamental to human beings to distinguish themselves from their surroundings. This is the essential ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2009/04/30/individuation-inner-work-by-murray-stein/ I've finally found a quote from C.G. Jung that backs up what I've been saying for a while now [e.g. here, here, and here]: The Churches stand for traditional and collective convictions which in the case of many of their adherents are no longer based on their own inner experience but ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2009/04/15/lets-understand-christian-mythology-symbolically-for-once/ In depth psychology, the Self is the regulating center of the psyche as opposed to the ego which is the center of consciousness. The Self is also "the central archetype or archetype of wholeness." [1] There are many themes and images that refer to the Self: wholeness, union of opposites, ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2009/04/15/god-and-the-self-in-depth-psychology/ Psychopomp: Psy"cho*pomp\, n. [Gr. ?; psychh` the soul + ? to send: cf. F. psychopompe.] (Myth.) A leader or guide of souls . --J. Fiske. [Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.] Jung ... describe[s] the dynamic of humanity and divinity as functions of each other in ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2009/04/13/dream-as-psychopomp/ Several reports of "ken sightings" have been received. Most claim he has been visiting local coffee shops with Elvis, so they are suspect, at best. After a month and a half of not posting to his blog, it is feared that foul play may be involved. However, after much searching, ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2009/03/15/ken-sightings-unconfirmed/ Religion and Reality: True Religion Is Not Belief in Any "God"-Idea but the Direct Experiential Realization of Reality Itself, by The Avataric Great Sage, Adi Da Samraj. The Dawn Horse Press, 2006. The Parental Deity and the One to be Realized A common notion about “God” or the Divine is that of ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2009/02/03/religion-and-reality-by-adi-da-samraj-part-ii/ Religion and Reality: True Religion Is Not Belief in Any "God"-Idea but the Direct Experiential Realization of Reality Itself, by The Avataric Great Sage, Adi Da Samraj. The Dawn Horse Press, 2006. This was my initial introduction to Adi Da. A member of the Kansas City Friends of Jung recommended this ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2009/02/02/religion-and-reality-by-adi-da-samraj-part-i/ I've been motivated to look at The Lord's Prayer in some depth. We never (or rarely) recited this prayer in the church I grew up in and, for the most part, these were just verses that I memorized at one point. There was not a lot of significance attached to ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2009/02/02/our-father/ The dates have not been officially announced yet but Tim Freke, bestselling author and internationally respected authority on world spirituality, will be in Kansas City in early May. He will be giving a two-evening Lucid Living seminar. For all the information on Tim's KC appearances, go to www.timothyfrekekc.com. And, yes, I ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2009/01/29/tim-freke-is-coming-to-kansas-city-in-may/ BBC News lists some Bushisms (found via nothing new under the sun) to make you chuckle a little and groan a little and wonder a little how the hell we survived the last 8 years. Read the whole list, but here are few of my favorites: I want to thank my ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2009/01/20/farewell-to-the-misunderestimated-president/ My friend, Patrick Neas of KXTR here in Kansas City interviewed Richard Smoley (Conscious Love, Inner Christianity and Hidden Wisdom) and you can listen to it here. Richard will be in Kansas City next week (January 16 & 17) for a Friday night lecture and Saturday workshop sponsored by the ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2009/01/08/richard-smoley-interview/ Jeremy (The Kibitzer) makes a point I've never before thought about in Imperfect Civilization Is Better Than an Impossible Utopia. The Garden of Eden was not a day-spa where Adam and Eve were waited on hand and foot and got facials, pedis and manis, took mud baths, &c. There was ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2009/01/04/even-paradise-needs-some-work/ Tim Freke uses the term "lucid living" to describe a state analogous to lucid dreaming but lucid living is the balance point between our mundane life (the "dreaming" state) and a state of higher consciousness. Ram Dass states that the highest mother, student, therapist, lover, &c. is the most conscious ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/12/28/what-is-conscious-living/ caveat lector: I am an engineering Ph.D. with a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (complete with a Dictionary of the Greek New Testament) and Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon and I'm not afraid to use them! So, therefore, I would appreciate input on meaning and nuance from anyone who ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/12/26/faith-vi/ via The Rev's Rumbles I found the Germatriculator which rates my blog as balanced exactly, yet precariously, between the two extremes (at least as of right now). I've achieved my goal of holding the tension of the opposites!! The universe now has an incrementally greater amount of consciousness. My work ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/12/17/talk-about-balancing-between-the-opposites/ God is real. The Christian life is about a relationship with God as known in Jesus Christ. It can and will change your life. -- Marcus Borg via The Rev's Rumbles What I want to emphasis in the above quote is the word Christian. It is the Christian life that is about ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/12/17/the-christian-life-is/ Continuing from my last post, I have not totally thought through the "why" of the ultimate observer doing no action but, taking that as an assumption to be "proven" later, I think there are two answers to "Who, then, created?" First, as some spiritual traditions suggest (and I can't, at the ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/12/13/not-i-or-no-one-created/ Vedanta has an aphorism which states: "I do nothing at all." Our true "I," our true Self, is the ultimate observer and does not act. If our true Self were, itself, observed, then it would be the object to another's subject. That other subject would then be the ultimate observer ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/12/12/who-then-created/ I feel like I've been harping on this a lot lately but this is what I've been thinking about and trying to deal with in my life. MysticSaint at, Inspirations and Creative Thoughts, has another excellent post from which I'll pull a couple quotes that he quotes: ... the mystic is ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/12/11/yet-more-tension-of-the-opposites/ I've written elsewhere about the anthropomorphism of God but another parallel with Jung's psychology has suggested itself. This time, it is the concept of transference. Again, from The Theory of Psychoanalysis: Nervous and Mental Disease Monograph Series, No. 19: Freud calls this process transference, owing to the fact that the images ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/12/10/inadequate-infantile-attitude/