Through a Jungian Lens

Individuation and Self-Consciousness

Shadow and Light on the Journey

Robert G. Longpré

Through a Jungian Lens

Individuation and Self-Consciousness

Shadow and Light on the Journey

©Robert G. Longpré Editor and Publisher Retired Eagle Books

A Journey of Soul on a Prairie Rail Line Through Images and Words

"... whatever reality may be, it will to some extent be shaped by the lens through which we see it."

- James Hollis, 1993

Dedicated to my mother and her life-mate, Jack.

Robert G. Longpré July, 2011

Introduction Introduction This book series began as a challenge. The challenge was to create a book of at least thirty-five photographs within a thirty-one day period of time. This is the SoFoBoMo challenge, a challenge in which completion of the project is its own reward. I took part in the 2009 SoFoBoMo challenge and somehow managed to complete two books within the time frame. I again took part in the challenge in 2010 and finished the third book in the series that I have come to call, Though a Jungian Lens. This year I again have decided to return to the challenge and produce a fourth book in the series. The challenge for me was to find enough photos that suggested the presence of shadow in relation to light while standing on an abandoned rail line on the Canadian prairies. The use of shadow and light is an attempt to track the growth of consciousness in the human psyche over the period of a lifetime, a blend of Developmental psychology and Jungian psychology. From a book of Carl Gustav Jung’s called “The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious,” I will bring his ideas of the shadow, the personal unconscious and consciousness. I also draw on post-Jungian writers as well as from other sources as I present the images here. I invite you to read this with an open mind, open to the possibilities rather than assumptions that limit consciousness. Enjoy this small journey of soul.

Robert G. Longpré

July, 2011

Part One – Dawn

Before the hint of light appears, there is only darkness, and in the darkness

there is no sense of anything but the darkness. There is no awareness, just an

all encompassing darkness. Out of the darkness, a thin sliver of light begins to

bring shape and form. And with that thin sliver of light, there begins to be a

separation from the darkness.

Within the womb of a mother, a promise of life is present though that life has yet

to be born, yet to be possessed by a soul which will merge with the body. The

foetus floats in darkness, waiting. The soul is part of the darkness, waiting.

Both wait for that moment of time when light will become present signalling the

beginning of life, the beginning of consciousness.

“Consciousness grows out of an unconscious psyche which is older than it

and which goes on functioning together with it or even in spite of it.” (Jung,

CW 9i, par. 502)

The darkness out of which a newborn infant and the soul that has claimed the

infant is the collective unconscious, something that contains all that is, all that

has been and all that is yet to be.

With birth, a separation from the collective unconscious, a journey is begun, one

in which both infant and soul will seek to discover themselves as inner beings

and as participants in a wider world of objects and others. Crossing into life,

both body and soul, mind and soul begin with no sense of identity, of meaning,

of purpose. This is a journey that will end with a return to their starting point,

a return home to darkness and the collective uncounscious.

Of course, it takes time for an infant to make anything at all of the light. Light

has no meaning other than it is only in the realm of light that the infant becomes

aware of its basic needs. The only sense of self is that of hunger, discomfort or

pain. Over a period of months a sense of separateness from others begins to

develop. Mother is separate. And with that awareness of separateness comes a

desperate need to be connected again.

The journey has begun.

As the sun rises, as we walk from

the sunrise forward into the day,

shadows stretch before us. We see

the world before us as a magical

place with colours that are rich

and vibrant as though they are

alive.

We discover the world as we walk

forward from the dawn, the birth

of a day; we discover the world as

we walk forward from the

moment of our birth.

We discover a world filled with

shadows, with mystery and

magic.

Shadows serve as contrast to the

glaring light of new found

consciousness. Shadow frames

this new sense of self and the

world. As we move forward into

life, into the day, we shift our focus

from the framed light to a world

that appears to be all light.

The world of things, people,

activity and function take away

our sense of the world being a

magical place. The way forward

seems straight forward with

relatively easily managed shifts as

we grow to adulthood.

Part Two – Approaching Noon

Shadows shorten as one approaches the moment when the sun is highest in the

sky. Shadows are banished as we categorize, classify and contain the world of

our senses. We define our world, we control our world and we understand the

world that is exposed in the bright light of day. We build our world in this light

to serve us, to define us.

Yet, we lose the magic of childhood that allowed us to talk to invisible people, to

believe in monsters, ghosts and fairies. We become students, friends,

employees, lovers and parents over the growing years, growing into the light,

into consciousness.

The path before us continues to follow the track that stretches before us with no

obstacles in the way. It all appears to be straightforward.

This first half of life lacks the full

range of colours that are found at

the edges between light and

darkness. Here in this time, all is

understandable and rationally

explained.

We construct theories to define

our as yet, unknowns believing

that science and intellect will yield

answers for everything. We

ignore that which is present but

not seen in the fullness of daylight.

And behind our minds, our bodies

instinctively take us forward

towards a place we deny exists.

The only mysteries remaining are

those of relationship, of love.

In spite of our belief in reason, we

are pulled into a different

mystery. We accept this pull and

even revel in it as long as we feel

we are in control, that we are

fully aware.

The approach of noon, of midlife

promises us even more certainty,

answers for unasked questions.

We deceive ourselves about the

mystery and claim that we are

consciously choosing and fully in

control. And that, the failure to

admit the hidden shadows in full

daylight, results in confusion as

relationships shatter and are left

in ruins.

Beyond any logic we can find, we

watch as relationships begin to

crumble, broad hints that all is not

as it seems in the light of day. We

find others not behaving with the

logic we have come to embrace.

Even the world seems to have

fallen off the rails at times,

ignoring what we perceive to be

natural laws.

And so, we retreat from the

edges of these unknown

spaces and places that we

believe are about our personal

weakness, our personal

failings. If only the road

ahead could be defined and

controlled would we safe and

secure.

Yet, we get distracted, even as

the fullness of the light of day

is almost upon us – distracted

by the scenes appearing at the

sidelines of our journey

forward into a still undefined

future.

Part Three – High Noon

It’s as though the shadow has disappeared as we stand in the middle of a life’s

journey. We don’t know that we are at the midpoint as we think we have almost

become immortal. We have raised families, we have succeeded in careers, we

have mastered ourselves. Should anyone ask, we confidently know who we are.

Yet for all of our certainties, we begin to see that the way ahead is blurring at

the edges, becoming indistinct in contrast with the certainties we have

constructed for ourselves.

We watch in dismay as the wheels

begin to fall off our carefully laid

plans. We can’t find any thing or

reason to explain what we sense is

happening to us.

With power, position, family and

property all should be perfect. Yet

somehow, it isn’t and we find that

we are not really at ease with

ourselves and with others.

Something is missing though we

seem to have everything that we

have ever wanted, having even

more that what we want.

There are hints that appear even

though there are no shadows, of

something more for us. Dreams

present us with images and

sensations, calling us to consider

the possibilities that can’t be seen

in full daylight.

Though the images appear they

are not trusted as they only seem

to appear in sleep and are thus

reduced to irrelevant nonsense.

And so, we become more frantic to

fill an emptiness with more –

more stuff, more people, more

experiences – more, more, more!

Part Four – Late Afternoon

A curious thing happens as we cross the threshold of noon, of midlife; we begin

to return to a world in which shadow again becomes present whether we accept

that fact or not.

We find ourselves at a crossroads. Do we admit these shadows as belonging to

our world or not? Too often the reappearance of shadow sends us scurrying

into a wasteland of frantic denial. We seek to recover the certainties of an

earlier time when life was straightforward and simple – what you saw was

what you got.

Fast cars, fast sex, fast food, fast vacations, and vicarious adventures defined as

reality – these are just some of those things we use to desensitize ourselves to the

presence of the growing shadows that dog us at our heels.

For those who dare to confront the shadows, to admit their existence and

presence, it isn’t much easier. One enters into a world where there doesn’t

appear to be a way forward.

Our outer world lives seem to lose meaning. We find ourselves wondering

about our relationships, our careers, our purpose in life. We look at those with

whom we have filled our lives and wonder at how they have become strangers.

We struggle with our careers wondering what we ever saw in them as now,

they leave us feeling hollow. We even question our selves. Who am I?

However, beneath all of the confusion, the uncertainty, the shadows lies our

unique purpose and meaning to be rediscovered, reinvented. We gradually

learn to trust ourselves in relation to the shadows present both in the outer

world and our inner worlds.

The self – the sense of “I” is

challenged almost to the breaking

point.

One is left to confront the growing

shadows or flee into a different

darkness. Alcohol and other

addictions are the typical strategies

we use to flee the shadows which

despite one’s best efforts only grow

longer as the days and years pass.

For those too stubborn to retreat,

the terrain of the shadow world

becomes a bit less frightening as

the mythical monsters of the

shadow world are defeated and

then welcomed into an expanded

relationship.

The work of bringing the shadows into

relationship with the self allows one to

finally come to a realisation that the

shadows are an integral part of who

one is in actuality.

Rather than reducing one to being

lesser in the presence of shadow, life

becomes curiously fuller and even

golden. It is as if one gets a treasure, a

treasure of connection to something

bigger than the self and that in the

connection one is richer than had ever

been thought to be possible.

No wonder this period of life has since

words have been formed by humans,

been called the “golden years.”

Part Five – Sunset

Late in midlife one begins to accept that one is mortal, that the body will return

from where it had come. The setting sun draws us like some beacon to come

forward into a different place, a different space, a different time.

The setting sun is more than a premonition of a darkness to come, it is also a

promise of something more. Instinctively we know that with sunset and

darkness, there is a dawn waiting to be born, to be reborn. In spite of the

apparent logic of a beginning and end that is symbolized by a set of rail tracks,

we ”know” that days follow each other as do seasons and years. We see

ourselves in the images of generations passed that we might possess as well as

in the faces of our children and grandchildren.

There is no sense of finality, just that of some sort of transformation. As we

approach the sunset of our own lives those who have finally accepted the truths

of their being creatures of shadow and light hear a promise that is not given in

words, but given none-the-less, that like a phoenix, out of our ashes, the dust

from which we grew into the light, we will re-emerge transformed.

We have tried to give names to this transformation. We speak of heaven, of

nirvana and angels and all manner of forms for paradise.

As we move closer to the coming night, we embrace fully what remains of the

day. Our relationship with our self, others who are intimately connected to us,

to our communities and the world at large is transformed into a relationship

that honours the darkness found in each part as well as the light. We embrace

the whole. No more is it about heaven and hell or good and bad.

Sunset promises us something that will emerge through the embrace of

opposites that keeps us mortal. The pull of the setting sun has transfixed us for

as long as we have existed as a people. All over the earth, we are drawn to stop

and look with awe as the sky is transformed and as the final golden rays paint

the landscape into scenes of paradise.

We see others around us in shades of shadow and golden light and know that

somehow the real essence of these people has , for a moment, been revealed.

And, we see ourselves without the warts

and scars that have been our

preoccupation in the past. We see our

spiritual and soulful self.

We see that we are holy and a piece of the

treasure that is promised in the setting of

the sun. And in seeing this, we realise that

the body we use will soon blow as seeds in

the winds and find new soil from which

again to start a new existence.

And so, we are armed to face the

transformational fires of the end of life and

consciousness.

As the darkness gathers, we are drawn towards it to a tunnel of light that others

can’t see, a different light.

And so, we lay still with the last glow of light as darkness begins to wrap

around us. And as we lie waiting on the rail bed which strangely continues into

the darkness, we begin to see other forms of light begin to appear, a different

way of being, a different consciousness.

Again, we are at the crossroads,

the threshold of a different journey

that is about to begin.

We leave the path of life as a

human, a path we followed as if on

a rail track. We turn instead to a

different path, one that lies behind

the darkness, behind our

understanding of time, place and

space.

Our current journey comes to an

end.

This is the fifth book in the series, Through a Jungian Lens, and the fourth

book created as a challenge through SoFoBoMo – the Solo Photo Book in

a Month challenge. All rights to this book, the text and the photographs

are reserved by the author, Robert G. Longpré in accordance to national

and international copyright law. Any use of the text and photographs

contained are subject to the approval of the author with the exception of

those uses permitted under copyright law.

Robert has enjoyed a long career in education and in counselling in

Canada before retiring to find a new way of engaging with the world with

a number of publications to his credit over those years.

Robert is currently engaged as a university lecturer in China and in a small practice as a

psychotherapist using both face-to-face and at-distance methods which use Jungian Psychology as

the foundational approaches to counselling.

For those who are interested, Robert maintains a blog site that is also called, Through a Jungian Lens,

a site that blends both photography and Jungian Psychology. There are more than 900 entries on the

blog site with new entries being posted almost every day.

Web: http://rglongpre.ca/jungianlens

E-Mail: rgl@sasktel.net

© Robert G. Longpré