Coming of Age in the Aquarian

The bird circling a tree

Journal Entry Date: 25 Sept 2004

Thought for the Day: "The second point I wish to make is about a particular characteristic of argumentative method that is common to all the writers of this book--perhaps of all Jungians. Those who have limited themselves to living entirely in the world of the conscious and who reject communication with the unconscious bind themselves by the laws of conscious, formal life. With the infallible (but often meaningless) logic of the algebraic equation, they argue from assumed premises to incontestably deduced conclusions. Jung and his colleagues seem to me (whether they know it or not) to reject the limitations of this method of argument. It is not that they ignore logic, but they appear all the time to be arguing to the unconscious as well as to the conscious. Their dialectical method is itself symbolic and often devious. They convince not by means of the narrowly focused spotlight of the syllogism, but by skirting, by repetition, by presenting a recurring view of the same subject seen each time from a slightly different angle--until suddenly the reader who has never been aware of a single, conclusive moment of proof finds that he has unknowingly embraced and taken into himself some wider truth.

--there's more--

Jung's arguments (and those of his colleagues) spiral upward over his subject like a bird circling a tree. At first, near the ground, it sees only a confusion of leaves and branches. Gradually, as it circles higher and higher, the recurring aspects of the tree form a wholeness and relate to their surroundings. Some readers may find this "spiraling" method of argument obscure or even confusing for a few pages--but not, I think, for long. It is characteristic of Jung's method, and very soon the reader will find it carrying him with it on a persuasive and profoundly absorbing journey." --John Freeman (Jung, MAN AND HIS SYMBOLS, Dell Publishing, p.x)

Brought to eye/mind today: That which I set out to find was already at hand.

Thank you, Lord, for good and timely information.

Journal:

• Dreamt--just before waking:
  I'm helping a black girl who is a co-worker establish her case for keeping her job. We are students working for IMS at UNR as field service techs, maintaining and repairing PCs and printers.

  She and I go the the sub-basement in the Physics building, where the research labs are, to find evidence in her support. There are library stacks, full of books, in a cave-like setting. I find something in the dirt and show it to her.

  Seque to:
  It's finals time at school(1) and I haven't gone to class or taken a test all semester. I dread seeing my grades with all the F's and know I will lose my job at IMS because they require active standing as a student. I wonder where I'll find a job in Anchorage (though I'm going to school in Nevada).

  (1)I've dreamt this a number of times before. Usually I'm running up the wide steps of a campus building to take the final and full of dread, because I haven't studied and missed many classes. The class is usually a language, Latin or German.



• Found it was snowing when I got up and it set me in fret mode--the yard's not cleared of the remnants of construction, nor is everything battened down for winter.


• I planned today to explain why I'm not a Buddhist, although I admire Buddha and his teachings very much. Will talk about it another time, because this entry is so long.


• Naegling, my older computer, is ailing. One of the fans sounds ready to go. Cleaned all the fans--the one in the power supply was pretty grungy. Cleaned it with alcohol and lubed it with silicone spray. It sounds much better.

Posted by mfowl at September 27, 2004 10:27 PM | TrackBack