Contributing Member
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ArchetypeThe Trickster
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Contributing Member Your Host |
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Archetype The Trickster |
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I am a student of the psyche. And anything that lends itself, physical or/and metaphyiscal, to the understanding of the Greater Self, which I believe is vital to real personal growth. Exploring dreams, more specifically the Jungian concept, has become part of my 'bliss' for the past 15 years. By engaging in Jung's 'Individuation Process' and activitely working with dreams at the MDS Dream Forum I have discovered many universal truths {counter to my Christian roots} that are available to the senses once the 'endoctrinated' barriers are removed. Buddhism and Gnosticism have been a great influence, the first for the wisdom and discipline, and the later because it reconciles the Jesus I know. When I explored the world of Buddhism I discovered there was very little difference in the life and path of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha and the life and path, and values, of Jesus. I have more than one spiritual teacher and not of one spiritual philosophy. I am devoted to the philosophies of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, and all that encompasses. While devoted it is not blinding. My website Myths-Dreams-Symbols is a reflection of my interest. It is also an outlet for my creative Self. As WebMaster I am able to create, and express, and hopefully share what I have discovered from my path and journey over the past 15+ years. I have found that understanding dreams is a great tool in that search for Self/self. It is an intuitive thing, going beyond the norm of being beholden to social duty. I no longer subscribe to that norm, of the cultural and social demands for which the ego and material worth are at the center. I strive to make the spiritual/creative life my focus, with a desire to grow personally, creatively and spiritually. By helping other understand their dreams, and thus themselves, I feel I have discovered the best avenues for me to give of myself, to share and learn from others. The clinical Jung, the academics of educated thought, are not my greatest interest. It is the intuitive connection with Jung's philosophies, the natural understanding of the metaphors, the patterns and the concepts that pirece my soul. It is this metaphysical aspect that Jung, and Campbell, expounded that has provided me with a better understanding of the world around me, and the world within me. These universal concepts are about the soul, spiritual, and beyond the religion and dogma of the church. The struggle is not about faith but about discipline. The struggle is internal, and eternal. Joseph Campbell I am a native, but not a typical, Nashvillian {southerner}. I am a self employed contractor {30 years}, having worked in environmental health {local government} thru the 70's and early 80's. I am a liberal minded 'individual' who holds many conservative values but absent of the conservative bias. As part of my endeavors to seek balance I practice good psycholgical, spiritual {dreamwork is theraphy} and physical health. Jung teaches balance, in all aspects of life. With good health habits I see that my life need not be one of psychological and physical disabilities and prescriptions. By seeking a ground in a spiritual life I have aquired the helping hands that are needed in insuring the balance I seek in life. Understanding my own psychology has helped cast out the darkness, the Shadows, that once controlled the ego life, and gives light to the spiritual Self. I have one grown son and 4 beautiful grandchildren. Living the single life for the past 16 years I have focused my energies on my dream work and maintaining the MDS website. I am currently living with my sophisticated feminine felines.
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