The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology, Christian Spirituality, and Laughter

19th Sunday in The Kingdom of Heaven is Now. Lots of great people and resources named in this episode: Laura mentions Jungian Marie Louise Von Franz several times. Marci mentions Greek philosophy's focus on knowledge, justice, and the good.  We talk about 3 books by Karen Armstrong .  We mention mythologist Michael Meade , and poet Mary Oliver, and "Interior Castle" by Teresa of Avil...

We talk about the Death Cafe movement. Marci sings! We explore worry habits, choice, whirlpools, lessons in fairy tales, and the book, Teilhard de Chardin Seven Stages of Suffering. Laura tells an old story of "Rabbi Hockum." The Sunday Readings Thank you for listening ! Questions? Comments? Please send to Laughing. Mystics@gmail.com We now have an easier way for you to leave a review or rating, u...

 17th Sunday in The Kingdom of Heaven is Now time. We talk about haggling with God and the power of the individual to save the world.  We mention the relationship between the the exercises of St. Ignatius, and Jung's active imagination . Marci offers several different versions of the Lord’s prayer. Laura wanted to cut the vulnerable story she tells about her dad but she kept it in. The Sunday Read...

The 16th Sunday of the Kingdom of Heaven is Now. We dive deep into all three readings. Laura references the book " Abraham : the man and the symbol ; a Jungian interpretation of the biblical story." What Laura forgot, "... the Sages also divided the functions of the angels’ mission into three: to herald the birth of Isaac, to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and to heal Abraham. "On...

The 15th Sunday in the Kingdom of Heaven is Now time. Laura mentions another podcast, This Jungian Life. She also mentions alchemy and this quote -"A fool who persists in his folly will eventually become wise" -William Blake Marci mentions a prayer from Thomas Merton and this bible quote. Laura quotes from Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese She also mentions her work teaching emotional intelligence. We also...

14th Sunday in the Kingdom of Heaven is Now. We discuss the power of home. Laura mentions "nous," a concept she's heard from Ilia Delio. Heavy stuff. "Pierre Teilhard de Chardin saw the emergence of a new type of person with computer technology, an evolution of consciousness that led to a new level of cosmic life, what he called the “noosphere” (from the Greek “nous” or mind). T...

In this episode Marci sings a song! We talk about miracles, doubt and faith.   A joke from Joseph Campbell (also attributed to Thomas Merton!) And another Campbell quote that made Marci laugh.   Laura mentions the noncanonical Gnostic books featuring St. Peter. The Apocalypse of Peter, Letter of Peter to Philip and Apocryphon of James (among others). We mention T he Last Temptation of Christ film...

(0ur show notes are always filled with many links. If you are not seeing hyperlinks on your platform, please let us know. Thank you! ) Marci shares some of her research on Julian of Norwich. Laura struggles in this episode. We confess: some of the material (latter third) was added later. Lots of poetry in this episode, including a section from Blessing the Bread by Lynn Unger, Marci's poem, Learni...

Marci talks about her use of different pronouns for God. We reflect on what we learned during a recent talk from Ilia Delio. We mention Teilhard de Chardin (as we often do) and the challenge of using words like “god” or “love."  We discuss Jung's concept of “eros” and “logos." And Edinger's thoughts on endurance. We talk about individualism and faith, and the book The Gift and Th...

We talk about fire and wind and the sometimes unpredictable power of groups under the religious impulse. We discuss the work and a video of Ilia Delio , outlining her inspirational message. And a juicy quote from her. Laura  talks about her ecstatic experiences in prayer. We  struggle with the second reading (Romans) and explore the meanings of the word “love.” Marci suggests Mirabai Starr's book...

We talk about the problem of “always looking up.” Laura mentions Jungian James Hillman  We talk about the the political and economic power of the church.  Laura and Marci swim in the deep waters of Hebrews and Atonement theory. [There is a] . . . continued and progressive divine incarnation. Thus man is received and integrated into the divine drama. He seems destined to play a decisive part in it;...

We talk about controversies in the early church and today.   Marci offers a great exercise for listening deeply to others.   We explore following literal laws of the church vs. the law of love.  We talk about Laura’s love of rocks and her gift of petoskey stones.   Marci recommends "Ordinary Mysticism :Your Life as Sacred Ground" By  Mirabai Starr "Christ, as a particular concrete manifestation of...

A thought-provoking and joyful discussion. 20% more laughter in this episode! We talk about the apostle Barnabas and his Epistle, and the Gnostic Bible . Also the conflict of opposites and quotes by Edward Edinger and Carl Jung We explore the connotations of the word "glory" as well as the Jungian terms, inflation and conjunctio (from Jung's study of alchemy). We reflect on brokenness and share mo...

Laura and Marci talk about faith. Laura offers this quote by Carl Jung. Also this quote, talking about the Apocalypse. Christ was the first attempt of the God-image to incarnate and transform itself. Now, the second time around, humanity as a whole and not just one person is going to be the subject of that process. God is going to incarnate in humanity as a whole.... Edward Edinger, from his book-...

A happy conversation. We talk about the change in consciousness within the early Christians. We explore the concept of the "Second Coming." Marci reads this poem - Antiphon for Divine Wisdom By Hildegard of Bingen , Translated By Barbara Newman Sophia! you of the whirling wings, circling encompassing energy of God: you quicken the world in your clasp. One wing soars in heaven one wing sweeps the e...

Laura reflects on her powerful and unexpected experience of Holy Week. She recalls the scene/joke from the Tony award-winning musical " Passing Strange." (Great musical - with adult language and themes) We talk about the forms of worship, from traditional to modern and the effects they produce. Joseph Campbell had strong opinions on this. "....they've translated the Mass out of...

We talk about Thomas as the "literal man," "wounded healers," the value of our woundedness, healing vs. cures, and what does it mean "to believe." Mandala like paintings of the Book of Revelation. Also the work of Robert J. Schreiter and his book The Ministry of Reconciliation Marci mentions this video about Christ in all things. The mystical paintings of Fra Angelico. Link to the readings. Thank...

We discuss the Easter readings. Laura imagines the scene and wonders- would you go into the tomb or wait outside? Marci reads her poem, "Sneaky Jesus" and she recalls Mary Oliver's poem, "The Summer Day." Link for the Sunday Readings "The imitation of Christ, then, is participating in the suffering and joys of the world, all the while seeing through them the radiance o...

Marci shares her excitement and knowledge of the 3 holy days of the Triduum. Our original discussion was 1 hour and 20 minutes, now down to 46 minutes. Laura runs out of steam at the end. Please forgive the shortened Easter vigil description. Holy Thursday Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041725-Supper.cfm Good Friday Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041825.cfm East...

This was a tough episode for many reasons. Moving into the Passion is hard and Laura struggles to have the courage to share her perspectives on it. Palm Sunday has 4 readings. Here we cover the first three. The next episode is our reading of the Passion and the third episode is our discussion of it. Thank you for sharing this journey with us! Readings: Procession with Palms – Gospel Mk 11:1-10, Is...

We continue our Passion journey. Reading - Mk 14:1—15:47 Scroll down to last reading. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032424.cfm Edward Edinger in "Ego and Archetype" re: the crucifixion: "This state is a transition period. It is the limbo of despair following the death of an old life orientation and preceding the birth of a new one. Jesus’ resurrection symbolizes the birth o...

We continue on the journey of the Passion. Reflecting on how the media portrays it and our own ability to witness suffering. "Another aspect of the Gethsemane image that it emphasizes the fact that suffering is a crucial part of the process. The important part is to accept the suffering one encounters. You know we all have the deeply ingrained infantile notion that we’re supposed to be happy....

We continue to follow cycle C readings. We discuss our inner wasteland and our wildness, the daily process of resurrection, and finding a third way to deal with political traps. Edward Edinger "The Christian Archetype: a Jungian commentary on the life of Christ. “The divine process of change manifests itself to our human understanding . . . as punishment, torment, death, and transfiguration.” -Car...

Marci shares a wonderful poem by Mechthild of Magdeburg. We explore the powerful story of the Prodigal Son. Today's readings -Joshua 5:9a, 10-12, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033025-YearC.cfm Thank you for listening! Questions? Comments? Please send to Laughing. Mystics@gmail.com Please follow us to be alerted for new episodes.  We hope you&#...

In this episode: Marci explains the Beguine movement and offers a wonderful poem by Haedwig – a 13th-century poet and mystic. https://www.greynun.org/2020/02/the-beguines-of-medieval-europe-mystics-and-visionaries/ We talk about “callings” and God’s need of a human partner for Divine work in the world. Laura mentions Jung’s exploration of God’s evolution in his book, Answer to Job. https://a.co/d/...