The Quest: Vision in an Age of Crisis. Jungian Psychotherapy

A mini series on Transhumanism Transhumanism divides into moderate Transhumanism which believes in an enhanced human condition, and radical Transhumanism which envisages a profound alteration of our bodies and minds, even to the extent of abandoning our biological inheritance and becoming a designed new species. Both visions envisage accelerating technological change. But humans are not in charge...

What is the origin of the destructiveness in humans towards the world of nature? We examine firstly the consequences, values and paradigms of Business Civilization such as  removal from nature, hyper-technological rationalism, intense consumerism, over-emphasis on science and calculation, exaggerated individualism and so on. These become more intensified in the contemporary period with huge destru...

This is the final episode in this miniseries. It covers the following points. 1. A tipping point has been reached in the climate crisis past the 1.5 degree centigrade threshold and the planet is now in a stage of unpredictable runaway effects. 2. Climate defiance is in the ascendant and there is crisis, confusion, and perhaps despair in the Green ranks. The Green agenda will, however, make a come-...

The green climate agenda is going backwards. Fifteen examples from across the world are given. Preparing for survival on a degraded planet should be a policy with the status of a national emergency.  Practical policy responses are put forward for rising seas levels.

The climate crisis and the ecological catastrophe are an existential threat to Homo sapiens especially when combined with other crises of the 21st century. This is of immense evolutionary and even metaphysical significance. As our species gained in technological power the exploitation of nature became more extensive and under business civilization this has become a world wide phenomenon. The compe...

The COP commitments are critically scrutinised.  Even if all its  pledges were kept concerning GHG emissions, the tripling of renewable capacity, and energy efficiency  improvements - and that is a tall order - the world is heading for a 10% increase in emissions by 2030, instead of the 43% reduction required to keep global warming under the 1.5 degree threshold. Following further research post Co...

This episode gives a review of Cop 28 which confirms the view that despite strenuous efforts of the United Nations, the IPCC, and many other institutes and organizations the world is politically and economically unwilling or unable to avoid climate catastrophe in the decades to come.  Mankind’s economic short term interests triumph over reason and common sense. To prepare for a severely degraded w...

This is the fourth episode in this miniseries on the ecological catastrophe of our age. The GHG emissions targets are not being reached on time. We need to prepare for survival in a degraded world. There needs to be a spiritual vision to give us insight into the climate and other crises of our age.  

This episode identifies the other elements of the ecological crisis aside from climate: Biodiversity loss Chemical pollution into land, air, rivers, and oceans Particle pollution of the atmosphere Deforestation and land use Freshwater scarcity The phosphorous and nitrogen cycle # The episode continued by identifying Business Civilization as the immediate source of the contemporary ecological disas...

There are now some changes to the structure and timing of these podcasts. Firstly, the Spanish language podcasts, which have explored the life and work of Carl Jung, have now ended. For the forseeable future there will only be the English speaking podcasts. Secondly, I am moving the podcast release dates generally to the first of the month - an easier date to remember rather than the mid-month tim...

Este es el episodio final de nuestra serie de podcasts sobre la vida y obra de Carl Jung. Este ha sido un proyecto conjunto entre el Instituto Venezolano de Psicología Analítica (representado por María Leonor de Planchart y Beatrice Rojas) y el Quest (representado por Alan Mulhern). Terminamos, como deberíamos. con las propias visiones y pensamientos de Jung al final de su vida, tal como se cuenta...

Life has always been dependent on and deeply interlinked with climate. The earth passes through great cycles of glacial and warming conditions with enormous consequences for the promotion or restriction and even extinction of life. Hominins, our ancestors, adapted to changing habitats and climatic environments. The genus Homo, of which Homo sapiens is but one species among others, had an even grea...

This is the start of a mini-series on the ecological catastrophe of the anthropocene. In the first episode the emphasis is on climate but subsequent ones will explore other components of this crisis, for example the great destruction of  bio-diversity, otherwise known as the sixth extinction event. The current ecological emergency is undeniable. But current policies to deal with it are inadequate....

“La descristianización de nuestro mundo, el desarrollo luciferino de la ciencia y la tecnología, y la espantosa destrucción material y moral que dejó la Segunda Guerra Mundial han sido comparados más de una vez con los acontecimientos escatológicos narrados en el Nuevo Testamento. Cristo es este mito viviente de nuestra cultura. Es nuestro héroe cultural que encarna el mito del hombre primordial d...

Human nature is the integrated but at the same time conflicting combination of six parts of our development: animal inheritance, emotional structure, conscious ego intelligence, the unconscious, higher consciousness, and what Jungians call the Self. These have evolved over millions of years and many of them are a unity of conflicting parts. Despite their conflict there is also a transformational i...

El Libro Tibetano De Los Muertos describe las experiencias de la conciencia en el intervalo entre la muerte y el renacimiento y se divide en tres bardos: El Chikhai Bardo - "el momento de la muerte" que tiene la experiencia de la "luz clara de la realidad". El Chonyid Bardo - "la experiencia de la realidad" que presenta la experiencia de las ilusiones cósmicas. El Sidpa Bardo o "bardo del renacimi...

Since mankind began to think morally the question of the origin of evil was a continual problem. We examine  some examples. We begin with the Ancient Egyptians and the Judaic tradition. Special focus is on the myth of Osiris and Seth on the one hand and Cain and Abel on the other.  The contribution of envy and malevolence to conflict and evil is noted.  

Estamos encantados de continuar con los podcasts del Quest. Antes de continuar con la experiencia de Jung con la metafísica tibetana será útil cubrir algunos elementos básicos de la enseñanza budista, ya que el budismo es el fundamento de la espiritualidad tibetana. “Si podemos reconocer las apariencias del bardo dharmata como la energía de sabiduría de nuestra propia mente, no hay diferencia entr...

This is the first in a  miniseries on the origins of evil.  Creative and destructive forces exist as universal principles and underpin life on earth as well as the consciousness of humanity. The essence of evil in the psyche is the destruction of the good. This is  the "satanic", which is malevolently opposed to the life-giving and creative. A distinction is made to the "luciferian" which is a mov...

The famous painting of the Tibetan wheel of life is in the grip of the Lord of Death. At its centre are two concentric circles: the outer shows the ascending and descending paths with souls in the death and rebirth cycle; the inner shows three animals, a pig, a snake, and a rooster which symbolise forces within human nature that perpetuate this cycle and are responsible for the suffering in life....

Este episodio continúa una miniserie sobre las observaciones de Jung sobre textos orientales y explora sus comentarios sobre El Libro tibetano de la Gran Liberación, desconocido para Occidente hasta su primera publicación en 1954. El próximo episodio examinará sus comentarios sobre el Libro tibetano de los muertos. Al igual que otros de sus comentarios, como los del I Ching y El Secreto de la Flor...

This episode continues a miniseries on Jung’s observations on oriental texts exploring his comments on The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation unknown to the West until its first publication in 1954. The next episode will examine his comments on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Like other of his commentaries, such as those of the I Ching and the Secret of the Golden Flower, Jung is here aiming at a...

No matter what the crises of the collective the individual has the opportunity of realising the inner light that lies in us all. This episode explores the Taoist text The Secret of the Golden Flower which describes in an extraordinary manner how to access this light through the meditation process. The episode ends with a beautiful song The Turning of the Year by Mark Dunn of The Bringers of Change...

In this last episode of this miniseries I give Jung’s main argument and its pros and cons. My feelings about the difficulties of the work are as follows: Firstly, relevance. How much can it offer the modern world? Secondly, isolationism -  its removal from the other analytic disciplines. Thirdly, certain inconsistencies which may confuse the reader. Fourthly, contradiction - whether the archetype...

Este es el episodio final de la miniserie sobre la Respuesta  a Job de Carl Jung. Aqui presento un resumen de su argumento  y doy dos ejemplos de la relevancia para el mundo moderno. En primer lugar, su temor de un apocalipsis moderno. Sin embargo, el vio la posibilidad de un proceso de individuación al traer esto a la conciencia. En segundo lugar, la relación de este texto con la práctica actual...