Serving the Inner Life, pt. 1

In this episode:
We begin to read through the Grimms' fairy tale, The White Snake, and to explore what it has to say about the creative challenges of doing our inner work.

Let's make this a conversation:
Do you have a comment or  question about this episode, or about something you would like me to address in a future episode? Please contact me on Facebook (facebook.com/jungiananalyst) or Twitter (@Jason_E_Smith).

For more on living a symbolic life:
Please check out my book, Religious but Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life, available from Chiron Publications.

Sources for quotes and more:

1. The White Snake from 'Grimms' Household Tales,' translated by Margaret Hunt.
2. Episode 1: What is the Symbolic Life?
3. "Fairy tales are the purest and simplest expression of the collective unconscious psychic processes..." ~ Marie-Louise von Franz in 'The Interpretation of Fairy Tales.'
4. "[For each of us] there is a reality, a fit place, and congenial duties." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson from 'Spiritual Laws' in Essays: First Series.
5. "The imagination is... a vehicle of relationship to what lies on the other side of imagination — autonomous psyche..." ~ D. Stephenson Bond in 'Living Myth: Personal Meaning as a Way of Life.'
6. "If you are searching, you must not stop until you find. When you find, however, you will become troubled." ~ Gospel of Thomas, translated by Lynn Bauman.
7. “The life of the unconscious goes on and continually produces problematical situations...There is no change that is unconditionally valid over a long period of time. Life has always to be tackled anew." ~ C.G. Jung, 'The Transcendent Function' in Collected Works, vol. 8.

Music:
"Dreaming Days" and "Slow Vibing" by Ketsa are licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0