Wandering Off the Path

In this episode:
We take a deep dive into the experience of depression and explore how a grasp of symbolic material can enrich our understanding of this difficult and all-too-human experience.

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. "Hidden in the neurosis is a bit of still undeveloped personality, a precious fragment of the psyche lacking which a person is condemned to resignation, bitterness, and everything else that is hostile to life." ~ C.G. Jung in The State of Psychotherapy Today in 'Collected Works, vol. 10.'
2.  Episode 23: Approaching the Unconscious
3. “The individual, who hitherto has been caught in his personal entanglements, is then confronted with a problem which no longer represents solely his personal conflict but gives expression to a conflict that it has been incumbent on man to suffer and solve from time immemorial." ~ Jolande Jacobi in 'Complex/Archetype/Symbol.'
4. Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Mark Musa.
5. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.
6. The I Ching, Richard Wilhelm translation.
7. “This awful, grinding, banal life in which [everything] is ‘nothing but.’” ~ C.G. Jung in The Symbolic Life from 'Collected Works, vol. 18.' 
8. Religion mitigates feelings of depression by providing a sense of meaning, study suggests
9. “If, however, we are also able to conceive of depression from the framework of the religious function of the psyche..." ~ 'Religious but Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life.'
10. The Quest for the Holy Grail, translated by Pauline Matarasso.
11. Lost by David Wagoner
12. Shoemaker and the Elves, from 'Grimm's Fairy Tales.'
13. Episode 21: Dreams and the Sacred
14. A Man Lost By a River by Michael Blumenthal.

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