The Art of Being Human

In this episode:
We discuss the importance of art for human life and the central place it holds for living a symbolic life.

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. “What if there were a living agency beyond our everyday human world — something even more purposeful than electrons?  ..." ~ C.G. Jung, from Psychology and Literature in 'Collected Works, vol. 15.'
2. 'Homo Aestheticus' by Ellen Dissanayake
3. Discussion of "psychological or personalistic art" and "visionary art" in Jung's Psychology and Literature.
4. Episode 1: What is the Symbolic Life?
5. "Everything is banal, everything is 'nothing but'; and that is the reason why people are neurotic.” ~ C.G. Jung from The Symbolic Life in 'Collected Works, vol. 18.'
6. “Under these conditions one tends to follow whatever gives off the strongest signal, which is usually filtered through the prism of desire...." ~ Religious but Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life.
7. "The artist appeals to that part of our being… which is a gift and not an acquisition — and, therefore, more permanently enduring...." ~ Joseph Conrad quoted in 'The Gift' by Lewis Hyde.
8. “There are very few changes at life's heart. That is why great literature, however ancient, always moves us and is always understood. It has to do with the unchanging heart of life.”~ Evelyn Underhill from The Inside of Life in 'Collected Papers of Evelyn Underhill.' 
9. “Whoever speaks in primordial images speaks with a thousand voices...” ~ C.G. Jung from On the Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetry in  'Collected Works, vol. 15.'
10. Discussion of "The Vital Circle" in 'The Rhythm of Being' by Raimon Panikkar.
11. “The meaning of life is to build a life as if it were a work of art.” ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel from 'I Asked For Wonder.'
12. “We must not forget that only a very few people are artists in life; that the art of life is the most distinguished and rarest of all the arts. Whoever succeeded in draining the whole cup with grace?” ~ C.G. Jung from The Stages of Life in 'Collected Works, vol. 8.'
13. "[We are] perhaps laying an infinitesimal grain in the scales of humanity’s soul...." ~ C.G. Jung from The Psychology of the Transference in 'Collected Works, vol. 16.'
    
    

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