I have long been interested in meditation, and I practiced it on and off for many years when I was a young man. Meditation held me together through my neurotic shenanigans, until depth psychology crossed my path and cleaned out the worst of my inner discombobulations. I used to … [Read more...] about How Meditation and Depth Psychology Overlap
Guilt: A Favorite Way to Suffer
Is guilt our favorite way to suffer? I think it is. Shame, fear, and anxiety might be more intense as torments go, but guilt (life’s “fitful fever”—Shakespeare) is the emotional hotspot that flares up most frequently in the backwoods of human nature. And it doesn’t take … [Read more...] about Guilt: A Favorite Way to Suffer
Understanding the Psyche of Boys
Boys are being bad, again. They’re displaying “a stunted masculinity,” says the cover story in the current issue of The Atlantic magazine. The article, titled “The Miseducation of the American Boy,” bemoans “the brutal language” of teenagers and young men whose primary values, … [Read more...] about Understanding the Psyche of Boys
The Joy of Militant Ignorance
Human beings are highly resistant to acquiring self-knowledge. Our ego, the turtle shell of our mind, readily embraces willful, even militant, ignorance as self-protection against the humbling reality of how we instigate and then cover-up our participation in self-defeating … [Read more...] about The Joy of Militant Ignorance
Answers to Questions From Readers (Part 7)
Readers often send me emails with their comments and questions. Here I answer five of them, all dealing with different aspects of depth psychology, particularly inner passivity and inner conflict. I have done some light editing of the questions, and my responses are in … [Read more...] about Answers to Questions From Readers (Part 7)