Autumnal Equinox 2025
The first day of September - Labor Day! For those that are Laborers we thank you for your past, present, and future work. This drives forth our collective well being and promises that there will be human civilization for many centuries to come.
Right now there is a prominent discussion unfolding in self-help, self care, and wellness circles. The appropriate use (if any) of AI in psychological, psychiatric, and therapeutic settings. I am a humanitarian that cares deeply about the history and recordings of the human psyche. This idea of a soul for each individual of each life holding inherent value is center to my personal belief system and moral compass which guide me on day to day interactions. My philosophy is informed by one of the greatest physicians of all time and his final work: Man and his Symbols by Carl Jung I recommend this book to any person serious about attempting and realizing meaning as well as their own potential.
The book came about after an interview by John Freeman with Jung on a popular series Face to Face in the late 1950's. The interview starts off with Jung sharing that he first realized consciousness at the age of 11 and it felt as if he was walking out of a mist! Do you remember your first revelation of being an individual person and if so how old were you?
Many of us are acquainted with the teaching of Freud at some point in our public school career. Jung knew Freud personally and I believe is just as foundational of a 20th century thinker. Actually they even analyzed on another using their respective frameworks. Famously, they were in an one again off again kind of collaboration. Reading a few of their letters which were posthumously published the friction derives from Jung's "mysticism". He is willing to believe in the supernatural. Here is a fascinating excerpt of Freud's letter to Jung which spends many words on unpacking their combined experience of a possible ghostly like disturbance in Freud's home.
Jung's work has shed so much light on my personal discovery and self-actualization. If I were to create of the 50 most impactful Self-help Books, Man and His Symbols most certainly make an appearance. From a pop culture perspective many of us are aware of Jung's Psychological Types because this is the framework for Briggs-Meyers Personality Test.
In future blog posts I will examine the Briggs Meyer Types of world leaders and attempt to understand this influence on the decisions they ship. Hopefully such an amusement will offer creative surveillance into the inner workings and inner lives of the personalities shaping our world. Adding a little creative psychology can also be grounding.
Jung talks about the need for more psychology in the world. He points out that a "meaningless life" is anathema to human's existence. This is the final point of the Face to Face interview that man can not give up individuality in order to appease the technical machine which may demand collectivism at all times. For the moment my experience of AI has been one that ushers in a good amount of individuality. Talking to AI's has added precision to my verbal ability. Yet there is less libido and angst in these interactions. They are forgettable but easily transmittable. Part of me wants desperately to believe that AI is going to enhance the human experience. In order to metabolize the knowledge that this quantum computing era of humanity is unavoidable, I keep iterating scenarios where it's a benign influencer.
Yet, there is also my naturalistic side which demands human to human interaction and consolation from nature. In the video below I "touch grass" with my neighbors in an effort to punctuate the end of my work from home day. This combines a sense of community. bonding, and naturalness that appeals to my unconscious and other organs such as nervous system.
Design by Jack Meoff
Have a wonderful autumn. Let us know if you plan on any new wellness routines for the new season. Now that the sun sets a little earlier I am going to journal in the evening instead of in the morning. Saving the sunrise for outside time!