July Photo Snippets

(Hover and click each photo for detail)

Book Review: Four Archetypes

Four Archetypes by C.G. Jung

An Illustration of Loki

Jung, among the many psychologists of his time, is the only one who made extensive efforts to bridge Eastern practices and beliefs which are characterized by the power of the collective in shaping the workings of the mind. This book made me understand more the Analytical theory of Jung at a conceptual level and I can say that Jung has been very influential to me.

He explored spirituality, mysticism and religious belief not to criticize them, but to recognize their importance and impact on psychology. The archetypes discussed on this book are merely symbolism akin to literary themes, but his writing resonates with Freud's style although tinged with a more mythological flavor, in a sense.

Anyone who wants to know the human psyche will learn next to nothing from experimental psychology. He would be better advised to abandon exact science, put away his scholar's gown, bid farewell to his study, and wander with human heart through the world.

- CG Jung

He acknowledged that his ideas are open to criticisms, especially if they are viewed on the strictly scientific lens, but then, when it comes to practice, I still lean on the side of considering the influence of spirituality and to the extent that a careful analysis and effective outcome in healing is what actually matters.

I read it many years ago but I still remember my impressions of it as soon as I saw the cover. The book is also filled with illustrations and woodcut prints from medieval periods.

June Photo Snippets

(Hover and click each photo for detail)

June has been a rollercoaster month. After spending days on the month of May for my grad school practicum at a Drug Rehabilitation Center, I had to focus on selecting readings for my GR Book Challenge, writing a yet unfinished case study, doing errands, and most of all, handling the humdrum of emotional commitments from the very few people in my life. By the end of the month, three kittens arrived, and I named them Coffeemate, Cadbury and Hershey. They were given to me by a dear sister. Most of the foliage and bloom photos here were taken from our home garden.

The month of Ramadan is also drawing to a close, and I hope that all is going well for everyone and may the blessings that come along with it be felt on our hearts despite the turmoil of current events happening in and shaping our world.

Reason

Interview: Adam Phillips

Interviewer: Let's talk about stimuli. You're not on the Internet?

Phillips: No.

Interviewer: You don't have email?

Phillips: No.

Interviewer: Do you Google?

Phillips: No.

Interviewer: Why not?

Phillips: Because I want less communication and not more. I want to communicate as much as possible with people I know.

I don't want to find out things about people that they don't know I'm finding out... 

I want in a way as far as I can to exempt myself from all those forms of information and access.

On Being Normal

The condition of alienation, of being asleep, of being unconscious, of being out of one's mind, is the condition of the normal man. Society highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to become absurd, and thus to be normal. Normal men have killed perhaps 100,000,000 of their fellow normal men in the last fifty years.

- R. D. Laing

I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers which can't be questioned.

- Richard Feynman

April & May Photo Snippets

Book Review: Dada, Surrealism, And Their Heritage

Dada, Surrealism, And Their Heritage by William Rubin

Fotomontage by Hannah Hoch

An analysis on the artistic concepts of Dada and Surrealism and their significance during the second world war. Art was used as a means of conveying and communicating the social problems which caused disturbances, if not degradation of human values, and even of human life.

Surrealism attempted to translate and even expound on the workings of the unconscious mind, heavily influenced by Freudian ideas, portraying bizarre subjects: most motifs found on dreams and nightmares. Most readers will find some graphics as utter nonsense like those of Dadaism, but these genres served as means of expression by artists who found the excesses of violence and the changing social order particularly disturbing.