ICregular

…s to console his resentment, the world will, in one way or another, unavoidably punish his naivety. Either we possess the shadow and harness it for the greater good, or the shadow will possess us and act without our will or knowing.

…rom experience we know that most often the cause of an emotional outpouring lies with other people. When we are alone, with only our thoughts to keep company, we are at peace; it is only when there are ‘others’ around us, with their own habits and doubts, that we begin to feel uneasy. In other people we see a moving reflection of ourselves, and it often happens that we do not like what we see, and thus we respond accordingly. In the presence of others, then, we should expect to meet with ourselves, because we cannot alone create a projection, we cannot voluntarily summon up deep emotion, rather we encounter the projection out in the world. Each of our relationships, therefore, assists in making us conscious of who we really are, and if we perceive a moral deficiency in others, we can be sure that there is a similar inferiority within ourselves.

Children grow out of the unconscious, but the old must descend into the unconscious; both thresholds — growing and descending — require the courage to leave behind the known world and move into the unknown. The child and the old live without conscious problems or uncertainties about the future, and it is during the afternoon of life when problems abound. At our highest we march towards the dragon and carve our name into the landscape, and only once we have given the world our gift and ‘filled the beaker of life’ will we be able to welcome the coming of old age. This is, indeed, the great cycle of life, the three metamorphoses of man — when ‘the spirit becomes a camel, the camel a lion, and the lion at last a child.’