The Mid-Life and late life passages are a significant part of Jungian psychology. They are big events in the process of individuation. The ego of youth loses its appeal and effectiveness, and the individual is compelled to reunite with parts of the Self that have been disowned.
This period is usually described using images of descent or night time. Think of movies like Lost In Translation that start at sundown and end at sunrise, or Jung’s famous account of “letting himself drop” into a nether world during his “creative illness.” For other people an image of being lost in a dark, vast ocean comes to mind. In German legends and fairy tales forests are a dark place where one contacts the soul. Crossing a desert is another frequent image.
As I was reflecting on my recent reading of the Jung/Freud letters (see prior posts), I began wondering about how unique each of these images might be for our own souls. My impression of Jung is that he at least started out life as quite the social climber. He married into a very wealthy family. After the marriage he arranged to move in to an apartment directly above his boss at the Burghoelzli hospital. His letters to Freud were brave, and from reading the letters I am left with the strong impression that shared ambition and a desire to be famous was a big part of their friendship.
So, with all that climbing and psychic inflation, it almost seems appropriate that Jung’s confrontation with his unconscious would start with a drop. He had an image of himself as a “high”/important man, or at least someone who was always striving to go higher. The “lower”, less desirable parts of himself surely would have been pushed intot he shadow. Dropping into a cave, basement, or other such dark place seems to be a uniquely correct contra-image for Jung.
For me, as I continue my mid-life transition, I am called by the desert. I’m not exactly sure what it is about the desert that has such appeal. I visit the Coachella Valley desert several times per year, but what really calls me is the raw desert. The arid, dry, sandy, dusty, isolated desert. Perhaps it’s time for a little free association. . . .
