“…through the assimilation of the unconscious contents, the momentary life of consciousness can once more be brought into harmony with the law of nature from which it all too easily departs, and the patient can be brought back to the natural law of his own being.”
– Carl Jung
Psychotherapy, some would say, is not for the faint hearted. It can be a long, arduous and painful journey. Historical truths need to be digested and worked through, losses mourned and current dilemmas courageously faced.
All this is true. But it is partial.
Jungian depth psychotherapy in practise counts as much upon its attitude as its theories. Perhaps the twin keystones of this attitude are hospitality and wholeness. It may be said in fact that hospitality is the way to wholeness – the way to feeling like a whole person. In this way, learning to open up to the strangers both inside and outside us not only fosters an expansion of the bandwidth of consciousness, but also supplies the rich connections necessary to living fruitfully in the world.
In the interests of wholeness then, it could be said that psychotherapy is as much joyous and fascinating as it is arduous and painful. And, if there is any kind of ‘cure’, then it is surely one for the inhospitable ego.
– Julian Masters
Julian Masters trained with the British Association of Psychotherapists (BAP) in London. He is a member of BJAA (British Jungian Analytic Association), BPF (British Psychotherapy Foundation) and IAAP (International Association of Analytical Psychology). He is registered with BPC (British Psychoanalytic Council). He currently teaches on BPF’s public dream workshops, MSc course, introductory course and theory training program. He teaches also on the WMIP analytical psychotherapy training in Birmingham. Julian lives in Oxford where he works in private practice with adults.