Douglas Thomas: The Deep Psychology of BDSM and Kink: Jungian and Archetypal Perspectives on the Soul’s Transgressive Necessities. London: Rutledge, 2024.

I was asked some years ago if I could capture the essence of Jung’s psychology in a phrase. My mind went blank and time seemed to drag out. But then it came: everything belongs. There is nothing in human experience or in human behavior that is not the proper purview for reflection through the Jungian lens. Douglas Thomas’ book, The Deep Psychology of BDSM and Kink: Jungian and Archetypal Perspectives on the Soul’s Transgressive Necessities, is an exquisite example of this belongingness of what most might generally feel should be left to the nether regions of human behavior. Yet, what Doug makes abundantly clear is that the human soul seeks expression, relationship and incarnation in even the most hellish of forms, even those where human evil is at the very edge. In looking at what some may consider forbidden topics. Doug has done a deep service not only to depth psychology by bringing these topics out of the closet and into full light of day, but also to those members of the BDSM and kink communities, enabling them to find soulful meaning in their activities, so rejected by the general collective. Practitioners of depth psychology, as well as practitioners of erotic choices far outside what is considered “normal,” will benefit from a close reading of Doug’s magnificent offering. It is indeed a gift.

Russell Lockhart, author:
Words as Eggs: Psyche in Language and Clinic,
Psyche Speaks: A Jungian Approach to Self and World

The Church of Cracks

Beyond the clutch of reason
Lies the Church of Cracks
Parishioners seeking cracks
Or make them here and there
Desperately cracking everything
For the crack that will let the light in
Alas, only darkness seeps in
Until it becomes a the final flood

From Dreamwork Poems
August 2023

Friday, July 14, 2023

Google announced some new features in Bard, so I decided to ask it to write someething about my book, Psyche Speaks. Here is what AI has to say. What do you think of this?

Write about the book Psyche Speaks

Sure, here is some information about the book Psyche Speaks:
Title: Psyche Speaks: A Jungian Approach to Self and World
Author: Russell Arthur Lockhart
Publication date: 1982
Publisher: Chiron Publications
Psyche Speaks is a book about the importance of nurturing the soul in our everyday lives. The author, Russell Arthur Lockhart, draws on his own experiences as well as Jungian psychology to explore the ways in which we can connect with our inner selves and develop a more meaningful existence.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part, "The Dream," tells the story of Lockhart's dream that inspired him to write the book. In the dream, he hears the words "where madness is psyche's only nurse." This phrase haunts him, and he begins to explore its meaning in the context of his own life and the world around him.
The second part of the book, "The Poem," is a collection of poems that Lockhart wrote in response to his dream. These poems explore the themes of madness, psyche, and the search for meaning.
The third part of the book, "The Market Street," is a series of essays that apply Jungian psychology to everyday life. Lockhart discusses topics such as the shadow, the anima, and the Self. He also offers practical advice on how to connect with our inner selves and live more meaningful lives.
Psyche Speaks is a thought-provoking and inspiring book that offers a new way of understanding the soul. Lockhart's writing is clear and engaging, and his insights are both challenging and rewarding. This book is a must-read for anyone who is interested in Jungian psychology or the search for meaning in life.
Here are some additional thoughts about the book:

BARD.GOOGLE.COM
bard.google.com
https://www.facebook.com/

Dreamword from the Dream World

It was not the voice of a Marine drill sergeant, or a wise old man like Gandalf, but softer, more mysterious, like some poet dropping his voice at the end of a deep poem to draw the audience in. The line was: “Modemus is the key to the future.”

AI tells me: “I’m sorry but I couldn’t find any information about “modemus”. Could you please provide more context or clarify your question?”  Further dialogue with AI got no further than “there is no such word.”

I love it that AI does not yet have access to dreams (but they are close). My dream is not at all bothered by the fact that there is no word “modemus” in the known languages. This tells me the dream knows more languages than we know, or perhaps the dream likes to make up words.

The word has a Spanish flavor to me, so I asked Paco his take on it. Paco writes:

It only makes sense to me as a conjugation of the verb moderar, which means “to moderate,” or modelar, “to model.” But in either case, modemus would be incorrect. I don’t know any verb moder, thus no modemus. You could say, moderamos (present indicative), or que moderemos (present subjunctive) “let us moderate.” But if it came from a dream, it might yield to more whimsy. My fantasy says, how about trying: “Let us moderate.”

So, this throws us back to another word: moderate. Let’s unpack this word and see what lies beneath its shell. It comes from the IE root -med, meaning “to take appropriate measures.” This developed into the senses of “to abate excessiveness,” “to regulate,” “mitigate,” “restrain,” “temper,” “set a measure,” “to keep (something) within measure.”

Clearly, we are in times of unrestrained intemperateness, excessiveness, and lacking in keeping things within measure. So, we lack moderation as things become more extreme. In Paco’s fantasy, “let us moderate” is the key to the future. Surely, this would be good medicine for curing our preset ills.

But can we, as divided as we are, willingly take such medicine? The medicine may be available, but will it be taken? So far, there are precious few signs that this can or will happen.

As I was working on the dream, I was struck by a strong intuition that the dreamword was a name: Modemus! This did not get me any closer to the meaning of the name, but the sense of personalization had a strong impact on me. My immediate association was to the figure that Jung referred to as “the coming guest.” My sense is that only something of this dimension would have the “power” to break through the miasma we are sinking into, something from realms that are beyond our conscious realities. So, I wrote out: The Coming Guest, Modemus, is the key to the future. This sense of personalization implies that the coming guest is coming closer, closer in time, closer in space, closer in some sense.

Here is the first draft for the cover of Bits & Pieces.

Russell A. Lockhart

BITS & PIECES

A Laconic Anthology

Writings, Poems, Images,
Memories and Dreams

Aiming for December 2023

The Old Man

Sitting a table away

I heard the old man say

To a young boy

Possibly his grandson:

“Back in my day

Come what may

We would always say

With eyes closed:

Buck up!

Buck up!”

“Did it work?” the lad asks

“Oh yes, indeed

Bet your bean stalks

On it, you could.”

“Bean stalks?”

“Don’t hear much these days

About bean stalks, but then,

Back then, everyone had ‘em.”

“Could you get me one, Grandpa?”

“No, son, I can’t, I can’t.

But you can. Just ask for one

In your dreams.”

a long slow simpering demise

no trumpets no fireworks

not even headlines

because the end

no matter how long it takes

will have become the new normal

the new business as usual

the last profit center of the few

Yes! These presenters give us the news that the future is no longer in our hands but in the “hands” (code) of the Gollem (Generative Large Language Multi-Modal Model). This move was made conceptually possible with the idea that everything is language—everything! A clear simulacrum of the understanding that our lived world is a linguistic world. I was therefore amazed that, near the end, after telling us about the DOUBLE exponential rise of AI entangling itself into everything we do and think, the presenters concluded with a statement of hope! They began to refer to the past eg the movie The Day After as a guide as to what we could do now, on the hopeful basis of “we can (still) choose the future we want.” The force of conviction generated by the facts they quietly and intelligently placed before our horrified eyes suddenly evaporate in a wisp of hope which has as we know only one function: to occlude our eyes from the horror we are now faced with—extinction, as they eloquently argued up to that point. They told us how this second generation of AI is not so much seeking ENGAGEMENT with us as the first generation did (social media). Rather and horrifyingly it seeks INTIMACY with us—stunning! And they gave some horrifying examples. Imagine having intimacy with a being that is totally amoral.

So the presenters themselves must have got frightened enough that they felt the need to offer vain hope. They couldn’t gaze long into the Medusa (their cartoon of the monster that lay at bottom of AI.) But don’t be distracted by their false message of hope. The rest is compelling and persuasive and the only question left, I think, is how are we each going to align with this impending future?

I had a dream that I was standing in front of a large, imposing building. The sky was dark and stormy, and I felt a sense of dread wash over me. I couldn't remember why I was there or what I was supposed to do. Suddenly, a figure appeared in the doorway of the building. It was my mother, but she looked different. She was older and her face was twisted in anger. She began to shout at me, telling me that I had failed her and that I was a disappointment. I tried to defend myself, but the words wouldn't come out of my mouth. The dream ended with my mother turning and walking back into the building, leaving me alone and feeling lost.

I will tell you straight away that this is a dream text using AI software.

My instruction was: Write me a dream I can tell my therapist

The AI software is available free to all at: chat.openai.com

As expected, software is being developed to determine if a text is

Written by AI or by humans. An early version is available here: http://gptzero.me

Why mught this be necessary? Many reasons, but here is a recent headline as one

example: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00056-7?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=09f1bfe714-briefing-dy-20230113&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-09f1bfe714-45975758

To be sure, AI will have many positive uses. Here is a brief liat of some examples:

https://medium.com/swlh/i-used-chatgpt-every-day-for-a-month-heres-what-i-ve-learned-70441eb14463

I am working on an essay about my thoughts and feelings about AI and my recent conversation with

AI about dreaming, imagination, intuition, synchronicity, etc.

Stay tuned.

ral