I did my analytical training in the late 60s and early 70s. I was

fortunate to have met and been taught by many people who

had direct experience with Jung. From time to time I’ll post

a memory of those times.

     One such figure was the gnostic scholar, Gilles Quispel, an

extraordinary many by any measure. He was instrumental in

securing the Jung Codex for purchase by the Institute in Zurich

as a birthday present for Jung.

     The memory that stands out to me is one training seminar

in the early days. At one point, as we were discussing the nature

of “mystery,” he stopped us. He put his index figure to his lips

as if telling us to hush a bit. Then he said something I’ll never

forget:

Mystery is not to be solved, or resolved, or dissolved. Mystery

is to be embraced, loved, and out of that will comes one’s

deepest sense of life, meaning, and purpose.

I remember thinking then that dreams are a mystery and what Quispel

was saying was true of dreams as well.

The Final Interlude: Advancing Age & Life’s End by Lee Roloff and Russell Lockhart

will be available shortly. If you would like a complimentary pdf copy please email

Russ Lockhart at ral@ralockhart.com.

Here is a spiral image of the Table of Contents

Hi all,

Many thanks for your joining ral's noteboook blog. I have not been very attentive to posting but this will be changing soon. You should be getting an email when I post and if not, let me know at ral@ralockhart.com.

My best wishes,

Russ

The republication of Words as Eggs is now available for purchase.

http://www.amazon.com/Words-As-Eggs-Psyche-Language/dp/0911783008/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366466153&sr=1-3&keywords=russell+lockhart

Re-publication of Russell Lockhart's WORDS AS EGGS.

As timely now as it was when first published thirty years ago!

Quietly passionate and urgently intent, this book belongs
to the very best tradition of depth psychology. It appeals
first of all to the intelligently psychological reader who wants
new modes of understanding. Lockhart offers countless
insights to analysts and counselors in daily practice. His
voice is original, undogmatic, sensible and wise.

--Spring Publications

Words as Eggs is a profound and moving exploration of
the messages of dreams found in the images and in
language chosen to describe the experience of dreams.
Words are the “eggs” of mystery and revelation as a
dreamer discovers the “history of meaning in the language”
the ego has yet to grasp, yet seems to know in dreams!
Lockhart is a guide for a greater consciousness as psyche
utters the dream experience. Yes, psyche “speaks” but
also “knows”! The dreamer can learn from dreams in ways
hat simply astound. Russell Lockhart’s brilliant book can
awaken this astonishment.

--Lee Roloff, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst

A dream comments on an accidental coffee spill

To illustrate "otherness," I take close-up photographs of coffee spills, oil patterns in the street, bark of trees, clouds in the sky—literally anything that is not a product of my direct intention, but of "something else." This something else captures my fancy and stimulates my imagination. I pay close attention to the experiences these found images bring forth in me. I call this way with images a "Goethean way of seeing" to contrast it with the highly intentioned "Newtonian way of seeing," What one finds in this odd activity (which, of course, is itself intentional) is that images so captured "speak" in ways that would be difficult to come by from intention alone. In this sense they are like found dreams.

Experience in "seeing" these images, that is the "finding" of them, I experience as a gift for which a polite "thank you" is not enough. This note sets the stage for a blog on this theme of  the accidental image for which this bit of exposition may be taken as a sample post.

After dinner one evening, I spilled some coffee on a ceramic table surface (a wonderful surface for coffee spills!) Before the table was cleaned off, I took a picture of this spill, and added it to my collection without examining is closely. Later, I had a dream. I was in my studio area and I a voice called out: "only riding the moon enables one to see the coming guest." I'm still not sure whether I was hearing another's voice, or that my own thoughts had voiced themselves in this way (it has happened before). I knew that the voice--whatever its source--was talking about this most recent spill. Now in looking at the image above (on which I have used some editing tools to bring out the image in order to see it better, the original being very light), I invite you to see the figure "riding" the Crescent moon, looking out at the earth, and looking at that approaching"figure" the dream calls the coming guest. [...to be continued...]