All your rebirths could ultimately make you sick. The Buddha therefore finally gave up on rebirth, for he had had enough of crawling through all human and animal forms. ~Carl Jung, The Red Book, Page 277
Mending the Ancestral Web
The known and unknown stories of our ancestors are present in our personal symptoms, disposition, split loyalties, aspirations, and the questions which inform our lives. Our ancestral and cultural legacies continue living in our bodies, through our relationships, in both matter and the timelessness of psyche. These legacies root us in the past and implicate us in the lives of the generations that will follow.
The ancestors, from the archetypal to the personal, influence us today. If our ancestors managed to overcome a multitude of problems, such as severe illnesses, wars, loss of loved ones or severe economic declines, we who are genetically similar can successfully are reminded we can overcome a multitude of problems.
Many spiritual practices and religions – particularly in native cultures and Asia – revolve around both the acceptance and, in many cases, the worship of ancestors. Even in western cultures there is an increased tendency to include ancestor and archetypal relationship methods into various therapies and self-help programs.
The exploration and eventual acceptance of your family and ancestors is important for emotional and spiritual grounding. Depending on your memories and/or your family history, your ancestors can be a gateway to bliss . . . or a reminder of failure and limitation. Either way, and whether you like it or not, however, these folks are still your family.
On a biological level we are our ancestors. We have their DNA, their predispositions for certain illnesses, and so on. The ancestors companion us and bequeath to us their unfinished business. Likewise on a spiritual level, we have their “stuff” – their stories, memories, emotions, energy, and even behavioral tendencies. We are their continuation . . . and also their current expression in the physical world.
You and your ancestors are one and the same. We are psychologically pre-conditioned by our ancestors in history, who shaped our complexes, fears and obsessions. You possess the wisdom and intelligence to become a full human being because you inherited an eternity of wisdom, not only from your blood ancestors but also from the wholeness of life itself.
Even if you do not believe in the spiritual aspect of ancestry, you have probably witnessed the handing down of traditions, upbringing, and temperament from parent to child within your family tree. Some of these things are wonderfully empowering, wise, and nourishing. Some of these things are also painful, ignorant, and destructive.
Simply by accepting the power of family and ancestors, you can break the harmful cycles that have been handed down. You can begin to heal old wounds and free yourself from behaviors and emotions that no longer serve you. You can even discover the most liberating emotion of all – forgiveness. Developing a strong relationship with your ancestors is profoundly important, second only to your relationship with yourself.
Jung felt very strongly that he was "under the influence of things or questions which were left incomplete and unanswered by [his] parents and grandparents and more distant ancestors." His differentiation of the collective unconscious into its various levels and his description of the nature of psyche provide a working model which allows us to see how our biography is part of a continuing story, part of a dynamic web of relations, which has its roots and telos in the stories of our ancestors and descendants.
"Everything psychic is pregnant with the future." ~Carl Jung
For, in the last resort, we are conditioned not only by the past, but by the future, which is sketched out in us long beforehand and gradually evolves out of us. ~Jung, Analytical Psychology and Education, Page 110.
You are light and life, like God the Father of whom Man was born. If therefore you learn to know yourself... you will return to life. ~Corpus Hermeticum I, Poimandres, 21.
My soul -- are you there? I have returned, I am here again. I have shaken the dust of all the lands from my feet, and I have come to you, I am with you. After long years of long wandering, I have come to you again. Should I tell you everything I have seen, experienced, and drunk in? Or do you not want to hear about all the noise of life and the world? But one thing you must know: the one thing I have learned is that one must live this life. This life is the way, the long sought-after way to the unfathomable, which we call divine.
~Carl Jung; Red Book
Mending the Ancestral Web
The known and unknown stories of our ancestors are present in our personal symptoms, disposition, split loyalties, aspirations, and the questions which inform our lives. Our ancestral and cultural legacies continue living in our bodies, through our relationships, in both matter and the timelessness of psyche. These legacies root us in the past and implicate us in the lives of the generations that will follow.
The ancestors, from the archetypal to the personal, influence us today. If our ancestors managed to overcome a multitude of problems, such as severe illnesses, wars, loss of loved ones or severe economic declines, we who are genetically similar can successfully are reminded we can overcome a multitude of problems.
Many spiritual practices and religions – particularly in native cultures and Asia – revolve around both the acceptance and, in many cases, the worship of ancestors. Even in western cultures there is an increased tendency to include ancestor and archetypal relationship methods into various therapies and self-help programs.
The exploration and eventual acceptance of your family and ancestors is important for emotional and spiritual grounding. Depending on your memories and/or your family history, your ancestors can be a gateway to bliss . . . or a reminder of failure and limitation. Either way, and whether you like it or not, however, these folks are still your family.
On a biological level we are our ancestors. We have their DNA, their predispositions for certain illnesses, and so on. The ancestors companion us and bequeath to us their unfinished business. Likewise on a spiritual level, we have their “stuff” – their stories, memories, emotions, energy, and even behavioral tendencies. We are their continuation . . . and also their current expression in the physical world.
You and your ancestors are one and the same. We are psychologically pre-conditioned by our ancestors in history, who shaped our complexes, fears and obsessions. You possess the wisdom and intelligence to become a full human being because you inherited an eternity of wisdom, not only from your blood ancestors but also from the wholeness of life itself.
Even if you do not believe in the spiritual aspect of ancestry, you have probably witnessed the handing down of traditions, upbringing, and temperament from parent to child within your family tree. Some of these things are wonderfully empowering, wise, and nourishing. Some of these things are also painful, ignorant, and destructive.
Simply by accepting the power of family and ancestors, you can break the harmful cycles that have been handed down. You can begin to heal old wounds and free yourself from behaviors and emotions that no longer serve you. You can even discover the most liberating emotion of all – forgiveness. Developing a strong relationship with your ancestors is profoundly important, second only to your relationship with yourself.
Jung felt very strongly that he was "under the influence of things or questions which were left incomplete and unanswered by [his] parents and grandparents and more distant ancestors." His differentiation of the collective unconscious into its various levels and his description of the nature of psyche provide a working model which allows us to see how our biography is part of a continuing story, part of a dynamic web of relations, which has its roots and telos in the stories of our ancestors and descendants.
"Everything psychic is pregnant with the future." ~Carl Jung
For, in the last resort, we are conditioned not only by the past, but by the future, which is sketched out in us long beforehand and gradually evolves out of us. ~Jung, Analytical Psychology and Education, Page 110.
You are light and life, like God the Father of whom Man was born. If therefore you learn to know yourself... you will return to life. ~Corpus Hermeticum I, Poimandres, 21.
My soul -- are you there? I have returned, I am here again. I have shaken the dust of all the lands from my feet, and I have come to you, I am with you. After long years of long wandering, I have come to you again. Should I tell you everything I have seen, experienced, and drunk in? Or do you not want to hear about all the noise of life and the world? But one thing you must know: the one thing I have learned is that one must live this life. This life is the way, the long sought-after way to the unfathomable, which we call divine.
~Carl Jung; Red Book