Through a Jungian Lens

Rain as a welcome guest

Rain as a depressive presence

Polarities – It’s funny how we see things differently.  Playing with a photograph it is easy to evoke different moods and textures.  This morning I took this photo while looking out my living room window onto the street where a gentle rain was falling.  Since this area has been dry for some time, this rain is viewed as a welcome guest by the farming community.  Now, the crops will have a chance to germinate (some still haven’t) and to flourish, at least for the next while.  Of course another timely rain would then be necessary or the crops would then wither and produce shrivelled kernels of grain.  The mood in our tiny town is positive and people are smiling.

As a child growing up in cities, rain was not so good for me.  It seemed to leave me feeling depressed.  Rain still reminds me of lonely streets and Sunday mornings.  It likely doesn’t make sense, but even though it was a depressed feeling, I seemed to prefer the lonely streets in the rain to the hustle and noise of the house.

Rain – water – the source of life -  the upwelling of the unconscious.  It is both, so much for either/or.  Now, if I could only hold the tension of opposites and not get trapped into polarity thinking, I might better appreciate the whole.

The rain has forced me to reschedule the planned photo trip.  Hopefully it will happen next week so that I can finish the third book called “Mike.”  It is a shift from landscape-nature photography to people-nature photography.

This corner is about three kilometres from my front door.  It is usually the turn around point when we go out walking in the countryside after our evening meal – weather and extra-curricular activities permitting.  I’ve been here hundreds, if not a thousand times or more over the past seven years.  We have made the walk in all seasons, even in winter with temperatures down to -20C on those sunny winter days when the wind isn’t blowing and -20C feels warm (it does get colder, believe me).  Often, I take the camera with me in case we see wildlife, or the light is perfect for a particular shot.  But, never have I thought of taking this photo.  Until now, that is.

Yield.  Ahead is a rough country road, not paved for heavy traffic.  Looking as far as possible from the crest of the hill, one can see for a long way without seeing anything apparently of interest.  In the fall, winter and early spring, it looks positively barren.  It almost looks like a landscape for testing the mettle of a person.  In a way, it reminded me of how one enters into midlife with the option of consciously entering into the search for meaning and soul.  One has to yield to journey, one that promises nothing more than greater self-awareness.  Probably that means discovering things about your self about which you would rather remain unconscious.  Note that the road to be crossed before entering into the journey is a well travelled paved road.  Few are willing to take this journey as it risks too much in their estimation.

Would you risk your marriage, your career, your comfortable life style, your things?  There is no pot of gold waiting for you unless you consider your soul a pot of gold.  Waiting at the end of the journey is a new vision of who you are, a gentler acceptance of yourself and of others.  For me, it was worth yielding the demands of ego to take this journey.  And for me, that is enough.