I’m starting with this quotation of Friedrich Nietzsche from his book, Thus Spake Zarathustra, to make an important point about our self-discovery, which is invaluable for our evolution. In fact, it’s essential.

We need to see the reality of our selves in order to make real progress in our evolution and in our own happiness. Happiness is the secondary goal – evolution is the first. Happiness is a good guide however, for being on a path of evolution.

The world is full of joy and happiness. But pain is everywhere too.

Aboriginal communities in Canada are hit hard by suicide and nothing is more tragic than when it strikes young people. In some places it can be considered an epidemic.

Recently it was reported that there are strangers on social media who are taunting some of these kids at risk to actually carry out their suicide plans. Many kids use Facebook as a diary, so they expose their raw emotions to these strangers who occasionally act so cruelly.

‘Go kill yourself’: Social media messages encourage Indigenous youth to commit suicide – CBC Report

It’s easy to be horrified at this. But we can profit if we step back from our own knee-jerk reaction and look more deeply. There is one word to describe this situation – pain. People who carry out suicide must feel great pain, coupled with the lack of hope that deliverance is possible. These people require compassion and help to show them that their present situation is temporary and hope for real change is possible.

Not every such person in this pain and hopelessness can be reached, but what are we to think of people who would encourage such emotionally fragile people to carry out what has been called a permanent solution for a temporary problem? It’s easy to react with disgust and anger towards such people who seem so insensitive to others in such pain.

What could lead a person to act in this way to another human being in so much pain? I think it’s clear that these people encouraging suicide of others are in profound pain as well.

Carl Jung speaks of the shadow and of projection. The shadow is our unconscious – the part of us where we keep our darkest fears and attitudes hidden from ourselves – from our conscious mind and ego. At the unconscious level we have these characteristics, but we dare not face them as belonging to our self. So we see them in others by projecting aspects of our shadow.

This now leads us again to Nietzsche’s words.

“Let us speak of this, you wise ones, even though it be hard. To be silent is worse; all suppressed truths become poisonous.”

Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche

These truths about our self are suppressed, but they affect us. It is impossible for them not to do so. They poison us – not so much because we have these disturbing thoughts and emotions, but because they are supressed and denied. They remain trapped in the unconscious, and they do poison us because they have profound effects on our thoughts and actions regardless, and they encourage us to project these ideas on to other people. This helps us to continue to deny their relevance to our own life and the projection damages our relationships with other people. It builds barriers between us and the other, whom we condemn through these projections. Barriers are anti-evolutionary by closing peoples’ minds and hearts.

I see that the people encouraging a young person to take his or her life are almost certainly dealing with their own suicidal thoughts and pain, but largely, or entirely, in their shadow. They may be (for now) stoically carrying on with grim determination to live, despite their pain. They may see these young people baring their souls online as weak and are reacting to that as well, because they themselves are feeling weak. They could be just holding it together. Lashing out at these vulnerable people can be a temporary salve allowing them to focus their pain and condemnation on the other, rather than facing it in themselves.

It’s easy now for us, in turn, to condemn these people. But in doing so, we are projecting our own unconscious fears and thoughts on these people whom we are seeing as so cruel. To be sure, these people are acting cruelly, but what of us who in turn condemn the condemners?

We are all suppressing truth within our unconscious – within our shadow. And we work to relieve our discomfort by projecting those ideas and feelings outward, making it easier for us to ignore this shadow-land within. The shadow-land is not to be ignored, but has to be made conscious for our evolution and the growth that comes from awareness.

Recognizing our strong feelings of condemnation of the other, is a gift for our expansion. It opens us to the possibility of exploring ourselves, because we are so often condemning in others what we condemn in ourselves. It’s so interesting to see that dynamic in people we know. A father and son can be estranged, yet on the outside we can clearly see that they are both stubborn or judgemental or insensitive – you name it. Their mutual and related shadows reinforce their animosity as they project to condemn the other. You can listen for years as they each attack each other, never recognizing their own inner reality, which could lead to healing. Projection serves to freeze the patterns of thoughts and behaviours making the healing, that deep down both so desire, impossible.

In my own life I have seen this with one of my brothers. No one can make me as angry as my brother, but I now see that I am most upset by those aspects of my brother that I can now recognize in myself. And naturally these are aspects of myself that I have denied and condemned. Staying in the shadow, they will remain as poison to me, but by becoming conscious of them, I can begin to alter my relationship with those parts of myself that cannot be denied. Now the possibility exists to move beyond the limitations imposed by these formerly unconscious aspects of myself.

This all takes work – continual work, but the momentum becomes easier to sustain. I find that I am slower to condemn other people, because when it starts, I look inward to face the real source of that condemnation. It lies not in the other, but within me. And I can only evolve myself – its more than enough work for a lifetime. Condemnation of the other is simply an egregious waste of time and energy. Most tragically, the potential for your own peace and evolution is lost… until you look deeply into your shadow. The unconscious is an incalculably valuable source of wisdom and growth for our being. Above all, Carl Jung explored and showed us this. It was one of his many contributions to psychology and to our evolution, but in many ways the notion is central to his massive body of work.

Face your shadow, and evolve on.

We are at a major turning point in the history of humanity. Life is change and evolution. That’s why we’re here. Each one of us is here to evolve. We’re here to evolve as individuals and in that, we evolve our culture, our species and our planet. This is both the serious business and the joy of living. It is not a grim task, but it can have challenges and experiences that seem grim at the time.

Change, evolution, and growth are always happening. Life is impossible without these changes. In our own lives, change or evolution is not linear. It is not a steady progression. There are times of what appears to be stability. These quiet times can feel boring or they can be happy times of contentment. Either way, they do not last – they cannot last. Such times are quiet pools of liquid in a river, resting in a still backwater. Yet the river flows and water that is calm in one place, at one time, finds itself rushing over the rocks in a fast-moving tumble, traveling to the future.

We experience our lives as individuals, but in a web of relationships with other people, near and far. Each one of us is in a web of technology, culture, zeitgeist and circumstances seemingly beyond our control. We each shape our time and we are shaped by our time. We move as individuals, but we are all swept along by these forces and experiences. None of us experience the same environment as anyone else, but we share a great deal.

To be human is to live in a paradox. We are social creatures, tightly enmeshed in the lives of the people around us. Yet each of us experiences our lives as individuals and we have the responsibility of that. It is too easy to succumb to the herd, lost in the strong social forces around us. Many of these forces reach us consciously, but many more operate at the level of the unconscious. These forces are not here to determine our lives, but to inform them and to help to provide the clay that we must ourselves mold. We take our outside circumstances and experiences, and our own psyches, to choose our own personal path every moment, as we choose how to think and how to act. Slowly we construct the arc of our lives as our fellow travelers do the same, to weave the great tapestry.

At this time in human history, I think it is apparent that we find ourselves undergoing a disruptive and exciting, if not scary, jump in our evolution and growth. The rate of change is increasing for all of us. We are all buffeted by the forces and experiences at play. Old, contingent rules and guidelines are breaking down, while universal truths, mythical and archetypal contexts and stories remain to anchor us and provide the guidance we seek in this rapidly evolving world. And these universal truths, myths and archetypes seek us. So much of life is reciprocal.

We face an exciting and daunting future, but the past has not abandoned us. There lies within each of us, a deep ocean of resources, beyond our imagination – literally. Ironically, it is this world beyond that fuels our imagination. This is the ocean of resources, history, and experience that we all share. The startling similarity of myths across time and across cultures clearly point to this shared, deeper world that we are all a part of. We visit this place every night in our dreams, but there is so much more to access. This deep connection to a shared world, apart from the obvious one that we touch and see every day, plays a vital role in our lives and in our evolution and growth.

The power and importance of our dreams is obvious – we become psychotic after prolonged sleeplessness – without the periods of rest and dreaming. When we lose this dream relationship to the world beyond our simple physical senses, we actually become disconnected to the physical world before us. We need this connection to the world beyond our world. Especially now, in these profoundly disruptive times, we need to cultivate this connection to the world beyond our physical senses, consciously within ourselves, not just in our dreams, to enrich and guide us. This wisdom is within us and everywhere around us, but it requires an awareness and a focus to access and use.

Our individual evolution is the task before us each. If we feel compelled or drawn to work on our fellow humans or the planet, there is nothing wrong with that. But our central task remains our own being – our own consciousness.  For those closest to us, we can help them in their growth and evolution, indirectly, by sharing and by example, not by domination. They do the same for us.  Our relationships are fundamental in our lives and in our evolution. The people closest to us are catalysts and draw us in to evolve in ways that answer the deep questions we are asking ourselves.

Evolution and growth cannot occur without these questions or yearnings within us. People satisfied with the status quo will not evolve or grow, or do so very slowly.

The discontent that many of us feel is the deepest part of our self that is asking us questions and driving us to evolve – to grow – to expand. It is too easy to avoid these questions – to avoid this yearning within us. Another paradox of our current lives is that the world has never been more demanding and enticing in its urge for us to evolve and grow. Yet never before have we been faced with so many trivial pursuits and distractions to keep us asleep to the great questions and yearnings within us. This tension of push and pull within, produces great tidal forces that can tear us apart or compel us to seek superficial comfort in the distractions of modern life. Try as we might, we cannot ignore our inner voices. There is a price to be paid for remaining asleep to those voices within.

The study of our inner lives and the forces at play within us is the province of psychology. It is a modern science that has only recently become formalized, although people have always been fascinated by their behavior and thoughts. In many ways psychology is both the youngest and the oldest science. Too much of modern psychology aims toward tinkering and optimizing our lives in small ways. Or helping us cope with major disruptions and conditions like anxiety or depression. There is certainly value in that, but it often ignores the fundamental issues – the bigger issues.

For me, most of psychology has avoided the biggest questions in life. Why are we here? How are we to live? Psychology should be concentrating on the greatest questions of human existence – not wandering around the periphery. Psychology should be focused on that world beyond this simple physical world – the world suggested by our dreams and beyond. Psychology needs to squarely face the spiritual, and our own depths, no matter how you conceive that vast unknown place. I am not here to advocate for one view of this world beyond our physical one, but I know it exists. Dreams are the most obvious sign of its existence and its importance. Dreams are simply the doorway to the richer world that includes this one. Once you have seen one black swan, you can no longer pretend that all swans are white. There is no going back.

When we sit quietly with meditation or simple rest, where do many of our ideas come from? Where does the artist get her inspiration? Where does the inventor get his ideas? Where does each one of us get our own ideas and inspirations? Often they come when we are laying in bed before sleep, or in the shower, or quietly sitting. They often don’t seem to be the products of deep thought, but rather appear from the background when our mind is quieter. They come from the world beyond this simple physical realm of our basic senses – the deep well of wisdom that is available to us when we make the effort. Or give ourselves the space and silence to contact it.

So here we are evolving in a revolutionary time in our history. The disruption we are all feeling is part of this evolutionary process and it is more acute because it is so large compared to evolution in the past. This disruptive evolution reverberates around the globe as modern technology and travel have connected and united us as never before.

I intend to explore and riff on the ideas and things that serve and demonstrate our evolution generally – the big and the small ideas. I will also focus on those people who have and are contributing to our evolution in the most profound ways.

There are three big subject areas in human life and evolution – psychology, philosophy and physics. These all work and play together in our culture, in art, in politics, in economics, and in our relationships. There are some giant thinkers who have contributed to my ideas here. Some you may have heard of – like Carl Jung. Some you likely haven’t heard of – like Colin Wilson or Jean Gebser. And some you may have heard of, but with a very distorted notion of their ideas and importance – like Friedrich Nietzsche.

Evolution and exploration go together like cows and grass. Evolution feeds off of exploration.

One more word to ponder – meaning. Most kids start their education shortly after they start talking, with the single most important word in any language – why? Everything in this universe is connected to everything else, in a myriad of ways and combinations. “Why” is the question that explores these connections and relationships. Meaning is the sense of that relationship. If you ever start answering a young child’s question of “why”, you quickly discover that there is no end to “why”. One answer just leads to another “why”. Until you reach the biggest why – the ultimate question to the universe, life and everything.

I like to call this the Bigger Meaning of Life. Bigger, as opposed to big, implies not static – evolving and growing. And big means not small. If money or success are your meaning of life – your ultimate purpose, more power to you. But I think you’re playing small. I want the Bigger Meaning of Life and for me that’s evolution – never stopping – the expanding whale swallowing its own tail, to riff on the archetype of the serpent swallowing its own tail.

The wonderful thing about evolution or growth is that it is so broad that anyone can find something personal that fits their own evolution and serving that of humanity. You get to make up the rules and purpose of your life. You want to support your evolution as well as that of others. The concept of evolution as the ultimate meaning of life does help to guide you in your thoughts and actions, profoundly, but only generally. You create the details of your own life and working within the context of your own meaning and evolution, while supporting the meaning and evolution of those around you (or at least not actively getting in the way of others’ evolution). And you can’t get it wrong – evolution includes experiments that do not turn out as planned or expected. Evolution is messy, but that is a feature and not a bug.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, “there is nothing good or bad, but supporting or not supporting evolution makes it so”. The most obvious example is love versus fear. Love clearly supports evolution and fear does not. There you have it, a guide to thought and action via the Bigger Meaning of Life.

As always, we’re just getting started.

We’re here to evolve.

Evolve on.

“What one can be, one must be,” said Abraham Maslow.

He said “be”. But he was really talking about becoming. To be one thing and then to be another is to become.

For me, being and becoming are two sides of the same coin – the coin of life.

Petrarch is considered by some the first humanist – a free thinker who sought to explore ideas beyond the dogma of religion and tradition. He climbed Mount Ventoux in Southern France on April 26, 1336. That’s considered a historic event because he climbed a mountain for no other reason but recreation. And the root of recreation? Creation. Evolution of consciousness.

The Wikipedia article indicates he was also the first tourist who traveled for recreation. The historical accuracy of this is not really important. Petrarch may have been the first or not, but at some point we entered the modern age. Humanity moved beyond the rigid thinking imposed by outside forces – or rather started to move beyond rigid thinking. We still have a very long way to go.

Petrarch, and later all of us, became explorers of our outer world, not to get somewhere or discover a new trade route. We’re not exploring for so-called practical reasons like commerce or trade, but we’re exploring our world to explore ourselves in the process. The outer journey is really an inner journey.

James Hillman, a Jungian inspired psychologist, discussed the importance of the Mount Ventoux climb as “rediscovery of the inner world” according to Wikipedia. Again details and interpretation are not specifically important. Climbing a mountain for no physically practical reason is a spiritual journey. You cannot travel without being changed by the experience, and that change is within you, within your psyche. And that change will lead to further changes.

That’s why we’re here. Conscious evolution and creation fueled by our curiosity and that great ocean of the unconscious that we all visit every night in our dreams. Attend to the unconscious. It is the great sea calling you to the voyage which is your purpose in life. There can be no other calling, because there can be no other calling greater than that…evolution of your consciousness. Growth. Expansion. Creation. Discovery. Exploration. The unconscious within us and outside of us, in the collective unconscious, is the voice that never stills. It’s existence is the fountainhead of our dissatisfaction. Our  yearning. Our desires. Our will to live beyond that which we know. And life can only be lived beyond the known. Living within the known can only be stasis – death. Without growth, we cannot live. That’s why we all look for novelty, fun and recreation. They can be part of our growth or it can stifle our growth when it becomes a trivial pursuit that becomes a distraction. Fun and enjoyment are not problems, but they cannot be our biggest goal. They can be signposts that signal progress, but real growth goes beyond simple fun and distraction.

This is the journey that we’re called to make every single day. Our personal journey and the journey of humanity on the road to our future – the future that never arrives. We are always at the beginning of infinity. That is the mystical road that we are all on, whether we recognize it or not. As you become familiar and comfortable with this journey, it becomes natural and peaceful (generally), but never routine.

The adventure continues.

As I work on my Bigger Meaning of Life, I’m exploring many ideas. One of the biggest ideas is the role of female consciousness in the world and most importantly within each of us.

These concepts of the feminine are not related to gender, but are concepts that reside outside of the strict notions of male and female.

They can and do enrich our lives. Marion Woodman is an important contributor to these ideas. She is wonderful at explaining these ideas in a very human way that goes way beyond gender.

As a man, I was tired of feeling blamed for the world’s ills. I disagree with virtually all of the politics in practically every country. I reject the political and social status quo that is causing such suffering, so I was always miffed to feel that my gender was accused, to be responsible for this.

In reading and listening to Marion Woodman, my eyes have been opened to the reality of this domination by the masculine. It is not gender. It is not boys against girls as we played in elementary school. I was never against girls – it was just fun to chase them.

The entire world is largely dominated by a cartoon masculine structure, which largely serves a tiny slice of the people. Power and domination rule and women can and do participate and support that just as much as men. And many (most – all?) political movements such as Marxism are perfectly in synch with power and domination. The world culture at the top agrees on power and control – the fight is just over who pulls the levers.

I reject that political structure in the world. It is the divine feminine and making the feminine conscious within each one us, male and female, that will liberate us from this terrible status quo. Please see the current American presidential election in 2016 if any proof is required. This embrace of the feminine is not to eliminate or denigrate the masculine, but to restore a balance for the benefit of each one of us, and of the world. But the change must begin within each of us and you can do no better than to learn from Marion Woodman. I’m happy and proud to be a man and am in love with Marion Woodman and her wisdom.

For more on Marion Woodman, go to her foundation. Expand and evolve your life and your consciousness.

In this video, Woodman speaks of her overall experience with Jungian therapy that saved her life.

Life is meant to be deep. Without depth, length is irrelevant.

Depth brings meaning to the mystery of life while expanding both the meaning and the mystery.

Meaning and mystery are the upward spiral of evolution and love in eternal becoming. The snake consuming his own tail in creation.

I Am Kloot

The Same Deep Water as Me

I Am Kloot

Swim out to the ocean
Drown your thoughts out at sea
And dip your hands in the water
Same deep water as me

You’ve been watching for cloudburst
You’ve been praying for rain
Drench your soul in the water
Cleanse your heart of the stain
Cleanse your heart of the stain

The river of love
Flows deep through the night
Rolls you in with the waves
Drags you out with the tides

Swim out to the ocean
Drown our thoughts out at sea
Dipped your hands in the water
The same deep water as me
Same deep water as me

A song inspired by Jung and depth psychology, whether or not I Am Kloot are aware of that or not.

This is why I am so drawn to the works of Carl Jung. He has opened my world to the depths that I had been ignoring.

In modern life it is way too easy to live on the surface. The dissatisfaction of most people – everyone? – is that we ignore our soul’s cry for depth. That lack of depth comes out in a thousand ways that sadden and numb us. Exploring the depths is work, but incredibly rewarding.

But to be clear, we are not talking about ruminating, thinking and rethinking about things. That keeps you on the surface of life and that is the problem for most people – over thinking and under feeling. I know that was my problem and remains a challenge, but it does get easier and more natural with time.

A dormitory. Miniature from a manuscript in French of the “Decameron” by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), Italian writer, illuminated by the Master of Mansel. 1450 . Arsenal Library, Paris, France (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

The Hot New Millennial Housing Trend

Evolution continues. Plus ca change…

People are looking for alternatives in living arrangements. The nuclear family and singles living alone isn’t going to go away soon, but the times they are a changing. This seems like a pretty fundamental change as people explore their options and find alternatives to the same-same of tradition. We are not moving back to the past, but moving forward into the future.

But that means the great mashup continues – taking from the past and mixing it with the present to make the future. These things have always been happening, but so slowly that they were hard to notice. we’re now seeing things changing in a few years.

And things change in a number of ways, along two axes. Things change slowly and quickly. And they can move between those paths very quickly. The typical famous artist can attest to those two paths. People think they are an overnight sensation, but it was the slow build that led to the sudden breakthrough.

The other axis of change is cycles and trends. Some things oscillate back and forth – in the sixties and seventies women’s skirt lengths did that to cite a somewhat trivial example. For men, mustaches come in and out of style. But other things change and keep changing to produce a trend. For instance I don’t see traditional marriage as coming back anytime soon, as the dominant family lifestyle that it was in the 1950’s. Its complicated and getting more so. Same sex marriage, extended families, singles and other choices are being embraced by more and more people. Traditional marriage is not going away and is a great choice for many people. It’s all about choice and evolution as we act individually to make the lives that suit us best.

Akira Kurosawa is one of the greatest film makers. He is best known for Ran – a true epic.

In the following clip, he asked by an interviewer for advice for aspiring film makers. Akira, near the end of his life responds with wonderful advice for almost anyone, but to writers in particular.

In order to learn? Do. Do. Do. And when results don’t come. Or when it gets hard. Keep doing.

I can attest to that advice. As a thinker I was always looking for shortcuts or clever tricks to make things easier. There are such tricks for little things. But for the big things in life – the important things in life, there are absolutely no shortcuts.

Do. Write. Act. Perform. Create. And never stop.

Race is a false boundary. All boundaries are ultimately an illusion, but many are very useful and are part of love-evolution. Boundaries are necessary for our consciousness to function. Boundaries separate subject and object, shadow and light. Two entities exist because of a boundary between them.  Boundaries are fluid and subjective. They can be a useful way to slice and dice entities and reality in our minds, but you have to be ready to pivot and change your views – sometimes in a heartbeat. That’s true for all boundaries. Boundaries do not exist fundamentally in the entity, but we impose the boundary to perceive and understand relationships. But not all boundaries are useful

Race is generally a destructive boundary that seldom serves love-evolution. Even on scientific and materialist terms, which are very limited, race is essentially a bogus concept. It is now largely recognized as a misleading concept that relates people based on superficial differences. As our future unfolds, and people travel and hook up more widely, race will dissolve as a concept. For me, the sooner the better. The reality of both our individuality and our universal humanity will dissolve the false and tribal relationships, which serve to separate us. It will take time, but it is happening now and will accelerate in the future.

The Myth of Race – Debunked in 3 minutes

I posted this on FaceBook on my personal page, but I want to expand on it.

“The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him. As a human being he may have moods and a will and personal aims, but as an artist he is ‘man’ in a higher sense – he is ‘collective man,’ a vehicle and moulder of the unconscious psychic life of mankind.”
(Carl Jung, Psychology and Literature, 1930)

I think Jung is understating the role of the individual or he assumes it is obvious. The artist is tapping into the collective unconscious of humanity as the primary source of art. She is contributing back to the unconscious psychic life of mankind. She is a unique and vital conduit actively adding her own personal experience and knowing into her art in the service to her and our evolution. It is an intimate dance with the collective unconscious in which the artist creates. Both her individuality and the collective unconscious are necessary.

I’m not living up to the title of my blog – mashup. I’ve been holding back to make the posts more logically sequenced. I’m going to quit that. It’s time to just get things out there. I’ve been too active in reading and writing – I just have to post in whatever order occurs.

I have established my ground, however. Love-evolution is the meaning of life and all the stuff that fits with that. I’ll be expanding on this idea and adding lots more. As I indicated in a previous post, Love-Evolution-the-Manifesto, Carl Jung and his ideas are central to my explorations.

I have never been introduced to a thinker that resonates so well with my life and my experiences. Jung has opened my eyes, and my heart, as well as my mind, to the infinite mystery before us, and within each of us.

I’m also going to be starting to make videos on a regular basis – posted on YouTube and here on my blog.

I am excited for the future and I want to do what I can to bring about the future…sooner.

We are here to change the world.

It’s time.

Begin.