Category Archives: Chuck’s Blog

Welcome to Chuck’s Place! This is where Chuck Ketchel, LCSW-R, expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences! Currently, Chuck posts an essay once a week, currently on Tuesdays, along the lines of inner work, psychotherapy, Jungian thought and analysis, shamanism, alchemy, politics, or any theme that makes itself known to him as the most important topic of the week. Many of the shamanic and psychological terms used in Chuck’s essays are defined in Tools & Definitions on our Psychotherapy page.

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: The New Dream Has Begun

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“The dream is over
What can I say?” *

The premise of the movie Interstellar, a wonderful and deeply meaningful movie on so many levels, is that the dream of Earth, as we have known it, is over.

This is no longer an issue for debate. Every human lives with the deep knowing that things are rapidly changing and devolving. If we can lift our eyes from our digital trance, the world reveals to us daily, rapid, unprecedented changes. This rate of accelerating change is paired with our insatiable hunger for new news. Even as we sleep our iPhones stay alert to change.

All the psychic messages that I’ve reviewed, including many from Jeanne, state clearly that planet Earth will continue to exist, though much changed, even taking a new orbital pattern.

This cannot be avoided now. It’s not a question of fate; it’s the inevitable outcome of humankind’s leadership and where it has led the planet.

Humankind is not a wise mother or father, but then, consciousness as the guiding factor is still in its infancy. The true parents of our earthly selves, nature itself, must step in to correct our blunders. Our lessons in stewardship will eventually accrue to an evolved consciousness where humankind can step up to the vision and responsibility of caring for the interconnected whole of this planet. Until then we are at nature’s mercy.

On an individual level, we are all challenged now to contribute to this evolving consciousness. If we are alive, in human form at this time, this is our overarching challenge, the imperative of our times. And although environmental decisions remain critical they no longer need be the main or only focus. Nature has already put in motion its own correctives, most of which cannot be stopped; we’ve already gone too far.

Our focus now needs to be the evolution of our consciousness with respect to the microcosm of our individual lives. We must face that all the forces we see acted out upon the world stage are present in the smallness of our daily lives. In fact, all those forces operate within each of us, pacifists and terrorists, activists and deniers, soothsayers and instigators alike; we are the world.

What is the truth I fail to see, refuse to see, allow to continue to control and dominate my personality, to the detriment of the interdependent whole of myself? This is where the buck stops, within each of us. Can we face and honestly answer this question? Can we take full responsibility for reconciling the powerful factions that operate within our own personalities?

This is our playing field now. Rather than in the escaping to new planets as in Interstellar, this is the one venue where we do have the ability to come into balance and reconcile with the truths of our own natures.

Every individual who takes up this challenge personally positions our species to assume real leadership as we reinvent the dream of humankind, driven forward now by nature itself. If we stay and change with nature, consciously accepting her prerogatives and the prerogatives of our own inner natures, we position ourselves to evolve with her.

As within, so without. Counter powerlessness with personal responsibility and feel the freedom and opportunity to fulfill the self in this life, simultaneously advancing all of human consciousness to responsibly take the dream forward, into new life and new possibilities, albeit in a vastly changed world.

Consciously dreaming it forward,
Chuck

* John Lennon quote from the song God on the album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band 1970

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Real Security

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Still dealing with computer issues, but here is a blog from Chuck, sans pictures again, but offered with our heartfelt wishes for good journeying through all the changes.

The human animal is acutely aware of great change on the horizon. Such impending change produces a collective fear that emanates from the deepest stratum of our instinctual selves, rising to the surface in our individual experiences as anxiety. We seek to dispel this anxiety by seeking refuge in our ego self, which responds by associating the anxiety with current events as it defensively reasons us to provisional security. This anxiety/fear, however, goes deeper than that, into the very nature of our human animal selves.

The question arises: How do we achieve real security? The truth is that although it is evident that we are in for great planetary change, life is and has always been about great change. All life ends; what greater change could there possibly be?

Real security is not to be found in a respite from change. A respite from change may temporarily be found in the ego’s bag of magical defenses, but such respite is an illusion. In reality change is constant and unrelenting. We might, nonetheless, discover a sense of real security on a warm day at the beach.

The ocean tide is the ultimate expression of unrelenting change. The heartbeat of the earth never ceases in the circulatory system of the ocean’s waves. If we lie calmly at the seashore, we might attune ourselves to the sounds of the true pulse of change. No wave is ever the same. Some waves are calm and smooth, others are crushingly powerful.

If we venture beyond our sandy bed into the ocean waves we experience more directly the energy of change. As the waves approach we might decide to learn to dance with them, timing our moves to leap at just the right moment, barely impacted by the passing waves. If our timing is slightly askew we might find ourselves mercilessly dragged down and under, into sand and swirls, frantically awaiting release that we might breathe again. Most times we are released back into life, returned to the control of our own bodies. Sometimes the ocean claims life, the catalyst to moving into new form.

Perhaps we might decide to align ourselves with the flow of the waves, with the energy of change, as we ride the cresting waves ashore. Sometimes we are fooled or miscalculate and again find ourselves pulled asunder, forced to face the crushing uncertainty of change head on.

Real security, however, is only to be found in facing the inevitability of change by allowing the ego self to learn about its energy, discovering how to ride it successfully by facing the truth of our own lives.

If we can allow ourselves to engage with consciousness in our dreams and bring them to waking life, we enter more deeply into the ocean of our deeper selves.

If we can allow ourselves to fully experience our feelings in the present, and in our deepest memories in recapitulation, we release the energy of stored inner tidal waves and learn to stay afloat through the inevitable storms of our lives.

And yes, if we can allow ourselves to fully reexperience our deepest encounters with terrors that once tore us asunder, we gain the knowledge of holding together through the greatest cataclysms of change.

Real security is to be found in the ability to flow with the changes that life presents us with. To fully become our wholeness we must allow for encounters with, and knowledge of, the parts of ourselves that rock the limited identity our ego has constructed to keep us safe. But let’s not sell the ego short; it is fully capable of the growth to fluidity that is necessary to accept life on its own terms without machinations to make it palatable.

Bring your ego to the beach of your dreams tonight. It’s fine to rest comfortably on the shore and attune to the rhythm of change. The time will come when you are ready, or not, for the deeper plunge into the ocean of pulsing life and constant unrelenting change. Real security is found in flowing with the changes, wherever they take you.

Resting comfortably on the beach, until the next wave comes along,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: The Three Vexations

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[Here is Chuck’s blog for this week. We are dealing with some computer issues and thus no pictures accompany this post. Look for a blog from Jan later in the week. In the meantime, here is some good stuff to ponder as you take your own deepening journey. And don’t forget to check in each morning for our daily Soulbytes!]

In his 1477 poem, the Ordinal of Alchemy, Thomas Norton, the English alchemist, warns any seeker of this Sacred Art of three major trials: haste, despair, and deception. These three devils are the gargoyles that all would-be adepts must pass by if they are to find the path to achieve the Opus, the Grail Cup.

In modern terms, seekers of individuation through the path of psychotherapy and recapitulation will meet these same vexations cast upon their conscious intent.

Norton states: “He who is in a hurry will complete his work neither in a month, nor yet in a year, and in this Art it will always be true that the man [or woman] who is in a hurry will never be without matter of complaint…” (Anatomy of the Psyche, Edinger, p. 5)

We enter psychotherapy because life circumstances have mobilized our ego intent to find resolution to the conflicts that thwart our fulfillment. Our mobilized ego is frustrated or in great pain and is highly pressured to achieve freedom from these constraints. These are the conditions that set the stage for haste. We want to move on quickly, move deeper into life. We do not want to suffer a moment longer.

The rationalistic psychologies of the modern world promise just such results with well-laid out plans and programs promising great success. Would that the problems that befront us were all of the world of reason! Unfortunately, to solve our deepest issues we must sink into the depths of nature, far beyond the purview of reason. And for this healing adventure the ego’s demand for results in a timely fashion will only be met with disappointment and complaint. To enter the depths of the psyche we enter a world outside our familiar space and time where we must acquiesce to the healing tides of nature.

“If the enemy does not prevail against you with hurry, he will assualt you with despondency, and will be constantly putting into your minds discouraging thoughts, how those who seek this Art are many, while they are few who find it, and how those who fail are often wiser…than yourself.” (Ibid., p. 5)

Deflation of the ego, diminished self-worth and self-esteem, negative thinking, doubt that things will ever get better—these are the many faces of despair that seek to derail the concerted effort needed to prevail through the long, arduous, and often physically painful and emotionally terrifying journey into the inferno of recapitulation. A willingness to keep the candle of intent lit within the self, even though one feels utterly alone and abandoned as one takes the journey into the abyss, is critical if one is to prevail through this trial of despair.

“The third enemy whom you must guard against is deceit, and this is perhaps more dangerous than the other two…” (Ibid., p. 5)

By deceit, I believe Norton is referring to the helpers who come to serve the journey. Many of these so called “helpers” are the characters of the shadow self, entities that offer insights or respites in the form of inflations and addictions in exchange for allowing them to act out or take possession of our lives as we traverse our journey.

There are many tricksters within the self promising treasures in exchange for habits that subtlely drain our energy and resolve as we struggle to keep our course set on our goal of wholeness. Many an oasis offered can be a tricky resting place, claiming decades of our lives while we wait to awaken from our slumbers in a poppy field of a needed break.

Know that the vexations of haste, despair, and deception are the guardians of all paths of heart. They cannot be avoided. Better to see them as worthy opponents that forge us into the Grail Cup that can fully contain our wholeness, the goal of the opus.

We are all taking the journey in one form or another,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Mother Unconscious

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The little songbird channels from above... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
The little songbird channels from above…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

When I discovered that Art Garfunkel was coming to our little town, I knew I had to see him, to see what he had to offer now. The music of Art and Paulie, as he so affectionately referred to Paul Simon, has sung to my soul for the past 50 years. If the Beatles were the extraverted splash of the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, Simon and Garfunkel were its introverted soul.

Art is in the midst of his “mending tour,” having lost his voice three years ago. His voice, to my ear, was utterly beautiful, echoing the sounds of yesteryear to near perfection. He interspersed the music with personal poems and heartfelt stories from his magical life. His poetry was sweet, but it soon became abundantly clear who the real poet was. Paul is the poet, his verses channel the sober truths of spirit, while Art is the conduit, the beautiful songbird of spirit. Together, as Simon and Garfunkel, they captured a wholeness of spirit, light and dark.

The concert ended without answering my question: What do you have to say now, Art Garfunkel? The audience roared, seeking an encore. I couldn’t bear to see this icon forced to conform to such a mundane custom, but Poughkeepsie demanded it. Finally, Art slowly and gently stepped back on stage and said: “I’m going to sing you to sleep.” Then this Jewish choir boy from Queens sang Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. And with that he delivered his message of now.

This prayer speaks to the truth that when we close our eyes each night and go to sleep we must surrender our consciousness, our soul, just as here in this childhood prayer, asking the Lord to hold it and protect it through the dark night that we might be born again the next day, consciousness rejuvenated into the light of a new day.

Each twenty-four hour day is a complete life cycle. We are born in the morning. We heroically go forth and take on the challenges of life and the world through the afternoon. Then comes nightfall when we must surrender life to Mother Sleep, who holds us in her arms and hopefully delivers us anew the next day.

Carl Jung writes in Symbols of Transformation: “In the morning of life the son tears himself loose from the mother, from the domestic hearth, to rise through battle to his destined heights. Always he imagines his worst enemy in front of him, yet he carries the enemy within himself—a deadly longing for the abyss, a longing to drown his own source, to be sucked down to the realm of the Mothers. His life is a constant struggle against extinction, a violent yet fleeting deliverance from every-lurking night. This death is no external enemy, it is his own inner longing for the stillness and profound peace of all-knowing nonexistence, for all-seeing sleep in the ocean of coming-to-be and passing away. Even in his highest strivings for harmony and balance, for the profundities of philosophy and the raptures of the artist, he seeks death, immobility, satiety, rest.”

There is something to be learned when encountering the dark side of the moon... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
There is something to be learned when encountering the dark side of the moon…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Mother is the most powerful being; she gives life yet in her wrath she might take it as well. Every child instinctively shudders at the dark side of the moon, Mother’s bad moods. Psychoanalyst Melanie Klein called it the good breast and the bad breast, the one what nurtures and the one that withholds life. The child is powerless and beholden to the moods of the Mother Goddess.

In adulthood the relation to Mother, the source of life and renewal, transfers to the depths of the unconscious that each evening greets us in sleep. In sleep and dream we are unburdened of our daily tensions or haunted by nightmares from the depths. We are essentially at the mercy of the moods of Mother Unconscious. Art Garfunkel is wise to suggest we put our souls in good hands as we drift off on this momentous night sea journey.

However, the advantage of adulthood is that we are now fully able to engage and work with the mighty powers of the deep as we take our journey toward rebirth. Beyond our childhood prayer for protection we are now empowered to take full possession of our soul as we go to meet the deep instinctive forces that pressure us during life and challenge our ego fortresses.

Perhaps the storms of nightmare are connected to the raging great Mother who challenges our ego’s neglect of our deepest needs or deepest truths. If the ego can listen to its dreams, however terrifying, and face what is being asked of it to change in attitude and behavior, it might find future dreams of benevolent support for changes constituted consciously. The ego is also free to hold onto consciousness in waking dreams, where we confront the forces of the deep in their projections upon the relationships of waking life.

Seek consciousness in the waking dream too... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Seek consciousness in the waking dream too…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

I appreciate most that the message Art Garfunkel gives now, after all these years, is to pay attention to the night and the power of Mother Unconscious. This is the playing field where all the terrifying forces in the world find their origin. This is the playing field where we are empowered to achieve the union and wholeness we seek to advance deeper into life.

As we lay ourselves down to sleep, let us hold onto our souls and go to meet the Great Mother in her love or in her wrath, as adults. It is up to us now to guide the Mothership, humbly respecting its power and truth.

Conscious in the dream,
Chuck

The above quote is from Carl Jung Symbols of Transformation (C.W. 5) pp. 355-56

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Our Deepest Issues

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What are the deepest issues? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
What are the deepest issues?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Our deepest issues are unrelenting. They appear and reappear at different stages of our lives, often clothed in new costumes, but underneath lie the same issues.

We can recognize that we’ve once again stumbled upon a core issue when we find ourselves leveled, feeling utterly defeated. At such times, it is natural to be overtaken by feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. Our core issue appears insurmountable and we wonder if we’ll ever overcome it in this lifetime!

At such times, we are equally likely to be drawn into the energy field of blame, whether assigning it to self or other. Blame offers a respite from feelings of defeat but offers no real solution to our deepest issues.

Reflecting upon the course and meaning of his life, Carl Jung wrote, “The meaning of my existence is that life has addressed a question to me.”

From Jung’s viewpoint we might turn and view our own deepest issue, our nemesis, as the question that life has addressed to us. Life asks us to take up this question in the form of a core issue, a deeply painful problem, and awaits our answer to that question. Life itself needs the answer to know how to proceed in new directions.

Using myself as an example, I can say that life has asked me very deep questions about the nature of family. My earliest experiences in the womb, as I experienced the violence of my biological father while in a state of oneness with my mother, were to mark and initiate my core challenge as one of confrontation with the ambiguous nature of family. My discovery, at the dawn of adolescence, that but one of the parents who raised me was actually my biological parent taught me that my love for my parents transcended biological origin. By mid-adolescence I was confronted inwardly with the truth that my growing needs could no longer be housed by my family. This led to the painful but necessary decision that the truth was more important than loyalty to family and I had to leave. A few short years later, at the age of nineteen, I married Jeanne, an adopted woman deeply bonded to her adoptive parents, with no connection to her own biological parents. With this union, though we deeply bonded as a unit and created a new family, the challenge continued.

Life presents us all with crosses to bear and insights to gain... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Life presents us all with crosses to bear and insights to gain…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

As a husband I had to let my partner go. As a parent, I’ve had to deal with the serious addiction issues of two sons. These challenges compelled me to make decisions and take actions that to conventional society appeared to defy the unconditional acceptance of family at all costs. I have borne the tension of life and death, as well as rejection, disdain, and not being understood by many as I’ve navigated this path of doing the right thing beyond convention. Doubt is a constant companion when you choose to travel outside the gates of the norm; it’s a solitary path.

I am quite contented with the tension of my solitary path because I know it is the meaning of my life; it’s my answer to the question life has addressed specifically to me.

Jung mused: Were our deepest issues in fact Karma from previous lives? If this be the case, we bring into this life the state of our knowledge accrued from previous life attempts to solve life’s question, renewed again in the circumstances of our current incarnation. Perhaps on a broader scale we carry the Karma of our genetics and must grapple with the failed attempts of our ancestors to solve the questions life addressed to them as well.

Perhaps life simply addresses us with the relevant question needed to solve its stumbling blocks at this stage of the evolution of our species. Perhaps life asks us to find the answers to our survival as we stand on the brink of destruction.

I imagine that our deepest issues embody both personal and impersonal questions, that is, Karmic and ancestral, as well as the evolution of life itself in our time.

At an impersonal dimension, I believe that life has addressed the question of family to all of us, as how we answer this question is critical to our survival, more so than ever. Ancient attachment to family in the form of “blood is thicker than water” has resulted in the blind loyalty to tribalism that is at the epicenter of current world conflict in the Middle East. Here we witness daily a willingness to take down the world in defense of religion and the blood line.

But the Middle East is merely a mirror of a pervasive tribalism that afflicts the entire world in multitudinous forms. Examples include the needs of my country over yours; this is tribalism. The world financial elite is a tribe opposed to the tribe of the 99%. The tribe of Republicans are at war with the tribe of Democrats, no holds barred.

The dominant player in these tribes is loyalty, blind loyalty, over truth. Loyalty to the blood line or to the Club breeds greed, because in that scenario the only thing that matters is me and mine; we alone are entitled.

The light of a new world is trying to break through... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
The light of a new world is trying to break through…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

For life to survive at this juncture in human evolution we must transcend the binding limitations of blind loyalty and open the family to embrace the true needs of our interdependent whole. This isn’t romanticism; this is concrete fact.

These are the answers I’ve come to through deeply suffering the needs of the family that life has challenged me with. If we can all look to our deepest issues as life beckoning us to solve the deepest mysteries and aberrations that we all share, that we all might flourish freed of unsolved problems, perhaps then we can learn to be more loving toward ourselves as we suffer our deepest issues and bring them to resolution. Perhaps then we can all be and embrace the Human Family—our one true family.

Finding meaning,
Chuck

Quote from Jung: Memories, Dreams, Reflections p. 318