Modern Man and Woman Still in Search of Soul

“There are hardly any exceptions to the rule that a person must pay dearly
​ for the divine gift of the creative fire."
 -C.G. Jung, ​Modern Man in Search of Soul, p.169

It was in 1933 that C.G. Jung wrote his great work titled Modern Man in Search of a Soul. Now in 2022 - almost 100 years since its publication - we not only continue to hunger for a connection to soul, but desperately need to listen to its wisdom. Jung's message about the search for soul continues to resound in our hearts and souls today.

As if hearing the profound wisdom of his writings anew, if we now listen carefully enough, we can hear Jung saying:

“The nearer we approach to the middle of life, and the better we have succeeded in entrenching ourselves in our personal attitudes and social positions, the more it appears as if we had discovered the right course and the right ideals. For this reason we suppose them to be eternally valid, and make a virtue of unchangeably clinging to them. We overlook the essential fact that the social goal is attained only at the cost of a diminution of personality. Many - far too many - aspects of life which should also have been experienced lie in the lumber-room among dusty memories; but sometimes, too, they are glowing coals under grey ashes.” (The Stages of Life (1930), CW 8: p. 771)
He then adds that “the only meaningful life is a life that strives for the individual realization – absolute and unconditional – of its own particular law…To the extent that a (person) is untrue to the law of (their) being…(they have) failed to realize (their) own life’s meaning”. 

In the first half of life we live with an intimation, perhaps a whispered presence of the destiny accompanying our life. However, the work of life goes on and we seem to forget about the soul and a life of meaning. Life progresses. And then one day, as if time suddenly stood still, we find ourselves reflecting back on our life as if all those events happened just yesterday. No longer young nor ascending to yet another outer world ambition, we realize that when we were younger, finding our "sentiero sacro" - our sacred path - was either an idealistic fantasy or something that we thought we could attend to later in life. But for many of us this time has now come, confronting us with an urgency to live the life we are meant to live.

Suddenly everything about life is different as we transition into the later stages of life. Ever so clearly we now see the enormous costs involved in continuing to live out those unresolved mid-life complexes and continuing to ignore the Self's calling towards another, more authentic way of life. And this need, coming from some other deeper, spiritual domain, calls for us to live a symbolic and sacred life that honors our soul’s calling. Now is the time to stand face to face with our destiny. To step forward with courage to change the contours of our life journeys, and to live in greater relationship with what is most sacred.

Drawing together an internationally acclaimed faculty, we will discuss ways to recognize the shape, form and meaning of Psyche as it speaks to us of the need to turn towards the inner life. With presentations from a number of world leaders in the fields of Jungian Psychology and  Spirituality, we will look at what it means to live according to the ways of the soul, and how to recognize and listen to the symbolic urgings of the Self, moving us ever closer to what may be called a spiritual life.