Nekyias (@CarlJungMemes)

The Reading List — Looking for a Radical Elsewhere

Thank you for 100 patrons!!!!!!

Attached below is the full, 6k+ word list of over 50 reading recommendations, including my thoughts on why each book is important + the order in which I think some of them should be tackled. I may come back and make a few edits (I'm working with limited wifi at the moment and am trying to get this uploaded while I still have service)! Sections include Depression & Disenchantment, Approaching Jung, Magic Metaphysics & Prophecy, Consciousness, Personality, Oracles, Culture, Literature, and Film.

EPISODE 6 PT 2: THE HANGED MAN

In this continuation from our last episode, we move into a discussion of how the ineffable contributes to two major topics we've covered in earlier episodes: reference points and the empowered surrender. Using our "worlding" puzzle metaphor from the last episode, we explore how reference points operate, and attempt to visualize what the empowered surrender is literally doing to our lives. Finally, I move into a few pointers on how to correctly identify the lost object, as well the role of aspiration and "wants" "shoulds" and "musts" (which we'll cover more thoroughly in the Bargainer's Dream). 

As an update, the reading list will be up ASAP, and I'm working on getting everyone uploaded to Close Friends! Thank you all for your patience! 

EPISODE 6 PT 1: THE HANGED MAN

In this special, intermission-style episode, we take a winding road toward a major topic in this series: the ineffable. Starting with a discussion about the role of perspective in our approach to depression, I share my personal experience with the ineffable and dissociative states (...and a bad acid trip). We also touch on Goya, trauma, desire, and derealization, and return a bit to the moth analogy.

I had to break up this episode into two parts due to the length, but if possible they are meant to be listened to together. Part 2 will be up ASAP, and will cover reference points and some of your questions about the empowered surrender.

Intermission & Q&A

Hello friends! 

After careful consideration and a number of messages asking for clarification on some of the topics we've already discussed, I've decided to release Episode 6 (Birth of the Rebel) next month—in its place, I'd like to slow things down a bit and try a wrap-up/Q&A/synthesis episode on the first four stages we've covered so far (The Dream, Collapse of the Dream, Failed Return to the Garden, and The Empowered Surrender). Specifically, I'd like to expand a bit on the moth analogy, value hierarchies, reference points, why reality/metaphysics is important to our discussion of depression, and ways to approach The Empowered Surrender. My hope is to bridge the gap between some of the more theoretical portions of this series with how they're directly experienced in real life (including my own!). I personally find it difficult to learn when I don't understand why certain information is important to the broader argument, so I'd like to try to address some of that as well, in case any of you feel the same way. 

I'm going to try to answer some of the comments and DMs you all have sent in on here, as well as some of the questions on the close friends Q&A on instagram. If you have any other questions about what we've covered so far, now would be the time to send them in! 

Oh, also, we're 5 patrons away from the 100 mark... if you know anyone who might find this series helpful, please send this their way! I would really like to drop that reading list for you all :) 

Thank you, and send in your questions if you haven't already!

EPISODE 5 PART 2: THE EMPOWERED SURRENDER

Part 2 is here! 

In this continuation from our last episode, we cover a psychological theory with roots in clinical research and Terror Management Theory that helps to explain why the Empowered Surrender works for combatting depression. We discuss attachment, value hierarchies, self-esteem, self-focus, the "lost object," and a guy named Stephen. Around the 45-minute mark, we turn our discussion over to the Empowered Surrender itself and examine ways to identify what, exactly, it is that we need to sacrifice. The book covered in this episode is called "Hanging On and Letting Go: Understanding the Onset, Progression, and Remission of Depression." The authors are Tom Pyszczynski and Jeff Greenberg.

The Empowered Surrender (text from the original guide):

"Healing begins with sacrifice. Faced with burnout and despair, the dreamer or depressed individual may either attempt to indefinitely hold onto the Dream, or (hopefully) finally discard some long cherished part of identity. From the outside, this may look like regression or running away—quitting a job, taking a leave of absence, giving up on a “dream” in the aspirational sense, returning home, finding sobriety, or letting go of a person or relationship. A true surrender of this kind will carry a large emotional weight. Individuals around the dreamer will likely feel judgment or discomfort. This is good—despite what the word “surrender” suggests, this action is actually one of reclaiming personal power. This stage is often not reached until the dreamer sees no other option." 

TRANSCRIPTS (Episodes 1-4)

Below you'll find the text for our first four episodes, in case reading is a bit easier for you than audio, you'd like to read along, or would just like to revisit the content visually. Obviously these were written with the podcast in mind, but I did try to clean it up a little for a better reading experience. I've also italicized and underlined key concepts so that following the argument is a little easier, which I hope is helpful if there were certain sections in the audio version that are hard to follow. 

Close Friends

Hi all! 

Thank you so much for coming along with me on this journey, and I hope the content has been clear and helpful so far. As mentioned on the benefits list for your subscription, being a patron also gets you access to my Close Friends list on Instagram. Close Friends allows you to see my private story posts on my account @CarlJungMemes. I'll be posting unpolished reflections, short personal stories, ideas with which I'm currently grappling, and... really whatever seems worth sharing in the moment. Due to the size of my platform and the content I cover (especially in the realm of mental health), I try not to publicly post unless I feel I've found the most responsible verbiage possible and am sure about what I'm saying. My vision for Close Friends is that it can act as a bit of a workshop space for some of this content. It also makes it easier to reach me on Instagram, if that's your primary connection to me. 

In order to join the Close Friends list, all I need is for you to send me your Instagram handle (if you haven't already). The easiest way to do that is to post it below or privately DM me here on Patreon (please not on instagram!!!), whichever feels more comfortable. 

If you are already on my Close Friends: Unless I know you in real life, I'm going to ask that you still send me your handle! Over the coming days I'm going to be doing a little bit of ~audience management~ and I don't want to accidentally remove your account. It also helps me recognize you as a Patreon subscriber. 

If you don't use Instagram or rarely check it: Don't worry! Close Friends is meant as just an additional way to interact. You don't need to engage with it to stay caught up with anything I'm posting on Patreon. It's more of a public journal, and the best insights will find their way over here in some form anyway. 

Finally... we're very close to reaching our goal of 100 subscribers! Once we get there I'll be posting the reading list. I literally get giddy every time I see one of you repost something about the pod, and I hope you'll consider sharing this with anyone you think might find it helpful. 

:) 

EPISODE 5 PART 1: THE EMPOWERED SURRENDER

In this episode*, we approach the first step of the Katabasis. Beginning with a quick clarification about the connection between imagination and depression, we introduce a major concept I'll be referring to as "reference points." Then, we move into a discussion of the three options between which someone caught in the land of depression has to choose: suspension, suicide**, and surrender. Finally, we explore the nature of the empowered surrender, and I give a couple of examples from my personal life. 

*Although I will typically be shooting for only one episode a month, I'm going to try to get part 2 of this episode up as soon as possible! Part 2 is not meant to replace Episode 6, which will still be coming out at the end of next month. Think of it as a bonus episode (although the content we'll be covering there is just as important as part 1)! 

**As you might have guessed, this episode covers suicide. Although I use the word "option" here, I am doing so only in the most literal sense of actions people can (and sometimes do) take, and do not wish to suggest that suicide is something anyone should seriously consider. If you'd like to know more before listening, please feel free to message me on patreon. The following is not intended as a replacement for medical or therapeutic oversight. 

The Empowered Surrender (text from the original guide): 

"Healing begins with sacrifice. Faced with burnout and despair, the dreamer or depressed individual may either attempt to indefinitely hold onto the Dream, or (hopefully) finally discard some long cherished part of identity. From the outside, this may look like regression or running away—quitting a job, taking a leave of absence, giving up on a “dream” in the aspirational sense, returning home, finding sobriety, or letting go of a person or relationship. A true surrender of this kind will carry a large emotional weight. Individuals around the dreamer will likely feel judgment or discomfort. This is good—despite what the word “surrender” suggests, this action is actually one of reclaiming personal power. This stage is often not reached until the dreamer sees no other option."

EPISODE 4: THE FAILED RETURN TO THE GARDEN

The last of our foundational episodes, we attempt to outline a "topography" of the land of depression under the collapsing Dream. We talk the characteristics of depression, simulations as metaphor, nostalgia, and David Lynch. As the final stage before the Katabasis can truly begin, I hope this episode also serves as a wrap-up and synthesis, particularly with regard to how our sense of reality informs our lived experience with depression. 

The Collapse of the Dream/The Failed Return to the Garden (text from the original guide):

"A collapsing dream brings with it a sense of paradox—the dreamer may feel both a deep detachment and an inability to fully let go. This stage is characterized by nostalgia, hedonism, loss of interest and/or rumination… as the dream collapses, the psychological world of the dreamer literally grows smaller. Most of what we characterize as untreated depression happens at this stage. As the system of meaning-making erodes, nothing can be seen to matter in any real sense. There may be attempts to return to an earlier, happier time, or to anxiously work toward a perceived better future. This stage had no set endpoint—the collapsing Dream will never fully collapse without conscious action on the part of the dreamer. Many people never leave this stage."

EPISODE 3: THE COLLAPSE OF THE DREAM

Welcome all Patreon subscribers! In this episode we're going to be tackling what, exactly, causes the Dream to collapse. We start with a very brief recap of the previous episodes, as well as a few clarifications. Then we move on to explore what causes depression from what we know today, as well as a continued discussion of Federico Campagna's Technic and Magic. Finally, we begin to tackle one of the fundamental concepts in this model—the capacity to imagine a "radical elsewhere."  This will give us the foundational knowledge we need to tackle the next stage, The Failed Return to the Garden... you can think of this episode as being a two-parter, with the second part coming later this week. 

The Collapse of the Dream/The Failed Return to the Garden (text from the original guide): 

"A collapsing dream brings with it a sense of paradox—the dreamer may feel both a deep detachment and an inability to fully let go. This stage is characterized by nostalgia, hedonism, loss of interest and/or rumination… as the dream collapses, the psychological world of the dreamer literally grows smaller. Most of what we characterize as untreated depression happens at this stage. As the system of meaning-making erodes, nothing can be seen to matter in any real sense. There may be attempts to return to an earlier, happier time, or to anxiously work toward a perceived better future. This stage had no set endpoint—the collapsing Dream will never fully collapse without conscious action on the part of the dreamer. Many people never leave this stage."

Quote mentioned in the episode, from Technic and Magic: 

"Understood symbolically, the image of a flat earth points to two intuitive objects of human experience: that the inhabitable world of each of us is at once shaped and enhanced by its limits, and that beyond these limits lies, not 'nothing' but something at once altogether different and yet contiguous. Conversely, the symbol of the spherical Earth hints at a different ontological vision, according to which the world stretches without boundaries, seamlessly closed onto itself, while outside of its smooth surface it is possible to find either nothing at all, or other equivalent spheres; that is repetitions of the same form of existence. A sphere... at once boundless, unitary, seamless, and also safe from the impending presence of anything radically different from it.” (48)

EPISODE 2: THE DREAM (old version)

In our second episode, we explore the first stage, or "starting point" of the Katabasis and journey through depression. Specifically, we are interested in defining the "Dream," in order to build a foundation for Episode 3 (The Collapse of the Dream). We talk about moths, metaphysics and meaning, as well as our modern understanding of reality. This episode utilizes philosopher Federico Campagna's ideas, particularly from his work Technic and Magic, to start to build a foundation toward a more helpful understanding of reality. This episode was also heavily influenced by Psychological Types (C.G. Jung) and Matter and Memory (Henri Bergson). This is the second of two complimentary episodes. 

The Dream (text from the original guide): 

"The Dreamer knows nothing of the Dream. Until and unless it collapses, the Dreamer cannot know anything more of the Dream than what she is, with limited vocabulary, able to gesture toward broadly—concepts like identity, worldview, self-mythology, personal narrative, ideology, belief and schema are the best words we have. I use the “Dream” to refer to our personal understanding of reality. Most of us live inside the Dream. The Dream is always, at least partially, mistaken for the truth. I will use the term Dreamer to describe the depressed individual, although life inside the Dream does not necessarily lead to experiences of mental illness—it is only when the Dream grows too distant from truth and begins to collapse. Sometimes, the dreamer is able to mend the Dream, or otherwise temporarily bolster a collapsing Dream with the help of a current prevailing ideology. Barring this, the collapsing Dream will send the dreamer into a state of crisis—this marks the beginning of a depression."

EPISODE 1: KATABASIS

The first episode of our series exploring a new model of depression. The first half is a bit of an introduction to what exactly I'm trying to do with this series—then, we get into a brief discussion of Carl Jung. Works referenced in this episode include Dante's Inferno, The Red Book (C.G. Jung), and Catafalque (Peter Kingsley). This is the first of two free episodes. 

KATABASIS//ANABASIS (Original Guide)

1. The Dream 

2. Collapse of the Dream 

3. Failed Return to the Garden 

4. Crisis

5. The Empowered Surrender

6. Birth of the Rebel

7. The Bargainer's Dream

8. The Body & The Labyrinth 

9. Reclamation of the Soul

10. The 3rd Function 

11. Collapse of the Tower

12. The Desert

13. Lucidity & Expansion