Jung responds to ‘Who am I?’

Monday night. We are sitting around my dining room table enjoying ourselves discussing. Lesson 5 of the Joy of Self-discovery, my advanced class. Suddenly I sneeze. Oh, my, what’s the matter, am I getting sick? My nose begins to drip away uncontrollably. My class decides to rush home and leave me alone to recover. I go to bed, sleep fitfully, waking up maybe every three hours to go to the bathroom. My throat feels scratchy. What is this? Flu season?

The next morning, drip drip, drip drip. I down two tablets of paracetamol. Please, God, don’t make me too sick to go. I go, my mind feeling blank, going down then up, but no fever. Just a recurrence of that question I am once in a while confronted with: Who am I, anyway? Who have I become? Why can’t I answer that?

Then I remembered a long time ago when I felt this way. That was when I took the basic Jung seminar at the Ateneo, way back in 1995, I think. Was that 20 years ago? Well, maybe I should go again.

So I called up Rose this morning, snuffling into the telephone. "Hey, Rose," I asked, "are you over your flu now?" Last time I remember I was supposed to have seen her she was recovering from the flu.

"Yes," she said, "why?"

"Because I think I’m on the verge and I feel a need to rediscover myself again, to find out who I am again. Do you have any Jungian workshops coming up? I think I need one."

"You called just in time," Rose said gleefully. "We have a seminar called Exploration of the Self starting July 20 and 21, then July 27 and 28. You interested in that?"

"Will I find myself?"

"Y-e-e-e-s, we’ll try. You took this before, didn’t you?"

"Just realized that was 20 years ago, more or less. Maybe it’s time to do it again."

"OK, maybe. This four-day workshop is designed to help a person who is in search of her deeper self or someone who’s seeking to make sense of her life. We will introduce you to various archetypes – the hero, the persona, the shadow, the anima and andimus, the feminine and masculine, the Self, with a capital S," Rose said.

"Expensive?" I asked

"No,"she said. "P6,400 for the four days, including handouts and materials but no lunch. Anyway, it will be held at the Ateneo Rockwell so just cross the street and you can eat there. Call Sophie at 0917-527-6279 or Lito at 0916-302-3763 or Marina at 892-4610 to make reservations and make your 50 percent down payment, non-refundable."

"OK, I think I’ll go. I should be over my flu by then."

"Wonderful, may I send you a schedule from the Jung Center for the rest of the year?"

"OK, so I can print it because I’m too sick to write. Many thanks, Rose. I trust you will help me find myself again."

The Friends of Jung Society Seminar Series 2006

Exploring the Self: July 20-21; July 27-28

Psychological Type: August 4

Symbols of the Self and Dreams: August 10-11

Tarot and Synchronicity: August 25

The Wild Woman: September 7-8

King or Hunter: September 21-22 (Men’s workshop 1)

In Search of the Grail: October 12 & 14 (Men’s workshop 2)

The Mature Goddesses: October 27

The Muses & Active Imagination: November 10

Awakening the Heroes Within: November 23-24

Just call the numbers above for more information. I think they all begin at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m.