[Stephen Gerringer]

James & Kristina,

Two incredible take-aways for me from your exchange:

One is James’ observation:

Something I think that confuses us so often is that as our life stages change, we must change and go with it. In other words, as Jung mentions also, the life requirements must match this metamorphosis as we age from that of achievement to that of meaning.”

So easy to forget that change is the one constant – not just in the external world, but within as well.

That’s not easy to accept. I am reminded of some of the initial reaction to The Last Jedi, the middle film in the final Star Wars trilogy, where Luke Skywalker assumes the role of mentor rather than the central character. I read numerous vociferous criticisms on fan sites at the time, complaining that Luke should have been the hero of this trilogy, as in the first three Lucas films (Episodes IV – VI).

I understand their disappointment, but was pleased that the writer and director depicted the interior changes the character had undergone over the course of a lifetime, which served as a mirror for me in which to recognize my own evolution.

And then there’s this statement from Kristina:

We don’t cure our wounds. They cure us.”

Powerful, and poignant. I am reminded of something I swear I read in James Hillman’s work a few decades back, though the exact reference continues to elude me to this day:

“Our wounds are the eyes through which we see ourselves.”

Your observation, Kristina, is liberating (as is your essay), affording us the opportunity to reimagine our lives, past and present. In a literal sense, nothing has changed – but with this shift in perspective, the poison we’d been drinking transforms into the elixir of life, and the whole world opens up

. . . which brings us back to Joe, and this quote of his, which graces JCF’s home page this week:

Blunders are not the merest chance. They are the results of suppressed desires and conflicts. They are ripples on the surface of life, produced by unsuspected springs. And these may be very deep—as deep as the soul itself. The blunder may amount to the opening of a destiny” (The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 42)