20: Matter and Psyche. A conversation with J. Gary Sparks

The discussion begins with a question about duality in the structure of human consciousness (up/down, sacred/profane, subject/object, yin/yang, psyche/soma). Gary maintains a longstanding interest in explorations of matter and psyche. His book borrows from the conversations and ideas exchanged between Carl Jung and Wolfgang Pauli, one of the men responsible for the discovery of quantum physics. For Jung the opposites are primary therefore the conversation expands on this idea throughout the exchange. Further, Gary defines spiritual and synchronicity, noting how often “science” or the material and spiritual are not interpreted in the way that may be of more service to us all. He provides examples of synchronicity and helps the listener understand the concept of synchronicity. Jung and Pauli converse because of the strange behavior of the electron in the atom and how causality breaks down when we try to understand the individual – less about causality than about a teleological structure of the individual’s life. Technology is questioned and viewed as a phenomenon that has drastically changed the relationship that we have with ourselves and created us into distracted individuals who struggle to sit with ourselves. Gary discusses his understanding of the religious task and defines this process as “learning whom we are born to be and making it real in time and space.” We finish on the subject of numbers and the archetypal background of numbers as qualities and not only quantities. Bio: J. Gary Sparks, B.Sc., M.Div., M.A., is a graduate of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA; the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA; and the C.G. Jung Institute of Zurich, Switzerland. He is a former Peace Corps Korea Volunteer during the early 1970s and co-editor of Edward F. Edinger’s Science of the Soul (2002) and Ego and Self: The Old Testament Prophets (2000). He is widely known in North America for his lectures and seminars on the significance and application of Jungian psychology. Completing eight years of training in 1982, Gary graduated from the C.G. Jung Institute in Zürich and presently makes his living as a Jungian analyst. The Jungian approach observes that the personality spontaneously produces images which symbolically communicate the means of resolving a given impasse and—more generally—the unique life course for each individual in pursuit of meaning and satisfaction to follow. In practical terms the Jungian focus studies dreams as a way of getting at this deeper source of knowledge. Such has been Gary’s enduring fascination: to learn the nature of our symbolic language, to understand its value in the therapeutic setting and to discover its relevance to solving human problems in general. Website: http://www.jgsparks.net Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: BADBADNOTGOOD http://badbadnotgood.com Music page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/badbadnotgood/505464105 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks