The descent experience: metaphor for serious illness
Click on the link above to visit Monica Cassani’s wonderful, resource-rich site, http://www.beyondmeds.com, for this piece by Sheila, exploring descent myths in the context of serious illness or distress.
‘In the Fall of 2010, Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., psychologist and Buddhist monk, spoke at one of The Red Book Dialogues in San Francisco. In discussing Jung’s descent, and descent experiences in general, he said your worst fears are the gateway to your enlightenment. You must face them, you must suffer, yet you must not get lost in the experience either. You stay present to your fears, you wait, you listen. It can take a long time. If you can trust the desert, at some point, it rains. Then, you find out what your gift, your contribution to the world is, “some new extraordinary wholeness appears and that’s who you really are.”’
Palace Gate Counselling Service, Exeter
Counselling Exeter since 1994
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