“The thing you sacrificed comes back years later, knife in hand, demanding to sacrifice that which it was sacrificed for.”
-Carl Jung
In Plato’s Myth of Er, each soul returns from a previous life and chooses its attributes for the next return to Earth. These qualities make up the daimon or acorn which is representative of the unique character of that soul. It’s chosen in order to fulfill this soul’s purpose in its next life, as related to its previous incarnation.
I can see the ageless soul soaring through the milky sea of the solar system, influenced in the correct degree by its encounter with each celestial body, on the way to its new home… JC
Each of us seems to lose our way at one time or another, indeed some can point to exact moments and dates where they went astray from what they thought was their purpose in life, never to see it again. But the soul is infinite in its wisdom and never forgets its destiny and more importantly, it never walks a straight line, its path being crooked and complete with obstacles familiar to its conclusion, that makes it difficult to map out. In truth, we can have multiple tasks to complete taking us to our purpose.
So whatever encompasses our daimon, the acorn of meaning in our life will one day insist on its due. Our bliss hidden in the shadows but always bleeding through the cracks of the psyche is resurrected guided by mystical experiences, shrouded in mystery. The experiences are messengers of the soul cloaked in dreams, natural occurrences or intellect. Many times sacrificed ambitions have a subtle effect and force one to rethink everything held sacred up until now. The term “mid-life crises” comes to mind. Is it a crisis or the soul seeing with the eyes of the heart, searching through the shadows for bliss?
We’re reincarnated every day of our lives, for each day we wake to the harmony of nature presenting us with a new day, a new chance. And in this renewed awareness, it doesn’t matter what king or crown or government entity has to say, each soul must and will save Gaia, the sacred mother by fulfilling its purpose according to destiny.
©jc2017-9
*Photo courtesy of Pixabay
Gregg Allman RIP
An Unexpected Muse… 
Wonderfully written. Thank you. Unfortunately I cannot see the video … can you just tell me what is, I found several with that name …? Thank you, and … well, I think good night, here it is morning … :o) ! Best wishes, Silvia
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Thank you so much for your comment. I appreciate it very much… jc
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Oh, I just found it :o) ! And yes, RIP ….
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Great, I’m glad you found it. Have a wonderful day.
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I have just gone on line to learn more about Er. How Plato asked Sokrates to tell the story about Er. A long story, I admire all your research and knowledge on these learned Greek philosophers.
Carl Jung’s statement intrigues me in as much as I often wonder if not our sacrifices are also a way for us to grow and learn something new. To further our understanding of human beings and thus ourselves.
I love your own dream quote, it is visual in its description.
Thank you JC
miriam
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Thank you, Miriam, yes the such a wealth of information and story to these myths, it’s hard to know where to even start to get our point across and still do justice to the story.
On his quote, I think he is saying our sacrifices are justified and lead us to a point where there is a knock on the door and you know it is your turn at bat, your turn to dance and become what you gave up long ago because other voices were calling.
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Very interesting post that generates a lot of thoughts. I wonder if Jung meant that sometimes we sacrifice the wrong things to achieve other things in life – for example we may have sacrificed certain talents or personal potential to reach material gain, but later those sacrificed talents or potential would returns “angrily” and demands attention, to the extent that it would have us abandon the objectives we sacrificed them for – and by doing so we end up undermining ourselves by abandoning the trajectory we had sacraficed so much for and have already developed very well – but by doing that we actually return to our original destiny, so in the end it is a just and perhaps fortunate development, because we will end up being more in line with our original purpose. Just a few thoughts – I haven’t come across that quote of Jung before, so not sure of the context.
Your thoughts about the soul returning is very interesting. There is a series of films by Krzysztof Kieślowski called the Three Colours Trilogy. However he made another film called “The Double Life of Veronique” before the trilogy. In this film a young woman (who experiences life very spiritually) has a twin, someone who lives in another country, but with the same looks and character as her (her earthy version). When Veronique passes away her life continues in another country (the other half of her continues to live). This is an interesting concept from the “born archetype” perspective (as I mentioned in my previous comment) as in all of us have other versions of ourselves walking around in other places or countries (although there would of course be cultural differences and temperament differences).
An interesting development in Kieślowski’s films is that if we watch the “Three Colours Trilogy” series of films (“Blue”, “White” and “Red”) after “The Double Life of Veronique”, we may notice that the soul of Veronique returns in the 3rd film of the Tree Colours Trilogy: “Red” – and this time she very much in the same mould is the original incarnation of Veronique in “The Double Life of Veronque” – which means that in fact Veronique had three lives, not only two… (or perhaps multiple… – like all of us?).
Thank you for the thought-inspiring post, JC.
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Yes, I’ve often thought about that quote and what he meant. I always go back to Jung building Bollingen, his retreat. He built it because he was reminded of his love of stone and building things in his youth. And indeed Bollingen is complete with carved stones throughout. I’m not sure of his exact words but he said this was his center, his bliss.
I don’t think he’s saying we took a wrong turn, more that we each have something that grounds us, centers us to the world and the beast at the door is this. It’s telling you that I’ve taken a backseat to your career, family, and friends and now it’s time you give to me. And this usually happens at midlife when we realize that job and career aren’t all they’re made up to be, there’s something else that we discovered as a child but forgot that is more to our calling.
I’ll definitely look up the films… Thanks, JC
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I agree. Depending on how you choose to live it, mid-life crises can perhaps be called “Mid-life awakening,” instead.
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Yes, I’ve seen a few people who’ve committed themselves to creativity after crises in their lives. And it was always something they had to give up in their youth because life interrupted. So one day the beast does knock at you’re door and takes your hand… it is time!
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Your quote sounds like what a wise philosopher would write. It’s intriguing to think that the soul can travel through space with no hindrances. What amazing adventures await us?
The image of retreating into a cocoon every night is quite powerful and hopeful. The morning brings each of us that chance to redeem ourselves; to strive to be better and soar even farther. Lovely expression, JC.
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Yes, what an adventure gliding into the Martian gravitational field as it swings us around, trajectory Planet Earth. Thank you for the kind words. I love that every day we have the power to reincarnate ourselves, to be better… jc
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Interesting topic. You started it with a powerful quote, which made me think the relevance of it in general. It is comfortable to believe that everything comes to a full circle sooner or later.
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But with that comfort still, we are haunted by doubt. I believe that is the way it should be.
Thank you… jc
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