Everything I have presented in the Idea behind the Program outlines the essentials of my creative contribution to its creation.
My first contribution is that I present complex ideas in an accessible way, which is not an easy thing to do. There is a thought by C.G. Jung that describes such a challenge:
“Human instinct knows that all great truth is simple. The man whose instincts are atrophied therefore supposes that it is found in cheap simplifications and platitudes; or, as a result of his disappointment, he falls into the opposite error of thinking that it must be as obscure and complicated as possible.”
C.G Jung, Spirit in Man, Art, and Literature
Uniting the two parts of the duality of “complexity-simplicity” without compromising the truth requires deeper knowledge. After 30 years of professional experience as a psychologist and psychotherapist, it is now easier for me to see the commonality behind the diversity of mental phenomena. And after extracting the essence of my experience, to share it with other people.
My second contribution is related to the first, namely my ability to combine different psychological theories and psychotherapeutic methods in a way that will help you see the topic from different angles and perspectives. C.G. Jung’s ideas have a special place because thanks to him I was able to see the root cause which helped me assemble the thousand-piece puzzle into one.
This root cause is the understanding that desire/libido and emotions are the bridge between the conscious and unconscious. The irony is that in Jung’s Analytical Psychology, the main method of creating a dialogue with the contents of the unconscious occurs not through the analysis of emotions, but through the analysis of our dreams and the outcomes of our creative fantasy (active imagination). The dream analysis, however, is very complicated. Also, we do not always remember our dreams. But we always experience emotions (although their intensity may vary) and the rules for transforming them into consciousness are more or less clear. At the level of the empirical personality (ego) these are the emotional intelligence skills and at the level of the soul these are the spiritual intelligence qualities.
The enlightened teachers say that our whole life is a dream and we are constantly dreaming, even when our eyes are open. In the language of Analytical Psychology, this dreaming is called “projection”. Working with the Program will help you get to know the unconscious through the outcomes of your “daydreaming” (projections) because, under every strong emotion, there is an underlying projection.
The third contribution of the Program is that it creates the prerequisites for turning the new knowledge into lasting habits of emotional and spiritual intelligence. The acquired knowledge has real value only when it becomes a permanent attitude of our consciousness.
The Program does this by synchronizing the daily assignments for self-observation and reflection with the lunar cycles – it always begins on a New Moon and lasts exactly one lunar month. After you finish it, your practice can start again, from the very beginning, until the knowledge becomes embedded. Another factor is the option to practice the assignments randomly through the My Practice of the Day page. A third factor is the option to reflect on more intense emotional experiences through the Reflection Room page, which includes different questions for reflection (analysis of your emotional reactions). The last two are available only after you have completed all the assignments in the Program once.
At the end of his life, C.G. Jung said that the people who will carry his work are “single individuals who are suffering and seeking”. The texts in the Program are the result of my long-term efforts to understand the suffering that I personally have been going through. Therefore, the words in it have come from the depths of my own experiences. This is what I see as its fourth and most important merit and my true creative contribution on emotional intelligence and soul care.