I cannot thank you enough for posting this. It is coming at just the right time. John Sanford was my grandparents' priest. Robert Johnson was my father's confirmation retreat leader. I inherited a stack of books from my grandma from both men. She would only tell me with a twinkle in her eye that these were helpful to her and my grandfather during their empty nest years. As books will do, these called to me at a time when God was ready for me to have them, integrating experiences from my military service, loss of my mother, and motherhood. It began with "She!" (Johnson) and "The Invisible Partners" (Sanford), and went from there. I did get some persecution from other Christians for looking into Jung, even from a Christian perspective. I even lost some friendships over it bc they were convinced I was "dabbling in the occult." They also insinuated that this was connected to the tragedy of our oldest child's death to brain cancer. Yet because many more of my Christian friends stuck it out and witnessed my transformation, I know that God brought me to the resources of inner healing just in time ("in the night my heart instructs me," as the Psalmist says). Years of what felt like intense and accelerated dream work ensued. It did not feel good, at times: like being an open, vulnerable, archeological dig. Looking back, I can see how this allowed me to be a more available and tender wife and mother during those last years of cancer, death and bereavement, both for our marriage and our children. Unconscious fears no longer had me by the tail, and I learned new ways to "take every thought captive before the feet of Christ." A new sense of sovereignty emerged, in the valley of the shadow of death: a table prepared for me in the presence of my enemies. Even though I did experience some fundamentalism growing up, my parents and grandparents had their libraries, similar to what John Sanford describes. I resonate with how the libraries of our elders can signal to us that our "minds are free to explore...because truth attracts the mind...and truth will bring us back." Every time I think about the spiritual friendship of these two men, Sanford and Johnson, and now their mentor Künkel, I give thanks because I know that they have blessed me and generations of my family, too. I was reminded of the old Anglican hymn I first heard in my grandma's church, "I want to walk as a child of the light / I want to follow Jesus / pure son of righteousness light up my life / and show me the way to the Father / In Him there is no darkness at all / the night and the day are both alike / the Lamb is the light of the city of God / shine in my heart, Lord Jesus."
Hi Kristopher, I am glad you found the interview interesting. Sanford really brings a lot of clarity to the table and I agree with how the human and relational element is more emphasized by him.
This was a very interesting interview. I have always had difficulty in conceptualizing Jung's idea of individuation. It has always seemed vague to me because of how psychologically abstract his views were. Sanford brings a more human element to the idea of individuation by including the story of the Vietnam veteran. The real question of individuation to me is, "What will it take to burn away the deadwood of the unconscious to become/come as close as possible to the archetype of the Self?" Introducing a more social view in terms of self-sacrifice for the sake of others has definitely given me more to think about, and, finally, a way to concretize Jung's abstract psychology. Thank you for sharing this post. I look forward to reading/listening to the others you have on here.
I cannot thank you enough for posting this. It is coming at just the right time. John Sanford was my grandparents' priest. Robert Johnson was my father's confirmation retreat leader. I inherited a stack of books from my grandma from both men. She would only tell me with a twinkle in her eye that these were helpful to her and my grandfather during their empty nest years. As books will do, these called to me at a time when God was ready for me to have them, integrating experiences from my military service, loss of my mother, and motherhood. It began with "She!" (Johnson) and "The Invisible Partners" (Sanford), and went from there. I did get some persecution from other Christians for looking into Jung, even from a Christian perspective. I even lost some friendships over it bc they were convinced I was "dabbling in the occult." They also insinuated that this was connected to the tragedy of our oldest child's death to brain cancer. Yet because many more of my Christian friends stuck it out and witnessed my transformation, I know that God brought me to the resources of inner healing just in time ("in the night my heart instructs me," as the Psalmist says). Years of what felt like intense and accelerated dream work ensued. It did not feel good, at times: like being an open, vulnerable, archeological dig. Looking back, I can see how this allowed me to be a more available and tender wife and mother during those last years of cancer, death and bereavement, both for our marriage and our children. Unconscious fears no longer had me by the tail, and I learned new ways to "take every thought captive before the feet of Christ." A new sense of sovereignty emerged, in the valley of the shadow of death: a table prepared for me in the presence of my enemies. Even though I did experience some fundamentalism growing up, my parents and grandparents had their libraries, similar to what John Sanford describes. I resonate with how the libraries of our elders can signal to us that our "minds are free to explore...because truth attracts the mind...and truth will bring us back." Every time I think about the spiritual friendship of these two men, Sanford and Johnson, and now their mentor Künkel, I give thanks because I know that they have blessed me and generations of my family, too. I was reminded of the old Anglican hymn I first heard in my grandma's church, "I want to walk as a child of the light / I want to follow Jesus / pure son of righteousness light up my life / and show me the way to the Father / In Him there is no darkness at all / the night and the day are both alike / the Lamb is the light of the city of God / shine in my heart, Lord Jesus."
Thank you for sharing these precious stories Heather.
Hi Kristopher, I am glad you found the interview interesting. Sanford really brings a lot of clarity to the table and I agree with how the human and relational element is more emphasized by him.
This was a very interesting interview. I have always had difficulty in conceptualizing Jung's idea of individuation. It has always seemed vague to me because of how psychologically abstract his views were. Sanford brings a more human element to the idea of individuation by including the story of the Vietnam veteran. The real question of individuation to me is, "What will it take to burn away the deadwood of the unconscious to become/come as close as possible to the archetype of the Self?" Introducing a more social view in terms of self-sacrifice for the sake of others has definitely given me more to think about, and, finally, a way to concretize Jung's abstract psychology. Thank you for sharing this post. I look forward to reading/listening to the others you have on here.