MarionWoodman: Integration of Body and Soul
The task, then, is to bridge “the seeming incommensurability between the physical world and the psychic.” Jung himself attempted to bridge this “seeming incommensurability” in his concept of the psychoid nature of the archetype. “Since psyche and matter are contained in one and the same world,” he writes in his essay, “On the Nature of the Psyche,” “and moreover are in continuous contact with one another and ultimately rest on the same unknown substrate, it is not only possible but fairly probable, even, that psyche and matter are two different aspects of one and the same thing.”
The body is the vessel in which the soul lives. If the soul is not allowed to live in the body, then the body becomes a dead thing. It is not animated. It is not ensouled. It is not loved. It is not respected. It is not allowed to be what it is. It is used. It is abused. It is manipulated. It is starved. It is stuffed. It is drugged.
It is exercised to death. It is made into a sex object. It is made into a work machine. It is made into a fashion model. It is made into a power symbol. It is made into a money-maker. It is made into a thing. It is not allowed to be a body.
When the soul is not allowed to live in the body, then the body becomes a place of fear. The person is afraid of the body. Afraid of its instincts. Afraid of its desires. Afraid of its sexuality. Afraid of its anger. Afraid of its vulnerability. Afraid of its mortality. Afraid of its wisdom. Afraid of its beauty. Afraid of its ugliness. Afraid of its truth. Afraid of its power. Afraid of its mystery. Afraid of its sacredness.
When the soul is not allowed to live in the body, then the person becomes split. The person becomes divided. The person becomes fragmented. The person becomes dissociated. The person becomes alienated. The person becomes depressed. The person becomes anxious. The person becomes addicted. The person becomes compulsive. The person becomes obsessive. The person becomes paranoid. The person becomes psychotic.
When the soul is not allowed to live in the body, then the person becomes a stranger to himself. He does not know who he is. He does not know what he feels. He does not know what he wants. He does not know what he needs. He does not know what he believes. He does not know what he values. He does not know what he dreams. He does not know what he fears. He does not know what he loves. He does not know what he hates. He does not know what he longs for. He does not know what he is capable of. He does not know what he is meant to be.
Whatever ego they have operates at all costs to hide their inner world or lack of it. They have no kitchen, no way of taking nature’s wisdom in, no way of processing and integrating it. Because their egos are so frail, they have no way to mediate what is going on between conscious and unconscious.
They are identified with their personas, each building a body beautiful that gestures and performs, cut off from instinctual and imaginative roots. If these roots are never nourished, they are never gratified. They are abandoned, ravenously hungry, incessantly attempting to reach their natural satiation point—which never comes. Until the abandoned soul is allowed to return from exile, there is no possibility of physical or spiritual peace. ~(Marion Woodman, The Pregnant Virgin: A Process of Psychological Transformation, pp. 83–87)
Carl Jung Depth Psychology Blog
woodman woodman woodman woodman woodman woodman woodman woodman woodman woodman