A new world view

In order to be cured, one must undertake an completely new orientation to life.  So says Gerald Adler in his book, Studies in Analytical Psychology.  I completely agree.  After my cancer diagnosis, I was challenged to rethink and redo my life.  I went from an extroverted psychology professor to an introverted recovering cancer patient.  I could not have done this without the help from my dreams.  Many people have written about how their priorities changed following a brush with death.  For me, it has been a long, slow process of surrendering to a power greater than my ego who has been guiding me and supporting me through dark places that I never knew existed.  Some therapists propose that darkness comes from abuse rather than darkness is part of the human condition:  a confrontation that needs to happen in  order to grow.  I had totally accepted that any darkness must be from mistakes my parents had made rather than that darkness is the polarity to light, and must be taken seriously in all of us.  No ethical choices can be made as long as we attribute darkness to what our parents did or didn't do to us.  We grow by understanding the meaning behind any darkness that we encounter.  We do not grow from confronting the light:  rather we are challenged by confronting the dark.  Ekk