Bud Harris - Facing the Apocalypse: A Call for Outrageous Courage, Love, and Compassion

FACING THE APOCALYPSE

A Call for Outrageous Courage, Love, and Compassion

Bud Harris, Ph.D.

Also by Bud Harris, PhD

Sacred Selfishness: A Guide to Living a Life of Substance

Aging Strong: The Extraordinary Gift of a Longer Life

The Journey into Wholeness: A Jungian Guide to Discovering the Meaning of Your Lifes Path

Becoming Whole: A Jungian Guide to Individuation

The Midnight Hour: A Jungian Perspective on Americas Current Pivotal Moment

Confronting Evil: A Jungian Guide to Searching for Light in the Heart of Darkness

Radical Hope and the Healing Power of Illness: A Jungian Guide to Exploring the Body, Mind, Spirit Connection to Healing

The Search for Self and the Search for God: Three Jungian Lectures and Seminars to Guide the Way

Cracking Open: A Memoir of Struggling, Passages, and Transformation

The Father Quest: Rediscovering an Elemental Force

Resurrecting the Unicorn: Masculinity in the 21st Century

The Fire and the Rose: The Wedding of Spirituality and Sexuality

Students under Siege: The Real Reasons Behind Americas Ongoing Mass Shootings and How to Stop Them

Co-authored with Massimilla Harris, PhD

Into the Heart of the Feminine: Facing the Death Mother Archetype to Reclaim Love, Strength, and Vitality

Like Gold Through Fire: Understanding the Transforming Power of Suffering

The Art of Love: The Craft of Relationships: A Practical Guide for Creating the Loving Relationships We Want

Copyright 2021 Bud Harris, PhD

Facing the apocalypse: a call for outrageous courage, love, and compassion by Bud Harris.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Daphne Publications, 6 Cambridge Road, Asheville, North Carolina 28804

DAPHNE PUBLICATIONS, AN IMPRINT OF SPES, INC.

Harris, Clifton T. Bud

Facing the apocalypse: a call for outrageous courage, love, and compassion / Bud Harris.

ISBN: 978-0-578-32395-4 Nonfiction

1. Jungian psychology 2. Personal growth

Cover and Layout Design: Courtney Tiberio

Any real change implies the breakup of the world as one has always known it, the loss of all that gave one an identity, the end of safety. And at such a moment, unable to see and not daring to imagine what the future will now bring forth, one clings to what one knew... or dreamed that one possessed. Yet, it is only when a man is able, without bitterness or self-pity, to surrender a dream he has long cherished or a privilege he has long possessed that he is set freehe has set himself freefor higher dreams, for greater privileges.

James Baldwin

Foreword

Over a decade ago I opened a lecture I was giving by recounting a dream I had during a crisis period in my early forties. In the dream I found myself sitting in the front of what was then called a Shoneys Big Boy restaurant. The booth I sat in was next to the large front windows. While I sipped my morning coffee, I looked out onto the main street of the town I grew up in.

As I turned my head and looked across the table, I saw a small boy with rumpled brown hair and intense blue-gray eyes. Shocked, I realized he was a five-year-old version of myself, before tragedy struck our family. When I looked into his eyes, he quietly said, What have you done with my life?

Before I could answer, I awakened. As I was musing over the dream, I knew that the boy hadnt been talking about the surface stuff like going to the office, shopping, dieting, or even making a living for my family. Those sensitive eyes were searching for a more serious answer. That small boy, Buddy, was posing the question to me that life asks of us all. And that question is not, What is the meaning of my life? It is, What meaning am I creating with my life? That question is still alive in me today.

My answer is to try to fully engage in life, so that I can develop a greater awareness of my reality and the truth of my existence, so that my life will have an evolving purpose, values, and a way of being fulfilled. And I am seeking connection with lifes spiritual aspects and the spiritual depths within myself, so that I can be sure that love is the foundation of how I live.

Now, if you asked me how I am pursuing this complicated-sounding task, I would answer by telling you that I am doing my level best to live Dr. Carl Jungs individuation process. Jungs individuation process is one of our greatest gifts from the twentieth century. The process facilitates the conscious and intentional healing of ourselves and developing of the potentials in our unique personality. A brilliant healer of the body and soul, Jung brought us a new way to use the imagination and the experiences of creativity and love.

It was the ideas in Jungs individuation process that challenged me to become more fully engaged in my life and life in general. Jung was strongly convinced that only a full engagement in life can give us the necessary material for reflections that can transform our consciousness. In individuation, reflecting upon a life being lived is meant to teach us more about ourselves, to increase our daily self-awareness, to expand our consciousness, and to guide us in cultivating our capacities to love. Without mincing words, Jung told a convention of pastors in 1932 that we must be willing to take risks and make mistakes and that, if we are fully engaged in life, we will be in a position to learn from and even be transformed by our failures.

Shortly after this dream, I made a 180-degree turn in my life and began the journey to becoming a practicing Jungian analyst. I also began to write.

Ever since, writing has helped me bring order out of chaos. It helps me focus on understanding my experiences, my life, what is happening to me and around me. The threatening chaos we have been experiencingfrom the toxic political atmosphere of the 2016 presidential election, the emboldening of White supremacists, the climate crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemichave roused my emotions. As part of this writing project, I wanted to understand why. This awareness is crucial because my emotions tell me when my boundaries have been violated, as well as when my life has been turned upside down. Emotions reveal my most profound values, and ultimately, no matter how rational I believe I am, they are the power behind my decisions. It is important to include them in this writing process because they make my life real, and the process encompasses a great deal more than simply seeking solutions. In addition, the emotions I have failed to face and integrate all too often become the driving force behind my temperament, health, and decision making, which results in their detriment.

These emotions also keep reminding me of Buddys question, What have you done with my life? I wonder what he might think of how Ive answered his question. In the chaos of todays world, I wonder even more. While I am wondering, I remember a story told by Auschwitz survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel:

A just man decided he must save humanity. So, he chose a city, the most sinful of all cities. Lets say it is Sodom. So, he studied. He learned all the art of moving people, changing minds, changing hearts. He came to a man and woman and said, Dont forget that murder is not good, it is wrong. In the beginning, people gathered around him. It was so strange, somewhat like a circus. They gathered and they listened. He went on and on and on. Days passed. Weeks passed. They stopped listening. After many years, a child stopped him and said, What are you doing? Dont you see nobody is listening? Then why do you continue shouting and shouting? Why? And the man answered the child, Ill tell you why. In the beginning, I was convinced that if I were to shout loud enough, they would change. Now I know they wont change. But if I shout even louder, its because I dont want them to change me.