The Stranger Who Was Yourself
“It is, moreover, only in the state of complete abandonment and loneliness that we experience the helpful powers of our own natures.” ~ Carl Gustav Jung.
Self-acceptance is the spiritual journey each soul must embark on to ultimately come home to themselves. Inspired by the poem “Love After Love” by Derek Walcott, this series of images explores the road to self-love through discovery of one’s true nature, self-acceptance and soul integration.
When the pandemic began, like so many other people, I found myself in a place I never could have imagined would be - quarantining alone when my son was not with me, confined to my apartment, cut off from the external world and experiencing the sudden loss of connection, loss of loved ones, loss of love, loss of identity as it related to people, places and things outside of us which validated our existence. What happens after breakdown, being broken down? What remains after loss?
Carl Jung wrote, “It is, moreover, only in the state of complete abandonment and loneliness that we experience the helpful powers of our own natures.” In the space, silence and stillness, I invite “the stranger who was” my self to heal and become whole again. Through recognition of self and validation of feelings, needs, wants and desires, I welcome in the parts of myself I had estranged.
Who is “the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart.”
“Give wine. Give bread.”
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