AshokBedi

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So far Ashok Bedi has created 52 entries.
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    From Mundane to the Sacred Dimension – The Power of Stillness -In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Personal and Global Crisis. 

From Mundane to the Sacred Dimension – The Power of Stillness -In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Personal and Global Crisis. 

April 10, 2021 I therefore think of ego-consciousness as a synthesis of various “sense-consciousness, ” in which the independence of each separate consciousness is submerged in the unit of the overruling ego. (Jung, 1960b, p. 324 para 614) The image captures a moment of movement and stillness. The water cascades over the rocks and falls into the small pool of bubbles beneath. Some leaves are carried downstream while others rest. There are rocks with algae life on them while others are dry. Moss and small plant life grow in place along the side of the stream. The context of the photo is absent. There are no sounds, smells, weather conditions, or geography to inform the viewer of the bigger picture. It is just a moment. There are times when my ego is so sure of itself. I forget that my sense of who I am is limited much like the photograph. I can capture a moment and miss not only the context but also the influences and distractions of unknow parts. In our current circumstances, there are so many external influences that pull me as well as the internal dynamics of how I see myself. I am more than the “snapshot” I see of myself. I live in a context and under the influence of so many forces. We are never alone. We live in a community. Even when we seek solitude in the forest at the anchorite stage of life – the Sanyasi, we are in the presence of the sacred – the Brahman. In the sacred scriptures of the East,(Patañjali & Hartranft, 2003) seeking such solitude to establish a union – a state of Samadhi with the Spirit is the ultimate goal of […]

By |April 10th, 2021|Uncategorized|Comments Off on From Mundane to the Sacred Dimension – The Power of Stillness -In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Personal and Global Crisis. |
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    Dissolve and Coagulate – The Alchemy of Change -In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Personal and Global Crisis. 

Dissolve and Coagulate – The Alchemy of Change -In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Personal and Global Crisis. 

April 4, 2021

The stairway represents the passage of the soul.(Jung, 1970a, p. 404 para 578)

This image reminds me of freedom, support, and potential. The stairway is an invitation to movement and stillness. This one provides a handrail to ensure safety as I move up and down the path. It is a visual and physical guide to the different levels. At the top, there is a threshold structure that provides shelter as well as a physical reminder of the fact that I am stepping into or out of a space different than what has been experience before.

The scene constantly changes at the different elevations. I have choice as to the rate at which I walk the stairway. It is my freedom and responsibility to myself that guides the pace of my journey.

In the Christian tradition, today is Easter, a day of transformation or resurrection. How do I treat what it represents psychologically or spiritually? What steps have happened or what steps have been taken since Friday when death occurred, and a new kind of life began when an empty tomb was discovered?

Death and birth, crucifixion and resurrection, destruction and creation – that is the cycle of every event, relationship, life, culture and the universe and time. The intervening baptismal process lends its hand at the new birth. So, each one of us must bear their cross and struggle with the central question – what in my life, relationships, enterprise and worldview calls for destruction to make room for the new creation. What intervening baptismal process is in place to guide this transition. What baptismal vessel has emerged to incubate the alchemy of such a transformation.

We need to attend to this question as an individual and […]

By |April 4th, 2021|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Dissolve and Coagulate – The Alchemy of Change -In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Personal and Global Crisis. |
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    Kenosis – Empty your Cup to make room for New Beginnings -In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Personal and Global Crisis. 

Kenosis – Empty your Cup to make room for New Beginnings -In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Personal and Global Crisis. 

March 27th, 2021

The patient is unconscious of the fact that the obstacle to be overcome lies in herself: namely a boundary-line that is difficult to cross and hinders further progress. (Jung, 1953, p. 85 para 132)

In spring, there is opportunity to shape how the future will look in this garden. The structures we place can hold up what will grow in summer. They can also hold back overgrowth. The garden is cleaned. Dead wood. leaves and debris gone to the composting pile.

As we begin to anticipate spring within ourselves, what kind of clearance is going to give us a better self or better world to live in? What structures would be helpful going forward and what structures might be removed? Each frame in the garden image provides a way to focus yet is part of the entire scene. Each part of us is part of our wholeness and part of the collective.

The process of cleaning the dead wood is called Kenosis – Empty your Cup. Unless we empty the cup of the old structures, we cannot make room for the new beginnings. Often, we are excited and keen to launch new initiatives. However, to plant the new seeds, we must cull the soil of the psyche to prepare it for the planting process. So, what must we empty? In my clinical experience, this means letting go of our old ways of perceiving through distorted lens or character defects. These may include perfectionism, narcissism, suspiciousness, control, self-negation, etc. Then we must confront our Shadow; traits we attribute to our adversaries. Next, we must confront our complexes or hang-ups. All of us have complexes or rather, they have us. We may have a negative father complex […]

By |March 27th, 2021|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Kenosis – Empty your Cup to make room for New Beginnings -In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Personal and Global Crisis. |
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    The Safety Bubble -Rearranging the Chairs on the Deck of the Titanic -In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Global Crisis. 

The Safety Bubble -Rearranging the Chairs on the Deck of the Titanic -In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Global Crisis. 

March 14th, 2021
It is therefore of the utmost importance in practical treatment to keep the integrity of the personality constantly in mind. For, if the collective psyche is taken to be the personal possession of the individual, it will result in a distortion or an overloading of the personality which is very difficult to deal with. Hence it is imperative to make a clear distinction between personal contents and those of the collective psyche. (Jung, 1953, p. 154 para 241)

This image helps me see how many world views a person can take and how many different views of us are possible as any given moment. The important factor is having perspective objectively and subjectively.

In midst of the pandemic and global racial fairness movement among other contemporary challenges that face us, we are all in our individual bubble of safety and viewpoints. We tend to look at ourselves, others, world and the future from inside our bubble. However, our bubble is still part of the collective. While it is our personal responsibility to establish a safe and secure bubble for ourselves and our families, we must never forget that we are part of the whole. Our destiny is intertwined with the rest of humanity. If we forget that continuity with the collective, we are merely rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic. We swim or sink together. That the spiritual message of the pandemic and the other global crises. It reminds us of our interdependence, attachments and importance of neighborliness. Most importantly, to attend to the least fortunate amongst us. As Christ succinctly put it,

Matthew 25:40- King James Version (KJV)

“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, […]

By |March 14th, 2021|Uncategorized|Comments Off on The Safety Bubble -Rearranging the Chairs on the Deck of the Titanic -In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Global Crisis. |
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    At a Crossroad – In the Eye of the Storm- An individual response to the Global Crisis

At a Crossroad – In the Eye of the Storm- An individual response to the Global Crisis

At a Crossroad
In the Eye of the Storm
An individual response to the Global Crisis
ISSN 1939-3407
 
April 6, 2020
Ashok Bedi, M.D., Jungian Psychoanalyst
www.pathtotheosoul.com
www.tulawellnessllc.com
Robert BJ Jakala PH.D., Jungian Psychotherapist
In a storm, the safest place is in the eye of the storm. My colleague BJ and I will share our daily reflections on this centering process from an Analytical perspective, sharing from the repertoire of our personal and professional experience. BJ is a psychologist and a photographer and will pick an image of the day that catches him in this collective crisis. I will amplify it from a Jungian Analytical perspective. We hope that this may offer you a baby step on the path to your own unique response to this chaos.

But, just as our free will clashes with necessity in the outside world, so also it finds its limits outside the field of consciousness in the subjective inner world, where it comes into conflict with fact of the self. And just as circumstances or outside events “happen” to us and limit our freedom, so the Self acts upon the ego like an objective occurrence which free will can do very little to alter. It is, indeed, well known that the ego not only can do nothing against the Self, but is sometimes actually assimilated by unconscious components of the personality that are in the process of development and is greatly altered by them. (Jung & Hull, 1959/1968, pp. 5-6)

The bifurcation calls to make a choice, since I cannot go in both directions at the same time. So rather than choose quickly, I spend time in the moment of choice and photograph it. I listen to visual mind as a photographer that considers the potential of the interplay […]

By |April 6th, 2020|Uncategorized|Comments Off on At a Crossroad – In the Eye of the Storm- An individual response to the Global Crisis|
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    Honey – The Elixir and a Poison – In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Global Crisis

Honey – The Elixir and a Poison – In the Eye of the Storm – An individual response to the Global Crisis

Honey – The Elixir and a Poison
In the Eye of the Storm
An individual response to the Global Crisis
ISSN 1939-3407
 
April 5, 2020
Ashok Bedi, M.D., Jungian Psychoanalyst
www.pathtotheosoul.com
www.tulawellnessllc.com
Robert BJ Jakala PH.D., Jungian Psychotherapist
In a storm, the safest place is in the eye of the storm. My colleague BJ and I will share our daily reflections on this centering process from an Analytical perspective, sharing from the repertoire of our personal and professional experience. BJ is a psychologist and a photographer and will pick and image of the day that catches him in this collective crisis. I will amplify it from a Jungian Analytical perspective. We hope that this may offer you a baby step on the path to your own unique response to this chaos.

With the honey the pleasure of the senses and the joy of life went into the mixture, as well as the secret fear of the “poison,” the deadly danger of worldly entanglements.(Jung, 1970, p. 493)

The drop of honey is about to return to the jar, but in this moment, it is noticeably separate. The unusual design of the spoon is functional for just such an occasion. It is used like a regular spoon to scoop things our of a jar, but then rests in a way that facilitates conservation. The spoon is placed in position so there is little or no waste of honey.
The image reminds me how important the right tool at the right moment is in life. We have been asked to follow medical guidelines, based on research, to protect our health. One of those guidelines is to wear a mask to help prevent the spray of droplets during conversation. We are not used to seeing people wearing masks in public. […]

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Trauma as a path to Wholeness- by BJ Jakala, PH.D. and Ashok Bedi, M.D. January 17, 2019

The Bloggers are traveling through India as a part of a study tour presently and we will be blogging a daily reflection chosen by photographer and Depth Psychotherapist BJ Jakala and reflections by Jungian Psychoanalyst – Ashok Bedi.

This is an image at a temple. On the right is the Shiva and Shakti – integrated in wholeness: half man and half woman. In the middle is a desecrated Goddess Shakti whole on breast is vandalized. However, inadvertently, it has transformed the goddess into an Androgynous wholeness: masculine and feminine integrated – the goal of individuation and personal growth. Sometimes, it is through our traumas that we grow the most. It gifts us wholeness and integration. It challenges us to activate our deepest resources which amplify our hidden treasures of personality on the stage of life.

By |January 17th, 2019|Uncategorized|0 Comments|
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How to Make Your Company More Successful

My consultation with CEO Jonathan Pellegrin was recently featured in his work and book in the New York Post.

http://nypost.com/2017/09/04/hiring-a-shrink-could-make-your-company-more-successful/

You may preview Mr. Pellegrin’s book at

 

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Selling-Family-Business-Responsible-ebook/dp/B06XD3WCS1

 

 

By |September 10th, 2017|Uncategorized|0 Comments|
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Spiritual Paradox of Addiction

My recent book, The Spiritual Paradox of Addiction, Co-Authored by Fr. Joe Pereira was recently launched in Mumbai at the Press Club of India. Here is the link. It will soon be published in USA.

https://www.facebook.com/events/140790343192180/

Book on psychological, spiritual origins of substance addiction

 

 

 

By |September 10th, 2017|Uncategorized|0 Comments|
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HAPPY DIWALI

Diwali

Click below for the article

Diwali

By |October 30th, 2016|Uncategorized|0 Comments|
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