#13: “To kindle a light in the darkness of mere being”

From my intervention I learnt that everyone has a story, and to a greater or lesser extent they are aware of a framework of meaning that they have used to navigate their journey, wether consciously or unconsciously, for better or worse. But this awareness is very difficult for many people to generate, I would argue that most people have a vague idea about their philosophy but they can struggle to articulate it clearly to others or often even to themselves.

I would like my project to provide a service that helps to raise people’s awareness about the inner landscape of their mind and provides a sort of template for a map which charts the constellations of meaning that guides them in their thoughts and actions.

I would like to work with young adults between the ages of 18-40 as they are those most as risk of suffering with their mental health. I have chosen to avoid working with anyone younger than 18 for safeguarding reasons and also because generally it is easier to grapple with existential questions when one is slightly older and has had more experience to draw upon.

My revised research question could be as follows:

How can I create awareness among young adults about the workings of their mind and assist them in the discovery of a personal philosophy in order to improve their mental health and wellbeing?

As well as the science of how our mind functions I am also fascinated by the role of stories in the construction of our sense of self and I plan to explore my research question using ideas from narrative psychology, specifically looking into Jung, Campbell and the role of archetypes. I will combine this with my experience in theatre craft and creative writing to create a process that helps people to become more aware of themselves and their mind

The project should offer practical guidance about the mechanics of our brains and help people learn how to use their minds better, but it should also bring people into an awareness of the symbolic nature of our minds and help them to understand the meaning of the stories that guide their behaviour.

This act of bringing together the seemingly opposing spheres of logic and myth will work to balance the ‘either/or’ thinking that dominates much of our culture with the more conscious ‘both/and’ paradigm. My project should promote the learning that one must know both the dark and the light side of their inner world in order to find wholeness. This work should aim to raise consciousness in its participants, to fulfil the goal set out by Jung to create more and more consciousness, to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.

I plan to create an intervention that has a practical element that is entertaining and fun to do, an event or process that I can take on the road and have people participate in. Perhaps something along the lines of an ‘library of myth’; an immersive and interactive experience for one person who has to explore a labyrinthian library and undertake their own hero’s journey to reach the centre. Perhaps a journey into the under/inner world where they must follow the heroes path, but populate it with archetypal symbols from their own life.

But I would also like my project to have an element that stays with the participants over time, something that reminds them of the experience and the things they learnt, perhaps something that builds a sort of community. Perhaps some kind of map of the experience that they take away and continue to build on.

To explore my question I plan to find a selection of experts in the areas of archetypes, narrative psychology and applied philosophy and well as experts in sculpture and chirology. In the meantime I will work to build a new intervention to test my idea for the library of myth.