Podcast and Poetry – Practicing Symbolic Language
We are now in our second season of The Laughing Mystics podcast! (A dialogue between mystical Christianity and Depth Psychology – “The Laughing Mystics.” You can find more thoughts about our podcast here.)
I’m finding myself bolder now and am regularly exploring the readings as if they are dreams. This has blown open many of the texts for me and it is part of my goal to practice hearing (and even speaking) symbolic language. Join us! Here’s our description.
Good friends Marci Madary & Laura Lewis-Barr bring differing perspectives to the Sunday readings of the liturgical calendar. Each week Marci shares her mystical Christian insights & infectious laughter with Laura, who ponders what Carl Jung & Joseph Campbell might say about these scriptures. Unscripted & lively, Laura & Marci offer as many questions as answers as to how Depth Psychology & Christianity might come together. New episodes every Thursday! Write to us at Laughing.Mystics@gmail.com, Join our FB community!
Opening intro from our early episodes: I’m Marcy Madary and I am a church lady. I have worked in ministry of one kind or another in my entire professional life. I have my doctorate in theology and spirituality and I love connecting with people and working with them on their journey. I’m Laura Lewis-Barr and what I’m passionate about is studying symbolic language. I think that the Bible and sacred literature in general lends itself to this kind of reading, and it, for me brings the reading very alive and helps me apply it to my daily life. The mystery of my daily life.
Find us on your favorite podcast platform here!
I’m thrilled with this new podcast project. My history with the Catholic church is a central part of my individuation journey. I felt a calling to create this new art-work , especially when the brilliant and talented Marci Madary agreed to join me in the local sound booth. While we both do some preparation for our conversations on the Sunday’s scripture readings, neither of use know what we will say, and we both have no memory of what we’ve said! We are clearly “inspired by the Holy Spirit” (Marci) or “allowing the Unconscious to speak” (me).
For my part, there is great joy but also some fear as I share a symbolic view of the scripture. When I moved toward a symbolic viewpoint (after reading some biblical scholarship in a religion class) I was extremely disoriented and anxious. I know that some people may be angry at me for what I’m saying. And some won’t care about this subject at all. If you’re curious about a conversation that includes a symbolic reading of the Jesus story, check us out!
Metaphors carry us from one place to another, they enable us to cross boundaries that would otherwise be closed to us. Spiritual truths that transcend time and space can only be borne in metaphorical vessels whose meaning is found in their connotations—that is, in the cloud of witnesses to the many sides of truth that they spontaneously evoke—not in their denotations, the hard, factual, uni-dimensional casings of their historical reference.
From the introduction of Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell) (p. 33)
The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology and the Christian Liturgical Year
From the amazing (and challenging) Ilia Delio (excerpt from article linked below): "The monotheistic revolution represented a profound shift in human consciousness—the movement from polytheistic See more
The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology and the Christian Liturgical Year
How can we really become the "Body of Christ?" Dealing with conflict, hurt, and setting healthy boundaries is part of the journey. “Boundaries protect the See more
The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology and the Christian Liturgical Year
"Too many people get credit for being good, when they are only being passive."
Fulton J. Sheen
Wow. Thank you Rev. Sheen.
The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology and the Christian Liturgical Year
A spiritual joke...
He got rid of his ego and now he thinks he's better than anyone else.
The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology and the Christian Liturgical Year
Re: Science and Religion - "During the last fifty years or so, the investigations of science have proved beyond all doubt that there is no See more
The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology and the Christian Liturgical Year
New Episode!
The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology and the Christian Liturgical Year
Thank you Chelly for sharing your thoughts on the podcast!!
The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology and the Christian Liturgical Year
Paradox is a characteristic of the Gnostic writings. It does more justice to the unknowable than clarity can do, for uniformity of meaning robs the See more
The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology and the Christian Liturgical Year
New Episode Thursday!
The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology and the Christian Liturgical Year
Love this.
The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology and the Christian Liturgical Year
Re: healthy conflict at church. "Practicing the skill set of honest expression, for example, would mean that “the elephant in the sanctuary” cannot remain there See more
The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology and the Christian Liturgical Year
Pope Leo in his recent letter about AI. "With the heart of a shepherd and a father, I ask everyone to abandon the construction of See more
Imagine writing a poem every day? It is a profound spiritual practice that I’m beginning on Substack. Join me! You can add poems of your own or just use my daily poem as a divination tool toward your own daily reflections. Subscribing means a freshly written poem will be delivered straight to your email. So far, almost a week into this project, I’m feeling really excited by the vessel that is both a poem and the Substack platform. Thanks for checking it out!
Also, from last year’s newsletter here’s a link to some of Laura’s published poetry.