S2 Ep45. Spiritual Transformation, Taoist Philosophy and a Poem

In today’s episode I have decided to do something rather different. I have chosen a mythic individual at the start of Chinese history, the Yellow Emperor, and have constructed a poem using the story of  his retreat to the Mountains of the West in search of enlightenment at the feet of the sage Guangchengzi. This is one of the earliest stories we have of the search for spiritual illumination and its impact not just on an individual but on the collective which was in deep discord. I believe such a story, myth, or archetype is right for our time.

The literary sources for Taoist philosophy are taken from The Secret of the Golden Flower, a book of great importance to Jung. There are also references in the poem to the I Ching, the Book of Changes.