Journaling for a Soulful Life

Course Description

Journaling is a voyage in self-discovery. In 1913, Carl Jung wrote in The Red Book that he had lost his soul. This was the beginning of his journey to reconnect with, befriend, and reclaim his soul. In calling out to his soul, he opened to the world of the imagination. There, he dialogued with his soul, and wrote down what he experienced. This self-discovery formed much of the foundation of his work.

Following in Jung’s footsteps and reading excerpts from his work, as well as that of Plato, Aristotle, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Merton, and Rainer Maria Rilke, Susan Tiberghien takes us on a journey to understand the nature of the soul and how we can connect more deeply with our own soul. 

This course explores how the soul has been understood throughout the ages, what it means to live a soulful life, and how journaling can help us to both connect with and share the light of our soul. Through her readings on these topics, Susan Tiberghien offers guidance as well as practices for befriending the soul, opening to the world of imagination and spirituality, writing down our reflections and insights, and sharing the light of our soul to connect more deeply with ourselves, others, and the anima mundi, or world soul. In doing so, we create increased consciousness and a deeper sense of our interconnectedness, offering hope for a new tomorrow.

This course is ideal if

• Deepen your relationship with your soul.
• Recognize the power of telling your story.
• Gain a Jungian perspective on journaling as a resource for the journey of individuation.
• Learn different ways of journaling.
• Embrace the interrelatedness of all life.

Course Overview

Class 1. How Do We See Our Soul?

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To understand how journaling can help us lead a more soulful life, we need to ask ourselves how we see the soul. Most spiritual traditions have understood the soul as the spiritual essence of a person. From a more contemporary perspective, the soul is the animating principle of creation. We look will briefly look at how Plato and Aristotle, Hildegard of Bingen and Meister Eckhart viewed the soul. We will then look at how the soul was put aside during the Age of Reason in favor of the scientific method, and returned with C.G. Jung, who brought together the physical and the spiritual, body and soul. Reading excerpts from The Red Book and An Interrupted Life, by Etty Hillesum, we will see how those who came before us chronicled the day-by-day discovery of their own souls. 

How Do We See Our Soul? is a foundational class for the rest of this course that contains Jungian reflections on the nature of the soul and its connection to the world soul, or anima mundi.

Class 2. How Do We Cultivate a Soulful Life?

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Now that we have a deeper understanding of the soul, how do we live a soulful life? First, we find our soul and then we befriend her. Jung did this by calling out to his soul and speaking with her. There are many ways to do this, including through prayer, through beauty, through nature, through creativity, through mandalas, through our interrelatedness, and through journaling. Reading excerpts from Jung and Thomas Merton will complete our overview as we extend a hand of friendship to our soul.

Class 3. Journaling, a Path to a Soulful Life

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In this class, we explore the importance of journaling as a voyage of self-discovery. Jung’s deepening relationship with his soul depended greatly upon his journaling. Through writing down what his imagination revealed to him, he started to listen to his soul and follow her counsel. Reading excerpts from The Red Book, along with writings from Rainer Maria Rilke, Marion Woodman, Murray Stein, and Susan Tiberghien, we will learn different journaling practices that will allow us to dialogue and connect more deeply with our own soul.

Class 4. Sharing the Soul’s Radiance

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Where does connecting more deeply with our soul lead us? 

Jung’s journey of finding and befriending his soul faced both inward and outward, weaving together the inner world of the imagination and outer world activities of teaching, scientific work, and writing. He dedicated his life’s work to increasing consciousness, to reflecting the numinosity of the creation, and to nourishing the world soul. Reading excerpts from Jung, as well as Rainer Maria Rilke, Thomas Merton, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, and Terry Tempest Williams, we will be encouraged to share the radiance of our soul and find our way to mutual love, to our oneness in the world soul. 

Class 5. Last Class

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In this last class, participants were invited to share their learnings, and engage in a conversation, and could ask questions around applying the course learnings. 

By the end of this course you will

• Embrace, befriend, and listen to your own soul.
• Learn practices for creating a soulful life.
• Recognize the importance of journaling as a resource for greater wholeness.
• Describe how the soul has been understood through the ages.
• Deepen your connection with humankind and nature.