Testimonial
January
15, 2006
Dear Dr. Roth,
I
discovered your website a few days after Christmas, and
was startled at the synchronicity between the
conclusions that you draw in your work on the Alchemical
Marriage and my lived experience.
In
November, 1995, my husband suffered a massive CVA. The
bleeding in his brain was so difficult to stop that he
was not expected to live. To my surprise and great joy,
his condition stabilized, and he "came back."
He
remained paralyzed on the right side, which meant that
the cognitive side of his brain was affected. He was
unable to speak or to swallow, unable to operate a call
button or to use a remote-control device. When I
realized that a nursing home could not provide the
individual attention that he required, I decided to care
for him at home. With therapy, he learned to bear some
of his weight in transferring from bed to wheel chair,
and although he learned to swallow, he never regained
his speech. For ten years, he was trapped, fully
conscious, in his own body.
He
had been an electrical engineer, a Life Master in
Tournament
Bridge
,
an ardent debater of politics, a sports enthusiast, a
loving husband and father. He was an extraverted
Thinking type. I am a Feeling type.
After
the stroke, my husband exhibited qualities that we had
never noticed before. There was a "spiritual"
dimension in the way he maintained his dignity while
submitting to being fed and to having to wear diapers.
His sense of humor, expressed by a lop-sided smile and a
deep guffaw, endeared him to visitors and caregivers
alike. I, as well as others, recognized that in his
peaceful –– actually joyful –– acceptance of his
condition, he was choosing, day in and day out, to
suffer consciously.
Although
he had been declining during the past year, my husband
died a conscious death. At
4:45
,
the morning of
October
25, 2005
, he looked deeply into my eyes. I had never
seen his eyes look bluer or brighter. Less than an hour
later, he simply stopped breathing. It was time. I had
grown old and was exhausted; he knew it.
In
2004, I had felt "driven" to write a memoir
about my spiritual quest which, years earlier, had led
me to connect the psychology of Carl Jung with the
Christian myth. When I came upon your work, almost a
full year after the publication of my book, I was
astonished to find parallels between your writing and
mine, although your work is scholarly and scientific
while mine is personal and imaginative.
You
begin by noting the eruption of latent heathen German
mythology lying beneath Christian mythology. That
happens to be the theme of my book [Marian A. Greenwell:
Bewitchment and Beyond, see front cover at
the right; RFR]. I used the symbol of
a bewitched bear, from the fairy tale, "Snow-white
and Rose-red," [Grimm Brothers' collection] to
represent Christ's Anima,
His Mystical Body–– the Catholic Church –– which
I perceive as being in a state of "bewitchment."
I had no previous knowledge of such an image, and
thought that I had just "made it up." Shortly
after Christmas, 2005, I chanced upon a reference noting
that Nicholas von Flue had received a vision of Christ
in a bearskin. Research of the topic led to links with
your website.
In
2004, while I was reflecting and writing on the meaning
and significance of conscious suffering and its
transformative effect on our lives, I received an e-mail
newsletter containing an essay by Teilhard de Chardin
describing the mystical potential of conscious suffering.
[Human Energy]
Now, eighteen months later, I discover your
psychological perspective. Coming upon it so soon after
my husband's death suggests to me a connection with his subtle
body, affirming
my insight as well as your conclusions.
On
a different note, I do admit to getting lost, sometimes,
in the complexities of your texts because I do not have
a truly scientific mind. However, when understanding
does manage to break through, the illumination is
brilliant––for example, your thoughts on the subtle
body. I am still unable, however, to grasp your
passing observation in the "Introduction":
that the principle of synchronicity now "takes the
place of the Christian God." I can imagine
synchronicity as a manifestation of God –– or of the
Spirit –– or as transforming the God-Image
–– but do not understand it as replacing God.
Another thought that eludes me is your reference to the
human body as "evil matter." [Section 20; p.
7] I understand the body as being matter evolving toward
transformation, or as housing the Unconscious, but not
as "evil." I have always been filled with
wonder at the resilience and awesome capabilities of
human physiology. I think of my body as my soul's best
friend on earth, offering a life-time of hospitality.
Thank
you for sharing your work so generously. I have invited
a few like-minded friends to study your pages with me.
It is time to do whatever we can to awaken from
Freudian-Newtonian anesthesia and to question the
mechanical behavior to which we have succumbed. Please
continue to rattle our cages.
