In Part 1 of this series, I introduced you to Phil Stutz and described my first meetings with his work and how valuable I found his practices. I described the three areas that Dr. Stutz believes are part of the world human experience: The first sector is pain. The second sector is uncertainty. The third sector is Continuous work. In Part 2, I described the universe 1 and the universe 2 and how we can get in touch with the power of our lives. In Part 3, we will link Dr. Stutz’s work to the depth psychologist James Hillman.
Finding the code in the call of our soul
According to the philosopher Plato,
“When all the souls had chosen their lives, they went before Lachesis and sent with everyone, as a guardian of his life and the amazing choice, the Daimon he had chosen.”
In his book, The Code of the Soul: In search of character and call, Psychologist James Hillman offers us guidance to find the call of our soul.
When I first heard James Hillman talk, he was at a men’s gathering with Robert Bly and Michael Meade. He described that all the feeling had at some point in our lives when we first feel that there is a greater purpose in our lives, one reason that our unique self are here and that there are things that we need to watch what gives meaning to our lives.
Hillman also says that the key to finding our call is to discover our inner guide that helps us discover and follow our call. Hillman says that Plato and the Greeks called it “Daimon”, our Romans “genius”, the Christians the “guardian of our angel, today we use terms such as” heart, spirit or soul “.
For Hillman he is at the heart of what he calls “oak theory”, which suggests that every life is formed by a particular image, an image that is the essence of this life and calls it to a destiny, just like the destiny of Mighty Oak is written in the tiny acorn. It is a theory that offers a liberating vision of childhood problems and injuries.
I wrote about my own childhood wounds in my book, My distant dad: healing the wound of the family’s father. The book starts at the age of five with my age driven by my uncle to hospital hospital:
I grew up that my father was crazy, that I would become myself and that I had inherited his “illness”. It was only years later that I read Hillman’s work and realized that my father was not crazy, that I was not crazy, but I replied to my own Daimon call to support my destiny to help men like my father and their families. This is a call I have now followed for seventy -five years.
“Acorn’s theory leads to practical moves,” says Hillman. “The most practical is to entertain the ideas implied by the myth in the projection of your biography – ideas of call, soul, Daimon, fate, necessity, then, myth implies, we must watch his childhood carefully to catch his first Daimon.
This understanding helped me change my views on my childhood, how I saw my father and myself. It gave me a more positive and powerful guide to my past and future. Hillman continues to say,
“The rest of the practical consequences are unraveled quickly:
“Recognize the call as a primary event of human existence.
- Align life with it.
- Find the common sense to realize that accidents, including sadness and natural shocks that are the heir, belong to the image model, are essential for it and help fulfill it. “
Phil Stutz, the need for continuous work and the string of pearls
Phil Stutz describes the third sector for access to the power of life and the universe two as “the need for continuous work”. He sees that the universe is in constant motion and in order to fulfill the call of our souls, we must constantly create and involve.
“When you deal with infinite creation, you are in the universe two. When you are convinced that work is finite and you have done enough, you are back in the universe.”
In order to understand these concepts in my life, I had to change my view of work. As I said, I grew up in a family where my father struggled to do the work he loved. My brothers and sisters were all to work as successful in the universe. Some were in the insurance company, one belonged to a store and everyone fought to live. No one, but my father, felt that people had to work who loved or contributed to the improvement of the world. Work was serious businesses and the acquisition of money was the measure of success.
For Phil Stutz, the purpose of the work was not to achieve monetary success or even achieve a goal, but simple to continue moving forward and doing what our hearts, our Daimon, invites us to do.
“We need a functional definition of success in our culture, especially because it is so wrapped in identity,” says Stutz. “You can’t structure your life around an identity where you win and you are a big shot, or you lose and you are nothing.”
It offers a tool to help us understand, appreciate and practice as “Stringing the Pearls”. I learned that pearls are formed as a defensive mechanism in Mollusk shells, usually oysters, in response to an irritant. Mollusk covers the irritant with Nacre layers, a calcium carbonate substance and proteins, to reduce irritation and eventually create a pearl.
Stutz emphasizes that every energy, regardless of size, is just as valuable and contributes to the overall evolution of one’s life. The “pearls” represent actions and the string represents the continuous development of one’s life journey. The idea encourages focus on taking the next step, even the little ones, and recognizes that no action is perfect, but everyone contributes to the string.
For me, the idea of the string of pearls put a job in a much larger context. Instead of being so focused on money and success and constant concern to lose my job or lose a deadline or other external measure of success, I could relax and be constantly guided by my inner knowledge. I realized that I could always stop trying to find the secret to success or a magical formula to make millions. Instead, I do to recognize the following truths:
- Every action is valuable. Whether I work in my next book or prepare breakfast for my wife, every action is a pearl on my string and valuable on its own. It means less if I receive an external reward, even praise for “a good job”, and more to do the work and add another pearl to stand.
- Focus on the next step. No matter how big or small the action is or even if I succeed or fail. Everything provides lessons in life and it’s worth doing. There is always something we can do to offer one another’s gift.
- Recognize imperfection. Designing the images of “Pearl”, Phil would always include a small black dot, a “Turd”, to remind us not to close with the result. We must accept the uncertainties of life and continue to act with courage and decisive.
- Progress during perfection. Every little step helps. Everything has a lesson. Everything is a gift. Life is a dance and we need to have fun and enjoy the music.
To find out more about Phil Stutz and his work, You can visit him here. If you want to read more articles from me and find out more about my work, you can visit me here.
