Those of you who know my book Words As Eggs, know that I can’t leave words alone, or, more accurately, words won’t leave me alone. I’ll be reading along and, without warning, a word will leap at me, tethering me to it until I give in and take up what I call  “word work” with it.

     The most recent experience occurred while reading James Howard Kunstler’s  acerbic critique of artist Damian Hurst, in the course of which he used the phrase, “Zombies moiling outside the building.” Moiling leapt at me. I had not seen the word used in years, and even longer since I used it. I recalled its meaning as “toiling,” and this sent my mind into an associative spree, with “boiling, coiling, poiling, roiling, soiling.” Hey, at my age, the mind being spontaneously associative is a good sign, neurogenesis and all that. As I began my word work, I saw that the word derived most immediately from the Middle English moillen, meaning “to soften by wetting.” As you can see, it’s not immediately clear how we get from “soften by wetting” to “toil.” Such word puzzles I find very useful in keeping an active mind. In looking through the historical usage of the word (as is possible in the Oxford English Dictionary), one begins to see it and often a phrase will make the picture easier to see: to toil in muck and mire. To dig deeper into the pre-history of the word, we find its Indo-European root to be mel-1, which refers to “melt, soften, slime” The root is intertwined with mel-5, meaning “grind, mill.” Sloppy work, one might say, as befits the toil of Zombies.

     These words that grip me, often lead to dreams as well. Such was the case with moil. In the dream, I am writing on a blackboard and though I am not aware of any students, I am teaching. I am listing words related to moil: goiling, hoiling, joiling, koiling, loiling, voiling, woiling, xoiling, zoiling. As you can probably tell, none of these words I am listing are “real” words. I am about to ask the class to take one of these words and to develop a meaning for it. At this point I wake up.

     We live in a time where we are quite aware of words newly made up—most especially words related to the advancements in technology. Now here is a dream that introduces nine new words. (How does the dream know these words I’ve never experienced before?) So to linger with the dream itself, rather than ask what the dream means, I focus on what the words mean. In a subsequent post, I’ll let you know what I did with this “task.”

     But now, let me ask you to focus on this task as if you were a student in this class of mine.

I did my analytical training in the late 60s and early 70s. I was

fortunate to have met and been taught by many people who

had direct experience with Jung. From time to time I’ll post

a memory of those times.

     One such figure was the gnostic scholar, Gilles Quispel, an

extraordinary many by any measure. He was instrumental in

securing the Jung Codex for purchase by the Institute in Zurich

as a birthday present for Jung.

     The memory that stands out to me is one training seminar

in the early days. At one point, as we were discussing the nature

of “mystery,” he stopped us. He put his index figure to his lips

as if telling us to hush a bit. Then he said something I’ll never

forget:

Mystery is not to be solved, or resolved, or dissolved. Mystery

is to be embraced, loved, and out of that will comes one’s

deepest sense of life, meaning, and purpose.

I remember thinking then that dreams are a mystery and what Quispel

was saying was true of dreams as well.

The Final Interlude: Advancing Age & Life’s End by Lee Roloff and Russell Lockhart

will be available shortly. If you would like a complimentary pdf copy please email

Russ Lockhart at ral@ralockhart.com.

Here is a spiral image of the Table of Contents

Hi all,

Many thanks for your joining ral's noteboook blog. I have not been very attentive to posting but this will be changing soon. You should be getting an email when I post and if not, let me know at ral@ralockhart.com.

My best wishes,

Russ

The republication of Words as Eggs is now available for purchase.

http://www.amazon.com/Words-As-Eggs-Psyche-Language/dp/0911783008/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366466153&sr=1-3&keywords=russell+lockhart

Re-publication of Russell Lockhart's WORDS AS EGGS.

As timely now as it was when first published thirty years ago!

Quietly passionate and urgently intent, this book belongs
to the very best tradition of depth psychology. It appeals
first of all to the intelligently psychological reader who wants
new modes of understanding. Lockhart offers countless
insights to analysts and counselors in daily practice. His
voice is original, undogmatic, sensible and wise.

--Spring Publications

Words as Eggs is a profound and moving exploration of
the messages of dreams found in the images and in
language chosen to describe the experience of dreams.
Words are the “eggs” of mystery and revelation as a
dreamer discovers the “history of meaning in the language”
the ego has yet to grasp, yet seems to know in dreams!
Lockhart is a guide for a greater consciousness as psyche
utters the dream experience. Yes, psyche “speaks” but
also “knows”! The dreamer can learn from dreams in ways
hat simply astound. Russell Lockhart’s brilliant book can
awaken this astonishment.

--Lee Roloff, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst