Luken 12: 49-56, Necessary Division

Luke 12: 49-56, Necessary Division

v. 51, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”

How many relationships do you know that are troublesome because of people being one and the same? Usually, problems arise from differing opinions or desires. Relationships with our self and others suffer where we are unable to stay connected in spite of differences and separation. The ideal of unity to which we aspire creates problems when it leads to a denial of differing realities. Internal conflicts between feelings, desires, and thoughts can be dismissed; or we can ignore external issues with another.

Jesus is recorded as having said, “I (came to bring) division”. When we consider this statement in the context of analytical psychology, it reminds us that the nature of the Self/God Within is to split itself into various manifestations (i.e., thoughts, feelings, impulses, longings, sensations, etc.)* We suffer when we are unable to acknowledge, relate to, and connect contradictory or opposing energies within our psyche. Division connects to the idea of discernment—separating to see more deeply and fully. The wisdom of discernment comes from the Self/God Within.

We tend to ignore the longings, emotions, feelings, and fleeting thoughts that do not fit the ego ideal of who we are. We shy away from knowing the conflict between the adaptive/learned self and the larger whole of who we are. The labeling of certain emotions and thoughts as sinful, bad, shaming, sick, or pathological has reinforced our conscious avoidance of various expressions of our psyche/soul.

Unfortunately, what is avoided tends to become more powerful. It expresses in more extreme ways as it is not tempered through connection to our whole self. For instance, anger that is split from the self may yield unproductive ranting and raging, or acts of violence; whereas, the same anger when integrated can fuel desired changes.

In order to live authentically and congruently, we need to see, clarify, differentiate, and then integrate the various aspects of our nature. The division is a necessary step in order for the energies to find their rightful conscious expression. Think about how many times you have found yourself saying one thing, but doing another. You want to change something you feel, say, or do; yet, you repeat the old patterns. Something remains unseen, or undifferentiated. When you see, feel, know, and live in relationship to the underlying (unconscious) feelings and thoughts, your psyche/soul begins to integrate them. Life giving or life promoting states of consciousness emerge. In this way, conflicting energies are tempered or balanced.

Take a few minutes to acknowledge the inner conflicts you have been ignoring or avoiding. Where is your learned/adaptive self prompting you to act one way, and your psyche/soul saying another? Ask the Inner Divine Spirit to give you discernment to see the natural divisions within you, and to hold them in relationship to the whole of your ego/self and Self. Open to the needed tempering, and set intention to act accordingly.

*Carl Jung said that the nature of the psyche (Greek, soul) is dissociative. It splits into parts.