This is an excellent conversation, thank you Bowen & Michael. You both have fantastic interview skills.
I appreciated Michael's comment that, as a culture, we seem to have lost the nuance of conversation or dialog. That, sadly, seems to be a vast understatement. Hopefully, places like Substack and conversations such as these will begin to restore the balance.
I fully agree with both of your take on personal responsibility and enjoyed this part of the discussion. For some reason the word robust keeps coming into my mind about it, I guess that's to say that you both dug into that issue fully. I guess it was easy for me to go along for the ride as I was in full agreement!
I met a little resistance in the discussion of mothers though. I am a Mom to two young men so was curious where you guys were going to go with the discussion. I think Jung's take on the whole thing needs to be looked at with a very wide lens. That being said, I am not a Jungian scholar so my knowledge of his full take on Moms and sons is only rudimentary. I found the discussion interesting while at the same time thinking 'holy shit and no damn way!'
Two other points that hit home were when you, Michael, talked about writing as externalizing the internal. Love that, and same for when Bowen talked about responding to the work, not the person, because the work is the soul. Bravo! That is something I need to bear in mind. I am a not-yet-reformed people pleaser so sometimes catch myself responding to the person as much as the work. I am going to work on that and question myself in the moment.
I’ve learned an incredible amount from my mom. We’re really close, especially after caretaking my dad together during his cancer journey. And—not ‘but’—we struggle with each other, too. We share many of the same traits, of course. Apple, meet Tree. Such is the nature of the beast, right?
This is an excellent conversation, thank you Bowen & Michael. You both have fantastic interview skills.
I appreciated Michael's comment that, as a culture, we seem to have lost the nuance of conversation or dialog. That, sadly, seems to be a vast understatement. Hopefully, places like Substack and conversations such as these will begin to restore the balance.
I fully agree with both of your take on personal responsibility and enjoyed this part of the discussion. For some reason the word robust keeps coming into my mind about it, I guess that's to say that you both dug into that issue fully. I guess it was easy for me to go along for the ride as I was in full agreement!
I met a little resistance in the discussion of mothers though. I am a Mom to two young men so was curious where you guys were going to go with the discussion. I think Jung's take on the whole thing needs to be looked at with a very wide lens. That being said, I am not a Jungian scholar so my knowledge of his full take on Moms and sons is only rudimentary. I found the discussion interesting while at the same time thinking 'holy shit and no damn way!'
Two other points that hit home were when you, Michael, talked about writing as externalizing the internal. Love that, and same for when Bowen talked about responding to the work, not the person, because the work is the soul. Bravo! That is something I need to bear in mind. I am a not-yet-reformed people pleaser so sometimes catch myself responding to the person as much as the work. I am going to work on that and question myself in the moment.
Well done on nailing some amazing topics.
Thank you for reading and commenting! I love it. And yes: The mother angle is, of course, complex. I wrote a very detailed account of my mom on my other stack: https://reallife82.substack.com/p/a-note-about-my-mother
I’ve learned an incredible amount from my mom. We’re really close, especially after caretaking my dad together during his cancer journey. And—not ‘but’—we struggle with each other, too. We share many of the same traits, of course. Apple, meet Tree. Such is the nature of the beast, right?