Image via Google

I say Life imitates art and vice-versa, just as psychoanalysis imitates archaeology and vice-versa? I think that’s why I gravitate towards them. Both involve an adventure in searching, finding, or not finding, patience, diligence, risk-taking, ascertaining, learning, understanding, making connections between past and present. You never know what will reveal itself, when, and how. You might start out looking for one thing, and find another. Everyone involved will have an opinion, and a vested concern in what is done with what is discovered. Warning: Deep Excavations!!

“In both anthropology and psychoanalysis interpretation is archaeological: the uncovering of what is below the surface. Its predominant metaphor is ‘depth.’ The ‘deeper’ the meaning the ‘truer’ the meaning.”

~ From Vincent Crapanzano, ‘Hermeneutics and psychoanalytic anthropology’, in “New directions in psychological anthropology”, 1992, pp. 294-307, Theodore Schwartz, Geoffrey M. White, and Catherine A. Lutz, editors, Publications of the Society for Psychological Anthropology 3, Cambridge, Great Britain: Oxford University Press. [Thank you to my good friend Christian, who shared this quote with me. He is an archaeologist, dream analyst, and all-around well-rounded good guy who shares many of my same interests.]

Keep in mind that there are professional standards, regulations, laws, and rules of conduct in archaeology about who, what, when, where and why it is practiced. It is the same with us as we excavate our own psyches and inner spiritual selves. Proceed with care, in how you choose your team, and be gentle with yourself in the process. The closer you get to your authentic truth, the rockier and more harrowing it can get just before you break through. Here the Golden Rule applies more than ever, and again vice-versa: Love yourself as you would your neighbor, with respect and compassion.  That’s a good foundation on any turf.