Myth
Apuleius supplies images strong enough to think with. They are read in sequence and are never reduced to a fixed symbolic code.
A forthcoming work of literary psychology
Return with the Lamp
Psyche, Receptivity, and the Work of Consciousness
A literary psychology of receptivity: light enough to see by, not enough to dispel the dark.
The central idea
Receive without disappearing. See without reducing mystery.
Receptivity is not passivity. It is the active capacity to be affected, distinguish what has arrived, preserve agency and boundary, and answer in a shared world.
Three registers
Different forms of knowing,
kept in conversation.
Psychology
Jungian and post-Jungian concepts offer an interpretive language—propositions for inquiry, not experimental conclusions.
Research
Empirical and cultural-historical work addresses limited questions with its methods, uncertainty, context, and risks made visible.
The movement
From enchantment
to conscious relation.
DarknessIntimacy without mutual sight
The lampKnowledge, breach, consequence
The tasksAttention, timing, containment
DescentBoundary, value, return
Shared worldRelation made visible
The book
A work of literary psychology in development.
A complete reading edition has been prepared. Publication details and future ways to read the book will be announced here.