‘Some old traditions say that no man is adult until he has become opened to the soul and spirit world, and they say that such an opening is done by a wound in the right place, at the right time, in the right company.
‘A wound allows the spirit or soul to enter…
‘People too healthy, too determined to jog, too muscular, may use their health to prevent the soul from entering. They leave no door. Through the perfection of victory they achieve health, but the soul enters through the hole of defeat.
‘The Persian poet, Rumi, sums all this up beautifully in his poem about the lame goat.
You’ve seen a herd of goats
Going down to the water.
The lame and dreamy goat
brings up the rear.
There are worried faces about that one,
but ah, now they’re laughing, because look,
as they return,
that goat is the leader!
There are many different kinds of knowing.
The lame goat’s kind is a branch
that traces back to the roots of Presence.
Learn from the lame goat,
and lead the herd Home.
Modern culture often teaches us to chase perfection—to avoid failure, pain, and defeat at all costs. But Bly and Rumi remind us of the value of our wounds. A wound humbles us, slows us down, and opens us to deeper truths that cannot be accessed through strength or certainty.
The "lame goat" within each of us—the part that struggles, that limps along—may carry a wisdom we’ve overlooked.
I invite you to try shifting your perspective on a personal wound or struggle. Instead of seeing it as something to overcome, ask yourself: What wisdom has this brought me? How has it opened a path to something deeper?
As Carl Jung reminds us, ‘a defeat for the ego is a victory for the self’.
May we learn from our hurt,
Simeon
Carl Jung's Self Archetype: The God Image Within
What role does the ego play in our identity, and how does it relate to the deeper Self? In this video, we explore Carl Jung’s insights into the psyche, uncovering how the ego acts as the center of consciousness while the Self represents our totality.
Discover the profound relationship between these forces and how understanding them can lead to greater personal wholeness.