The trusting relationship that Nadine build with her walking friend enabled her to move some of the newly acquired material from quad three to quad one. She could share something of herself with her new friend and the forest. As Nadine shared with Joe what she was doing, Joe pointed out that she was quite wise in not sharing everything with her friend. Journal-writing was a wonderful way to move material from quad three into quad one without it having to be conveyed to anyone else.
Sitting on one of the stumps, Joe also suggested to Nadine that she was privileged to receive some high-quality quad two material from not only her friend but also the forest in which she walked. The trees were teaching her about herself—both past and future. As Joe talked, Nadine was reminded of the movie about an octopus “teaching” the diver. Here she is learning from some very old, resilient trees.
Joe was right. This is a real privilege—as is all of the safe space in which she has chosen to send the last month. Nadine has received the blessed and soulful “perfect forest storm.” The Redwoods talk to Nadine. They know how to align with the rich images and stories emerging from Nadine’s own unconscious (quad four). The storm brings together what is best about Nadine and teaches her where to find the courage she needs in order to lean and learn into her own personal future.
7. The smaller the first quadrant, the poorer the communication.
Quad One is the portal for both disclosure to other people and receiving feedback from other people. A small quadrant one is closely associated with Jung’s persona. A mask is constructed as a way for each of us to protect ourselves from the outside interpersonal world.
The mask is likely to play an increasingly important role in one’s life and in one’s relationship with other people if one acquired more power. When we are powerful then little is shared with other people and other people are likely to share very little with us. Most of what other people “know” about us as powerful people comes from their assumptions about what it means to be a ”powerful” person—these assumptions ultimately arising from their own fourth quad.
