Dying to Live: Love Stories by Jaqueline H. Becker, Ph.D.
“We each hold the ageless keys to resurrect the true meanings of love and death from the frozen heap of our misaligned priorities and hardened hearts. Ah yes, we must do this individually or it will not budge the archetypes of destruction that surround us.”
Jaqueline H. Becker, PH.D., has struggled for a lifetime to get her arms around the concepts of love, life and death, through experience, emotion and contemplation. And now she is sharing those feelings of heartbreak, joy and discovery so that others may benefit in her new memoir, Dying to Live: Love Stories (Vanguard Press).
In dissecting her life from childhood to her adulthood much like she does for others as a private-practice psychologist, all the while wrestling with abuse, betrayal, sexual identity, family, friendship, professional work and relationships, she is not only conducting an internal self-cleansing but also providing readers with valuable nuggets of knowledge and insight for their own growth.
We spoke with Dr. Becker about everything from daemons of Classical Greek literature to the 7 key lessons she hopes readers will take away from her powerful story.
Q: Why did you write this book?
A: One of C.G. Jung’s most profound sentences has informed my entire life’s journey. It seems that teaching about its meaning has been my raison d’ être — my reason for being. That sentence is, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
Way more beneficial than my formal studies were for understanding of my sufferings, I have found, find, that this wonderful electrical source of energy, the unconscious, is something as palpable as life and death. I must share this reality since channeling the energy contained within the unconscious, dictates not only what your individual life looks and feels like, but it moves our societies to take good or evil actions.
In the course of my travels through the thickets of trying to understand why I did certain things, and why I felt lost and alone, it was the wisdoms from my unconscious life where I found my deep answers, my joys and, of course, my demons. Regarding those demons, it turns out that they became my greatest teachers, and although they were my prison keepers, they became my exquisite saviors. You’ll see how as you read the Love Stories in this book.
To note — Daemons in Classical Greek literature are known to have superhuman power; a power that can determine your fate! I know this is true, you can, too. How to capture this energetic ammunition factory, well, it must be experienced. Hook up, don’t be afraid, it will carry you.
Especially with so much negativity presently manifesting in our world, it is vital that more of us re-establish the connection with our unconscious lives. It is critically important for both our personal and collective survival. I wrote Dying To Live: Love Stories so that I can share this knowledge with more people than those I see in my office.
Q: Is this book as much a “self-cleansing” as it is a book written so that others will benefit?
A: Yes.
Q: How difficult was it writing about the pain of your past and sharing so much of your inner self?
A: It was hard to feel the regrets of my inabilities to be more than I was, especially when those lacks hurt other people. And still, a deep pain that I re-experienced while writing this memoir, is the truth that I could not make my mother hurt less. No matter what I KNOW about that, I still wish I could have lifted her pain … more.
Q: Give us an example of one of the vignettes that helps readers understand what the book is about.
A: The Event — A Love Story. It captures my experience of very real betrayals to me, as well as my very real experience of the manifestation of Spirit in matter in my life.
Q: What are the key themes that you want to drive home?
a. Connecting with your unconscious life is the most valuable connection you will make for learning how to steer your life.
b. Your Demons are you Guides for Growth
c. Nothing, individually or collectively, will change unless you open the door to the change you want to see. You must let in the darkness, as well as the light, or there will be no long-lasting change accomplished.
d. Only YOU have the energetic ammunition to cause harm or prosperity. We need as many of us as possible to help turn the tides of darkness that surround us at this moment in time. We start at home.
e. Spirit will manifest wherever you are. All senses can perceive it. Open the door, feel that awesome energy.
f. Emotionally, if you are brave, there is no prison from which you cannot escape.
g. Looking for a Savior is a recipe for disaster, personally and collectively.
Q: What role does the spiritual play in your journey?
A: Spirit guides my life. I trust it more than I trust anyone. It sustains me though dark hours and provides me with the experience of awe.
Q: Any advice to readers as to what they can expect and hope to gain?
A: They will discover that the way past their personal demons is to meet and greet them. They will learn that I am a great role model for that — this will allow them to feel the power gained from transforming their demons. They will learn how to embrace Spirit and to see it as their tireless and loving guide. They will discover that it takes all of us to transform unconscious energy in order to change the tenor of our time.
They will know that they are not alone. Lonely sometimes, but never alone.
Dr. Jaqueline Hope Becker, born in Staten Island, NY, presently resides in Manhattan. At 20 years old she began her career in the helping professions by starting to do Social Group Work with young children and eventually with all age groups; ultimately, she became a supervisor of Social Group Work designing, implementing and evaluating programs. Dr. B. taught Special Education for NYC Public Schools for seven years before becoming Assistant Director and Clinician for a division of a private school that specialized in educating Emotionally Challenged Children. She is a Licensed NY State Psychologist practicing in NYC treating children of all ages. As well, she carries her knowledges of psychological, spiritual, physical, social and intellectual components of the human condition into the national and international world of corporations and small businesses. For this goal she has Founded and is President of, Communication With Intention, Inc. Her writing includes published lyrics, poems, articles and a definitive work on Jung’s Typology. She is an amateur photographer, biker and Lover Of Life (LOL).
