Member-only story
Two Psychiatrists, A Bartender and An Apple
A modern day fable
“Doctor, I am so depressed,” Mac complains. “No matter how hard I try, no matter what PR I pay for, that creation myth haunts me. But if people thought about it, I’ve been falsely accused. Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She didn’t eat the fruit from an apple tree. She didn’t taste my ancestor and fall from grace. But still, I’m seen as the cause of all this mess.”
Mac pauses for a moment and wipes a tear from his skin.
“Clearly,” Freud answers, “your depression stems from your secret desire to have sex with your mother. Not only your mother, but the mother of us all.”
Disgusted, Mac leaves Freud’s office and seeks out a new therapist. He makes an appointment with Dr. Jung.
After telling Jung his story, Jung asks him about his dreams. Mac tells him a reoccurring dream that he is fed to a beautiful princess by an evil queen. The princess falls into a deep sleep and can only be awakened by true love’s kiss.
Jung tells Mac, “You are living proof of my theory that we all share a collective unconscious — that every person has the same archetypes dwelling inside the brain.”
Jung continues. “Don’t you see the similarities in both stories.”
