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One step, a thousand new pathways Confucius
In 1985 Frank N. McMillan, Jr. endowed a professorship in analytical psychology at Texas A & M University. As far as I know, it is the first such permanent academic post in the world. In 1986 I was honoured to have been selected to be the first holder of this professor-ship. Indicative of Frank's character was his insistence that the professorship be in analytical psychology rather than in general psychology. Further demonstrating Frank's individuality was his insistence on being involved in interviewing applicants who were being considered for the professorship.
The genesis for Frank's decision to endow the professorship goes back to his childhood. The following is taken from one of the many journals that Frank kept throughout his life (it concerns a Big Dream that Frank had when he was a boy of seven):
An Early Dream
Setting: My mother is in the hospital in Temple, Texas, for an operation. My father and I are alone on the farm.
The Dream: My father and I go to the house of one of the negro tenant families for supper. The people there are black and hospitable. After returning to our house and retiring, I awake to see [an enormous] maned lion standing in the door and looking at me with great yellow eyes. I am paralyzed with terror - unable to move or speak. The great lion slowly approaches and licks my face with his huge tongue. The terror is released and I let out a mighty yell that scared my father half to death.
Interpretation: For forty years this was simply a nightmare - but I never forgot it. After becoming acquainted with Carl Jung, I began to see the symbolism. The meal with the black folks (a thing not done in those days) was a meeting with
Page 121and acceptance of my ‘shadow’. The lion was that autonomous part of the psyche, the collective unconscious. When faced and recognized, he (it) proved to be a powerful and friendly force. In later years, this dream has become a comforting, sustaining force.
It was this dream that Fr