Summary of Robert Moore Lecture: The Golden Well (1993)

00:00:00 - 00:20:00

Robert Moore's lecture on "The Golden Well" emphasizes the importance of connecting with the spiritual resources of one's tribe to access and contain the gold energy within oneself. He stresses the need for microstructuralization and refining to build vessels to hold the gold, particularly in the case of rage, which he characterizes as "warrior gold." Moore recognizes the sacred or numinous as essential for healing and argues that shame is a compensation for the knowledge one has but does not know what to do with it. He encourages people to form a community that understands the concept of the golden well and claims their birthright to accumulated gold through the sacrifices of those who have come before. Moore also emphasizes the importance of striving for wholeness in all four quadrants of the psyche and not leaving any aspect of oneself behind.

• 00:00:00 In this section, Robert Moore discusses the importance of understanding that the golden well is not outside of oneself, but rather, it lies within the heart and is connected to the world of the Spirit, the archetypal world as Carl Jung called it. He explains that to access the gold that is needed, one must learn to go down into the well, as in the Iron John story. However, it is not enough to just put one's finger into the fountain, as the gold can work like a contagion of taboo, leading one to become psychotic or addicted. Therefore, one must work on microstructuralization to develop the vessels to contain the gold energy and learn to ride the pearl, slowly bringing warrior energy online in the soul.
• 00:05:00 In this section, Robert Moore discusses the importance of connecting with the spiritual resources of one's tribe in order to build oneself block by block. He emphasizes the need for containment and refining, particularly in the case of rage, which he characterizes as "warrior gold." Moore criticizes therapies that pathologize and diagnose spiritual energy rather than recognizing it as a valuable resource for healing. He argues that without a connection to the sacred or the Otherworld, one cannot be healed, and ordinary people without spiritual resources will not survive the challenging times ahead. The key to healing, according to Carl Jung, is the encounter with the numinous, or the sacred.
• 00:10:00 In this section, Robert Moore explains that it is not helpful to destroy other people or heap guilt upon them, but rather one must connect with the golden well that is within and connected to the spirit world. Gnostic initiation, he says, is understanding and connecting with fullness, which eradicates zero-sum game approaches to life and allows for generativity and generosity to come forth. Moore emphasizes that shame is a compensation for the knowledge one has inside that they are in touch with the gold, but they do not know what to do with it. Thus, connection with fullness is not about being private, individualistic or about commodification of the spirit; instead, it is about forming a community that understands this concept and claiming the birthright to the accumulated gold through sacrifices of all those people and primates over time.
• 00:15:00 In this section, Robert Moore discusses the idea of coming back into your birthright and the blessing being large enough for everyone. This homecoming is about reuniting with your royal heritage, where you claim your participation in a royal household and are not ashamed anymore. Moore emphasizes the importance of being shameless for the right reasons and finding that gold courage that's inside every person. Being a servant leader and finding ways to protect those who cannot protect themselves is crucial for creating a generative society, and it's important to embody these aspects rather than just talk about them.
• 00:20:00 In this section of the lecture, Robert Moore discusses the importance of not leaving behind any aspect of oneself and striving for wholeness in all four quadrants of the psyche. He emphasizes the need to connect with one's weakness and work on strengthening it, rather than only focusing on one's comfort zones. Moore also highlights the asymmetrical trajectories of men and women towards wholeness and the potential danger of losing one's warrior side when fully embracing the lover archetype. Ultimately, he argues that older men have a responsibility to become grandfathers and a forest of kings to ensure a viable future for coming generations.