Spring 1993 Programming

Lecture: Gnostic Threads in the Fabric of the Psyche

What in the ancient heretical writings called “Gnosticism” so fascinated C.G. Jung that he wove the strands of Gnostic ideas through his entire philosophy? Who were these people called Gnostics, and why did both Romans and early Christians fear their power? How do the Gnostic myths account for the presence of evil in the world. If we want to gain insight into the meanings of these questions, we must reflect on the curious story of Creation as told by Gnostics. Their inverted version of Genesis I and II can be read as metaphor for the psyche, and its characters can be seen as projections of the human soul with all its manifold potentials. June Singer will explore the importance of Gnosticism for both Jung and also for those who wish to deepen their understanding of Jung’s view of the psyche. This lecture will provide background for the workshop. 

Workshop: The Evolution of the Soul

This workshop will be based on a chapter for June Singer’s newest book, A Gnostic Book of Hours (Harper San Francisco, 1992). On the surface the material is a tale of wonder and romance, but its darker side reveals the abuse and violations of woman as metaphor for the trials of the soul, which is often cast adrift in our contemperary society. Originating in third century Alexandria, Egypt, the gnostic text with which we will work (Exegesis of the Soul) displays an amazing relevance to the problem of evil in contemperary society. We will also see two of the four parts of Passions of the Soul, an outstanding documentary on Jungian psychology made for Dutch television. 

June Singer, Ph.D., is a Jungian analyst practicing in Palo Alto, California and a member of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. She is widely known for her classic work, Boundaries of the Soul, which has introduced many people to the psychology of C.G. Jung. Singer, the author of six books, says that her major writing objective is taking enigmatic and complex material and making it more accessible to the non-specialist reader. This she has done with certain works of Jung, William Blake, and some important Gnostic texts. She received her analyst’s diploma from the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, and was a founder of the Jung Institute of Chicago and of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. 

Lecture: This lecture will be based on material from the newest book, Meeting the Madwoman: An Inner Challenge for Feminine Spirit, published by Bantam Books, 1993. The Madwoman Archetype will be explored through ancient myths and fairy tales, contemperary films and literature, stories and dreams of historical and contemperary women and men. 

Linda Schierse Leonard, Ph.D., is the author of The Wounded Woman: Healing the Father-Daughter Relationship; On The Way to the Wedding: Transforming the Love Relationship; Witness to the Fire: Creativity and the Veil of Addiction; and her newest book, Meeting the Madwoman: An Inner Challenge for Feminine Spirit. She is a Jungian analyst. trained at the C.G. Institute, Zurich, and is a founding member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. 

Lecture: This lecture will be based on material from the newest book, Meeting the Madwoman: An Inner Challenge for Feminine Spirit, published by Bantam Books, 1993. The Madwoman Archetype will be explored through ancient myths and fairy tales, contemporary films and literature, stories and dreams of historical and contemporary women and men.

Workshop: Participants in the workshop will be able to discuss dreams and personal experiences relating to the Madwoman archetype. Archetypal patterns of Madwoman energy manifesting in contemporary life in both men and women will be identified and discussed, including Mad Mothers and Mad Daughters, the Caged Bird, the Muse, the Rejected Lover, the Recluse, the Revolutionary, the Bag Lady, and the Visionary.

Linda Schierse Leonard, Ph.D., is the author of The Wounded Woman: Healing the Father-Daughter Relationship; On The Way to the Wedding: Transforming the Love Relationship; Witness to the Fire: Creativity and the Veil of Addiction; and her newest book, Meeting the Madwoman: An Inner Challenge for Feminine Spirit. She is a Jungian analyst. trained at the C.G. Institute, Zurich, and is a founding member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts.

Lecture: Like a Donkey Between Two Bales of Hay: The Puer and Senex at Midlife

What images can Jungian psychology bring to our understanding of the male mid-life crisis? Sometimes a man in a mid-life crisis feels and acts like as ass between two bales of hay. He can’t totally return to or remain in the bliss of adolescence (what Jung called the Puer Aeturnus) and the calm, deep wisdom of the positive Senex (Jung’s Wise Old Man) seems equally far away. Many men at mid-life feel that they are stuck somewhere in the middle between the effervescence of youth and the inner joy of old age. It’s time to grow into becoming a Wise/Fool but there are no cultural road maps. 

This Friday evening’s lecture will look at the positive and negaive sides of the mid-life crisis by comparing the adolescent identity crisis with the mid-life crisis. We will explore how Jung saw the crises and stages of male development from the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, who saw the metamorphoses of the male spirit in the images of the camel, the lion, and the child. Mid-life is a liminal time in which we begin to look at the process fo self-realization as a mystery and paradox of death and re-birth. Maybe its OK to feel like a donkey between two bales of hay!

Workshop: Fatherhood: A Multi-Imaged Reality

This workshop begins with the premise that there is no one archetypal image of fatherhood. Rather, there are many images of the father which have been mediated by many cultures. Some cultures image the best way of fatering as “Our Father who art in heaven” seen in images like Zeus and Yaweh. Other cultures see the best way of fathering as earth-fathering expressed through images like Hades in ancient Greece and Geb in ancient Egypt. 

We will learn that all fathers are not called to initiate their sons and daughters through making them suffer and that contemperary Abrahams may not be asked to sacrifice their Isaacs. We will examine what role, if any, the father plays. Some of us have been called to be both mother and father/earth and sky to our children and to ourselves. We all need to widen and deepen our images of what an inner and outer father we can become. Feminine-gendered persons are welcome. 

Thomas Patrick Lavin, Ph.D. received his diploma in analytical Psychology from the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich. He holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and a Ph.D. in Moral Theology from the University of Innsbruck in Austria. He is a founder of the C.G. Institute of Chigago and served as its first Director of Training. 

Dr. Lavin has received many awards for outstanding work in the area of alcohol and drug abuse rehabilitation both as chief clinical psychologist for the US Army in Europe and in civilian practice in Switzerland, Germany, and the United States. He now lives and has his clinical practice in Wilmette, Illinois and lectures and consults both in this country and in Europe. 

Lecture: A Psychological Approach to the Problem of Evil

The problem of evil has influenced the dogmatic assertions of all religious traditions, and is also crucial to those of us interested in personal religious experience and a religious approach to the psyche. The specifically psychological, rather than theological, approach to evil relies on Jung’s ideas that the Self has a dark as well as a light side, and that the personal shadow is an incarnation of that aspect of the divine. Using these concepts, this lecture will discuss an intrapsychic approach to evil. 

Workshop: A Pscyhological Approach to the Problem of Suffering: Its Relation to the Process of Incarnation of Spirit

Understanding the process of the incarnation of the Self into a personal self allows a psychological approach to the problem of suffering, without resource to traditional theological explanations. This lecture will describe a way in which the parctitioner may assist his or her client to find personal meaning in suffering, by using individual psychopathology as a form of spiritual practice. 

Lionel Corbett, M.D. is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Santa Fe, and Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico. 

Lecture: Fairy tales are like collective dreams which, acting as x-rays of the psyche, reveal the structure and dynamics of personality. Many tales depict gross peculiarities of behavior. This workshop will use a selection of such stories which indicate various aspects of psychopathology. 

Suggested reading from Grimm: Clever Elsie, #34; Strong Hans, #166; The Sea Hare, #191; Rapunzel, #12. (The numbers are consistent in all editions, though the titles vary a little).

Lionel Corbett, M.D. is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Santa Fe, and Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico. 

Lecture and Workshop: “The decisive question for man is: Is he related to something infinite or not? Only if we know that the thing which truly matters is the infinite can we avoid fixing our interest upon futilites.” C.G. Jung

This is a personal narrative of a near-death experience. It is an attempt to describe the indescribable and with this paradox in mind, it is a psychological and imbodied experience of death and rebirth, of inititation and transformation. At a time when medical technology is saving more lives and prolonging life, when terminal illness is striking more young adults, the issue of death and dying is being forced into our consciousness. 

In the workshop we will look at death and dying from personal, archetypal, and spiritual levels, with the hope of eliciting through our discussion a perspective on death as an opportunity to enrich our lives. 

Carlos F. Martinez, M.D. is a Jungian analyst in private practice in San Francisco, a graduate and member analyst of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco and member of the Certifying Board. He was born in Mexico City and has an interest in cross-cultural issues from a Jungian perspective. 

Please bring your favorite dish to serve 6-8, and your own table service. Coffee and tea will be provided.