In this workshop we will expose the residency of these themes in the tedium of daily life. Participants will bring stuff that seems the least psychologically deep. These contents are those most under the aegis of the hero, and live, in what Tolkien calls “Mordor”. In Jung’s theorization, they would thus attract the most empathy from the psyche. Foreshadowed in this empathic process, is the post-heroic figure needed in each psyche now to live past the ego’s encapsulation of consciousness and in so doing effect the transformations in consciousness necessitated by our postmodern condition.

Related Lecture: Jung, Tolkien, and the Fate of Mythopoesis in Post Modernity

Mark Kuras, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and Jungian Analyst. He is an Assistant Professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, as well as the clinical Director of the Acute Treatment Unit. He is a charter member of the Jungian Psychoanalytic Institute and currently serves as the Director of Training.