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The Appeal of the Extraordinary
October 18, 2024 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm PDT
There is a universal human desire to be drawn to extraordinary beliefs and strange phenomena that defy rational means to explain them. C.G. Jung might consider the appeal of the extraordinary as evidence of the influence of archaic or archetypal thought and behavioral patterns inherent in the human psyche which make up humanity’s collective unconscious. The archetypal dimension expresses profoundly significant symbolic and metaphorical concepts that cannot be proven by rational methods such as the concept of God. However, in many cases, the desire to embrace extraordinary views and phenomena can have dire consequences, especially if a person insists upon an extraordinary explanation rather than a rational one to explain certain factual events, and interprets purely secular causes as imbued with an underlying divine significance. This lecture introduces examples of how the appeal of the extraordinary can enrich our lives and also distort reality.
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JIM KLINE, PH.D., received his Ph.D. in psychology with a Jungian Studies specialization from Saybrook University, San Francisco, California. He also holds an MFA degree in Creative Writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles, California, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He currently works in the Social Sciences and Fine Arts Department of Northern Marianas College (NMC) and for the past several years has served as professor of psychology within the department. He has published numerous articles in various Jungian-themed professional psychological journals and is the author of The Otherworld in Myth, Folklore, Cinema, and Brain Science (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019). His most recent publication is Nonrational Logic in Contemporary Society: A Depth Psychology Perspective on Magical Thinking, Conspiracy Theories, and Folk Devils Among Us (Routledge, 2023).
