The Burn Wound of Eros

The Saturday workshop begins with a beautiful slide show and retelling of the Tale of Psyche and Eros. The classic story serves as a template that charts the course of the mother-bound man from romantic, narcissistic, predatory, “so-called” love, to the wounding of that standpoint, an awakening of capacities to love and the emergence of what may be described as the “father principle.” Certain themes from the tale will launch us into discussions of parallel myths, biblical stories, tales of courtly love, literature, film, clinical material and theory, and our own imaginal processes. Some of these themes may include : “mother and son/lover”; “lesser coniunctio,” “split feminine”; “predator beneath the lover”; “emergence of the father”; “awakening the sleeping soul through love.”

Both lecture and workshop provide an understanding of the primitive origins and causes of narcissism in men; its effects upon their capacity for intimacy and relationship; and, the difficult commitment needed to transcend the narcissistic option.  Hopefully, the program will also bring a deeper insight  to those wives, mothers, lovers, sisters, and daughters who have suffered and loved these men–in spite of it all.