We would perhaps like to forget that there is an archetypal basis for the disturbing violence that is prominent in today’s world. This lecture describes how to understand violence from an archetypal perspective and why this task is necessary if we are to bridge the dissociation between conscious and transconscious reality. For most of us, “psychic reality” is still in the realm of ideas, and psychologically, we live in a pre-Copernican world. In his most seminal works, Jung wrote that violence and destructiveness are inextricable aspects of psychic reality and that violence is always encountered as part of the individuation process. The hostile and violent impact of the unconscious upon the ego often calls upon us to experience and contain intense emotions of rage and violence. This need not be “bad news” if we remain aware of the larger picture.
Workshop: Animals in our Midst
We are surrounded by animals, in our dreams, our psyches, our homes, and in the wild. As pets or feral creatures, animals inhabit our inner and outer worlds. Who has not dreamed of animals or encountered animals in life? We have pets and we have pet ideas. Our complexes are pets that at times behave and at other times wreak havoc in the house when we aren’t “at home.” Transpersonal and transconscious psychic dimensions are mirrored to us through animals. This workshop explores the ways that animals play a fundamental, problematic, emotional and humorous role in psychic development. The speaker will use dreams and experiences with animals to elucidate the idea that for the human psyche an animal is always a symbol and holds the possibility of transformation and connection to the non-personal psychic realm. Animal lovers and non-lovers are equally welcome.
Saturday Workshop Participants, please make note of our new time frame:
we are experimenting with a half-hour sack lunch discussion on-site instead
of our usual 90 minute off-site break. Please bring your lunch.
PAMELA J. POWER, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst with a private practice in Santa Monica, California. She was trained at the Los Angeles Jung Institute and certified in 1987. She is past Clinic Director and past Training Director of the Los Angeles Institute and currently is a member of the faculty and of the training committee. She is also a member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. She has lectured on a variety of topics including: religious nature of the psyche, archetype of sacrifice, music and the psyche, animals and individuation. Her most recent published articles are: “Secret Agonies in Analytic Communities: Unbearable Countertransferences,” Journal of Jungian Theory and Practice, 2007; “Death of the Analyst,” Journal of Jungian Theory and Practice, 2005: “A New Dog-Image,” Psychological Perspectives, 2004.