C. G. Jung was very familiar with the Hindu Upanishads and the profound traditions of Indian spirituality. He drew upon them for his understanding of core concepts of the psyche, especially the Self within the individuation process. This lecture will explore the nature of the innermost Self as revealed in the Upanishads and developed through the philosophical teachings of Vedanta. The distinctions between Eastern and Western models of the psyche and human selfhood will be clarified in order to define the ultimate implications of the individuation process against the background of one of humanity’s richest and most differentiated spiritual cultures, followed by an ample opportunity for questions and discussion.
Workshop: Advaita Vedanta and the Search for Wholeness
According to Advaita (Nondual) Vedanta, it is the superimposition of the Self on the psyche and world that is the root cause of suffering, and as long as the Self remains undifferentiated from these causes, true psychological health cannot be attained. Until the Self is known, one takes the Self to be other than what it is and therefore never truly feels comfortable. The Vedantic Self, when added to Jung’s model of the psyche, allows for completion of the psyche’s natural quest for wholeness that is sought through the individuation process. The Vedantic Self can be seen as both the source of and the fulfillment of the religious function of the psyche, in that it fulfills the psyche’s search for union with God. The workshop will allow participants to explore in depth their personal integration of these themes through meditation and spiritual exercises that will allow experiential understanding of these concepts. We will also discuss how these insights can be applied to therapeutic practice.
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.
CAROL WHITFIELD, Ph.D., has an M.A. in Sanskrit from the University of California, Berkeley (1982), a Ph.D. in Phenomenology of Religions from the Graduate Theological Union (1992), and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the San Francisco School of Psychology (1997). During the 1970s Carol lived a monastic life in India where she studied Advaita Vedanta. Since her return from India, she has taught Vedanta extensively on both coasts and was one of the founders and the administrative manager of Sandeepany West, Institute for the Study of Vedanta and Sanskrit, located in Piercy, California, and later, of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Institute for the Study of Advaita Vedanta and Sanskrit, in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. One of her primary interests is the synthesis of Western psychology and Eastern spirituality. She is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Berkeley, California.