Reflections on Childhood and the Child in the Analysis of Adults

This presentation on childhood will attempt to show the importance of analyzing childhood and relating to the personal childhood past of each of us. In addition we will look at the symbolic child within us. How we trust it and whether we value its messages determines the degree of psychological and spiritual integration we strive for during our lifetime.

The Child as Image and Reality in Art and Fairytales

We all share the child because we all experienced childhood and we all carry a symbolic inner child within us on a daily basis until death. Two important avenues into this world are fairy tales and artistic creation.

In this experiential workshop participants will be encouraged to actively share ideas and associations to the material presented to them. The workshop also serves as a container for sharing personal experiences. how do you experience your parents and their value system? Your siblings? Who is your symbolic child? What is the relevance of the inner child in your life? Do we or do we not have easy access? How can you best utilize the wisdom of the inner child?

Antigone and Elektra: The Missing Father and Suffering Daughter

This lecture will draw on the Greek legends of Antigone and Elektra to explore the subject of father-daughter relationships and their importance in a woman’s development. Dr. Baker will give particular attention to the wounds created by an absent father and to the experience of the wounded feminine for men as well as women.

The Prick of Consciousness: The Psychology and Art of Arousal

Illustrated by reference to poetry, paintings and dreams, these lectures will explore symbolically some of the mechanisms by which the soul is disturbed and quickened, to bring new contents to consciousness. This material is divided into a related series of slide/lecture presentations which will begin Friday night and continue on Saturday.

The Prick of Consciousness: The Psychology and Art of Arousal

Illustrated by reference to poetry, paintings and dreams, these lectures will explore symbolically some of the mechanisms by which the soul is disturbed and quickened, to bring new contents to consciousness. This material is divided into a related series of slide/lecture presentations which will begin Friday night and continue on Saturday.

The Evolution of Satan: Adversary and Adversity

The name Satan derives from a Hebrew verb meaning to obstruct, oppose, block. In the Old Testament, satans are agents of God sent to carry out this and other satanic functions like disruption, agitation, slander, and affliction. Christian dualism makes Satan an almost independent personage, a god of evil, yet he may still be a meaningful and necessary part of the whole. Psychologically, Satan can be seen as the enemy of ego, of conscious goals and values, a personification of advers-ity both outer and inner. What, then, is our proper attitude toward such opposition? How do we relate to our failures and defeats, our affliction and suffering? What are the “uses of adversity”?

Warts and All: The Shadow and Wholeness

Getting rid of the negative is our habitual Western approach to improving ourselves and the world. This often turns out to mean cultivating an idealized self-image by repressing unwelcome parts of our nature into the unconscious shadow. The shadow is then projected onto others and there seen as evil calling for condemnation and destruction.

Erich Newmann wrote in Depth Psychology and a New Ethic, “The Time has now come for the principle of perfection to be sacrificed on the altar of wholeness.” The seminar will focus on shadow formation and projection; bipolar adversarial conflict; scapegoating; victimology; the anthropology of “evil”; and shadow reclamation in the service of wholeness.

From the Sound of It: Reflections on the Persona as Viewed Through Sound

Persona comes from the Latin verb ‘personare’, meaning ‘to sound through’ (per, through; and sonare, to sound). Sound is a vital source of our impressions about the outer world. Sounds tell us about nature. Creation myths begin with sound. Sounds evoke emotions. The voice is a conveyer of the psychic state of another person. From this perspective the voice can be viewed as a screen for projections allowing more than the contents of what someone says to be perceived. Experiences of sound are embedded in our figures of speech, as for example in the expressions ‘I hear you’, or ‘that sounds like a good idea’. In this lecture we will look at the neglected aspects of sound, particularly as the relate to the persona. If you like the sound of this, come to hear more…

Sign Up for our Newsletter