Season: Fall 2018

Through the contemplation of his inward nature, the art of writing poetry became, for Wordsworth as for many of the Romantics, a “dark” and “inscrutable workmanship”, in which the “discordant elements” operative between the “two consciousness” within himself might “cling together / In one society” and realize “a soul in the process of making itself.” Wordsworth’s experience of poetic composition will be familiar to those in the field of Jungian psychology as active imagination. When Wordsworth imagines his poetry as “spousal verse” announcing a marriage of the human mind “to this goodly universe / In love and holy passion” (Prospectus to the Recluse, 53-5), Romantic active imagination aims at healing the split between psyche and nature.

For those interested in a unified vision of mind and nature, the psychology of creativity, and the emergence of a new image of God beyond both fundamentalism and materialistic atheism, there is much to be learned from the Romantic poets and philosophers. This lecture will explore the practice of active imagination in Romantic poetry and Jungian psychology, and apply insights gleaned from both to contemporary debates on the nature of religion, politics, physics, and neuroscience.

Wandering between two worlds, one dead,
The other powerless to be born…

-Matthew Arnold, 1885

As individuals, we often find ourselves in in-between times, somewhere between a world we knew, and a world that has not yet emerged.  These times are hours of crisis, disorientation, loss, and enormous anxiety.   Similarly cultures, eras, civilizations go through in-between times.   Ours is such a moment in history.    How can we recover our bearings, sustain dignity and integrity when things fall apart?   What abides amid such discontinuity?   Together we will reflect on what we may do to recover a sense of personal autonomy when our roadmap whirls from our grasp and leaves us confounded.

When Jung experienced his Anima-Muse in The Red Book he declared himself to be a man of science rather than an artist.  How might we abandon our creative selves in shadow rather than allowing the light of consciousness to reach into the darkness and allow our creativity to emerge?  This emergence may be accompanied by suffering and periods of emotional growth that the ego is unwilling to experience. Yet, as Jung did, we see that we must continue our Psyche-led process if we are to have an authentic life.  In our discussion we will share the struggles and lessons of creativity through viewing the creative lives and works of authors as we explore and discuss avenues for developing our own creativity.

… the animal is sublime and, in fact, represents the “divine” side of the human psyche. You remember that the purpose of the Dionysian mysteries was to bring people back to the animal…the animal within…which then forms a bridge between (her) self and the original primordial man concealed beneath the historical layers of the past…

Following a series of animal dreams from a profoundly creative woman artist; we move into and through the individuation process of her eight-year analysis through her dying and conscious death.   Here we find psyche’s deep instruction, beauty, and assistance in life’s completion. Epiphany–the direct experience of Deity–came via dreams and in a vision of an animal before her death. I use this series of dreams as I feel that dignity and depth of Jungian Psychoanalysis are illustrated and accessible.

This presentation grew out of my deep interest in nature and appearance of animals in dreams and in the lives of patients over the course of forty years of practice.

What is the meaning and function of animals visiting us in dreams or meeting them by chance? Which animals bring us education, wisdom, humor, terror, beauty, and joy? Can we relate to a creature with interest? Who are we afraid? Do we dream or imagine mythical or other beings? How do we treat animals in dreams and in waking life? What is the relationship between our body and instinctual life? What does this tell us about ourselves, about us as a society and culture?