Memories, Dreams, Reflections is conventionally taken to be Jung’s autobiography. This lecture presumes something different: Memories, Dreams, Reflections can be read as the ‘biography’ of an attitude that engages the distresses of postmodern psychological life. Jung is chronicling not only his personal development, but also how consciousness might deal with the maturity of the ego-complex, or its failure to mature. If consciousness does not confront this complex, certain pathologies appear in personal and collective life, both centered around the “presence of the absence” of the psyche’s natural religiosity. Tonight’s lecture approaches Memories, Dreams, Reflections as a manual on how to repristinate the psyche’s natural religiosity in an age of cynical postmodernism.
Season: Spring 2006
The Fate of Jung’s Psychic Objectivity in an Age of Contemporary Cynicism
The workshop contends that Jung is a marginal figure in psychotherapy because he distinguishes between a self constructed through social experience that he called personality #1, and a self that exists prior to and apart from socialization that he called personality #2. Because the latter is not easily influenced, it retains a capacity for psychic objectivity. Jung’s belief in psychic objectivity places him at odds with most contemporary psychotherapies, which consider the idea of psychic objectivity as illusory at best, and dangerous at worst. This workshop will passionately defend Jung’s notion of psychic objectivity, contending that only the repristination of this capacity can minister to the cynicism of the postmodern mind.
Inner and Outer Marriage
Jung wrote profoundly of the “Hieros Gamos,” or sacred marriage. This lecture will address the aspects of this spiritual and psychological relationship called marriage. This reflection will benefit any person who is in any type of outer world relationship. Ultimately the only relationship we have is with ourselves. Therein is where the true marriage rests, in the inner world.
“I Alone Must Become Myself; I Cannot Become Myself Alone.”
Relationships are paradoxical. We move from dependence, to independence, to interdependence, to inner-dependence. In this day together, we will discuss the quaternity of relationships; Mother, Father, Other and Self, and the psychological dimension of these paradoxes.
Jung Embodied
This experiential weekend will explore elements from Marion Woodman’s BodySoul approach and “embodied active imagination,” rooted in the work of C.G. Jung.
On Friday, the presenters (Tina Stromsted and Meg Wilbur) will discuss theoretical aspects of Jung’s and Woodman’s work. They will highlight significant learnings from their extensive participation and training with Marion Woodman at her Intensives, informed by their own unique backgrounds in dance, theater, Jungian and Somatic Psychology.
Jung Embodied
This experiential weekend will explore elements from Marion Woodman’s BodySoul approach and “embodied active imagination,” rooted in the work of C.G. Jung.
On Friday, the presenters (Tina Stromsted and Meg Wilbur) will discuss theoretical aspects of Jung’s and Woodman’s work. They will highlight significant learnings from their extensive participation and training with Marion Woodman at her Intensives, informed by their own unique backgrounds in dance, theater, Jungian and Somatic Psychology.
Saturday offers an opportunity to explore these theories in practice, deepening our connection to mind and body. Such work supports the reawakening of resonant consciousness in our cells, invites the play of imagination, and promotes integration through embodied dreamwork, movement, and voice, enhanced by music and art.
Authentic Movement is a gentle, natural means to nurture oneself, connect with buried energies, and unfold one’s inner dance. Simple exercises in freeing the voice involve relaxation, breath, and sound to help release one’s authentic voice. These creative processes do not involve performance, and are attuned to the needs of the individual.
Come explore “Jung embodied” through these gateways to the unconscious!
The Opus of Individuation
Within the Jungian framework of understanding, living a symbolic life is equivalent to engaging consciously in the individuation process. The Friday evening lecture is entitled, consequently, “the Opus of Individuation.” This talk will focus on the two great movements of the individuation process, the analytic and the synthetic. The first has to do with “preparation,” or “clearing the ground” of complexes, identifications, and fixations, in order to make room for new psychological development. The second takes up the task of integrating elements of the collective unconscious into identity and behavior. The methods for doing this are primarily dream interpretation, and the practice of active imagination. The talk will include examples.
The Symbolic Life, Preparation and Practice
On Saturday, Dr. Stein will give an overview of the methods for pursuing the symbolic life, i.e., the individuation process. This will include Jung’s dream hermeneutic and the method of active imagination. He will give comments on the historical background of this work, the method of active imagination as used in analysis, and how to do active imagination, with exercises.
Personal and Cultural Complexes
“Private and public cannot be separated.” – James Hillman
According to Jung, personal complexes are “splinter psyches.” One implication of this is that as individuals we disavow parts of ourselves when a complex is activated within our psyches. This is a common occurrence for all of us, as complexes express themselves in powerful moods, affects, repetitive behaviors and tones of voice and body language.The disavowed part of ourselves is typically projected onto others. Jung frequently asserted that a complex is a natural, essential ingredient of psychological life. But we often suffer with our complexes as they cause intrapsychic and interpersonal unrest in our lives. Consciously reclaiming, integrating, and healing our personal complexes is a curious and demanding life task, but one necessary for our individuation process.
The dictionary defines a culture as “the way of life of a people,” and Jung frequently asserted that a complex is a natural, essential ingredient of psychological life. San Francisco analysts, Kimbles and Singer, have formulated the concept of the cultural complex. Their new perspective asserts that a group or culture has a psyche, similar to the individual psyche, and that within the collective psyche complexes can manifest. These manifestations can cause chaos and danger, but this modern development of Jung’s complex theory also holds the hope that we may eventually understand the forces of conflict, acknowledge and own our group participation in the complex, and transform the complex into a collaborative and peaceful resolution. While this hope may seem idealistic, a new vision of how groups relate with one another is imperative for an individuation process to occur within cultures.Without this vision we will continue to operate within the age-old perils. In this lecture and workshop, Dr Hone will identify and illustrate with slides the nature of personal and cultural complexes and how they are enacted in our everyday lives as well as in the global arena. She will explore how we project the disowned parts of ourselves onto our spouses, children, bosses and onto other races, religions and genders. In dialogue with the participants in the workshop, Dr Hone will demonstrate how it is possible to reclaim the disavowed parts of our psyches and she will demonstrate how differentiation of complexes can clarify and give meaning to the individual and collective confusion in our psyches and lives.
Personal and Cultural Complexes
The workshop provides a deeper examination of the ideas presented in the Friday night lecture.