The C. G. Jung Institute Chicago welcomes proposals for programs of interest to the general public that explore Jungian thought, including the emotional and psychological issues of contemporary living, from a creative, symbolic, or spiritual perspective. Using the online form you can propose an event, lecture, or workshop to offer in person or virtually. All proposals will be considered for fall 2024. The submission deadline is April 30, 2024.
“In an odd way, the conspiracy theorist’s view is both frightening and reassuring. It is frightening because it magnifies the power of evil, leading in some cases to an outright dualism in which light and darkness struggle for cosmic supremacy. At the same time, however, it is reassuring, for it promises a world that is meaningful rather than arbitrary. Not only are events nonrandom, but the clear identification of evil gives the conspiracist a definable enemy against which to struggle, endowing life with purpose.” (Michael Barkun 2003)
In the Homeric Opus, the embattled and traumatized Odysseus is shipwrecked at Ogygia Island: “Then, all at once Zeus thundered and hit the ship with a lightning bolt. Smitten by Zeus’ bolt, the ship spun around and was filled with sulphurous fumes. My shipmates fell out of the ship, and, like seahawks, they were carried by waves past the black ship” (Homer, 1871, p. 12.407–19).
Dennis Merritt, Jungian analyst and member of the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts, presents on hexagrams from the I Ching, a Chinese book of wisdom, that demonstrated synchronicity by the way they appeared in the dreams of a Western man in Jungian analysis. Discussion topics included using the I Ching in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy; a synchronicity experiment with the I Ching; shamanism, Native American spirituality and the origins of the I Ching; the archetype of the Trickster in conjunction with AI and Donald Trump; Pachamama, Earth spirituality and indigenous cultures; and Christianity contrasted with Chinese wisdom, Taoism and the yin/yang symbol.
The 3-hour event was sponsored by the C. G. Jung Club of Orange County [CA] on January 21, 2023. Please consider joining or donating to this organization that makes the presentations freely available.
Before becoming a Jungian analyst, Dr. Peter Demuth spent decades as a Forensic Psychologist, studying, evaluating, and treating violent criminals. In this book, he brings his forensic experience and Jungian depth training to the analysis of famous literary monsters.
In Monsters in Life and Literature Dr. Demuth takes the reader on a journey into the world of the forensic psychologist, tasked with understanding the most extreme forms of what is usually referred to as the human capacity for evil. Demuth joins his long experience with the inhabitants of this world with his training as a Jungian psychoanalyst to cast light in the darkness through his theoretical reflections and his detailed examination of monsters found in myth and literature. The book is essential reading for anyone concerned with understanding these regions of darkness in the human condition.
—George Hogenson, Ph.D. Senior Training Analyst at the C G Jung Institute of Chicago and the author of Jung’s Struggle with Freud—A Metabiological Study (2013)
Let’s deepen and broaden the idea of “therapy.” Originally the word meant “to nurse, serve or care for.” We are all sometimes called to be a “therapist” for our friends, co-workers and family members. We can all learn from professional psychotherapy lessons in listening, talking and being present to another. Professional therapists might also benefit from a deepening of the concept of therapy. This presentation draws on C. G. Jung’s alchemical descriptions of therapy and transference and on James Hillman’s idea of therapy of the world. It is rooted in Plato’s classic definition of therapy in one of his dialogues. It is for both professional therapists and ordinary people who might want some guidance in speaking “therapeutically” to people they care about.
Frank Buckley, Jesuit priest and clinical psychologist at Homeboy Industries gang rehabilitation program, received a scholarship to attend our Memories, Dreams, Reflections online training. Help clinicians like Frank bring Jungian psychology to their clients by contributing to our Fall Fundraising Drive now!
Don L. Troyer, M.D. died on November 11, 2023 at his home in Three Rivers. He was born on January 13, 1949 to Dana O. Troyer, M.D. and Verna (Burkholder) Troyer in Dhamtari, India, where they were serving as medical missionaries. He grew up in Goshen, Indiana where he graduated from Goshen High School and Goshen College with High Honors. During medical school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland he married Verna Hostetler on August 27, 1972. After completing a residency in Family Medicine at Williamsport, Pennsylvania in 1978, he and Verna moved to Paoli, Indiana to join Comprehensive Health Care, a medical group dedicated to serving one of the most medically underserved counties in southern Indiana.
“God does not call those who are worthy, but those whom He will.” Therese of Lisieux
The interface between indigenous spiritual life and Christian Mysticism may prove to be a fruitful ground towards addressing some worldwide challenges such as psychological alienation and climate change.
For example, Indigenous Sacred Geography -the idea that Nature is sacred and that Geography is the map that describes where the sacred spirits dwell- could help us see the divine aspect of Nature, in order to address the rampant destruction of the Earth. Also, the Jungian view of the Self -the center and totality of the individual- ,understood as the Divine within, could provide an epistemological and an experiential framework in which a fragment of God dwells in the human heart. There is a Divine Without and a Divine Within -two aspects of God located in Nature and, also, located in us. A continuum of Divinity.
James Wyly was born in Kansas City Missouri. His mother came from an old family in St. Joseph, Missouri. His father from a family of Presbyterians in South Carolina. He was educated in public schools. For college he chose Amherst because it was far away and hard. He majored in English and studied organ at Smith Henry Mishkin. His friends included Tom Eighmy and Kelley Edey. His fraternity was Chi Phi I think. He graduated in 1959.
After Amherst he enrolled in the new DMA program at the University of Missouri at Kansas City earning his degree in 1964. From 1961 through 1963 he was supported by the Fulbright Commission for his research and dissertation on historic pipe organs of Spain, living in Madrid, the city he regarded as his real home town. He was prepared to teach organ, harpsichord, music theory, music history.
Our times are so full of change and confusion that one can feel like these poor creatures from the Clavis Artis, a mysterious late 17th century alchemical text signed by “Zarathustra.”
In the past few years, more people are finding their ways to Jung’s work and our Institute. Jung taught that by paying attention to dreams and the true imagination, we may discover creative solutions to problems that cannot be solved by will or by science alone. Jung also valued the development of an attitude of tolerance for the unknown and for the Other.
The programs at the Chicago Jung Institute offer opportunities for the personal growth that comes—for example—from the hard work of learning to hold the tension of the opposites and to recognize projections of our own Shadows rather than reacting, blaming, or scapegoating.
Applications are now open to begin training in Fall 2024. Applications are due January 15, 2024. To learn more and apply, visit the Analyst Training Program page.
“In the Dark Night of the Soul, Bright Flows the River of God” (Juan de La Cruz)
Human beings have been seeking to periodically experience the profound love towards the Divine as well as the intense beauty and ecstasy that comes with it. This union was sought by the poet, Juan de Yepes y Alvarez (better known as Juan de La Cruz – John of the Cross), and this article will focus primarily on understanding some sentences from a mystic poem that he wrote as well as amplifying them with the wisdom of the Kogi Indians.
On a side note, I make the contention that a similar experience is reached by the individual, at some point, at the farthest end of the process of individuation and wholeness, during a Jungian Analysis that is methodologically conducted in the manner delineated by Jung, which was closely followed by his early collaborators (Von Franz, Hannah, Harding, Edinger, etc).
The views and opinions expressed in the podcast and blog posts are those of the respected speakers or authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago.