Many believe we are in the Anthropocene Era, an era marked by the planet-wide influence of our species. The field of ecopsychology emerged in the early 1990s as a belated response from the psychological community to address the cascading effects of human-created environmental damage. Jungian ecopsychology offers one of the best frameworks for analyzing our dysfunctional relationship with the environment—and with each other—through an archetypal analysis of the layers of the collective unconscious. Jung was deeply connected with his native Swiss soil that was reflected in the ecological aspects of his conceptual system and his interest in alchemy as his main symbol system. Ecology begins with our relationship with “the little people” in our dreams and dreams can be used to help us connect deeply to the land using Hillman’s concept of Aphrodite as the Soul of the World. In 1940 Jung foretold a paradigm shift that he labeled a “new age” and “Aquarian Age”. The new paradigm will be based on ecological concepts and reflected in the economic system being developed by the sustainable economists. We must think in these terms as a species if there is any hope of averting a planetary nightmare.
This episode is the opening lecture of a weekend given by Polly Young-Eisendrath. It contains a 1-hour lecture followed by an hour of Q&A. From the seminar description:
We all sense a connection with the source that underlies our existence, whether or not we recognize it as such and we all wish to identify with something larger than ourselves. Some feel this as a spiritual yearning, while others wish for fame or celebrity or the knowledge of a larger truth. The spiritual isolation and materialism (both economic and philosophical) of our times make it difficult to find trustworthy methods from institutional religions, non-traditional approaches, psychology, or philosophy for seeking knowledge of this source. However, our desire to help others (and ourselves) and our willingness to love deeply and authentically can offer the common ground through which we can find this knowledge, but it requires a dedicated understanding of our own suffering and its transformation.
Instead of seeking such insight into our subjective lives, we Americans embrace popular myths of biological salvation and pharmaceutical soothing. It?s not just that we seek instant solutions to complex problems, rather we have lost our taste for the adventure of human life, replacing it with ideals of economic and biological ?security? and hopes for absolute control of our diet and health.
This program offers a critique of this contemporary myth of biological salvation and presents accounts from psychoanalysis (Jungian and otherwise) and Buddhism of how embracing our limitations can open the path to transformation and lasting contentment.
Dennis Merritt, member of the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts, is interviewed on the Image for Hire podcast. It was released on October 30, 2018. From the description:
The Skrauss discusses synchronicity and the I-Ching with Dennis A. Merrit. Listen up, Cavedweller. Take a plunge into the divinatory system that cracks into the Tao, the binary code of the Universe.
Names dropped and subjects mentioned: Synchronicity is a Dimension How Much Is the I-Ching (Unanswered) Compendium of Chinese Wisdom It Came From 1050 BCE Leibnitz How to Question the I-Ching Carol Anthony’s 3RD Edition Guide to the I-Ching Time is Not Just Quantity; It Is Quality Gausian Curve The Rainmaker Story “Black Elk Speaks” Wolfgang Pauli Hexagram 42 “Increase” The Confucian School Hexagram 23 “Splitting Apart” Hexagram 24 “The Turning Point” Yellow is the Color of the Medium Donald Trump is a Trickster Cover Story of the January 1976 edition of Scientific America
Dennis L. Merritt, PhD, is a Jungian psychoanalyst and ecopsychologist in private practice in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Dr. Merritt is a diplomate of the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich and also holds the following degrees: M.A. Humanistic Psychology-Clinical, Sonoma State University, California, Ph.D. Insect Pathology, University of California-Berkeley, M.S. and B.S. Entomology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Over twenty-five years of participation in Lakota Sioux ceremonies have strongly influenced his worldview.
The First International Conference on Jungian Psychology and Chinese Culture was held in Guangzhou, China in December, 1998. My paper was among the conference papers translated into Chinese and later published in English in Quadrant XXXI (2) Summer 2001. An abridged and slightly revised version is presented here.
Hexagram 42, Increase
For many Westerners an introduction to Chinese culture comes through the use of the I Ching. This profound book, a compendium of wisdom extending back to the roots of one of the planet’s most ancient cultures, has become an important companion for many in the West, including myself. Use of the I Ching challenges the reigning scientific paradigms in Western culture and brings a dimension to the Jungian psychoanalytic process that is sympathetic to the deepest and truest spirit of Jungian psychology.
In Jungian terms, one could say the I Ching is a book that emerged out of the archetypal depths of the human psyche and the psychoid dimensions of the Self. The origins of dreams and the genesis of hexagrams in response to questions addressed to the I Ching are grounded in the same source. The Chinese ideogram for the sage, “the ear listening to the Inner King,” describes the process and goal of Jungian psychology.
Scientists are giving ecological perspectives more credibility, where patterns of relationships are central. Psychoneuroimmunology research and the statistical verifications of the power of prayer and belief blur the distinctions between mind and matter. Our outlook on life, the way we perceive the world, and our ability to reflect and see meaning in experiences have been shown to affect our health and physical well-being. Dreams, particular psychological approaches, certain spiritual practices, and the I Ching address these issues at deep and subtle psychogenic levels where mind and matter meet (1).
Analysts are in a good position to notice synchronistic events because we work with dreams at an archetypal level. Synchronistic events are usually related to archetypal events like birth, death, strong love relationships, and jealousy. Circumstantial evidence that synchronicities occur prompted me to develop an experiment to statistically test the possibility. This was part of my thesis (1983) at the Jung Institute in Zurich entitled “Synchronicity Experiments with the I Ching and Their Relevance to the Theory of Evolution.”
Synchronicity convinced Jung there was an element of the psyche outside time and space: space and time are relative to the psyche (3). Incorporating the concept of synchronicity into his theoretical system late in his life led Jung to substantially reformulate his concepts of archetypes and the collective unconscious, putting them on a transcendent basis. Jung thought of archetypes as forms of existence without time and space, with the archetype per se being a “just so” ordering principle, an imperceptible structural element giving order to ideas and completely integrated with physical reality (4). Archetypes have a psychoid nature, meaning they have both a psychic and a physical dimension: psychic and physical are two sides of the same coin (5). An analogy in physics would be light, which behaves as a particle and a wave; matter (particles) and field somehow being two sides of the same phenomena…
This episode is the second half of “Gather Up Your Brokenness: Love, Imperfection, & Human Ideals”. The first half was published on November 22nd.
In the poetic tradition of Zen monk and bard, Leonard Cohen, this presentation celebrates our brokenness. Often, we hear about grieving our mistakes, failures, losses and imperfections, but rarely do we learn how to mine them for their richness. Because human beings are naturally broken – with personalities that are largely unconscious, reactive and hard to manage – we have countless opportunities in our relationships and work to see our selves in the cracks of the mirror. This presentation will draw on Carl Jung’s psychology of individuation and on the Buddha’s teachings on awakening to offer a new vision of imperfection with its inherent openings to compassion and love.
PowerPoint slides used in the talk are available HERE
This episode is the first half of “Gather Up Your Brokenness: Love, Imperfection, & Human Ideals”. The second half will be published later this month. NOW LIVE HERE
In the poetic tradition of Zen monk and bard, Leonard Cohen, this presentation celebrates our brokenness. Often, we hear about grieving our mistakes, failures, losses and imperfections, but rarely do we learn how to mine them for their richness. Because human beings are naturally broken – with personalities that are largely unconscious, reactive and hard to manage – we have countless opportunities in our relationships and work to see our selves in the cracks of the mirror. This presentation will draw on Carl Jung’s psychology of individuation and on the Buddha’s teachings on awakening to offer a new vision of imperfection with its inherent openings to compassion and love.
PowerPoint slides used in the talk are available HERE
A note about sound: There were microphone issues that were resolved after a few minutes.
During the last thirty years of his life, Jung turned to alchemy as a fundamental resource for depth psychology. In alchemy he found images and thoughts that were uniquely fitted to his perceptions of psychological life and that confirmed his views of the spontaneous activity and directedness of the unconscious. Jungian analyst and author Murray Stein presents an overview of Jung’s work on alchemy to develop an understanding of the relation of alchemical symbols to the analytical process and individuation. The set includes the following lectures:
Commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower [in CW 13]
Psychology and Alchemy [CW 12, parts 1 & 2]
The Spirit Mercurius [in CW 13]
The Psychology of Transference [in CW 16]
Mysterium Coniunctionis [CW 14, Chap. 6]
Murray Stein, PhD is a training analyst at the International School for Analytical Psychology in Zurich, Switzerland. His most recent publications include The Principle of Individuation, Jung’s Map of the Soul, and The Edinburgh International Encyclopaedia of Psychoanalysis (Editor of the Jungian sections, with Ross Skelton as General Editor). He lectures internationally on topics related to Analytical Psychology and its applications in the contemporary world. Dr. Stein is a graduate of Yale University (B.A. and M.Div.), the University of Chicago (Ph.D., in Religion and Psychological Studies), and the C.G. Jung Institut-Zurich. He is a founding member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts and Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts. He has been the president of the International Association for Analytical Psychology (2001-4), and is presently a member of the Swiss Society for Analytical Psychology and President of the International School of Analytical Psychology, Zurich.
Arwind Vasavada (1912-1998) was born and raised in India. In the 1950’s, he traveled to Zurich to study at the Jung Institute and to work in analysis with C.G. Jung. Although he had only a few sessions with Jung, he considered him his guru, a title which Jung himself did not accept in the Indian sense but gave Vasavada nevertheless some important “transmissions,” to put it in the terminology of Hindu tradition. After finishing his training in Zurich, Vasavada returned to India to open an analytic practice. June Singer visited him in India in the early 1970’s and invited him to come to Chicago, an invitation that he gladly accepted. Vasavada lived and worked as a Jungian analyst in Chicago through the 1970’s and 1980’s, and he was a founding member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts and the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts. He had a strong and dedicated following of students in Chicago until he retired in the early 1990’s and moved to his son’s home in the state of Washington. After that he visited Chicago intermittently until his death (in India) in 1998.
In the 1980’s, analysts Josip Pasic and Murray Stein held a series of discussions with Vasavada in Pasic’s home, where they were filmed for posterity. The dialogues revolved in general around analytical psychology and its similarities with and differences from the traditions of the East (i.e., India). The following is an excerpt from one of these conversations.
Using examples from Zen Buddhism, Warren Sibilla discusses Jung’s idea that the subjective and objective have a complementary relationship, and that this relationship is necessary in clinical practice – objective knowledge alone is not enough.
Warren Sibilla, Jr, PhD is a Diplomate Jungian Psychoanalyst with a clinical practice in Chicago, IL and South Bend, IN. Dr. Sibilla served as the Director of the Jungian Psychotherapy/Studies Program (2010 – 2016) at the Institute and teaches in our Analyst Training Program. He is engaged in the study and practice of Zen Buddhism including authoring a book on the relationship between Zen Buddhism and Analytical Psychology as well as a paper formally exploring Jung’s 1958 dialogue with Japanese Zen Master and Philosopher Hisamatsu. Dr. Sibilla teaches in the Masters and Doctoral programs at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and The Institute for Clinical Social Work and facilitates silent contemplative retreats at GilChrist Retreat Center in Michigan. More information about Dr. Sibilla is available on his website, wsibilla.com.
PowerPoint: The slides for this talk are available HERE (right-click and click “Save Link As…” to download)
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.
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