Letter from the President | May 20, 2022
Dear Friends of the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago,
The Institute’s 2nd Annual Spring Fundraising Drive is here and I am inviting you to join with others in financially supporting the Institute. Your donation will help ensure that our educational mission of training future analysts and educating psychology professionals and the general public continues.
I’d like to share a personal story about why what the Institute does matters. While attending psychological gatherings over the years, I have invariably heard in response to my saying that I am a Jungian psychoanalyst, “Really, does anyone do that anymore?” Imagine my surprise. Yes, I do, the analyst-members of the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts do, and Jungian analysts worldwide do.
This anecdote highlights the misperception that exists within the psychological field in this country about analytical psychology. Your donation in support of our educational mission is tangible proof that the symbolic-depth approach of analytical psychology is relevant and is valued in today’s world.
Analytical psychology was birthed out of the cataclysm of the Great War as Carl Jung sought to understand the promptings of psyche and make meaning of how such carnage and inhumanity could happen in the modern age.
Jung embarked on a journey within himself and the discoveries he made about psyche and psychic processes took him on outer world travels to gather the myths and symbol systems of other cultures. These collective materials helped give shape to his psychology of the unconscious, one rooted in an archetypal collective unconscious.
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light,” Jung writes, “but by making the darkness conscious…a disagreeable and unpopular process.” Addressing the darkness of the outer world requires that we each do our own inner shadow work so that our darkness is not projected onto others. Analytical psychology provides a way to understand and work with this reality of psyche and make meaning of what is discovered to more consciously navigate the inner and outer worlds. Now more than ever, as the existential crises of the 21st century mount, there is a need for the education that the Institute provides.
As a small non-profit, we do a lot with limited resources. Your tax-deductible financial contribution adds needed income to revenue from tuition, the sale of our audio-lectures, and grants. Equity donations are welcome. The Institute has a Gold rating for financial transparency from GuideStar and is listed on Charity Navigator. The Analytical Psychology Foundation of Chicago is a supporting organization.
Please join us in continuing to make possible analytical psychology education in Chicago and beyond by making a generous contribution to fund our educational mission.
Many thanks for your support,
Stephanie Buck, President
