What you will receive

• 14 Live Interactive Learning Sessions with world recognized Jungian Analysts & Scholars
• 14 Recorded Learning Sessions with world recognized Jungian Analysts & Scholars
• A Learning Resource Guide with links to suggested books, articles, films
• A Private, on-line Discussion Forum
• PGI Graduate Certificate upon successful completion of the course
• 14 CECs* See qualifying criteria for CEs below

Course Description

We live in an era when the abundance of psychologically informed material has never before been so prevalent and accessible, yet this reality exists side by side with the statistically documented profile of a mental health crisis that reaches across national borders and socio-economic divides. In his book, A New Therapy for Politics, (2015), author Andrew Samuels presciently writes: “To be honest, the possible contribution of psychotherapy to society beyond the alleviation of individual distress has not been much welcomed. The world did not show up for its first session.” The questions demand to be asked: Why didn’t the world show up for its first session? Why are we in the throes of a mental health crisis when psychological modalities and interventions have never been more prevalent and accessible?

While many of the concepts developed by Jung, such as introversion, extroversion, complex, personal and collective unconscious, or synchronicity, have entered the psychological vocabulary as well as common parlance, they are often not understood from a psychoanalytic perspective and the psychoanalytic perspective is all too often marginalized as not being relevant to the real world challenges of climate crisis, mental health crisis and social justice concerns.

Pacifica Online is pleased to partner with Jungeaneum/Dr. Stefano Carpani,  to offer this one-of-a-kind graduate certificate course that connects you with world recognized authorities in Analytical Psychology and Neo-Jungian Studies whose individual and collective scholarship continues to shape the contours and influence the trajectory of the theory and practice of Jungian Psychoanalytic work.  Each interactive learning session will focus not only on foundational elements of Analytical Psychology, but on understanding the ways in which Jungian psychology speaks to the current epoch of polycrisis and the evolving understanding of cultural complexes and a pluralistic psyche.

This Course is Ideal for

This course is open to anyone interested in the work of C.G. Jung, the post-Jungians and Analytical Psychology as well as depth psychology who want to have a first contact with this discipline. No previous knowledge or degrees will be required to register. Lay person, Psychologists, Medical Doctors, psychotherapists, other health professionals and nurses, students, teachers and researchers of psychology, sociology and social sciences and the humanities and other professionals of arts are welcome.

By the End of This Course You Will Be Able To

• Understand the foundational theoretical and clinical aspects of Analytical Psychology
• Understand how Analytical Psychology can contribute to greater self-knowledge and personal development
• Understand interpersonal dynamics and conflicts in the light of Analytical Psychology
• Utilize techniques of Analytical Psychology that enable to reveal and express intrapsychic dynamics
• Understand how Analytical Psychology can help to conceptualize and explain cultural and collective phenomena.
• For mental health professionals: conceptualize cases in the light of Analytical Psychology and define intervention strategies

Course Schedule

All Live Sessions will run from 8:00 – 9:30 AM PT/11:00 – 12:30 PM ET/4:00 – 5:30 PM UTC.

Please Note that Murray Stein’s session will run from 7:00 – 8:30 AM PT/10:00 – 11:30 AM ET/3:00 – 4:30 PM UTC

September 9th, 2023
George Hogenson

October 7th, 2023
Alan Vaughan

November 11th, 2023 (start at 7 AM PT / 3 PM UTC)
Murray Stein

December 9th, 2023
Verena Kast

January 13th, 2024
John Beebe

January 27th, 2024
Renate Daniel

February 10th, 2024
Polly Young-Eisendrath

February 24th, 2024
Ursula Brasch

March 9th, 2024
Joseph Cambray

April 13th, 2024
Ann Casement

May 11th, 2024
Paul Bishop

June 1st, 2024
Sam Kimbels

June 29th, 2024
Thomas Singer

July 13th 2024
Andrew Samuels

Course Overview

September 9, 2023 – The Jung/Freud Debate and the Foundations of Analytical Psychology – George Hogenson

The relationship between C. G. Jung and Sigmund Freud remains one of the most dramatic personal and intellectual encounters of the modern era.  Despite its broadly familiar outlines, however, it is poorly understood in relation to its influence on the development of both analytical psychology and psychoanalysis.  The point of view that this lecture will take is that the debates between Jung and Freud, which began with their first exchange of letters and continued to evolve and develop throughout their brief but intense collaboration as well as after its collapse, formed the scaffolding for further developments in analytical psychology and psychoanalysis.  Going beyond much conventional commentary on the break between the two, the lecture will discuss the importance of Jung’s modification of Freud’s understanding of libido, often taken to be the central issue in their break, and move on to the dispute over the nature and treatment of psychosis, the nature of the symbol, the centrality of the word (Freud) versus the image (Jung) and ultimately the nature of the unconscious psyche and the relationship between depth psychology and the emerging sciences of the 20^th Century.  Finally, consideration will be given to the significance of Jung’s Red Book for understanding Jung’s break with Freud and its role in defining depth psychology in the 21^st Century.

Suggested reading:

• Hogenson, G. (1994). Jung’s struggle with Freud (Revised Edition ed.). Chiron Publications.
• Vandermeersch, P. (1991). Unresolved Questions in the Freud/Jung Debate: On Psychosis, Sexual Identity, and Religion (A.-M. Marivoet, Trans. (4)). Leuven University Press Leuven.
• Vandermeersch may be freely downloaded from his website:  https://www.patrickvandermeersch.org/freud-and-jung/

Recommended:

• Doran, C. (2017). Rage and Anxiety in the Split between Freud and Jung. Humanities, 6(3), 53.
• Gunter, P. A. Y. Bergson and Jung. Journal of the History of Ideas, 43, No. 4(Oct. – Dec., 1982), 635-652.
• Haule, J. R. (1984). From Somnambulism to the Archetypes: The French Roots of Jung’s Split with Freud. Psychoanal Rev, 71(4), 635-659.
• Hogenson, G. (2019). The Schreber Case and the origins of the Red Book. In M. Stein & T. Arzt (Eds.), Jung’s Red Book in Our Time: Searching for Soul under Postmodern Conditions (pp. 315-328). Chiron.
• Monahan, P. A. (2009). C.G. Jung: Freud’s heir or Janet’s? The influence upon Jung of Janet’s dissociationism. International Journal of Jungian Studies, 1(1), 33-49.
• Shamdasani, S. (2003). Jung and the Making of Modern Psychology: The Dream of a Science. Cambridge University Press.
• Taylor, E. (1998). Jung before Freud, not Freud before Jung: The reception of Jung’s work in American psychoanalytic circles between 1904 and 1909. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 43(1), 97-114

 

October 7th, 2023 – Introduction to Analytical Psychology – Alan Vaughan

This course offers an overview of the prolific life and times of C.G. Jung (1875-196) in cultural context, through the agency of autobiography and critical biography. Participants are introduced to the Collected Works of C. G. Jung by subject matter. The course provides an introduction, to the core concepts and constructs in Analytical psychology that include theories of personality, psychoanalysis, and depth psychotherapy. Topics include: models of consciousness, structure and dynamics of psyche, dream theory, the nature of mythology, the stages of psychoanalysis and the nature of transference and countertransference. In addition, the scholarship of post-Jungian analysts and scholars that both extend and critique Analytical psychology are referenced and discussed. Some of these areas include: neuroscience, attachment theory, synchronicity, active imagination, spirituality and cultural complex theories.

The course is offered to those interested in the life and work of C.G. Jung. It provides a strong theoretical foundation that supports and facilitates cohesive assimilation of his theories and the Trans-disciplinary and Transcultural nature of his work. The course serves as a bridge to the in-depth study of the Collected Works of C.G. Jung, the recently published Red Book and the Black Books. The Red Book provides foreground and background for Jung’s original ideas born from the period of his creative engagement and self- analysis of his unconscious. The Black Books are published notes that foreground the Red Book. The Red Book and The Black Books are not covered in this seminar. This course can serve as a portal to research, theory application and professional practice.

Course Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge of the narrative in the autobiography and/or biography of C.G. Jung, his life and work.
2. Knowledge of core concepts and constructs in Analytical psychology: theories of personality, psychoanalysis, and depth psychotherapy.
3. Knowledge of Jung’s theory on dreams

Suggested reading:

• Cambray, J., & Carter, L. (Eds.). (2004). Analytical psychology. New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
• Edinger, E. (1994). Eternal drama, inner meaning of Greek mythology. Boston, MA: Shambhala.
• Jacobi, J. (1973). The psychology of C.G. Jung. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
• Jung, C. G. (1963). Memories dreams and reflections. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.
• Jung, C. G. (1974). Dreams. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Additional Readings:

• Vaughan, A. (2013). Jung, analytical psychology and transpersonal psychology. Harris Friedman and Glenn Hartelius (Eds), Handbook of transpersonal psychology, pp.141-155. West Susssex, UK:Wiley Blackwell.
• Vaughan, A. (2016). Jungian dreamwork. Jacquie Lewis and Stanley Krippner (Eds.), Working with dreams and PTSD nightmares,14 approaches for psychotherapists and counselors pp.1-23. Santa Barbra, California and Denver, Colorado: Praeger.
• Vaughan, A. (2018) A Conversation between Like-Minded Colleagues and Friends: Alan Vaughan and Andrew Samuels, Jung Journal, 12:2, 118-137, DOI:10.1080/19342039.2018.1442108To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/19342039.2018.1442108
• Vaughan, A. (2019). ‘African American Jungian Analysts on Culture, Clinical Training/Practice and Racism’. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 2019, 64, 3, 320–348

 

November 11th, 2023 – What Analytical Psychology May Contribute to the World Today and Tomorrow – Murray Stein

*Please note this session will run from 7:00 – 8:30 AM PT/10:00 – 11:30 AM ET

In this lecture, I will discuss what C.G. Jung and analytical psychology have meant to me personally. In this, I will speak of “my Jung” and how 50 years of engagement with his life and work have affected my destiny. I will then go on to speak of Jung’s legacy, of what his theory and the practice of analytical psychology offer our and future generations. In all of this, I will make references to Jung’s life, his writings and other works as a guide for the psychological and spiritual development of individuals and collectives. In summary, I will speak of what analytical psychology stands for the world today and the vision and methods for development that it offers to individuals and communities.

Suggested reading:

• C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections

December 9, 2023 – Why Jung, The Search for Meaning in the 21^st Century – Verena Kast

CG Jung lived from 1875 – 1961.  And yet his psychology is supposed to give people in the 21st century ideas for the search for meaning. Does this fit together?

To begin with: C.G. Jung’s psychology is based on the high esteem of the creative in the human being – and this high esteem and the creative do not become obsolete. For Jung, there is a creative principle that runs through everything that exists in the world. Human beings must be connected to this creative principle, which of course also works them, physically and mentally. Then he or she lives in a creative attitude and is connected to his or her resources, then also the inherent self-healing powers can become effective.

In the individuation process, in the therapeutic process according to C.G.Jung, gaining a creative attitude is considered to be the most therapeutically effective thing, besides and in connection with the therapeutic relationship. Here the creative process on the personality level is called for, the development of a creative attitude in each person.

This event gives an overview of the individuation process as Jung described it – with emphasis on the complex theory. A focus will be placed on clinical work on and with the complex episodes that inhibit creative development, but in which there is also bound life energy and new life themes. Helpful are the various techniques of imagination, but also of creative work in general and the working with unconscious material, as dreams,  in the analytical process to dissolve these blockages.

A summary of the individuation process is constituted on the basis of the hero’s journey (not understood in a gender-specific way).

Suggested reading:

• Jung CG (CW 7) Individuation (§266 – §406)
• Jung CG (CW 8) The Stages of Life
• Jung CG (CW8) A review of the Complex Theory
• Jung CG (CW16) Some aspects of modern Psychotherapy.
• Kast V (2022) Father-Daughter, Mother-Son. Freeing ourselves from complexes that bind us. (Jungianeum, Chiron Publications)

 

January 13^, 2024 – Jung & Typology: A Self-Organizing Complexity, Driven by Archetypes to Create Consciousness – John Beebe

G. Jung’s theory of psychological types is a model of the distribution and organization of consciousness in the individuating person. John Beebe has pioneered the understanding of typology as Jung’s “little-s” self-psychology. He has been able to demonstrate both its deeper roots in archetypes that hold extraordinary adaptive and defensive potential and its broadening capacity to organize cultural attitudes that can inform a range of social adaptations. In this lecture, Dr. Beebe will freshly examine each of the eight basic “types” of conscious orientation Jung named, tracing the story arc of each as it develops from rigid complex to a more capacious complexity. He will add his unique understanding of how the types of consciousness are expressed according to the archetypal roles they are associated with in the individual’s personality. Beebe will use film examples to show the interactions between introverted and extraverted types of consciousness within the self. He will also discuss the implication of these relations between internal subjects for object relations with other people. This presentation will offer a chance to experience how typological complexes express themselves best in interactions that, when learned from, create a person capable of adapting in individual ways to both inner and outer realities.

Suggested reading:

• Beebe, John (2017). Energies and Patterns in Psychological Type: The Reservoir of Consciousness.
• Beebe, John (ed.) (2021). Journal of Analytical Psychology: Special Issue: Psychological Types. 66, No. 5. Wiley.
• Haas, Leona & Hunziker, Mark. (2006). Building Blocks of Personality Type: A Guide to Using the Eight-Process Model of Personality Type: Jung’s Mental Processes.
• Hunziker, Mark (2016). Depth Typology: C. G. Jung, Isabel Myers, John Beebe and the Guide Map to Becoming Who We Are. Write Way Publishing.
• Jung, C. G. Psychological Types (1976). (Collected Works, Vol. 6), Foreword to Argentine Edition (pp. xiv-xv, 1934); General Description of the Types (pp. 330-407, 1921), and “Psychological Typology” (pp. 542-555, 1936). Princeton University Press.
• von Franz, Marie-Louise (1971). “The Inferior Function” in von Franz & Hillman, Lectures on Jung’s Typology.

 

January 27,  2024 – The Relevance of Fairytales to the Contemporary Socio-Cultural Challenges of the 21^st Century – Renate Daniel

Fairy tales describe archetypal patterns and thus collective unconscious processes that operate behind zeitgeist phenomena. They deepen our understanding of contemporary social phenomena.

Basically, every fairy tale contains an essential psychological message about fundamental human conflicts that have existed in all epochs and cultures, and which are relevant to us today and will remain so in the future. Because of this timelessness and internationality, fairy tales are a valuable resource when we are perplexed, overwhelmed, or at something of a loss. In such situations, fairy tales show us what it needs to overcome a difficult situation, but also what it takes to fail and why.

Actually, a fairy tale itself is its own best explanation. But the most astonishing and important messages are often no longer understood, because its symbols and language seem outdated, the fairy tale contents appear mostly childish or unrealistic, in other words, not believable. The human mind is quite skeptical about the value of fairy tales.

Therefore, a deep psychological interpretation is needed: it “translates” the fairy tale for today and tries to work out archetypal key statements – the “red thread”. A successful interpretation causes a feeling of coherence and the experience of resonance and enables to understand phenomena in a more holistic way. In this seminar we use fairy tales and myths to reflect on current issues of power structures, needs for control and security, longing for relationships along with fear of relating.

Suggested reading:

• Birkhäuser-Oeri, S. (1988). The Mother: Archetypal Image in Fairy Tales. Toronto: Inner City.
• Dieckmann, H. (1986). Twice-Told Tales: The Psychological Use of Fairy Tales. Wilmette: Chiron.
• Franz, M.L. v. (1996), The Interpretation of Fairy Tales. (Revised ed.) Boston and London: Shambhala
• Franz, M.-L.v. (1972). Problems of the Feminine in Fairy Tales. New York: Spring.
• Franz, M.-L.v. (1974). Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales. Zürich: Spring,
• Franz, M.-L.v. (1997) Archetypal Patterns in Fairy tales,
• Kast, V. (1995): Folktales as Therapy. Fromm, New York.

 

February 10, 2024 – Jung & Spirituality, Beyond Spacetime: 21^st Century Science of Consciousness, Ancient Buddhism, and C.G. Jung – Polly Young-Eisendrath

Carl Jung’s theories of the archetypes and collective unconscious, synchronicity, and the psychoid nature of the universe brought 19^th century Freudian theory of mind “out of the box of the repressed unconscious” and into an exploration of consciousness as a streaming dynamic field.

Throughout his career, Jung searched for new paradigms (e.g. the biological theory of innate releasing mechanisms, alchemy, physics, and Zen Buddhism) that could help him ground his insights about how the field of consciousness and unconsciousness works for humans. In the 21^st century, we must take the next steps – beyond spacetime.

In this course, I will review Jung’s findings on archetype, complex, collective unconscious, and synchronicity/psychoid nature of universe in relation to 21^st century conversations about the New Science of Consciousness, especially in relation to the following: Donald Hoffman (Conscious Realism), the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia (studies of Near-Death Experience and Reincarnation), early Indian Buddhism (abhidharma and Yogacara, recently translated into English), and the theory of karma, as recently detailed for Western students of Buddhism by HH Dalai Lama.

I will emphasize the nature of human perception in everyday life and meditation. I will also draw on my lifelong clinical work, practice of meditation, study of Buddhism, and my understanding of where Jung’s archetype of Self fits into what we are learning in the 21^st century through research on children who remember their past lives, as well as thousands of accounts of Near-Death Experiences, and other kinds of awakening.

Suggested reading:

• Dalai Lama and Thubten Chodron, The Foundation of Buddhist Practice, Wisdom Publications: 2018
• Donald Hoffman, The Case Against Reality: How Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes, Penguin Books, 2019
• Beth Jacobs, The Original Buddhist Psychology: What the Abhidharma Tells Us about How We Think, Feel, and Experience Life. North Atlantic Books, 2017
• PYE: “From Akron to Bodhgaya: Suffering and Individuation” in L. Stein (Ed) Eastern Practices and Individuation. Chiron Publications, 2022.
• PYE “Jung and Buddhism: Refining the Dialogue” in P. Young-Eisendrath & T. Dawson (Eds.) The Cambridge Companion to Jung, (2nd Edition), Cambridge University Press, 2008.
• PYE “Projective Identification in a Famous Zen Case: Implications for Relationships with Spiritual Masters” in S. Carpani (Ed), Anthology of Contemporary Clinical Classics in Analytical Psychology, Routledge, 2022.
• From You Tube, I recommend the following:
• Listen to my podcast: Enemies: From War to Wisdom which integrates Buddhadharma with psychology, psychotherapy, and Jung
• Listen to my TED talk: The Key to Happiness is Letting Go of Self-Importance
• Listen to my talk at Pacifica’s conference on Trauma and Transcendence: Behold the Gates of Mercy: Portals of Transcendence, 2018

 

February 24, 2024 – The I Ching: The Book of Changes and Contemporary Analytical Psychology – Ursula Brasch

Is there an archetype of order? And what if, social, mental and psychological processes, which seem so chaotic and unmanageable to us, were based on an order that can be found? The I Ching, as an ancient Chinese wisdom book, can be used to deal with important life questions. It shows how all things in the universe are connected in various patterns of relationship and resonance. When used as a tool in therapy, the perspective of the I Ching, or “Book of Changes,” can help to unearth hidden aspects of a complex psychological situation. The more facets of the unconscious one can uncover, the more instruction one has in approaching and establishing a relationship with “the other” operating in the unknowable areas of the psyche. But what informs the alien, ancient perspective of the I Ching, and what kind of meaning is it trying to convey? In the lecture, we will explore analytical psychology’s understanding of the concepts of kairos, synchronicity, and complementary opposites, along with Jung’s own contact with ancient Chinese philosophy. Through these lenses, we will consider the I Ching’s relevance today.

Suggested reading:

• Wilhelm/Baynes (1997).The I Ching. Bollingen: Princeton Uniiversity Press
• Balkin, Jack.( 2009).The laws of Change. Branford: Sybil Creek Press
• Smith, Richard J.(2008).Fathoming the Cosmos and ordering the World. University of Virginia Press
• Cleary,Thomas.(1986) The Taoist I Ching. Boulder: Shambalah Publications

 

March 9, 2024 – Jung & Synchronicity, The Re-Enchantment of the World – Joseph Cambray

In a time of great personal and collective crisis, Jung undertook his inward journey into the unconscious.  The experiences he had during this time formed the living basis for his theories and methods we continue to celebrate, employ and modify to the present day.  In this masterclass we will look at primary data from his “confrontation with the unconscious” as shown in his Red Book.  Key signature concepts such as Individuation and Synchronicity will be shown to have emerged in this context.  We will follow the evolution of these ideas through this period and beyond into his therapeutic work of a personal and collective nature as well as exploring the methods he developed during this time. This will include his final iteration of his archetypal hypothesis, to include the psychoid aspects of the soul.   Then we will look at some valuable contemporary modifications based on the best information currently available from complexity studies.  The loss of soul in our rationalistic, disenchanted modern societies will be seen to be remediated in part by Jung lifelong efforts, what in contemporary understanding will be referred to as a “re-enchantment of the world.”  Practical examples will be offered from the presenter’s work, as well as some exercises to enhance experiential learning.

Based on the prerecorded lecture and the readings, in the live, interactive webinar we will begin with some guided imagery explorations connected with the themes which have been presented. This will allow us to deepen the engagement in the live webinar, so that more thorough experiential knowledge of the relations between theory and practice can be realized.

Suggested Reading:

• Cambray, Joe. “21st Century Unconscious: Altered states, oracles, and intelligences.” In, Depth Psychology and Climate Change: The Green Book, Dale Mathers, ed. New York & London: Routledge (2020).
• Main, Roderick. Breaking the Spell of Disenchantment: Mystery, Meaning, and Metaphysics in the Work of C. G. Jung. Asheville, NC: Chiron Publications, (2022).
• Cambray, Joe.  “Reconsidering Individuation in the 21st Century: When Archetypal Patterns Shift.” In Our World of Uncertainty: Possibilities and Challenges Through a Jungian Perspective, ed. L. Sawin and J. Cambray, Asheville, NC: Chiron Publications, (2023-in press).
• Cambray, Joseph.  Synchronicity:  Nature & Psyche in an Interconnected Universe (Fay Lecture Series).  College Station, TX:  Texas A & M University Press, (2009).
• Simard, Suzanne.  Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest.  New York: Vintage Books (2021).

 

April 13, 2024 – Alchemy and the Hard Problem of Consciousness – Ann Casement

The focus of this course will be on exploring Jung’s all-important work on psychological alchemy by seeking to make comparisons between that and what the philosopher and neuroscientist, David Chalmers, calls the hard problem of consciousness. With regard to the latter, the course will be referencing the latest book by the psychoanalyst and neuroscientist, Mark Solms, titled The Hidden Spring, which is an outright best seller. in this work, Solms claims to have solved the hard problem and the course will be looking at his work along with that of the late neuroscientist, Jaak Panksepp, on the contents of the brain stem as the drivers of consciousness. Along the way, I shall be attempting to combine their work with Jung’s discovery that it is in the depths of the collective unconscious, what Jung calls the prima materia, that awareness or self-knowledge has its origin.

Reference will also be made to the Chinese scholar, Dangwei Zhou’s Phd thesis on the German Miinister, Richard Wilhelm, who spent many years in Qingdao and who became fluent in Chinese. Wilhelm was the inspirer of Jung’s interest in alchemy when he sent him a Chinese alchemical text in 1928. This had been translated into German by Richard Wilhelm, who spent many years studying and translating Daoist esoteric texts. In the late Han Dynasty, circa 3^rd and 4^th centuries CE, one branch of alchemy worked on an elixir to prolong life that developed into chemistry; the other branch grew out of Daoist meditation and pursued a ‘higher’ development, namely, the golden light (wisdom) that can lead to the integration of personality. This is what inspired Jung to spend his later years developing psychological alchemy as the true path to self-knowledge i.e., consciousness distilled from the depths of collective unconsciousness.

Suggested reading:

• Casement, A. (2021) A Critical Appraisal of C.G. Jung’s Psychological Alchemy. In Anthology of Contemporary Theoretical Classics in Analytical Psychology: The New Ancestors. Stefano Carpani (Editor). London: Routledge.
• Solms, M. (2021) The Hidden Spring: A Journey Into the Source of Consciousness. London: Profile Books.

 

May 11, 2024 – Jungian Psychology and 21st Century Socio-Cultural Challenges: Living in a Faustian Age – Paul Bishop

In his seminal study of modernity entitled — with an allusion a phrase in the Communist Manifesto — All That Is Solid Melts into Air (1982), the political theorist Marshall Berman (1940-2013) drew on the works and ideas of Marx, Baudelaire, and Goethe, describing the figure of Faust as a powerful symbol of the “experience of modernity.” Jung would probably have agreed with this assessment; after all, in his commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower he wrote that ‘the Amfortas wound and the Faustian split in the Germanic individual are still not healed’ (CW 13 §70); and in “Paracelsus as a Spiritual Phenomenon” he declared that Paracelsus had been “the prototype of Faust, whom Jacob Burckhardt once called ‘a great primordial image’ in the soul of every German,” adding that “from Faust the line leads direct to Nietzsche, who was a Faustian man if ever there was one” (CW 13 §154).

In this lecture we shall examine Jung’s highly personal relation to Goethe and the different uses he makes of Faust when advancing his own ideas, with a view to gaining insight into how Jung’s thought can contribute to meeting the socio-cultural challenges of the twenty-first century. By reading Jung in the light of his use of Goethe, we are not simply embarking on an academic exercise; rather, we can gain a clearer understanding of Jungian theory, while fresh light is thrown on a canonical work and new interpretative possibilities are opened up. Correspondingly, this lecture will be based on a close reading of select texts and contexts in which Jung makes use of Goethe’s Faust, not simply as an iconic figure in the German cultural tradition, but as an emblem of our own age, too. As Goethe himself once said, “I have often reaped what others have sowed. My work is the work of a collective being that bears the name Goethe” – might the same be said of Jung?

Suggested reading:

• Marshall Berman, All That Is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity (New York: Penguin, 1988)
• Paul Bishop (ed.), A Companion to Goethe’s “Faust”, Parts I and II (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2001).
• Paul Bishop, Analytical Psychology and German Classical Aesthetics: Goethe, Schiller, & Jung, vol. 1, The Development of the Personality, vol. 2, The Constellation of the Self (London and New York: Routledge, 2007-2008).
• Edward F. Edinger, Goethe’s “Faust”: Notes for a Jungian Commentary (Toronto: Inner City Books, 1990).
• Irene Gerber-Münch, Goethe’s Faust: Eine tiefenpsychologische Studie über den Mythos des modernen Menschen [Beiträge zur Psychologie von C.G. Jung, Reihe B, Bd. 6] (Küsnacht: Verlag Stiftung für Jung’sche Psychologie, 1997).
• Goethe, Faust, trans. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Anchor, 1963) [parallel-text edition of German original and English translation of Part One and selected passages from Part Two].
• Goethe, Faust: A Tragedy, ed. Cyrus Hamlin, trans. Walter Arndt, 2nd edn (New York and London: Norton, 2001 [complete translation of Parts One and Two, with extensive critical apparatus and explanatory notes].
• Richard Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that have Shaped Our World View (London: Pimlico, 1996)
• Stephen Y. Wilkerson, A Most Mysterious Union: The Role of Alchemy in Goethe’s “Faust” (Asheville, NC: Chiron, 2018).

 

June 1, 2024 – Cultural Complexes are the expressions of sociopolitical dynamics as events that exists in Plain Sight but are not typically seen as psychic processes. – Sam Kimbles, Ph.D.

Cultural Complexes operating at the group level introduces and opens up an approach to Psyche that contextualize the subject/object duality which typically locate the focus on analytical and clinical work within individuals, interpersonal and family dynamics while decontextualizing individual development . However, Cultural unconscious processes which manifest in sociopolitical and religious dynamics as cultural complexes, shape and alters our subjectivities through cultural traumas, attitudes, beliefs, othering dynamics and their intergenerational histories. These sociogenic factors express themselves through our psychic and emotional suffering. We will reflect on these dynamics through the lens of Phantom Narratives (Psyche’s stories) to understand experiences that exist in plain sight but are not easily perceived as present.

Suggested Reading:

• Kimbles, S. Intergenerational Complexes in Analytical Psychology, The suffering of ghosts, Routledge, 2021
• Cultural Complexes are the expressions of sociopolitical dynamics as events that exists in Plain Sight but are not typically seen as psychic processes. June 1, 2024

 

 

June 29th, 2024 – Jung & The Cultural Complex – Thomas Singer

This course will focus on the cultural complex theory and its application.  The cultural complex theory is an extension of Jung’s original complex theory which had mostly focused on complexes as they appear in individuals.  The extension of the complex theory to cultures has opened up a vital and vast realm for our study of the unconscious psyche as it expresses itself in groups and individuals.  Such processes fuel profound divisions within cultures and between cultures.  The course will give an overview of the development of the theory and several examples from different parts of the world.  Over the past two decades, Tom Singer has authored/edited several books on cultural complexes as they appear around the world.  Individual volumes have been devoted to the study of cultural complexes in Australia, Latin America, Europe, North America and Southeast Asia.  Some 90 Jungian authors have contributed to the series of books as a way to test the validity of the cultural complex hypothesis.

Suggested reading:

• The Cultural Complex: Contemporary Jungian Perspectives on Psyche and Society. Routledge Press, 2004.
• Cultural Complexes and the Soul of America, Routledge Press, 2020
• The Cultural Complex: A Statement of the Theory and Its Application. Psychotherapy and Politics International 4,3 (2006): 197–212.

 

July 13, 2024 – The Balance Sheet: Positive and Negative Aspects of Jungian Analysis – Andrew Samuels

Jung’s work certainly has its ardent supporters and its fierce critics. That is perhaps as it should be. However, it is proving difficult to bring both attacks and defences together in one perspective. To begin with, such an Olympian detachment is itself unlikely to be neutral. Who will be bold enough to put both sides of the case? And how might the job be done?

Without using the formal SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), such an approach is useful. Similarly, the metaphor of the ‘balance sheet’ is also an ingenious way to approach the problem. Will the Jungian project (corporation?) be found to be in a sound state? Or is there a possibility of bankruptcy on the horizon? Listeners will be asked to consider their opinion at the outset of the presentation – and then again at its conclusion.

Regarding the presenter, a similar evaluative exercise might well be conducted. Andrew Samuels is a Jungian analyst and has been since 1974. These days, he is also part of the world of relational psychoanalysis. This he considers to be in the post-Jungian tradition. He developed the term ‘post-Jungian’ in his best-selling book Jung and the Post-Jungians in 1985. In the presentation, he will review the place of Jungian analysis amidst the plethora of contemporary approaches to therapy.

Samuels has also been a prominent critic of what he has called the Jungian ‘ghetto’ mentality, meaning the tendency to preach to the converted, and to accept Jung’s psychological declarations as beyond critique. He has also suggested that Jung was both elitist and unnecessarily esoteric.

Perhaps it is in connection with Jung’s ideas about gender and race that Samuels is best known these days. He has approached Jung’s alleged anti-Semitism in a well-researched way, and has done the same in connection with Jung’s views on ‘Africans’. He has something to say about whether or not these were just the notions of ‘a man of his times’.

Yet, throughout all of this, Samuels retains a profound admiration for what Jung had to say. He has written that the problems that arise over Jung are, nowadays, the problems of the Jungian world. Not really Jung’s problems. Hence, part of the balance sheet is to review and evaluate how the post-Jungians are doing.

And, it must be added, Samuels has decided to engage once more in some necessary self-criticism and reflection.

Suggested Reading:

• Samuels, A. (1985) Jung and the Post-Jungians. London and Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
• Samuels, A. (1989) The Plural Psyche: Personality, Morality and the Father. London and New York: Routledge. Chapter 6 ‘Beyond the feminine principle’.
• Samuels, A. (1993) The Political Psyche. London and New York: Routledge. Chapters 12 and 13 Jung. ‘Anti-semitism and the Nazis’, and ‘Nations, leaders and a psychology of difference’.
• Samuels, A. (2018) ‘Jung and “Africans”: a critical and contemporary review of some of the issues’. Int. J. Jungian Studs. 10:2,  pp. 122-134