Dreams as an Avenue to the Unconscious
Morgan Stebbins, MDiv, CSW
10 consecutive Mondays, 7:00 – 8:40 p.m. (excluding April 4, 2005)
Beginning February 28, 2005, ending May 9, 2005
C.G. Jung, in his Seminar on Dream Analysis, describes dream work as the central aspect of the analytical treatment. The use of dreams is “the most important technical means of opening up an avenue to the unconscious.” This avenue allows the vital messages of the unconscious to get through, to influence our conscious attitude and allow the possibility of transformation. This 10-week course will closely examine Jung’s method of dream work and apply it to dreams from Jung’s collected works, from literature, and from more current sources. Learning this method and evaluating Jung’s process with dreams will also help participants gain an appreciation for their own unconscious symbology.
Turning Karma to Dharma
Gary Brown, CSW
5 consecutive Tuesdays, 6:30 – 8:10 p.m.
Beginning March 1, 2005
Conventionally, Jungian analysis is considered “psychological” and Buddhism (Buddha-dharma) “spiritual,” and as such by definition have little if anything to do with each other and even less to do with the body. But in practice, both are deeply involved with the body, and it is within this practical involvement that we can see how these seemingly diverse approaches can inform each other. We will consider the body from the archetypal perspective as the “Posture of Mind.” Then we will turn the Wheel of Life (Karma) into the Wheel of the Dharma via the turning of the Five Poisons into the Five Wisdoms of the Five Buddha Families’ archetypal energies.
Orpheus and Psychopoesis
Sylvester Wojtkowski, Ph.D.
5 consecutive Wednesdays, 6:30 – 8:10 p.m.
Beginning March 2, 2005
When there is a song, it is Orpheus
From Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus, I, 5.
Poetically speaking, poetry is human culture. From the early origins poetry constituted the soul of culture. At the dawn of our tradition is singing musical poetry – the original rap – a spontaneous manifestation of the soul singing itself into being. This eternal singer of the soul both ancients and Reiner Maria Rilke personified as Orpheus. In this course we will explore the psychopoetic language of the soul and the archetype of an eternal poet. We will immerse ourselves in a rich poetic and musical heritage celebrating the mystery of lamenting voice: from Plato, Virgil and Ovid to Malarme and Rilke; from Christoph W. Gluck to Jean Cocteau
Music as a Bridge to the Unconscious
Gary Trosclair, DMA, CSW-R
5 consecutive Wednesdays, 7:00 – 8:40 p.m.
Beginning March 2, 2005
What are the psychological functions of music? Looking through a Jungian lens, music can be seen as a bridge between conscious and unconscious for both individuals and culture. Just as dreams do, music can call our attention to discarded or unacknowledged aspects of the collective unconscious. This course will take a look at a wide variety of musical styles in their cultural contexts in order to explore how music compensates collective imbalances. We will also explore how music may be used or abused in the process of individuation. We will approach our subject matter from many perspectives, ranging from personal emotional experience of the numinous to evolutionary psychology and neuropsychology.
The Air We Breathe: Jung and Postmodern Culture
Brent Nichols, MA, CSW
5 consecutive Thursdays, 7:00 – 8:40 p.m.
Beginning March 3, 2005
Until the end of his life, Jung was very concerned about the direction Western culture was taking. Soon after his death, 43 years ago, we entered a period labeled Postmodernity. From then, seismic shifts in Western life, ranging from those represented in art, literature, and the political sphere to the fundamental ways we communicate with each other, are evident, and it certainly would be interesting to have Jung’s reaction to this world. In this course, we will discuss the nature of some of these changes, as well as the impact of mass media on human interaction and attempt to understand them from a depth psychological perspective.
Spring II: Classes begin week of April 11, 2005 unless otherwise indicated.
The Archetype of Empathy: Its Role in Advancing our Lives and Careers
David Rottman, MA
5 consecutive Mondays, 7:00 – 8:40 p.m.
Beginning April 11, 2005
Although Jung’s writings on empathy are not extensive, the topic is fundamental to the application of all of his work. Empathy has unmatched power to transform our experience of ourselves and others, of life and work. In this course, we will explore the dimensions of empathy, and discuss many examples that reveal how meaning and creative living are brought about by empathy. Class members will be encouraged to bring examples from their own lives.
The Archetype of War
Sylvester Wojtkowski, Ph.D.
5 consecutive Wednesdays, 6:30 – 8:10 p.m.
Beginning April 13, 2005
War is the father of all things
— Heraclitus, Fragment 44
Psyche is the mother of all human facts;
of civilization and of its destroyer, war.
— C. G. Jung, CW 9i, p. 116.
History is a chronicle of wars. As long as humans existed they existed in a diversity of tribes, clans, cultures, countries, nations, civilizations that have been in conflict with one another. Founding works of many cultures are stories of war: Iliad, Mahabharata and Bible. In last decades, exhausted after the XX century world wars, we have been engaged even in “waging” peace only with the dawn of the new century to embrace an interminable war on terror. War thoroughly penetrated our imagination. Even our root metaphors for illness from archaic cultures (invasion of demonic, and spiritual projectiles ceaselessly defended by magicians and shamans) to present (immune system wages war against invasions of viruses and bacteria) come from war. Mythopoetic expression of psyche is filled with images of conflict, violence destruction and warfare. In the course we will examine the archetypal dimension of war.
Divine Play: The Mythology of the Hindu God Krishna
Timothy Gus Kiley
4 consecutive Thursdays, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Beginning April 14, 2005 (Note: Four 2-hour sessions)
Krishna is one of the most popular and alluring deities of the Hindu pantheon. Through slide-illustrated lecture and discussion, this course will plumb the mythic and psychological themes of Krishna’s delightful yet profound story: the merging of human and divine love, the embodiment of the divine in nature, the use of beauty as a divine lure, the testing of the soul that aspires toward god, and the significance of divine play. The course will also touch on the many ways in which the story has been expressed and experienced in India: in the visual arts, poetry, music, drama, ritual, and, above all, in the storied landscape of Braj, an area in northern India sacred to Krishna and the center of his worship today.
FACULTY
Gary Brown, MSW, CSW, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in New York City and Rhinebeck, NY. He is a graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York and a past president of the Mid-Hudson Jung Society. He is also a teacher of Buddhist meditation.
Timothy Gus Kiley received a master’s degree in religion from Harvard University and is a former associate publisher of Parabola Magazine. He has had a life-long interest in world mythology and has a particular interest in Hindu mythology.
Brent Nichols, MA, CSW, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in New York City and a graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York.
Morgan Stebbins, M.Div., C.S.W., is a Jungian analyst in private practice in New York City and a graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York. He has led seminars at the University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University.
David Rottman, MA, is Individual Advancement Practice Executive and Manager of Career Services at JP Morgan Chase. He is on the faculty and board of the C.G. Jung Foundation and holds a Masters degree in Applied Psychology from New York University.
Gary Trosclair, DMA, CSW-R, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Westchester and Manhattan, and is graduate of The C.G. Jung Institute of New York. He performed music professionally for twenty years and taught music at the State University of New York and The City University of New York.
Sylvester Wojtkowski, PhD, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in New York City. He is a founding member of the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association. He is a graduate of the New School for Social Research and the C.G. Jung Institute of New York