The Bible as Deep Psyche
5 consecutive Mondays, 6:20 – 8:00 pm.
(Note start time)
Beginning February 26, 2007
Instructor: Morgan Stebbins, MDiv, LMSW
Jung provocatively reminds us that all scripture is archaic truth, but also that it is best to fully plumb our own tradition before sampling the smorgasbord of exotic religions. For many of us in the west, the text of archaic truth is the Bible. But it is much maligned, seen as boring to some, fundamental to others, mere literature to a third, or irrelevant superstition to the science-minded. For Jung, however, it is true, every word �?but as the structure of our psyche! Let us explore some well known (and a few lesser-known) passages in a new way. As we look at creation, the garden, Abraham, the birth of the Christ and his Passion, we will learn how to read a text as a mythologem as well as to see what new light emerges from the depths of our own tradition.
How to Stay Sane in an Insane World:
Insights from Psychoanalysis and Buddhism
5 consecutive Mondays, 7:00 – 8:40 pm.
Beginning February 26, 2007
Instructor: Jeffrey B. Rubin, Ph.D.
In the terrifying and bewildering days since 9/11, literally millions of Americans have been afflicted with feelings of anguish and rage, despair and powerlessness. In this course — a combination of lecture, dialogue, and experiential exercises drawn from the psychotherapeutic, meditative and yogic traditions — we will draw on Jung, Freud, Ferenczi, the Buddha, Patanjali, Winnicott, Rycroft and Milner, in order to illuminate how to stay sane in an insane time. We will learn how to: open and turn toward life instead of tightening and turning away; approach fear and pain with grace and dignity; access the beauty in the world and the creativity within; learn the difference between genuine self-care and false substitutes; balance altruism and self-care; bring more spirituality into our lives; and feel more sanity and fulfillment.
Art, Image and Psyche
5 consecutive Tuesdays, 6:30 – 8:10 pm.
Beginning February 27, 2007
Instructor: Sylvester Wojtkowski, PhD
“That is art, [said] ‘the woman within [Jung]’.” [Jung replied]: “No, it is not art! On the contrary, it is nature.”
— C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections
Throughout his life, Jung held an ambivalent relationship to art. On the one hand, he believed that a “work of art is clearly not a symptom but a genuine creation” — he had frequently used poems both to arrive at psychological insights and to amplify them and furthermore praised poetry for “much psychology … hidden in [it].” On the other hand, he tended to psychologize art and reduce it to the realm of aesthetic experience. Yet, he also famously asserted that “image is psyche.” In this course, we will critically examine Jung’s understanding of art and image and its importance for psyche.
Kundalini Yoga
8 consecutive Wednesdays, 6:00 – 7:40 pm.
Beginning February 28, 2007
(Note special tuition for 8-week course)
Instructor: Carolyn Sundstrom, M.A., LPC, LP
Indian philosophy is namely the interpretation given to the precise condition of the non-ego, which affects our personal psychology, however independent from us it remains. It sees the aim of human development as bringing about an approach to and connection between the specific nature of the non-ego and the conscious ego. Tantra yoga then gives a representation of the condition and the developmental phases of this impersonality, as it itself in its own way produces the light of a higher suprapersonal consciousness.
— C.G. Jung, The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga
Constant and independent contentment is the sign of a being who has attained That. When a seeker becomes worthy of attaining the Absolute, his mind becomes unshakable and contented … Then one has attained Siddhahood. One is awarded the highest certificate from the Siddha university. O friend, make sure that you get the right certificate.
— Swami Muktananda
In his introduction to Jung’s The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga, Sonu Shamdasani tells us that “the emergence of depth psychology was historically paralleled by the translation and widespread dissemination of the texts of yoga.” By 1912, Jung had included passages from the Upanishads with psychological interpretations in his Symbols of Transformation, marking the potential for new (to the West) maps of inner experience, new ways of understanding our own psychology through the lens that Eastern experience provided. For the next thirty-odd years, Jung continued to grapple actively with this material, the apex of which were a series of lectures on kundalini he gave to the Psychological Club in Zurich and papers he wrote such as Yoga and the West (1936), The Psychology of Eastern Meditation (1948), and The Holy Men of India (1944).
In this seminar, we will begin with a glance at the Upanishads Jung was reading when he quoted them in his Symbols of Transformation before moving on to his The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga. Concurrent with this, we will read about the chakras in the works of Swami Satyanada Saraswati, Harish Johari, and Swami Muktananda, so as to more fully consider Jung’s pronouncement that “what has emerged from the Eastern spirit is based upon the peculiar history of that mentality, which is most fundamentally not ours.” Instead, Jung hoped that “in the centuries to come the West will produce its own yoga and it will be on the basis laid down by Christianity.”
Women Who Run with the Wolves:
Reconnecting with the Wild Woman Archetype
5 consecutive Wednesdays, 7:00 – 8:40 pm.
Beginning February 28, 2007
Instructor: Jane Selinske, EdD, LCSW, NCPsyA
“Within every woman there is a wild and natural creature, a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. Her name is Wild Woman, but she is an endangered species.�? Women Who Run with the Wolves is a book that nourishes our souls. Clarissa Pinkola Estes uses multicultural myths and folk tales to help woman connect with the Wild Woman Archetype, which then reconnects women to their creative power, passion and joy. Using the myths and folk tales in the book along with creative exploration and group discussion, this course will explore various ways women can reclaim their soul self and reconnect to the riches of their dreams and the Wild Woman Archetype. Whether you read this book last month, ten years ago, were in a discussion group at one time or are currently drawn to the text, this course will connect you to your wild woman archetypal core.
Reading the book prior to the opening of class is highly recommended.
Beyond Words:
Self-Discovery through Journaling in Images
5 consecutive Thursdays, 6:30 – 8:10 pm
Beginning March 1, 2007
Instructor: Barbara Barry
Many individuals who strive for a greater self-knowledge keep journals, which are most often recorded in written language. However, Jung was particularly attuned to the place images play in the life of the psyche, telling us that “the psyche consists essentially of images … full of meaning and purpose.�? This class is instructive and experiential. Participants will learn techniques for eliciting images and how to give them visual expression using a simple painting approach in journal form. They will also learn ways to break through creative blocks and work in a spontaneous manner. No art experience or skill is necessary, only the desire to explore how a journal beyond words can enrich one’s life. Materials fee: $30 for those who have not taken the previous course.
Spring II: Classes begin week of April 16, 2007
Finding One’s Voice through Dreams, Reverie and Imagination
5 consecutive Mondays, 7:00 – 8:40 pm
Beginning April 16, 2007
Instructor: Diane Fremont, L.C.S.W.
In 1921, during his analysis with Jung, Herman Hesse wrote that, fundamentally, the objective of the analytic process was “to create an internal space in which God’s voice can be heard.” In this course we will explore, both theoretically and experientially, the concept of how that internal space is found and/or created, both in the analytic encounter and in the creative process. We will begin by examining the mythological and alchemical figure of Mercurius, who ascends and descends, thereby encompassing the functions of both separating and conjoining, as well as creating, through his movements back and forth, a “third” space, in between, which represents not a compromise, but something altogether new. His duplex, slippery nature embodies the qualities of paradoxical simultaneity and quicksilver movement that characterize dreams, reverie and imagination. Informed by this “mercurial” attitude, we will explore and engage with each of these inner processes through experiential exercises, in order to access that space in which we can begin to hear, and eventually speak from, our true voice.
Image, Psyche and Individuation
5 consecutive Tuesdays, 6:30 – 8:10 pm.
Beginning April 17, 2006
Instructor: Sylvester Wojtkowski, PhD
What else is individuation but particularization of the soul.
— James Hillman, A Blue Fire
This how he grows: by being defeated, decisively,
By constantly greater things.
— Reiner Maria Rilke, The Man Watching
Jung defined individuation as becoming “in-divisible” and becoming “who we are.” In this process “ego” has to develop a relationship to “non-ego” images. We will approach individuation as “differentiation of imagination” (James Hillman) and as “individuation of the angel” (Henri Corbin). We will explore the unfolding of images in the process of individuation, through material provided by the poetry of Reiner Maria Rilke, using his poems as an imaginal text through which individual expression reveals its grounds in the collective psyche.
Dream Stream
5 consecutive Thursdays 6:00 – 7:40 pm.
Beginning April 19, 2007
Instructor: Gary Brown, MSW, CSW
We usually think of dream work as the exploration of one dream. Yet dreams actually occur in a living stream in the psyche, a dream stream. In this course, we will look at dreams from the perspective of this flow: how the symbolic images within this stream reappear and change from dream to dream and how this transformation relates to both the unconscious and the conscious mind and life of the dreamer. Jung followed the symbolic process in his groundbreaking book Symbols of Transformation. We will continue on the path he showed by tracking several series of dreams, from the dreams presented by the famous Nobel physicist, Wolfgang Pauli, to those of other clients in Analytical Psychology. This perspective opens us to the reality of the psyche and the depth perspective of the Dreamer within us all, the “Two-Million-Year-Old Man.”
Objective Psyche
5 consecutive Thursdays, 7:00 – 8:40 pm
Beginning April 19, 2007
Instructor: Steven Hart, MA
In this course we will discover key sources of personal and social orientation in C.G. Jung’s “objective psyche,” gaining experience in “reading” objective psyche as an important element in individual and collective thought and action. Jung believed that psyche is both private and external presence and that objective psyche governs behavior, impinging on us from within subtle and complex systems. Objective psyche must be included in the fullest consideration of what it is to be human. The course sheds light on the possibilities within the resonant exterior places of our psychological life and the unconscious social world and its significant forms. In understanding this process, we build community in claiming areas of unified imagination. We will explore these issues relevantly by posing such questions as: What if culture is psyche, and post-9/11, what are the implications? What can recent insights into language and cognitive science tell us about the collective unconscious and the archetypal world? How can we better adapt to the psychic spaces in which we live? The course will employ lecture, discussion, individual and group process, and reading and writing assignments.
[return to top]
FACULTY
Barbara Barry is a visual artist, teacher, and the creator of Art for Self-Discovery studio programs. She has presented at William Patterson University, the C.G. Jung Foundation, and the Innovation Masters Symposium at Lucent Technologies, among others. [Class description]
Gary Brown, MSW, CSW, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in New York City and Rhinebeck, New York. 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. [class description]
Diane Fremont, LCSW, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in New York City. She is a graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York and has lectured in the Jung Foundation’s Continuing Education discussion forum. [Class description]
Steven Hart, MA, is a practicing therapist and holds a master’s degree in depth psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, CA, and an interdisciplinary degree from Charter Oak College in psychology, business, and literature. He is on the faculty of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. [Class description]
Jeffrey B. Rubin, Ph.D., is an integrator of the Western psychotherapeutic and Eastern meditative traditions. He has lectured throughout the country and has written three books, including Psychotherapy and Buddhism and The Good Life. He teaches at the Westchester Institute for Training in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy and has taught at The Postgraduate Center for Mental Health, Union Theological Seminary, Goddard College, and Yeshiva University. [Class description]
Jane Selinske, Ed.D., LCSW, MT-BC, NCPsyA, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in New Jersey, a certified teacher and trainer of Mandala Assessment, and a Board Certified Music Therapist. [Class description]
Morgan Stebbins, MDiv, LMSW, 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. [Class description]
Carolyn Sundstrom, M.A., LPC, LP, is a licensed analyst in New York and a licensed professional Counselor with a practice in Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York, Temple University and Rider University (Counseling Services). She has taught in the Jung Foundation’s Advanced Seminars. [Class description]
Sylvester Wojtkowski, PhD., is a Jungian analyst and clinical psychologist in private practice in New York City. He received his doctorate from the New School for Social Research. [Class description: Session 1; Session 2 ]
[return to top]