Public Semester Program
Spring 2023

For Jung, the absence of meaning plays a crucial role in the aetiology of neurosis. “A psychoneurosis must be understood, ultimately, as the suffering of a soul which has not discovered its meaning.” CW 11, §497

Jung held that to encounter and accept our shadow, “the thing we have no wish to be” (CW 16, §470), is fundamental to the process of individuation, to becoming whole. In this lecture we will explore the concept of the shadow as bringer of the light. We will follow the analytical journey of a young woman and examine her encounter with a striking shadow figure that appeared in her initial dream and followed her throughout. We witness the healing and opening to new creative life bestowed upon her, in part, through her courageous encounter with the shadow.

An examination into and sharing of Jung’s varied thoughts on ethics, through which we will attempt to identify cohesive conclusions. In particular, we will contemplate the role of the Self along with possible implications for personal and collective individuation.

The mysterious union of masculine and feminine has been described as the sacred marriage, the hieros gamos, or the coniunctio. It portrays the uniting of what Jung described as “impossible” opposites, an event finding its highest value in the embrace of the divine or royal couple. Behind this sublime experience lies a dark suffering. The exiled soul longs to unite with consciousness, at times depicted as the Bride’s anguished yearning for the return of her Bridegroom. Jung called this process the “suffering of becoming conscious”. We will explore the meaning of this ineffable mystery.

In this lecture we look at different origins and meanings of the Topos Apocalypse in religion, myth, arts and science. And we reflect on psychological reactions ranging from fear to fascination.

Can we find any meaning to death? In this course I will review myths, legends and anthropological material on this elusive subject. I will discuss patients’ dreams and visions concerning death and a future life. Reflecting on Jung’s attitude to death, I will end with questions that hopefully will stimulate us to revision our notions on death and rebirth.

After a review of the psychoid archetype and the collective unconscious, we will look closely at Jung’s collaboration with Wolfgang Pauli and the theory as presented in Jung’s 1952 article “On Synchronicity.” Many Jungian authors have contributed to the literature on synchronicity. We will look at Roderick Main, Victor Mansfield, and a spectrum of others. There will be time for discussion.

Schizophrenia remains one of the most mysterious and devastating of mental disorders.
This lecture will explore Jung’s concept of schizophrenia and clinical approaches to diagnosis and treatment.
I will illustrate the anguish of the sufferer through the memoir of an Irishman, Anthony Scott: Is that me? My Life with Schizophrenia.

For the alchemists, Mercurius was a light in the darkness. He was the beginning and the end of the alchemical process, dreadful, terrifying and demonic, but also “the philosophic gold, the carbuncle ... the light of lights”. In a thus-far untranslated alchemical text from the 16th century Mercurius appears as a dragon in a fiery mountain, who must be healed of a terrible restlessness. This is done by a remedy consisting of various plants. The lecture looks at Mercurius as a restless dragon, as well as his meaning in our time. It also speaks about his healing by creating the right remedy.

With a view to history, art, and mythology, the psychology of Jung and others, the god Dionysus will be explored on both individual and collective levels.
Contemporary phenomena, as well as dreams from analysands, will illustrate the dynamisms of complexes and the archetype embodied and imagined in Dionysus. Dionysus is a trans-rational god, whose origins and history of trauma can tell us much about ourselves and our wounded relationship with instinct, feeling, and the environment.

The lecture presents the medical background of the modern classification of depression, anxiety disorders and reactions to stressful events (acute stress reaction, PTSD, adjustment disorder), including the contemporary context (pandemic, fear of war, fear of economic crisis, etc.) Treatment options, also on the basis of case examples, will be presented, with special attention given to psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Discussion with participants about their professional experiences in this context is planned.

** This course has been cancelled. **

How may mourning the “big griefs” which disrupt our lives and the “little griefs” of everyday life serve and empower our journey to healing, growth, and authenticity? How may we facilitate the capacity to mourn and begin to process the rupture, suffering, and change that loss entails? We will explore the dynamics of mourning in the service of individuation.

** This course has been cancelled. **

Is individuation possible for a narcissistically disturbed person? What are the psychological barriers and how can they be overcome? Using case studies, we will look at possible paths in therapy.

The Mother Complex and the Father Complex and their archetypal roots form the basis of the images of masculine and feminine in the adult personality. This lecture explores how these archetypal dominants may be met in myths and how they may change in the course of analysis.

Based on passages from Proust’s In Search of Lost Time and Jung’s illuminating insights on memories and imagination, I will be addressing the value of “listening to memory” in order to further the individuation process and understand its prospective meaning and purpose.

Jung prophesied a great future to Music Therapy, but thinking about the accoustic level of reality as a world of symbols and archetypes is comparatively rare in the Jungian literature. This subject is presented from different theoretical aspects and with practical examples and experiences.