We will begin by exploring the application of complexity theory, developed in the late 20th century, to Jungian concepts such as archetypes and synchronicity. The role of the psychoid layer of archetypal reality will be explored from this vantage point and applied first to recent research in ecological systems. Participants will have some opportunities to discuss their own experiences to enrich personal comprehension of these ideas. Then we will look at a number of examples from the history of culture where artisans or artists were able to represent profound knowledge of highly complex natural phenomena well ahead of any scientific understanding. These will guide us towards the articulation of the psychoid imagination-audio-visual materials will aid participants in entering these experiences.
This workshop ends at 2:30pm with a half hour lunch break. Please bring something for lunch.
Learning Objectives: 4 CEUs available
1.) To understand the value of reformulating concepts from Analytical Psychology in terms of contemporary complexity theory.
2.) To develop an appreciation of the notion of the psychoid archetype, both historically and in modern applications such as ecological systems.
3.) To reevaluate the capacity of some artists to give representation to profound, though hidden aspect of reality through their art.
Speaker biography:
Joseph Cambray is CEO-President, and Provost at Pacifica Graduate Institute. He is also past President of the International Association for Analytical Psychology; he has served as the U.S. Editor for the Journal of Analytical Psychology and is on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Analytical Psychology, The Jung Journal: Culture and Psyche, and Israel Annual of Psychoanalytic Theory, Research and Practice. He has been a faculty member at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, Center for Psychoanalytic Studies; adjunct faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Dr. Cambray is a Jungian analyst in Boston and Providence, RI. His numerous publications include the book based on his Fay Lectures: Synchronicity: Nature and Psyche in an Interconnected Universe and a volume edited with Linda Carter, Analytical Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives in Jungian Psychology. Some of his recent papers include: “Cosmos and Culture in the Play of Synchronicity,” Spring Journal, Jungian Odyssey Series, 4, 133-147, 2012; “Jung, science, and his legacy,” in International Journal of Jungian Studies, 3:2, 110-124, 2011; and “Moments of complexity and enigmatic action: a Jungian view of the therapeutic field,” in Journal of Analytical Psychology, 56 (2) 296-309, 2011.
