Events

The title of this conference, Affect and Action: Psyche in a Time of Crisis acknowledges the current state of the variety of manifest emotional responses globally to the onslaught of crises facing humanity and the centrality of psyche in articulating, holding and acting on these concerns. Ecologically our planet, our home, is undergoing a period of gradual but sustained warming. Our world seems split and in turmoil; hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, floods and drought cause devastation and terrible consequences for human life as New Orleans knows only too well. Cultures and values clash. Numerous countries are positioned in a state of armed international conflict. Economically, life is no more secure. Our world feels fragile. 

How to respond? This is one of the psychological challenges of our age. Jung reminds us that the task of individuation is central in understanding the complexities of our role in the world. 

If we do not fashion for ourselves a picture of the world, we do not see ourselves either, who are faithful reflections of that world. Only when mirrored in our picture of the world can we see ourselves in the round. Only in our creative acts do we step forth into the light and see ourselves whole and complete. Never shall we put any face on the world other than our own, and we have to do this precisely in order to find ourselves. For higher than science or art as an end in itself stands man, the creator of his instruments. Nowhere are we closer to the sublime secret of all origination than in the recognition of our own selves who we always think we know already. Yet we know the immensities of space better than we know our own depths, where – even though we do not understand it – we can listen directly to the throb of creation itself. (CW8: 737 Analytical Psychology and ‘Weltanschauung’ 1928/31) 

In the spirit of listening to the „throb of creation itself‟ and as we attempt to find ourselves reflected in our world, JSSS invites proposals for presentation at this conference. We invite responses that explore “affect,” manifest emotion, and its relationship to “action,” both individually and collectively: personally, in families, as communities, in relation to culture and the arts, politics and science. 

This conference offers an opportunity for multi-disciplinary reflection, investigation and rumination as together we seek to clarify and understand the current state of our world and its affective impact on us