Carl Jung was deeply concerned about the environment and believed a Western paradigm shift was necessary to avert a disaster. Jung coined the terms “new age” and “age of Aquarius” for the paradigm shift, envisioning an age of greater feminine energy, the emergence of new spiritual forms, and people experiencing an ensouled world — an eco-consciousness. The new paradigm will have an ecological basis at all levels, beginning with an ecological concept of the psyche as Jung described it.
It will incorporate a greater psychological awareness and major changes in our educational systems. These and other elements will be explored as Jungian contributions to the developing field of ecopsychology, which examines how our attitudes, values, perceptions and behaviors affect our relationship with the environment.
Dennis Merritt, LCSW, PhD, grew up on a small dairy farm in Wisconsin, hence the title of his four volumes of The Dairy Farmer's Guide to the Universe: Jung, Hermes, and Ecopsychology. He discovered Jung while working on a doctorate in entomology (insects) in Berkeley in late sixties and went on to train at the Jung Institute in Zurich.
Dr. Merritt is in private practice as a Jungian psychoanalyst and sandplay therapist in Madison and Milwaukee, and is a pioneer in the developing field of ecopsychology. View his blog on The Hunger Games from a Jungian, political, and environmental perspective (JungianEcopsychology.com) and his website (ecojung.com) with several articles on sense of place from a Jungian perspective.
CEUs available.
Cost for event: $30
When: Friday, October 10, 7-9pm
Location: CG Jung Center, Evanston, IL
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