Hi everyone,
How would you all like to proceed for the Panel Disussion/Webinar this Saturday, June 20?
In light of lots of conversations that have been taking place both during the Admin Board Call and also the Discovering DP as a Vocation group, I thought--and it has been suggested by others—that we move toward a discussion around some of the following topics. These are just ideas--please add yours below, or say if you think we should NOT use any of these.
We also need a plan for how to manage the live chat on the site and the 6 video positions that are open at any given time. Please reply and state if you plan to be on chat only, audio only or video and we'll start working out a system.
If you have ideas on how to structure the event, add them as well. Last time I asked the 6 of you who were on the call (5 on video, one on the phone) to say something about how you discovered depth psychology and then we kind of randomly answered questions. It worked, but we may have a bigger group this time, and should we go linearly in the beginning or can we rely on you all to just speak up when a topic or question appeals?
POTENTIAL TOPICS
Is there a need to re-vision depth psychology and is that even possible?
How has the history of DP led us to where we are? Who are the pioneers that are pushing the boundaries and how are they doing it?
What might depth psychology as a movement look like and what would be the benefit?
How might Depth Alliance be more of an activist community that can take depth psychology "to the streets"?
What does taking DP to the streets even mean, and what might it look like?
What does it mean to follow depth psychology as a vocation?
What can DP do to meet the deepest soul stirrings of the individual who is called to individuation?
How can we collaborate more in the community and share more opportunities to live our individual and collective passions?
As a reminder, the event is posted under "Events" here in the Alliance, or the public page is at http://www.depthinsights.com/events/panel-what-is-depth-psychology-series-depth-psychology-alliance-june2015.html
Replies
Loved this process - thank you Bonnie and all for a rich conversation...D
Thank you all for this. It was a very rich and timely conversation. With Sun/Mars conjunction, it is a good time for action. Great discussions and involvement and much food for thought and contemplation. I am honoured to be a part of this group. :-)
I think if we want depth psychology to be relevant, to discuss how it is important in these times, we must discuss what has happened this week.
Agreed Donna. The events of Charleston are of course a deep and painful call from the unconscious to tend the shadow within us, to confront the unconscious and to begin the work of teaching depth and not division.
A great part of this ongoing teaching for me comes from work with the shadow and its projections: teaching the psychological reality of projection, the dangers of ignoring the shadow and opportunities when facing the shadow.
Thank you Jesse for speaking from your heart.
Well, of course, your professor was right in the sense that intellectuals will always criticize people who actually 'do' something. Moore has been greatly underestimated. He is very practical (and pastoral), and he is extremely intelligent and is well grounded in solid theory. He started out as an Adlerian analyst, and that alone put him at odds with many Jungians. He also draws a lot from Anthony Stevens' work, and Stevens is another person who is not popular with many fundamentalist Jungians. This is particularly odd, since Stevens is really the only person who has done any work that actually puts many of Jung's ideas on a solid scientific basis. Some of Robert Moore's best work has never been published and is only available through his recorded lectures. Even so, his KWML work is very practical and useful, especially as a diagnostic tool. He has also published a wonderful collection on the archetype of initiation (drawing on a lot of anthropological work), and another that integrates Self Psychology and Jungian theory. Speaking of anthropology, Robert Moore actually put together a conference in Chicago in the early 80s with the great anthropologist Victor Turner, where Turner presented a paper coming out in support of Jungian psychology (specifically Anthony Stevens) as representing the direction that anthropologists should be moving toward. An extraordinary paper coming from the classic theorist on ritual, published just before he died.
I agree, Brent…it strikes me as an odd repetition of what Jung objected to with Freud. In many ways it’s become a closed system that does not allow new information to enter the system, at least, not easily. There are some notable exceptions. I think Anthony Stevens’ work with integrating ethology, neuroscience and evolutionary psychology is one. Also, Robert Moore in his later work integrates a lot of self-psychology, Theodore Millon and biosocial diagnostics, and Murray Bowen and family systems theory. Mainstream Jungians, though, are often as you say fundamentalists, which is a shame.
Wonderfully said, James! Yes, and I hope I pointed out that it wasn't across the board -- that itself would be a fundamentalist statement haha -- and that it doesn't only apply to the Jungians. I agree with what you're saying and especially appreciate you adding Millon to your list -- a *very bright* scientist who, in his own way, was able to tie in many strands of thinking. Anyway, thanks James!
I can not make the call tomorrow, but I like so much the way you are all taking these questions of activism, movement and what's next--what can we do, what can be done--with our calling to depth outside the consulting room, in the streets, on the land, in these times. The energy is palpable, inspired and inspiring! Thank you all for digging in with so much heart and walking the talk. Both ways of being you have no doubt always carried as workers in this field (digging and walking!), but now bringing it so alive in this unique educational community and in conversation feels rich and deeply opportune.
Thanks James. It's struck me that a lot of Jungian psychology -- and it's certainly not limited to Jungian psychology -- tends to just do the 'first half of life' stuff over and over again, basically failing to mature past it. A word for doing the first half over and over is 'fundamentalism'. Usually this takes the form of repeating historical data, quotes, rules, etc. The 'second half of life' material involves the maturation past this to ask what the quotes, rules, etc. mean today and moving forward. Said differently, there is a certain irony in the field of psychology that introduced the notion of 'individuation', not doing so (for the most part).
Three things that I personally need to remember when thinking about taking DP to the streets:
1. I need to always try to speak to people in terms that they understand.
2. Progress for the people that I encounter in this effort will be the result of an awakening in them from within – not from an accumulation of knowledge and information given to them by me or anyone else.
3. With the above in mind, asking pertinent questions may be more useful than providing people with ready-made answers. If the process truly involves an awakening from within, then helping others to formulate new questions for themselves, and to reframe situations that they are facing, may help them to discover for themselves the answers that suit them best. This will be more empowering for them, and more authentic for me.
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