In the midst of the major crisis of his life, what became his confrontation with the unconscious, Jung initially felt his world to be near dissolution. His remarkable courage in engaging the up-welling of unconscious material into which he plunged was profoundly tested, yet served the transformation that made him into who he was to become. Beginning with the fear of madness, risking the dangers of prophecy, Jung finally emerged with an extraordinary new vision of the psyche and the world. A key element of this vision was his formulation of the concept of synchronicity. In this lecture we will track the transformation that led to his emergence from his descent into the unconscious and take this forward into the new cosmological formulation Jung crafted. An examination of the arguments and mythological images Jung used to make these claims will be discussed in order more fully appreciate the radical nature of the bold claims he was making. This will include his vision of the origins of the universe and his contribution to cosmogony as well as cosmology.
Learning Objectives: 2 CEUs available
1.) To develop an understanding of the historical development of the key Jungian concept of synchronicity.
2.) To appreciate the link that was forged between depth psychology and modern physics including in the primary narrative of contemporary cosmogony.
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.
