Dr Kaye Gersch PhD
kayegersch.​com
psychoanalytic psychotherapist | clinical supervisor | couples therapist
Jung Zoom Study Group 2020. How shall we go forward?
How shall we go forward?
What can a Jung discussion and study Group bring to participants who are living in a world in upheaval and transition?
My own sense of it is that we need to be nimble and consider each new challenge as it arises.
For instance, I am about to begin a dream group here in Dubbo, and many people dream about climate change and the threat to our stability and security. What do we do when our earth mother is apparently unreliable? Not forgetting that the human population has paid scant heed to her needs though those needs paradoxically also nourish us?
Over the holidays I read, "Pauli and Jung: the meeting of two great minds" by David Lindhorff. I just happened to have this languishing in my bookshelf. Pauli, a physicist, and Jung a Depth Psychologist, looked at issues from physical and psychological perspectives.
Pauli, when considering the passion for scientific discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, said, "The passion broke through the barriers between different human activities and brought into the most intimate connection things formerly separated, such as empirical observation and mathematics, manual techniques and thought, art and science." Pauli was writing in about 1955.
I believe that we cannot afford to look at any aspect of life in isolation; this is a version of Jung's rule that we must avoid one-sidedness. So, for instance looking at burning to prevent catastrophic bushfires. There are other avenues to take as well. There is no panacea. There is no simple answer. Watch Walter Jehne the Australian soil scientist, or listen to "What price nature?" on Big Ideas.
I quote Pauli here because things are massively stirred up now. He questioned the wisdom of a modern science that empowers human beings to rule over nature. He asks, is this power of science over nature in fact evil?
One example of the resolution of opposites which particularly interested both Pauli and Jung, was "the dream of psycho-physical unity." This means the understanding that how and what we think (consciously and unconsciously) and the physical world are irretrievably linked. Dreams demonstrate how these two worlds are linked. I'm particularly excited about working with my new dream group in this time of change!
In order to look at our trouble with the climate, politics and social issues, we need to look into the psyche of human kind, into our own psyches. As Jung said, late in his life; "The future of the planet hangs on a single thread and that is the psyche of man".
I'm looking forward to a year of crucial discussions. Please bring your best self to these meetings, your most penetrating questions and deepest insights.
I have no programme organized; I drew the I Ching on the direction for the group this year and was advised to "be prepared to be nudged and guided". I will send challenging and inspiring information, from which topics will arise.
What do you think?
The Group is YOU! Looking forward to your committed participation.
Warmest wishes,
Kaye
Koalas pull on our heart-strings and so they should. They stimulate our impulse to protect both the creatures and the environment of those creatures. As human being, we share the same creatureliness. We are equally vulnerable, and need the same care and protection.