THE JUNGIAN THE JUNGIAN MYSTERY SCHOOL MYSTERY SCHOOL OVERVIEWPROGRAMME OVERVIEW 26 JUNE 2021 Opening panel Murray Stein, Ann Chia-Yi Li, Roderick Main 3 JULY 2021 The Mystical Self in Jungian Psychology Prof. Leslie Stein 10 JULY 2021 Synchronicity and Mystical Experience Prof. Roderick Main 17 JULY 2021 Where the Golden Flower is Blooming: The Resonances of Daoist Alchemy and Jungian Psychology Ann Chia-Yi Li, MA 24 JULY 2021 The 10 Ox-herding pictures: How to Understand the Symbolic Meaning of This Famous Zen-Buddhist Picture Series Paul Brutsche, PhD 31 JULY 2021 Imagining the Imaginal: Jung and Corbin on the Imagination Tom Cheetham, PhD 7 AUGUST 2021 Jung and the Evolution of God: Christ, Abraxas, Phanes and the Coming New Aeon Dr. Lance S. Owens, MD 15 AUGUST 2021 Androgyneity in Kabbalah and Psychoanalysis Prof. Moshe Idel 21 AUGUST 2021 Beyond Night and Day: Parmenides on Being Prof. Dylan Futter 28 AUGUST 2021 Jung’s Mysticism: Living between Realms John Hill, MA 4 SEPTEMBER 2021 “An Opening in the Hedgerow”: Women’s Mysticism in the Christian Late Middle Ages Maria Grazia Calza, PhD 11 SEPTEMBER 2021 Jungian Psychology and the Alchemical Imagination Prof. Stanton Marlan, Ph.D., ABPP, FABP 18 SEPTEMBER 2021 Jung, India, and the Mysteries: The Origins of Eranos and Jung’s Indian Sources All Collins, PhD 25 SEPTEMBER 2021 Mysterium Coniunctionis: Jung’s Visionary Testament Murray Stein, PhD A few live lecture times may vary depending on the time zone of the presenter, however most lectures will be held on Saturdays from 17h00 to 19h00 BST (GMT +1). All lectures will be recorded for later viewing. Applications and reading material will be distributed every Monday. VISIT REGISTRATION PAGE ABSTRACTS Jungian Psychology and the Mystical Tradition Opening panel discussion with Murray Stein, Ann Chia-Yi Li, Roderick Main Welcome and moderation by Stephen Anthony Farah, HOD, Centre for Applied Jungian Studies The Mystical Self in Jungian Psychology Presented by Prof. Leslie Stein In most schools of psychology, the common term “self” refers to an integration of thoughts. William James explains: “What we mean by personal selves are thoughts connected as we feel them to be connected.” Jung however had a diferent concept of the Self as that which lies at the centre of psyche and is beyond ego consciousness. Its mystery gives it a transcendent quality and he compared it to the Hindu Atman, an aspect of the divine that dwells within us. It is the realisation of that mysterious Self within us, and observing that Self in all things, that is the goal of Jungian psychoanalysis. Synchronicity and Mystical Experience Presented by Prof. Roderick Main Jung developed the principle of synchronicity—acausal connection through meaning—as an attempt to broaden what he considered to be the unnecessarily restrictive and culturally deleterious understanding of science prevalent in his day. Although not a primary focus of Jung’s writings on synchronicity, one phenomenon that such restrictive science seems particularly unsuited to explain is m ystical experience. In this lecture, we shall consider what role Jung’s concept of synchronicity can play in accoun ting for mystical experiences. We shall first tease out some of the conceptual implications of synchronicity and then, in light of these implications, shall examine the mystical experiences Jung himself underwent following his heart attack in 1944, as recounted in Chapter 10 of Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Where the Golden Flower is Blooming: The Resonances of Daoist Alchemy and Jungian Psychology Presented by Ann Chia-Yi Li, MA Jung encountered the Daoist treatise The Secret of the Golden Flower in 1928. He claimed that this treatise gave him the undreamed-of confirmation on his understandings about the circumambulation of the center and mandala. However, Jung did not explain further how the content of this treatise resonates with his thoughts. In this presentation, we will start with a short introduction on the background of this Daoist treatise The Secret of the Golden Flower, and on Jung's encounter with this Chienes tex t. We will mainly focus on the phenomenon of 'circumambulating the center.' These four images, which were placed into this text, will be taken as examples to formulate the Jungian individuation process in terms of Daoist alchemy. We will retranslate and clarify specific Daoist alchemy terminologies to help support the arguments. The 10 Ox-herding pictures: How to Understand the Symbolic Meaning of This Famous Zen-Buddhist Picture Series Presented by Paul Brutsche, PhD The 10 Ox-herding pictures illustrate the Zen-Buddhist path of awakening. They go back to an 800-year-old pictorial tradition and show the basic ideas of Buddhi sm in a very simple way. They represent the basic program of a spiritual path of experience. In the lecture we will study the 10 plates very carefully with the intention of translating their pictorial mn ea ing into modern language. By using Jungian picture interpretation we may discover that these pictures speak to us deeply in spite of their great distance of time, culture and religion. Imagining the Imaginal: Jung and Corbin on the Imagination Presented by Tom Cheetham, PhD Henry Corbin, C. G. Jung both place the Imagination at the center of human life. And yet their styles and orientations difer, sometimes radically. Understanding their diferencess i important because our fundamental assump tions about the nature and function of the Imagination afect how we in fact imagine and how we conceive of and interpret our imaginings. In 1949 Corbin made his first appeartance the Eranos a Conference. Jung was the dominant figure there until his death in 1961. Corbin, who would in 1954 replace Louis Massignon as Professor of Islam and the Religions of Arabia at the Sorbonne, was invited in his place, and from 1949 until his death in 1978 he was a speaker at almost every Eranos Conference. In this talk we will explore some of the basic diferences in their approach to the nature and function of the imagination and how these might afect our own practice. Jung and the Evolution of God: Christ, Abraxas, Phanes and the Coming New Aeon Presented by Dr. Lance S. Owens, MD In the Red Book: Liber Novus, and in the Black Book Journals, one encounters C. G. Jung struggling with his understanding the nature of divinity. The words Christ, Christian, and God are some of the most frequently encountered words i n Liber Novus. Jung sensed the image of God would undergo a transformation and renewal in the coming age, which he thought was then just beginning. Beginning intensely in the Black Book journal entries from early 1916 and continuing on through 1918, Jung struggles with his understanding of God, past and future. He questions his Soul, and She responds. He struggles with Her revelations. During early 1918, in an incredible series of dialogues, Jung records a complx r e evelation about nature of God, and the essential role of humankind in helping God become conscious. These revelations, spoken by his So ul, later became the theme of his book Answer to Job, published over three decades later. They reverberate throughout his mature writings. In this lecture, we will together delve into the evolution of God, as his Soul revealed it to Jung in Liber Novus and in the Black Books journals. Androgyneity in Kabbalah and Psychoanalysis Presented by Prof. Moshe Idel Kabbalistic literature was influenced not only by rabbinic literature but also by Greek thought that helped introduce a wider understanding of er os. This lecture will address topics ranging from cosmic eros and androgyneity to the afnity between C. J. Jung and Kabbalah to feminist thought. Beyond Night and Day: Parmenides on Being Presented by Prof. Dylan Futter Parmenides of Elea is, it is said, both the founder of logic and a prophet-healer who led souls to see cannot be said. He advances the first a priori deduct ive arguments in Western philosophy; and yet, he does not speak at all. His poem tells a story of a young man’s journey to the gates of Night and Day, and beyond, where a muse or Persephone, the goddess of the underworld, waits for him. “Taking his right hand in hers, kindly” (1.22-2), the Goddess tells of two routes available for thought: “the one – that it is, and that it cannot not be, / is the path of persuasion, for truth is its companion; but the other, that [it] is not and that [it] must not be/ this is a path wholly without report” (2.3-7). Yet since the road of non-being cannot be travelled, only one road—the road of Being—is left. And upon this road there are many signs: Being is un-generated for it cannot be born from non-being; it retains its character through division and cannot be delimited from without. It is eternal, changeless, undiferentiated, and whole (8.2-4). In this talk, I begin with an overview of Parmenides’ poem, before focusing on the relationship between the mythical motif of the hero’s story and the logical deductions about Being that charz acteri e the goddess’s revelatory speech. I give an account of the difculties that arise for understanding, not with a view to resolving them, but penetrating more deeply i nto the wisdom of the Eleatic sage. Jung’s Mysticism: Living between Realms Presented by John Hill, MA Mysticism can be found in all cultures: from indigenous and folk religion, to the organized religions and would also include modern New Age spirituality. In order to limit the scope of this talk I will focus on the original quality of Jung’s mysticism.