Date: February 1st – March 21st, 2024
All classes take place weekly on Thursdays, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm US Eastern Time
We are fascinated by the process of psychotherapy. Since its inception by the Asclepiads in 46 AD, we have experienced treatment as truly transformative, good enough, or utterly disastrous. The pioneers in the field have sought to understand the nature of these inherent, archetypal processes which create conditions for healing or exacerbate our client’s pain, all occurring within one of humanity’s most perplexing relationships.
The therapeutic relationship is inexorably entwined in psyche’s dance, choreographed by The Self to manifest archetypal dynamics into matter. Here matter is the actual relationship between therapist and client serving as the canvas upon which Psyche tells its story about life and destiny.
Within this therapeutic temenos, the ancient alchemical discoveries are once again recognized by the findings of the New Sciences, where in some mysterious ways, past, present, and future collapse into a moment, into an archetypal pattern. No longer are these enactments understood as transference, countertransference, or some form of iatrogenic dynamics. Instead, they reflect the self’s understanding that within treatment, the archetype must be experienced as a living reality to allow for an experience of the numinous.
In understanding these archetypal, interactive dynamics, we see that much of life is literally structured by the workings of both generative and non-generative archetypal alignments and complexes. It is through an understanding of these dynamics, that allows us to move beyond the constraints of a non-generative archetypal field, and to live more fully into a benevolent life.
It is this expression of Psyche that moved Teilhard de Chardin to see that “Matter is spirit moving slowly enough to be seen”. And we can now add that spirit is made visible through the creation of archetypal patterns. Jung grasped this unified backdrop writing that “Since psyche and matter are contained in one and the same world… it is not only possible but fairly probable… that psyche and matter are two different aspects of one and the same thing.” (C.G. Jung CW, vol VIII P. 215).
Here we truly enter into the domain the ancients referred to as “unus mundus” – the one world – where this confluence of matter and spirit flows into the life blood of every one of us.
While we need to learn as much as possible about Psyche’s role in the therapeutic process, ultimately however, we must acknowledge that psychotherapy is a mystery as well as an archetypal, spiritual experience worthy of our attention, dedication – and perhaps even our awe.