Probing The Pandemic From A Jungian Perspective, Presented by Dr. Richard Sweeney – Friday Evening “The Pandemic as a Natural and Psychic Phenomenon”

This is a zoom event so a link will be sent to all registrants. Be sure to include your email address when you register. Content information follows this paragraph. Scroll down to register and rsvp. You must register by October 21. The registration fee covers both Friday and Saturday. However – you must rsvp for each day you will attending. See end of ticket list October 23 and October 24 for rsvp’s. This is critical for us to be able to provide you the appropriate zoom link. To take advantage of member pricing, which includes CEU’s at no cost, please sign up at this link and then return to this page to register as a member. The member registration fee is also available to our partner  church organizations: First Community; King Avenue Methodist; First Congregational and First Unitarian Universalist.

Program Description:  C.G. Jung often said that large-scale historical events are neither sudden nor accidental but emerge from evolving unconscious forces.  Consciousness always presses us to discover the nature of these forces.  In this program we will begin to probe the meaning of the current pandemic and our responses to it.

Friday evening’s session will explore “The Pandemic as a Natural and Psychic Phenomenon.” We will consider two divergent historical views of the human relationship to nature and contrast them with Jung’s view of the relationship between psyche, spirit and nature.  This will lead to a reflection on Jung’s concept of the anima mundi or “the soul of the world” and its relevance for our lives today.

Saturday’s session will address “Anxiety as a Response to Life’s Disruptions.”  We will consider the increase of anxiety in our lives today, various understandings of anxiety, and a Jungian approach to anxiety that can serve personal, interpersonal and global development.  In this view, disruptions like the pandemic as well as other difficulties in life can be experienced as potential vehicles of the movement toward wholeness. Practical examples and suggestions will be offered along with opportunity for participant discussion.