Patricia Martin and Connie Zweig discuss the nature of shadow work. Before doing shadow work, we live an unexamined life – overeating, criticizing yourself or your partner, blaming someone, procrastinating – which leads to uncontrollable, self-sabotaging behaviors.

Connie Zweig, PhD is a retired Jungian therapist and author of Meeting the Shadow and Romancing the Shadow. Her award-winning book, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul, extends Shadow-work into midlife and beyond and explores aging as a spiritual practice. Her book, Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening, extends shadow-work into religion and spirituality. See her new SUBSTACK for livestreams and new writing: shadowworkawareness.com/about.

Books by Connie Zweig:

Patricia Martin, MFA, is the host of Jung in the World. A noted cultural analyst, she applies Jungian theory to her work as a researcher and writer. Author of three books, her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College and an MA in cultural studies at the University College, Dublin (honors). In 2018, she completed the Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute Chicago where she is a professional affiliate. A scholar in residence at the Chicago Public Library, for the last decade she’s been studying the digital culture and its impact on the individuation process. Patricia travels the world giving talks and workshops based on her findings, and has a private consulting practice in Chicago.

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Support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store! Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Hosts: Patricia Martin, Judith Cooper, Daniel Ross, Adina Davidson, and Raisa Cabrera
2025-2026 Season Intern: Zoe Kalaw
Music: Peter Demuth

Two Jungian analysts discuss fundamentalism, shadow, and a new way forward. George Didier and Vlado Šolc, authors of the book Dark Religion: Fundamentalism from the Perspective of Jungian Psychology, join Patricia Martin for a conversation about the psychology of religion as a destructive force and why it is important to understand the shadow side of fundamentalism.

Dr. George Didier, III is a clinical psychologist, pastoral psychotherapist and a diplomate Jungian Analyst in private practice in Rockford, Crystal Lake, and Chicago, IL. After graduate studies he was ordained a catholic priest and served the Diocese of Rockford for 10 years. During this time, he also went back to school and earned a doctorate in pastoral psychotherapy. He left the priesthood after 10 years, married and changed careers, going back to school again to earn a doctorate in clinical psychology. After graduation he worked as a psychologist and teacher at the University of Illinois, College of Medicine, Rockford, while developing his private practice. Dr. Didier was a founding member of the Center for Wholistic Counseling at Resurrection, in Woodstock, IL, serving as clinical director of the Center from 1995 to 2007.

Vladislav (Vlado) Šolc (pronounced “Schultz”) is a professional psychotherapist and Jungian analyst practicing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Vlado received training from the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago and Charles University in Prague. He is the author of five depth-psychology-oriented books: Psyche, Matrix, Reality; The Father Archetype; In the Name of God—Fanaticism from the Perspective of Depth Psychology; Dark Religion: Fundamentalism from the Perspective of Jungian Psychology and most recently Democracy and Individuation in the Times of Conspiracy Theories. 

Patricia Martin, MFA, is the host of Jung in the World. A noted cultural analyst, she applies Jungian theory to her work as a researcher and writer. Author of three books, her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College and an MA in cultural studies at the University College, Dublin (honors). In 2018, she completed the Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute Chicago where she is a professional affiliate. A scholar in residence at the Chicago Public Library, for the last decade she’s been studying the digital culture and its impact on the individuation process. Patricia travels the world giving talks and workshops based on her findings, and has a private consulting practice in Chicago.

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Hosts: Patricia Martin, Judith Cooper, Daniel Ross, Adina Davidson, and Raisa Cabrera
2023-2024 Season Interns: Claire Weber, Harris Lencz
Music: Michael Chapman

Transcript

Nora Swan-Foster, Jungian Analyst, author, and art therapist, joins Patricia Martin to discuss Jung, the Red Book, art therapy, and the art-making process.

Nora Swan-Foster, MA, ATR-BC, LPC, NCPsyA is a senior training analyst with the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts (IRSJA), and faculty member with the Memphis-Atlanta Seminar (MAJS). Between her academic role at Naropa University and serving as seminar coordinator for an IRSJA Jungian training seminar in Boulder, Colorado, Nora has been immersed in pedagogical questions regarding the intersections of contemplative art therapy education and Jungian analytic training. She has led workshops and clinical training seminars on a range of Jungian topics and fundamentals, art therapy, and on childbearing issues in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Nora has authored professional articles, chapters and the books Jungian Art therapy (2018) and Art Therapy and Childbearing Issues (2021) (editor). Nora is the former North American Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Analytical Psychology. Her full-time private consulting practice is in Boulder, Colorado. swanfoster.com.

Patricia Martin, MFA, is the host of Jung in the World. A noted cultural analyst, she applies Jungian theory to her work as a researcher and writer. Author of three books, her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College and an MA in cultural studies at the University College, Dublin (honors). In 2018, she completed the Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute Chicago where she is a professional affiliate. A scholar in residence at the Chicago Public Library, for the last decade she’s been studying the digital culture and its impact on the individuation process. Patricia travels the world giving talks and workshops based on her findings, and has a private consulting practice in Chicago.

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Hosts: Patricia Martin, Judith Cooper, Daniel Ross, Adina Davidson, and Raisa Cabrera
2023-2024 Season Interns: Claire Weber, Harris Lencz
Music: Michael Chapman

Transcript: HTML | PDF

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Jungian Analysts Judith Cooper and Daniel Ross discuss Tár, the 2022 film written and directed by Todd Field. It stars Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tár, a renowned conductor who is accused of sexual misconduct.

This episode is a pilot of our transcription process. If you have any feedback about the transcript, please email [email protected].

Judith Cooper, PsyD is a clinical psychologist and diplomate Jungian Analyst in private practice in Chicago. She is a graduate and member of the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago. She was adjunct faculty at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology (1999-2000), teaching projective testing. She was clinical supervisor (1991-2002) and director of training (1998-2002) of an APA-accredited psychology internship program at a community mental health center in northwest Indiana. She has taught in the Analyst Training Program and lectured on the anima/animus, and the clinical use of film.

Daniel Ross, RN, PMHNP, MSN, MBA has been a nurse for 40 years and in hospice for over 30.  As a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Jungian Analyst, he brings a medical, psychiatric, and analytical perspective to the field of end-of-life care.  He first completed the two-year Clinical Training Program (now the JPP/JSP) at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago then went on to complete the Analyst Training Program.  He is in private practice in the northwest suburbs working with adults seeking psychotherapy and continues to see hospice and palliative care patients at the end of life.  He is Co-Director of the Jungian Psychotherapy Program and Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago.

Links
Judith Cooper’s page on the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago Website
Daniel Ross’s page on the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago Website

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it or sell it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Hosts: Patricia Martin, Judith Cooper, Daniel Ross, Adina Davidson, and Raisa Cabrera
Music: Michael Chapman

Video Available on YouTube

Elizabeth Eowyn Nelson, PhD joins Patricia Martin for a lively conversation about the value of Jungian thought in our tech-centric times. Nelson is on the faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, where she is a scholar on dreams, technology, and cultural studies. In this episode, she brings a wealth of insight to our contemporary moment, exploring what it means to pursue personal growth in a digital culture.

Elizabeth Eowyn Nelson, PhD has served on the faculty of Pacifica Graduate Institute since 2003. Dr. Nelson’s own research interests have long been addressed to the issues of gender, shadow, and power, with a particular devotion to dangerous women in fiction and fact. She has published several papers and chapters in edited collections and regularly presents at scholarly conferences around the world. Dr. Nelson’s books include Psyche’s Knife: Archetypal Explorations of Love and Power (Chiron, 2012) and The Art of Inquiry: A Depth Psychological Perspective (Spring Publications, 2017), coauthored with Joseph Coppin, which is now in its third edition. She has been a professional writer and editor for more than 30 years, coaching aspiring authors across a variety of genres and styles through her consultancy Wingedfeat.

Patricia Martin, MFA, is the host of Jung in the World. A noted cultural analyst, she applies Jungian theory to her work as a researcher and writer. Author of three books, her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and USA Today. She holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College and an MA in cultural studies at the University College, Dublin (honors). In 2018, she completed the Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute Chicago where she is a professional affiliate. A scholar in residence at the Chicago Public Library, for the last decade she’s been studying the digital culture and its impact on the individuation process. Patricia travels the world giving talks and workshops based on her findings, and has a private consulting practice in Chicago.

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Hosts: Patricia Martin, Judith Cooper, Daniel Ross, Adina Davidson, and Raisa Cabrera
Music: Michael Chapman

Carl Jung was known to be endlessly creative and said art is an innate drive within all of us. People who identify as creatives are prone to certain mental health issues that are somewhat specific to their work. In particular, their shadow material is often overlooked in our culture in favor of a more romantic, poetic view of their identities. Author Jessica Carson uses Jungian theory in her book Wired This Way, a guide to the wellbeing of the creative spirit. It helps us understand creatives as more fully complex human beings. In this discussion, they touch on:

• Jung’s Writing
• Creativity & Creative People
• Entrepreneurialism and Business Culture
• Integrating Masculine & Feminine Archetypes
• Fairy Tales
• Shadow
• Projection
• Tension of Opposites
• Cycles of Renewal
• Joseph Campbell & the Hero’s Journey

Jessica Carson is the Director of Innovation at the American Psychological Association, the largest organization of psychologists in the United States, an Expert in Residence at Georgetown University, and Founder of The Magnum Opus Academy. Jessica is the author of Wired This Way, an exploration of the light and dark of the creative mind, which bears its own TED talk. With a diverse background in psychology, neuroscience, startups, venture capital, and mindfulness, Jessica’s work sits at the intersection of psychology and creatorship. She has been featured across a range of institutions including Georgetown University, London School of Economics, Columbia Business School, ScaleTech, The Psychiatric Times, Oxford University Press, Thrive Global, StartUp Fest, Society for Psychologists in Management, and many others.

Patricia Martin is a cultural analyst, consultant, and the author of three books on cultural trends. As a consultant, Martin has worked on teams at Discovery Communications, Dannon, Microsoft, Ms. Foundation for Women, Oracle, Unisys, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the New York Philharmonic, to name a few. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, USA Today, and Advertising Age. A blogger since 2002, Martin was a regular contributor to Huffington Post during its start-up years. She earned a B.A. in English and sociology from Michigan State University and an M.A. in Irish literature and culture from the University College Dublin. Later, she built a foundation for her cultural analysis by studying Jungian theory and depth psychology at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago, where she is currently a Professional Affiliate and member of the program committee. In 2017, she harnessed artificial intelligence to uncover the effects of the internet on our sense of self. A book on her findings entitled Will the Future Like You? is due out later in 2021. Martin speaks worldwide about cultural changes that are shaping the future and the impact of the digital culture on the collective. A native of Detroit, Martin works in Chicago and lives in an ancient forest near the shores of Lake Michigan with her husband and countless deer.

Thank you to everyone who has shared a little about themselves. If you’d like us to know who you are, click this link, and I’ll read your submission on the podcast!

Operating revenue from combined program tuitions covers only 55% of total expenses; membership dues, store purchases, and donations help bring us closer to covering the financial gap, but are not sufficient to close it. Please help us reach our $25,000 goal by joining our community of generous donors on our donor wall and podcast credits, and become a member of the Institute if you aren’t already!

Links
The Magnum Opus Academy
Jessica Carson’s Book,Wired This Way
Jessica Carson’s TED Talk, “Creator, Interrupted”

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Host: Patricia Martin
Contributors: Judith Cooper & Daniel Ross
Music: Michael Chapman

Thank you to our 2020 donors who gave at the Contributing Member level and above: Barbara Annan, Usha and Ashok Bedi, Jackie Cabe Bryan, Eric Cooper and Judith Cooper, Kevin Davis, George J. Didier, Mary Dougherty, James Fidelibus, John Korolewski, Marty Manning, Dyane Sherwood, Deborah P. Stutsman, Debra Tobin, Alexander Wayne and Lynne Copp, Gerald Weiner, Karen West and James Taylor, and Ellen Young. If you would like to support this podcast, click here to join our community of supporters.

Jungian Analysts Judith Cooper and Daniel Ross discuss Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s 2006 film The Lives of Others (Wikipedia). They touch on:

• Inflation
• Dark Eros by Thomas Moore (https://amzn.to/3lSbsyZ)
• John Beebe
• Complexes
• Anima & Animus Development
• Depth Psychology and a New Ethic by Erich Neumann (https://amzn.to/3vvAzuz)
• The Father by Luigi Zoja (https://amzn.to/3b4HNwp)

Judith Cooper, PsyD is a clinical psychologist and diplomate Jungian Analyst in private practice in Chicago. She is a graduate and member of the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago. She was adjunct faculty at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology (1999-2000), teaching projective testing. She was clinical supervisor (1991-2002) and director of training (1998-2002) of an APA-accredited psychology internship program at a community mental health center in northwest Indiana. She has taught in the Analyst Training Program and lectured on the anima/animus, and the clinical use of film.

Daniel Ross, RN, PMHNP, MSN, MBA has been a nurse for 40 years and in hospice for over 30.  As a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Jungian Analyst, he brings a medical, psychiatric, and analytical perspective to the field of end-of-life care.  He first completed the two-year Clinical Training Program (now the JPP/JSP) at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago then went on to complete the Analyst Training Program.  He is in private practice in the northwest suburbs working with adults seeking psychotherapy and continues to see hospice and palliative care patients at the end of life.  He is Co-Director of the Jungian Psychotherapy Program and Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago.

Thank you to everyone who has shared a little about themselves. If you’d like us to know who you are, click this link, and I’ll read your submission on the podcast!

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

Links
Judith Cooper’s page on the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago Website
Daniel Ross’s page on the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago Website

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Host: Patricia Martin
Contributors: Judith Cooper & Daniel Ross
Music: Michael Chapman

Thank you to our 2020 donors who gave at the Contributing Member level and above: Barbara Annan, Usha and Ashok Bedi, Jackie Cabe Bryan, Eric Cooper and Judith Cooper, Kevin Davis, George J. Didier, Mary Dougherty, James Fidelibus, John Korolewski, Marty Manning, Dyane Sherwood, Deborah P. Stutsman, Debra Tobin, Alexander Wayne and Lynne Copp, Gerald Weiner, Karen West and James Taylor, and Ellen Young. If you would like to support this podcast, click here to join our community of supporters.

In this episode, Patricia Martin interviews Warren W. Sibilla, Jr, Jungian Psychoanalyst and the new Director of Training for the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago’s Analyst Training Program. How does someone know they are ready for training? What is the process of development in training like? What does Jungian analysis and study bring to someone’s life and practice?

Dr. Sibilla is an athlete who competes in endurance sports like the Ironman and Spartan Obstacle Race. How has this discipline manifested in Dr. Sibilla’s own analytic practice? Does that lead to a particular framing about the practice of psychology and analysis? In this discussion they touch on:

The Symbol
The Unconscious
The Self
Individuation
The Shadow
Discipline
Analytic Training

The interview was recorded in August 2021, before the current year of the Analyst Training Program began.

Warren Sibilla, Jr, PhD is a Diplomate Jungian Psychoanalyst with a clinical practice in Chicago, IL and South Bend, IN.  Dr. Sibilla served as the Director of the Clinical Training Program (2010 – 2014) at the Institute and is the incoming Director of Training for the 2021-2022 year of the Analyst Training Program.  He is engaged in the study and practice of Zen Buddhism including authoring a book on the relationship between Zen Buddhism and Analytical Psychology as well as a paper formally exploring Jung’s 1958 dialogue with Japanese Zen Master and Philosopher Hisamatsu. He is author of My Journey to Ironman: Endurance Sports as a Means to Individuation. Dr. Sibilla teaches in the Masters and Doctoral programs at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and The Institute for Clinical Social Work and facilitates silent contemplative retreats at GilChrist Retreat Center in Michigan.

Dr. Sibilla graduated from the California School of Professional Psychology in 1993. Since earning his Ph.D., he has received a post-doctorate diploma in Object Relations Theory and Practice. Additionally, he has earned the professional title of Psychoanalyst. Finally, he has completed the training to serve as a court appointed Parent Coordinator and Domestic Relations Mediator. He is the President of the Child Development and Psychological Health Center maintaining a private practice specializing in forensic psychology including proficiency with court ordered psychological consultations and assessments with children, adolescents, and adults. He provides psychotherapy and psychoanalysis to children, adolescents, and adults. Finally, Dr. Sibilla provides professional consultation and supervision to many mental health practices and individual clinicians.

Dr. Sibilla is married; he and his wife have four children. In addition to family responsibilities, Dr. Sibilla is an avid triathlete, currently competing in Ironman distance triathlons, marathons, and ultra-distance marathons.

Patricia Martin is a cultural analyst, consultant, and the author of three books on cultural trends. As a consultant, Martin has worked on teams at Discovery Communications, Dannon, Microsoft, Ms. Foundation for Women, Oracle, Unisys, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the New York Philharmonic, to name a few. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, USA Today, and Advertising Age. A blogger since 2002, Martin was a regular contributor to Huffington Post during its start-up years. She earned a B.A. in English and sociology from Michigan State University and an M.A. in Irish literature and culture from the University College Dublin. Later, she built a foundation for her cultural analysis by studying Jungian theory and depth psychology at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago, where she is currently a Professional Affiliate and member of the program committee. In 2017, she harnessed artificial intelligence to uncover the effects of the internet on our sense of self. A book on her findings entitled Will the Future Like You? is due out later in 2021. Martin speaks worldwide about cultural changes that are shaping the future and the impact of the digital culture on the collective. A native of Detroit, Martin works in Chicago and lives in an ancient forest near the shores of Lake Michigan with her husband and countless deer.

Thank you to everyone who has shared a little about themselves. If you’d like us to know who you are, click this link, and I’ll read your submission on the podcast!

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

Links
Warren Sibilla, Jr.’s page on the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago Website
Warren Sibilla Jr.’s Website

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Host: Patricia Martin
Contributors: Judith Cooper & Daniel Ross
Music: Michael Chapman

Thank you to our 2020 donors who gave at the Contributing Member level and above: Barbara Annan, Usha and Ashok Bedi, Jackie Cabe Bryan, Eric Cooper and Judith Cooper, Kevin Davis, George J. Didier, Mary Dougherty, James Fidelibus, John Korolewski, Marty Manning, Dyane Sherwood, Deborah P. Stutsman, Debra Tobin, Alexander Wayne and Lynne Copp, Gerald Weiner, Karen West and James Taylor, and Ellen Young. If you would like to support this podcast, click here to join our community of supporters.

In this episode, Jungian Analysts Judith Cooper and Daniel Ross discuss Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film Rear Window (Wikipedia). They touch on:

• Creative vision
• Post WWII social change
• Anima/Animus
• Puer & Senex
• Projection
• Fear of intimacy & marriage
• Voyeurism

• Masculine and feminine
• Coniunctio
• Patriarchal gaze
• The Tale of Blue Beard (Wikipedia)
• The Shadow
• The Trickster

Judith Cooper, PsyD is a clinical psychologist and diplomate Jungian Analyst in private practice in Chicago. She is a graduate and member of the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago. She was adjunct faculty at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology (1999-2000), teaching projective testing. She was clinical supervisor (1991-2002) and director of training (1998-2002) of an APA-accredited psychology internship program at a community mental health center in northwest Indiana. She has taught in the Analyst Training Program and lectured on the anima/animus, and the clinical use of film.

Daniel Ross, RN, PMHNP, MSN, MBA has been a nurse for 40 years and in hospice for over 30.  As a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Jungian Analyst, he brings a medical, psychiatric, and analytical perspective to the field of end-of-life care.  He first completed the two-year Clinical Training Program (now the JPP/JSP) at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago then went on to complete the Analyst Training Program.  He is in private practice in the northwest suburbs working with adults seeking psychotherapy and continues to see hospice and palliative care patients at the end of life.  He is Co-Director of the Jungian Psychotherapy Program and Jungian Studies Program at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago.

Thank you to everyone who has shared a little about themselves. If you’d like us to know who you are, click this link, and I’ll read your submission on the podcast!

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

Links
Judith Cooper’s page on the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago Website
Daniel Ross’s page on the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago Website

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Host: Patricia Martin
Contributors: Judith Cooper & Daniel Ross
Music: Michael Chapman

Thank you to our 2020 donors who gave at the Contributing Member level and above: Barbara Annan, Usha and Ashok Bedi, Jackie Cabe Bryan, Eric Cooper and Judith Cooper, Kevin Davis, George J. Didier, Mary Dougherty, James Fidelibus, John Korolewski, Marty Manning, Dyane Sherwood, Deborah P. Stutsman, Debra Tobin, Alexander Wayne and Lynne Copp, Gerald Weiner, Karen West and James Taylor, and Ellen Young. If you would like to support this podcast, click here to join our community of supporters.

This episode is the opening lecture of a weekend given by Polly Young-Eisendrath. It contains a 1-hour lecture followed by an hour of Q&A. From the seminar description:

We all sense a connection with the source that underlies our existence, whether or not we recognize it as such and we all wish to identify with something larger than ourselves. Some feel this as a spiritual yearning, while others wish for fame or celebrity or the knowledge of a larger truth. The spiritual isolation and materialism (both economic and philosophical) of our times make it difficult to find trustworthy methods from institutional religions, non-traditional approaches, psychology, or philosophy for seeking knowledge of this source. However, our desire to help others (and ourselves) and our willingness to love deeply and authentically can offer the common ground through which we can find this knowledge, but it requires a dedicated understanding of our own suffering and its transformation.

Instead of seeking such insight into our subjective lives, we Americans embrace popular myths of biological salvation and pharmaceutical soothing. It?s not just that we seek instant solutions to complex problems, rather we have lost our taste for the adventure of human life, replacing it with ideals of economic and biological ?security? and hopes for absolute control of our diet and health.

This program offers a critique of this contemporary myth of biological salvation and presents accounts from psychoanalysis (Jungian and otherwise) and Buddhism of how embracing our limitations can open the path to transformation and lasting contentment.

The weekend continues with Part 2 – Living and Loving in the Human Realm

Building on the presentation The Adventure of Being Human, this workshop investigates the challenges of human life through an exploration of our difficulties with perfectionism, the three types of suffering we encounter, and the ways in which love challenges us to develop a true discipline of our hearts. Among other things, this program explores mythologies, the Human Realm (from Buddhism), the inner critic of perfectionism, the value of the human sciences, and the differences between the two major sciences of subjectivity: psychoanalysis and Buddhism.

It was recorded in October 2001, so there is some discussion of the 9/11 attacks and related issues.

Note: In the Q&A portion, questioners were not microphoned and so the volume was very low. We’ve increased the volume, but they are still somewhat difficult to understand against the background noise, and back-and-forth is somewhat disorienting because of the frequent changes in amplification.

Polly Young-Eisendrath, PhD is Clinical Associate Professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont Medical College. She is a psychologist and Jungian analyst practicing in the mountains of central Vermont, where she lives and writes. She has published thirteen books, many chapters and articles that have been translated into fourteen languages. Her books include The Self-Esteem Trap: Raising Confident and Compassionate Kids in an Age of Self-Importance, The Resilient Spirit: Transforming Suffering Into Insight And Renewal, The Gifts Of Suffering: A Guide To Resilience And Renewal, Women and Desire: Beyond Wanting to Be Wanted, and You’re Not What I Expected: Learning to Love the Opposite Sex.

Thank you to everyone who has shared a little about themselves. If you’d like us to know who you are, click this link, and I’ll read your submission on the podcast! No need to share any identifying information. This information will not be used for any other purpose.

You can support this free podcast by making a donation, becoming a member of the Institute, or making a purchase in our online store. Your support enables us to provide free and low-cost educational resources to all.

Links
Polly Young-Eisendrath’s Website
Polly Young-Eisendrath on Jungianthology
Polly Young-Eisendrath at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago

Books
The Self-Esteem Trap: Raising Confident and Compassionate Kids in an Age of Self-Importance
The Resilient Spirit: Transforming Suffering Into Insight And Renewal
The Gifts Of Suffering: A Guide To Resilience And Renewal
Women and Desire: Beyond Wanting to Be Wanted
You’re Not What I Expected: Learning to Love the Opposite Sex

© 2001 Polly Young-Eisendrath. This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Host: Patricia Martin
Contributors: Judith Cooper & Daniel Ross
Music: Michael Chapman

Thank you to our 2020 donors who gave at the Contributing Member level and above: Barbara Annan, Usha and Ashok Bedi, Jackie Cabe Bryan, Eric Cooper and Judith Cooper, Kevin Davis, George J. Didier, Mary Dougherty, James Fidelibus, John Korolewski, Marty Manning, Dyane Sherwood, Deborah P. Stutsman, Debra Tobin, Alexander Wayne and Lynne Copp, Gerald Weiner, Karen West and James Taylor, and Ellen Young. If you would like to support this podcast, click here to join our community of supporters.