ARCHETYPAL EXPRESSIONS:
A MULTI-MEDIA EVENT TOWARD A PSYCHOLOGY OF IMAGE

A major aspect of Jung’s quest was to find a language appropriate to the complexity of the psyche. He found this through alchemy in the notion of “image,” which for him was a realm with a life of its own, encompassing the rational and irrational, spirit and matter, while embracing and integrating elements of several disciplines including science and religion, literature and philosophy, anthropology and art, music and myth. For Jung, image itself held meaning while it provided a venue for understanding through experience.

This day-long program will attempt to extend Jung’s sense of image. The morning will consist of a depiction of the gnostic myth of the soul’s journey using the alchemical quest of the pilgrim described in the Splendor Solis as its guide. Psychological narrative, multiple slides of art and alchemy, readings from T.S. Eliot in conjunction with dance, and live singing of art songs will be utilized following the model of Navajo ceremonial healing rites. The afternoon will focus on how music itself carries images of archetypal expression in all of its modalities as exemplified in videos of the songs of the Beatles and their interface with Richard Wagner’s ring cycle operas.

 

 

RONALD SCHENK is a Jungian analyst practicing in Dallas and Houston, TX, member and past president of the IRSJA and past president of CNASJA. He has published recent essays on language, the city, anger, voices of Jung, and the “Trump Phenomenon.” His forthcoming essays focus on prisons, memory, madness, and listening for metaphor. Author of The Soul of Beauty, Dark Light, The Sunken Quest, and American Soul.