I was asked to speak about Reflections on the 25 year history
of the Calgary Jung Society for a gala event held October 1, 2016. While I am only marginally qualified,
given I have only been a member for eight years, what I have tried to share is a
sense of the impact the Society has had on me personally, my views on it is as
a small supportive community, as well as a few thoughts on its place within the
broader context of our society. This is
a slightly updated version of the talk.
The reason I spoke at the gala event is because my friend Zeljko Matijevic, who is a senior Jungian Analyst in Calgary and a founding member of the Society, felt that he was not up to doing it himself. I was honoured to be asked to contribute my reflections in his place. Zeljko offered some guidance that I should write from my own perspective. Ask some questions, he said; reflection is by definition personal and unique, and our members all have their own experience and feelings associated with the Jung Society.
The reason I spoke at the gala event is because my friend Zeljko Matijevic, who is a senior Jungian Analyst in Calgary and a founding member of the Society, felt that he was not up to doing it himself. I was honoured to be asked to contribute my reflections in his place. Zeljko offered some guidance that I should write from my own perspective. Ask some questions, he said; reflection is by definition personal and unique, and our members all have their own experience and feelings associated with the Jung Society.
So I asked the
audience to ‘Reflect’; to take the time to assess, to interpret, and to give
careful consideration to the people, occasions and ideas that have been most
meaningful to them in their time with the Society.
If we compare our own life history with that of the Society, and ask:
“Where were you in your life 25 years ago?”
If we compare our own life history with that of the Society, and ask:
“Where were you in your life 25 years ago?”
…we get to a notion
of ‘what it means’ to reflect. As we ask, and probe, and focus our thoughts on
what has happened and where we’ve been, we are bringing to consciousness the
events and ideas that carry the most energy for us.
In our case, 25
years ago Cathy and I were fully absorbed in first half of life issues of raising
a young family, dealing with challenges of career and finances, and managing
our own demanding parents. Our daughter Stephanie was 3 and son Peter just a
newborn. I’m sure if someone had even mentioned Carl Jung or a “Jung Society” our
eyes would have glazed over and we’d have smiled and nodded with complete, exhausted
ambivalence.
Yet, with the
passing of years and stresses around maintaining our relationship, facing the death
of a parent, and the trials of raising adolescent children, personal growth
began to feel a lot less like an exciting independent adventure, and much more
like “Man, Do We Need Some Help Here”.
This leads us to a second question worth considering:
This leads us to a second question worth considering:
“How did you come to an appreciation of the
work of Carl Jung?” or, more simply, “What brought you to Jung?” Was it was an academic, theoretical meeting?
Perhaps it was through the Arts? Possibly it was an experience in therapy. How
did this meeting influence you? Isn’t it interesting that while there may be
similarities in our journeys, in our reflections on how we got to this point
and how we came together as a community -- each experience is unique; there is
not one “Reflection” that one can present here, or say definitively represents
our collective history; we each have a different experience.
Skipping over the circuitous trail that led me
to attend my first Jung Society lecture, I would hazard a guess that I am not
alone in being drawn to Jung and to the Society by the work of James Hollis,
who I first heard speak here in 2008.
Besides getting to
know Dr. Hollis (call me ‘Jim’ he said) during repeat engagements in 2011 and
2013 when Cathy and I served on the board of the society, we also had the
privilege to host and get to know wonderful characters like Guy Corneau, Inge
Missmahl, David Miller, Ginette Paris, Michael Conforti, Lyn Cowan, and Calgary’s
own beloved Josephine Evetts-Secker -- among many other distinguished thinkers
and therapists. So in a not so subtle pitch to anyone considering working on
the executive next year, I have to say that while it’s fun to drop these names,
it was way more fun actually spending time with them.
In terms of being
part of a “community”, I believe we have shared in the common challenges of personal
transformation. We have over the years faced and shared our trials, joys and
sorrows together. It has been comforting to see familiar faces and know that we
are not alone in our struggles. At its most vibrant times, our community has
been about giving and receiving in equal measure.
Beyond our immediate community, there is also an almost fantasy aspect of Jung’s ideas that exists both personally and culturally. Shadow is all over the place, and is always present in our lives. One of my earliest snippets of memory of a Jung Society speaker was of Polly Young-Eisendrath’s sultry “Helloooo Darling!” recognition and acknowledgement of shadow popping up in her life.
As is too apparent,
we are seeing Shadow at work in spades in the current political milieu. In his
contribution to the recent book “A
Clear and Present Danger, Narcissism in The Era of Donald Trump”, Jungian
Analyst Thomas
Singer writes:
“In trying to piece together
some of the multitudinous fragments of our collective trip with [Trump], I
realize that I have been stalking a mythical beast. Each time I think that I
have understood its nature, that I am close to killing or capturing it, it a
reappears in another guise, perhaps even tenfold in number.”
While these might be
seen as frightening times, it is encouraging to see the American Jungian
community organizing and in short order publishing an important and relevant
work with which to help (we hope) shape the future. We do not escape
responsibility either. Do we believe that a flimsy border will protect us? And
if we see Trump as only a symptom of a larger problem will we also step up and
address what Singer calls “our terrible-to-behold mirror image of what we may
consider our worst public face”.
An editor and
driving force behind the Narcissism book is Stephen Buser, a psychiatrist who
is a co-founder of the Asheville Jung Center, perhaps
one of the more activist Jung focused organizations in the world. The Calgary
Jung Society has participated in Asheville seminars in the past, and it seems
it would be useful and important to re-establish some connections there.
Beyond the present political hand wringing and
anxiety, as we look into the future there is doubtless a trend towards the re-alignment
of human labour within endeavors we call “work”. It seems possible that through
artificial intelligence, robotics and a massive concentration of capital, human
contributions to the means of production have the potential to become
increasingly obsolete. As the notion of work changes, so we may need to change
and adapt in ways we may only be able to glimpse within a very active
imagination.
While technology
leaps ahead forcing us into change, and as the prospect of getting paid for
being alive emerges through a guaranteed income formula, we can hope that perhaps
the urgency for cost effective, rapid results oriented mental health care -- typically
aimed at fixing the ego and pushing it back into a productive mode -- will
subside.
Arguably, in terms
of psychological healing our larger society is presently restricted by the dominant
worldview of clinical – behavioral theories, treatments and pharmacological therapies.
While the scientific modalities are clearly not without their place, it is the
Jungian perspective -- the dancing with soul, playing with archetypes, and
engaging with a deeper sense of “Self” – which could drive our personal work to
become more spiritual, and help more people find meaning and purpose in
life.
In wrapping up my
reflections and let you contemplate your own, let us resolve to carry on; to
pick up the threads woven by our founders and continue to do good work to the
best of our abilities. With a nod to Huxley
and Santayana, let us keep an eye to the future, but truly remember and
learn from the lessons of the past.
In closing, it is time to acknowledge all those who have contributed to helping the Calgary Jung Society survive and thrive as the ongoing success that it is today. It is the analysts who have been its bedrock, foundation and guiding lights. The analysands who have provided the energy, curiosity and desire for healing and growth to keep us all engaged.
In closing, it is time to acknowledge all those who have contributed to helping the Calgary Jung Society survive and thrive as the ongoing success that it is today. It is the analysts who have been its bedrock, foundation and guiding lights. The analysands who have provided the energy, curiosity and desire for healing and growth to keep us all engaged.
And, it is the
generations of volunteers who, through good years and bad, have shared of their
time, talents and at times sheer dogged persistence to bring us the
extraordinary list of accomplished analysts, authors, speakers, and teachers
who have graced our events. Let us reflect in gratitude on all the lives that
have been touched by your efforts through your work with the Society over the
years.
Thank you all.
Frank Penkala
Calgary, Alberta
October 1, 2016
