Attention: You are using an outdated browser, device or you do not have the latest version of JavaScript downloaded and so this website may not work as expected. Please download the latest software or switch device to avoid further issues.
| 19 Sep 2025 | |
| PAST EVENTS |
A Lecture with Jeffrey T. Kiehl
The gigantic catastrophes that threaten us today are not elemental happenings of a physical or biological order, but psychic events. To a quite terrifying degree we are threatened by wars and revolutions which are nothing other than psychic epidemics. At any moment several millions of human beings may be smitten with a new madness, and then we shall have another world war or devastating revolution.
-- C.G. Jung (1946)
The United States finds itself in an historic moment of extreme chaotic fervor. A significant number of the populace are galvanized by a president who revels in overturning long-held constitutional traditions, while an equal number of the populace find themselves gripped by fear and abhorrence at what is transpiring. Great uncertainty abounds around the future of the nation.
C.G. Jung lived through times of great upheaval and deeply reflected on the psychological roots of what he called psychic epidemics or psychic infections. In this presentation, I explore the meaning of mass psychic phenomena from a Jungian perspective and explore the archetypal dynamics of these epidemics in order to better understand what is happening in the U.S. and the world at large. I also consider the role of the Self, the archetype of wholeness, as a healing agent for our current psychic epidemic.
|
Jeffrey Kiehl, Ph.D., is a Diplomate Jungian Analyst and senior training analyst for the C.G. Jung Institute of Colorado and the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. He is the author of Facing Climate Change: An Integrated Path to the Future, which provides a Jungian perspective on climate change. He has also published articles on “U.S. Cultural Complexes and Climate Change,” “The Green Man and Climate Change,” “The Archetypal Dimensions of Comic Books,” and “The Nature of Uncertainty/The Uncertainty of Nature.” Jeffrey’s interests include the relationship between psyche and matter, alchemy, and consciousness studies. He lives in Santa Cruz, CA.
|
