C.G. Jung Society, Seattle

Glen Slater, Ph.D.

IMPORTANT: This event has been rescheduled.

Please note the new date (was March 8 and 9), and review the times and rooms.

The God Complex

Lecture: Friday, March 22, 2013, 7 to 9 p.m.
Good Shepherd Center, downstairs in the Senior Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. North, Seattle  98103 (driving directions)
$15 members, $25 nonmembers

Notions of divinity are psychoactive. Whether one is a believer, an atheist, an agnostic or a spiritual seeker, it’s difficult to contemplate questions of God without significant investment in the answers.

This lecture will discuss our personal and cultural responses to the God topic. It will show how a Jungian approach can help us negotiate the associated conundrums and controversies. From contemplating the “death of God” to the psychodynamics of fundamentalism and the search for meaning in between, our goal will be a deeper appreciation of the psychological stakes involved.

The role religion continues to play in today’s secular world is distressing to some and comforting to others. Jung’s notion of a “Religious instinct” and his understanding of the “God-image” in the psyche provide a point of entry into the controversy and a fitting perspective for our times.

Through viewing film clips, personal reflection and discussion of the changing God-image, this workshop aims. to equip participants with timely, intelligent ways to approach prevailing religious questions. It will move toward contemplating a sense of the sacred that is conversant with the spirit of the times.

God: Finding a Perspective for Our Times

Workshop: Saturday, March 23, 2013, 12:30 to 5:00 p.m. (note time change)
Good Shepherd Center, Room 221
$50 members, $70 nonmembers

Advance registration for workshops is encouraged. You can mail your registration and payment to our office using this registration form or buy tickets in advance at brownpapertickets.com.

Session 1: The depth psychological and mythological approach to religion; the cultural-historical background to the current religious climate.

Session 2: Making sense of God’s demise; exploring intimations of a new God-image.

Session 3: The relation of the God-image to shifting paradigms and cultural mythology; preservation of the sacred in secular times.

Learning Objectives

1. Learning objectives as related to the practice of social work: To understand the psychological significance and implications of current religious controversies.
   1. To identify the key psychological patterns involved in approaching questions of God.
   2. To grasp the psychodynamics of religious fundamentalism.
   3. To formulate a psychotherapeutic stance in relation to the religious beliefs of individuals
2. Information that can be used in clinical practice:
   1. Comprehension of the role of religious ideas in the organization of the human psyche.
   2. Knowledge of the cultural-historical background of the contemporary spiritual crisis.
   3. Understanding the relation between psychological symptoms and the search for purpose and meaning.
   4. Awareness of how one’s personal spiritual orientation relates to current religious questions and controversies.
   5. Strategies for discussing the psychology of religion in both clinical and learning settings.

Glen Slater, Ph.D., has studied and trained in religious studies and clinical psychology. For the past 16 years he has taught Jungian and archetypal psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute. He edited and introduced the third volume of James Hillman’s Uniform Edition, Senex and Puer, as well as a volume of essays by Pacifica faculty, Varieties of Mythic Experience (with Dennis Patrick Slattery), and has contributed a number of essays to Spring journal and other Jungian publications.

This program has been approved for CEUs by the Washington Chapter National Association of Social Workers (NASW) for Licensed Social Workers, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapists and Licensed Mental Health Counselors. Provider number is #1975-157. The cost to receive a certificate is as follows: Lecture only $10. Workshop only $10. Lecture & Workshop $15.

Updated: 8 March 2013

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