Mundus Imaginalis: Bridging Body and Spirit

For thousands of years, humanity has grappled with questions about the nature of the mind, the soul, and imagination, wondering from whence images come. The quest to deepen our understanding of mental images and imagination has, by itself, been instrumental in the development of consciousness. Depth psychology still struggles with fundamental questions about the origins of imagination. The concept of the mundus imaginalis, which was introduced by James Hillman into analytical psychology, has its origins in Sufism, the largest form of Islamic mysticism, and was borrowed from the work of Henry Corbin, a major scholar on Islam. This article brings together some ideas from physics with clinical observations and theoretical ideas on mundus imaginalis from analytical psychology and mysticism, and proposes that depth psychotherapy and analysis often involve a deeper connection to mundus imaginalis, requiring a coniunctio between body and spirit. Furthermore, the complex union between mundus imaginalis, body, and spirit may often lead spontaneously to the activation of synchronicity in the dynamic energetic analytic field, further facilitating individuation, healing, and transformation. These ideas have profound implications for a deeper understanding of various states of reverie, including bodily experiences and psychospiritual images/states in the dynamic transference–countertransference field, as well as in art and creativity.     

Assessing Psychological Characteristics at a Distance: Symposium Lessons and Future Research Directions

The symposium papers show that differences in sources and context clearly matter in the 'at-a-distance' assessment of a leader's psychological characteristics. The stability of both cognitive and personality attributes decreases as observations focus on shorter time frames, more spec fic policy domains, and private rather than public arenas. Despite these qualifications on the use of texts to profile individual leaders, the indices of social cognition and personality do discriminate individual differences between leaders. Because the results reveal significant differences in assessing individual leaders over time with multiple sources and at different levels of analysis, it becomes more worthwhile to investigate research questions that would be moot in the absence of important source, context, or aggregation effects. With the use of automated content analysis and greater access to data from electronic sources, it is now easier to carry out quantitative content analyses of psychological characteristics and to confirm or qualify the insights generated in this symposium.     

“科学与宗教”——一个值得关注的研究课题

2006年12月12～13日,中国无神论学会召开了近50人的学术研讨会,主题是“科学与宗教”,有十几位专家学者作了发言,内容涉及了科学与宗教的本质及其相互关系;科学与宗教世界观和认识论、方法论上的对立冲突;科学与宗教关系问题在社会、哲学、历史、文化、教育等方面的影响等等。专家学者或从基本事实,或从理论渊源,或从     

Understanding homosexuality: A symposium

A psychiatrist, an ethicist, and a pastoral counselor comment on the ways in which they conceive of homosexuality in their work, reflection, and efforts at counseling. Although each writes in isolation from the others, a surprising degree of consensus emerges. All three cite the problem of unclear terms and the peril of labeling. Each distinguishes between homosexuality as a state of being and homosexual acts or behavior. Mansell Pattison, the psychiatrist, comments on prejudice, norms, sickness, and deviancy and their relevance for understanding homosexuality, before suggesting a model himself. Stanley Hauerwas, the ethicist, seeks a context that will allow us to think seriously about homosexuality from an ethical point of view. John Patton, the pastoral counselor, argues that the major contribution of a counselor is to avoid labeling and preconceived notions about homosexuality and to relate to the counselee in such a way as to help him clarify what he seeks.     

Structuralism and experimental aesthetics: Bridging some gaps

Structuralism in psychology has much to do with what Berlyne called his rival tradition in aesthetics, the speculative and interpretative approach. Berlyne's concern with motivation can be retained while structuralism's emphasis on understanding is accepted.This paper was originally presented at the Berlyne Symposium, American Psychological Association Meeting, San Francisco, August 1977. Support from the Connaught Development Grant to Scarborough College is acknowledged.     

Metaphor: Bridging embodiment to abstraction

Embodied cognition accounts posit that concepts are grounded in our sensory and motor systems. An important challenge for these accounts is explaining how abstract concepts, which do not directly call upon sensory or motor information, can be informed by experience. We propose that metaphor is one important vehicle guiding the development and use of abstract concepts. Metaphors allow us to draw on concrete, familiar domains to acquire and reason about abstract concepts. Additionally, repeated metaphoric use drawing on particular aspects of concrete experience can result in the development of new abstract representations. These abstractions, which are derived from embodied experience but lack much of the sensorimotor information associated with it, can then be flexibly applied to understand new situations.     

尊道贵德 和谐共生——在倡导宗教和谐座谈会上的发言

2010年10月20日,联合国大会通过了一项决议,呼吁加强不同信仰和宗教之间的对话,以增强人民之间的相互理解、和谐与合作,确定每年2月的第一周为"世界不同信仰间和谐周"。刚才宣读通过的《倡导宗教和谐共同宣言》也充分表达了我们道教界的意愿。我们坚决支持这一宣言,并将以实际行动积极响应。     

Bridging Technical Eclecticism and Theoretical Integration: Assimilative Integration

Assimilative integration is a new type of psychotherapy integration introduced by Messer in 1992. This paper explains the where, what, when, and how of this integrative route, outlines its advantages and weaknesses, and discusses areas for potential assimilative practice in various models of therapy. Following a brief review of the current status of psychotherapy integration and its practices, assimilative integration is conceptualized as a mini theoretical integration and as theoretical eclecticism it is offered as a bridge between theoretical integration and technical eclecticism. Assimilative integration is proposed as the best theoretically and empirically based integrative approach available at this time, particularly for therapists who have been trained in a single mode of therapy before they became integrationists.     

Genes, brain, and behavior: Bridging disciplines

With excitement surrounding the publication of the human genome, scientists have set out to uncover the functions of specific genes. This special issue on Genes, Brain, and Behavior attempts to present research strategies that connect major avenues of genetic research across disciplines. For example, anatomical information provided by brain imaging can serve as a convenient link between anatomical abnormalities seen in knockout/transgenic mouse models and abnormal patterns of brain activity seen in certain patient populations. Identifying genetic risk factors for disorders with carefully designed cognitive assays is another strategy that has gained increasing attention. These approaches are being combined with behavioral studies of mouse models of gene function. Alone, each of these approaches provides limited information on gene function in complex human behavior, but together, they are forming bridges between animal models and human psychiatric disorders.