Jung in the academy: devotions and resistances

Jung's position in the contemporary mainstream English-speaking university is problematical indeed. For various historical and ideological reasons, Jung is generally not included in the courses in academic psychology, and in the humanities and social sciences his reception is lukewarm to say the least. He has only a marginal place in religious studies. This notorious academic resistance to Jung is compensated, some would say overcompensated, by student interest and enthusiasm, which sometimes seeks to make a religious dogma out of Jung's psychology. In a sense, cynical resistance to Jung and fanatical devotion to Jung can be seen to generate each other in a sort of binary opposition. This situation is unfortunate because neither extreme presents a fair or balanced view of Jung's thought or of his contribution to intellectual history. These and other problems associated with the teaching of Jung in a university setting are briefly outlined in this paper.     

Intimacy, Psyche, and Spirit in the Experience of Chinese and Japanese Calligraphy

In the West, we have adoped the word calligraphy to describe Chinese and Japanese writing out of the recognition that there is an aesthetic component inherent in the written characters. The author shows how Chinese and Japanese calligraphy is much more than writing; it must be approached as one would any piece of art. A brief history of Chinese and Japanese calligraphy is explored, including the elements and methods of brushwork and overall creation of the expressions themselves. The article concludes by looking at how calligraphy is a mode of self-discovery and self-development that opens us to a substantial dialogue between cultures and the paths of inner conversation.     

'To Paint the Portrait of a Bird': analytic work from the perspective of a 'developmental' Jungian

Jungians who are trained in the so-called 'Developmental School' straddle the two worlds of psychoanalysis and classical Jungian thinking. This is not always an easy position in which to be, but if the tensions can be held it is potentially a rich and creative way of working. In this paper I attempt to explore this position using the poem, 'To Paint the Portrait of a Bird' by Jacques Prévert as a metaphor for the analytic endeavour. From this perspective I hope to illustrate the importance of being able on the one hand to hold and maintain a clear frame for the careful and detailed exploration of the transference within which the more malign aspects of the psyche might be expressed, and, on the other, to allow the alchemical process of mutual transformation that lies outside the conscious understanding of the analytic couple.     

Discontinuities in the male psyche: waiting, deadness and disembodiment. Archetypal and clinical approaches

The discontinuities of development in the male psyche that are manifested in some analyses in unconscious experiences of inner disintegration are described. Narcissism and a de-somatized relationship to their own presence are the dominant clinical presentation in these patients. The analyst sometimes experiences these analyses as 'dead', as a result of the projection of a 'dead mother' object. The question of how psychic deadness and impotence can be worked with is examined. Clinical experience with these men shows how notions associated with the puer-senex archetype can illuminate the stark realities of a patient's early experiences, particularly in how mother's presence is felt. A theoretical and clinical bridge is proposed between puer and narcissus to frame how a man may unconsciously strive against psychic fragmentation by clinging to an identification with both--in order to remain intact in the face of being caught in a pre-pubescent state which reflects the insecure attachment to mother. The author describes how patients may find a more grounded embrace of reality via the use of the analyst's empathy and a greater potency through work in the transference/countertransference. These strengthening achievements help men to begin to leave the 'dead mother' behind.     

Foundations of Educational Psychology: Howard Gardner's Neoclassical Psyche

This article is a theoretical examination of the implications of Howard Gardner's work in developmental and educational psychology (1983, 1993, 1999a, 1999b) for the structure of the psyche. The author accepts as axiomatic, in the context of this article, Gardner's educational manifesto (1999a) that all students should be taught disciplinary understandings of truth, beauty, and goodness. Rational inferences are then made indicating that the psyche that Gardner intends to educate and help develop is in the form of a neoclassical psyche and that it is structured by the capacities to know truth, to love beauty, and to will goodness.     

Wayne G. Rollins' Soul and Psyche: An Appreciation

Professor Wayne G. Rollins has written a remarkably important book on the history of the interface between psychological and biblical studies. It is called Soul and Psyche: The Bible in Psychological Perspective. It is so comprehensive that it reaches from the words of Jesus of Nazareth to the models of Kohut and Winnicott, from the First Century to the Twenty-First, from Freud to Fowler and beyond. He definitively addresses the full range of issues relating to the psychological critique of the Bible and the history of Biblical Psychology.     

BION'S THINKING ABOUT GROUPS: A STUDY OF INFLUENCE AND ORIGINALITY

One of Bion's least‐acknowledged contributions to psychoanalytic theory is his study of the relationship between the mind of the individual (the ability to think), the mentalities of groups of which the individual is a member, and the individual's bodily states. Bion's early work on group therapy evolved into a study of the interplay between mind and bodily instincts associated with being a member of a group, and became the impetus for his theory of thinking. On the foundation of Bion's ideas concerning this interaction among the thinking of the individual, group mentality, and the psyche‐soma, the author presents his thoughts on the ways in which group mentality is recognizable in the analysis of individuals.     

Reflections on the Jungian nature of psychology as the discipline of interiority: a response to Saban's ‘Misunderstandings’

Psychology as the discipline of interiority is the name of the psychology that has developed from Wolfgang Giegerich's work in the field of analytical psychology. This article offers a counterview to that of Mark Saban's claim that Giegerich's psychology is ‘irrelevant’ to Jungians today and is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of Jungian psychology. It will be shown that, in fact, it is a fundamental misunderstanding of Giegerich's work that has led Saban to form erroneous conclusions. Links between Jung's and Giegerich's conceptions of the ‘objective psyche’ will be highlighted, along with other examples of how, contrary to Saban's conclusions, psychology as the discipline of interiority has obvious connections to, and grounding in, Jungian psychology.     

The social unconscious in persons,groups and societies,Vol 1: mainly theory; and Trauma and organizations

This paper considers the emotional life of the infant in the incubator and develops a new psychological theory which is called the ‘incubator psyche’. Theory building is advanced from three main discourses: (1) psychoanalysis, (2) neo-natal nursing and (3) psychology. A case study of Corey, a 7-year-old boy, who had been delivered prematurely, with a hole in his heart, and spent the first 6 weeks of post-natal life in an incubator, is presented to illustrate how aspects of an incubator psyche might be clinically manifest. The concept of an incubator psyche is advanced with reference to a particular kind of second-skin formation (Bick, 1968, The experience of the skin in early object relations, The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 49, 484–486). It is proposed that the incubator psyche characterises a client's mental functioning exercised as an environmental sensibility that could be understood in terms of the total transference situation (Klein, 1952, The origins of transference, International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 33, 433–438; Joseph, 1985, Transference: The total situation, International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 66, 447–454). Implications for practice are considered advocating particular attention to the setting.