Lectures and Seminars
Film, Lecture, and Discussion: The Film "Avatar" and Borderland Consciousness: An Emergent Myth of Our Time
For all of its shortcomings,"Avatar" portrays an emergent 21st century myth reflecting a shift in the nature of consciousness itself on behalf of a dissociated ego construct that was cleaved from Nature in the Garden of Eden, to one based on communion with Nature, i.e. all of life; one that confronts civilization's excessive materialism, runaway power and self-consuming greed; a regressive male hero figure inconsistent with the new mythos endeavoring to give birth; a seeming racism that is attached to the dying hero myth of our time and yet,concievably essential for the survival of species Homo sapiens; a love story imposed improperly upon a reawakening transcendent spiritual reconnection of masculine and feminine; suicidal power complex that does indeed succeed in its goal, however unconscious and compusive; and a telescoping into the future of the fruits of global warming as we know it, and a new spirituality that while holding promise of permitting the continuation of our species in transmuted form, mistakes "worship" for "reverence," and "power" for "reciprocity" and "communion".
The Glittering World of the Navajo
This four day seminar, which will begin and end with a traditional Navajo ceremony, is designed for Jungian analysts in active clinical practice. The seminar will focus on exploring clinical insights and developing techniques for use as analysts in our clinical practice. Mornings will be spent with lectures/talks/stories by a Navajo medicine man and a Navajo cultural translator who will focus on Navajo philosophy and cultural perspectives. Navajo Traditional Medicine, and balancing Diné (Navajo) ceremonies with western medicine will be discussed. The Navajo concept of Hózhó, loosely translated as, “Beauty” and “Harmony” through the restoration of psychic balance, will be explored as it might appear in our own consulting rooms. Hózhó is at the core of all Navajo healing ceremonies.
Jung Society of Atlanta Program
Friday Lecture: Healing the Split between Psyche and Nature
Shortly before his death, Carl Jung wrote, “Through scientific understanding our world has become dehumanized...[Man’s] immediate communication with nature is gone for ever....”
Jerome S. Bernstein, Jungian Analyst, will discuss his theory that the Western psyche’s immediate communication with nature is not “gone for ever,” as Jung asserted, but is being reconnected to nature as an evolutionary compensation in the name of protection from species suicide. One by-product of this evolutionary process is what he calls Borderland consciousness. There are many people whose experience of reality is outside the mainstream of Western culture. Often they see themselves as abnormal because they have no articulated frame of reference for their experience. The concept of the Borderland personality explains much of their reality. With this new consciousness comes implications for how we define reality, for differentiating the pathological from the sacred, for clinical diagnosis and treatment, and for bridging the mind-body split. And it has implications for us all if, as Bernstein suggests, Borderland consciousness will be the prevalent consciousness by the end of the current century.
Although he came to discover the Borderland personality and Borderland consciousness in his clinical practice, increasingly its prevalence in the culture as a whole is becoming more evident. If Western civilization in its dissociation from nature poses a threat to our very survival, as Bernstein suggests, perhaps our salvation as a species rests on a different kind of understanding and on an evolving consciousness more reflective of the indigenous psyche than separate from it.
The Borderland Patient: Reintroducing Nature as the Missing Dimension in Clinical Treatment: What I learned from Navajo Medicine Men
Panel Discussion: Healing in a Multicultural World
On the Edge: Psyche in Ethics, the Arts and Nature
Borderland Consciousness and Avatar. An Emergent Myth of Our Time
Jerome Bernstein, Chair Alexandra Fidyk
Listening to the Psyche/ Listening to the Earth
Explorations of Borderland Consciousness
Presented by: Jerome Bernstein
Jerome Bernstein will discuss his concept of Borderland consciousness and the Borderland personality as an adaptive evolutionary response to the threat to the survival of our species.
Jerome S. Bernstein's theory of Borderland consciousness holds that the collective unconscious is bringing about a compensatory reconnection of our culture and our psyche to Nature in an attempt to heal our relationship with the Earth. Even today in the Age of Global Warming as we increasingly are being forced to recognize that our survival hinges on healing our relationship to the Earth, we still approach that responsibility with an attitude of arrogance and dominion – as if it were we alone who shall heal the Earth through our science and technology. However indispensable science and technology may be in this healing process, a new kind of consciousness is needed that can learn to live in reciprocal relationship to the Earth – a relationship based on humility and respect. We need a consciousness that can embrace the idea that the Earth has its own wisdom about its own healing and that we must be in dialogue with the Earth and learn to listen in a new way.
Borderlands: Western Culture and Native American Concepts of Psyche, Cosmology, and Healing
The Human Services Center
The Ethical Society Building
1906 S. Rittenhouse Square
Philadelphia, PA 19103
See www.thejungclub.com for registration form and additional information.
Nature: The Missing Link in Western Medicine
Johnson Dennison and Jerome Bernstein
We will explore these questions through:
- An exploration of the theory of Borderland consciousness and the Borderland personality.
- Johnson Dennison, Navajo Medicine Man and Jerome Bernstein, Jungian analyst, will explore some of the significant differences between the Western approaches to healing and those of Navajo healing and medicine. We will explore what Navajo medicine and healing offers the Western clinical models. We will also look at the uses of a collaborative Jungian/navajo model through two case presentations.
Considering the Relations between Western and American Indian Thought
Lecture & Book Launch
Philip J.deloria, Ph.D. Professor of History and Jerome S. Bernstein
Workshop/Santa Fe
Carl G. Jung and The Sioux Traditions: Jung's "Primitive" Revisited
The Edinger Society
2333 San Juan Avenue
Port Townsend, WA 98368
Public Lecture: Friday, November 14
7:00-8:30 pm - Price at Door $10.00
Open Public Workshop- Saturday, November 15
10:00 am to 4:00 pm (1 1/2 hour lunch break)
Price at Door: $50.00
Questions: E-mail Julia Rouse at jarouse@olympus.net
View the flyer:
Living in the Borderland addresses the evolution of Western consciousness and describes the emergence of the 'Borderland,' a spectrum of reality that is beyond the rational yet is palpable to an increasing number of individuals.