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What is initiation? Is it a psycho-spiritual event, a physical occurrence, a social punctuation? Is it important for individuals or even cultures to be initiated? Are there necessarily different initiatory processes for men and women? What, if anything, does initiation have to do with the soul?
Jung was fascinated with the centrality of initiation to the individuation process. He came to realize that the ego needs instruction and formation if it is to build soul and meaning across the life span. The Self seems to provide for this through the archetype of initiatory ritual and socialization—a process under severe threat in the technological and cultural crises of our times. What are the individual and collective implications? What did last year's grueling impeachment process or the WTO crisis have to do with the archetype of initiation? How can one activate the energies of this archetype? Should one do so? What role does gender play in patterning its expression in our lives?
Film is an initiatory medium. It seeks to educate the soul about its destiny. This seminar revisits the perennial theme of initiation in Jungian studies and will amplify and illustrate key concepts through relevant vignettes from contemporary cinema. Friday night will give an overview of the model and Saturday will develop the model's implications.
Terrill L. Gibson, Ph.D., is a diplomate pastoral psychotherapist, AAMFT-approved supervisor, and diplomate Jungian analyst who practices individual and family therapy with Pastoral Therapy Associates in Tacoma. He lectures and writes widely on the basic theme of the integration of psychotherapy and spirituality. Dr. Gibson has frequently served as a consultant, faculty member, supervisor, and facilitator for a variety of Pacific Northwest universities, social service agencies, corporations, and religious congregations. He has a passion for film, sea kayaks, and the blues.
In the fall of 1997, Chiron Press published a book Dr. Gibson co-edited with Laura Dodson, Ph.D., Psyche and Family: Jungian Applications to Family Therapy. Most recently he has written two book chapters. One chapter is on pastoral psychotherapy and transcendence, in The Psychology of Mature Spirituality: Integrity, Wisdom and Transcendence, co-edited by Melvin Miller, Ph.D., and Polly Young-Eisendrath, Ph.D.—currently in press from Routledge. The other chapter is on a Jungian perspective of the Oedipal event, in Human Development and Faith, edited by Felicity Kelcourse—in press from Chalice Press. Dr. Gibson is now working on a collaborative project in Jungian psychology, film, and spirituality.
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