Synchronicity
Recorded Friday 4 February 2022
With Joseph Cambray
CPD Credits: 3.5 hours
With more than 120 years of analytic experience, models of the mind have evolved in conjunction with various other disciplines. We are moving towards a new synthesis of knowledge and experience, in which the porosity of subjective and objective states is transcending original binary views. As this opens into a discovery of non-local, distributed aspects of mind and psyche, exciting new therapeutic challenges and possibilities emerge.
In this three-part seminar, we will explore the origins and evolution of the concept of the field, starting with 19th Century discoveries in physics.
READ MORE...Examination of the ongoing adaptation and transformation of field theories in the work of depth psychologists throughout the past century offers an array of tools to detect subtler manifestations of unconscious processes that permeate not only clinical work but also our engagement with nature. Concepts such as transference, countertransference, projective identification and so forth can be envisioned as field phenomena. The addition of the concept of synchronicity can further add to our perceptions and explorations of these fields. Reciprocally, we can revision synchronicity itself in terms of networks and fields associated with complex systems. Following, this we have the opportunity to reconsider various knowledge systems for insights they may offer into contemporary models of the mind, with significant clinical consequences when integrated into practice.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits for 3.5 hours are available as part of the course fee. You will need to fill out an evaluation form and pass a multiple choice questionnaire related to the content in order to receive your certificate.
Access to the Talks On Demand runs for 365 days from the date of purchase.
FULL PROGRAMME
Origins of the Field Concept in Depth Psychology: From Interactive Dynamics to Synchronicity
In this session, we will begin with a historical overview of the concept of the field as it developed first in the physical sciences throughout the 19th century. The importation of the field concept into psychology was initiated by William James at the dawn of the 20th century and quickly picked up by a number of scholars and researchers. Depth psychologists, in particular, were impacted by these views. We will look at some of Freud’s uses of this to discuss communications via the unconscious. Following this, we will look at some innovations of C. G. Jung, an early pioneer of the application of field theory, to models of the psyche and the interaction between clinician and client. Jung’s vision of the interactive field included unconscious as well as conscious elements. Based on his views of the nature of the unconscious, Jung saw the field as having distributed, non-local aspects that often present in symbolic form. In conjunction with his emerging concept of synchronicity, a broader, more ecologically oriented approach to the clinical encounter was initiated by Jung. We will look at some clinical examples from various sources.
Q&A
Contemporary Field Theory and a New Cosmology
Having examined the origins and early development of the interactive field with associated synchronistic phenomena, we will in this session, turn towards contemporary understandings of these ideas from psychoanalytic and Jungian perspectives. An opportunity to experience this through an imaginal exercise of wonder will open this session. Contemporary psychoanalytic views emerging from the work of Bion reflected in Thomas Ogden’s exploration of reverie, and more fully articulated in the work of Ferro and Civitarese will follow. From here we will proceed to post-Jungian views on fields, these will be shown to be based on a new, holistic cosmology linked to complexity theory. Examples from multiple disciplines, from the physical sciences to the humanities will help participants appreciate the broad applicability of the new model, even to the point of considering a paradigm shift in knowledge this is currently creating, with a move towards a transdisciplinary approach. Expansion of the Boston Change Process Study Group model of psychological development through moments of meeting, employing the post-Jungian vision of synchronicity leads to a “moments of complexity” approach to transformation. Examples from the presenter’s practice will be used to assist in how to apply the model.
Towards a 21st Century View of Unconscious Process: A New Valuation
Re-visioning the notion of the unconscious, moving to a process-oriented approach coupled with the study of altered states of consciousness, will be the focus of the third session. The noetic capacities of certain altered states have been of interest to depth psychologists since the start of the discipline. Now there are new findings on the role of oracles in the ancient world that articulate these capacities and offer new avenues for clinical examination and use of such states in the therapeutic process. Appreciating the value of synchronistic phenomena along with the noetic aspects of dreams, allows clinicians to support the individuation processes of their clients more fully. Examples from the presenter’s practice will be offered, but it is hoped that attendees may themselves bring forward relevant examples for discussion.
Q&A