Synchronicity, Complexity, and the Psychoid Imagination: Examples from Ecology & Artistic Intuition
Synchronicity, Complexity, and the Psychoid Imagination: Examples from Ecology & Artistic Intuition
Original Lecture Date: January 11, 2020
Recording Length: 56 minutes
Note: Due to microphone problems during the lecture, there are areas within the recording that contain static. Thank you for understanding.
We will begin by reviewing the application of complexity theory, developed in the late 20th century, to Jungian concepts such as archetypes and synchronicity. The role of the psychoid layer of archetypal reality will be explored from this vantage point and applied first to recent research in ecological systems. Participants will have some opportunities to experience and discuss their own experiences of wonder to enrich personal comprehension of these ideas. Then we will look at a number of examples from the history of culture where artisans or artists were able to represent profound knowledge of highly complex natural phenomena well ahead of any scientific understanding. These will guide us towards the articulation of the psychoid imagination. Audio-visual materials will aid participants in entering these experiences.
JOSEPH CAMBRAY, PhD, a Jungian analyst and President/CEO of Pacifica Graduate Institute, served as faculty at Harvard Medical School, as president of the C.G. Jung Institute of Boston and of the International Association for Analytical Psychology. Publications include Synchronicity: Nature and Psyche in an Interconnected Universe; Research in Analytical Psychology (ed. with Leslie Sawin); and Analytical Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives in Jungian Psychology (ed. with Linda Carter).