Friday, 17 June 2016
7.00pm-7.45pm Discussion Group (Club Rm)
Facilitated by Mary Duffy
Psyche and Symbol
by Dr David Tacey, "Beyond Belief" (2015) Chapter 10, pp187-207
8.00pm Guest Speaker
Transforming complexes
as pathways to vocation
“Our torments also may in length of time become our Elements”
Could your sensitivities, wounds and preoccupation
- your complexes -
hold the missing key to your vocation?
A complex is an impulse, pattern of behaviour, recurring mode of imagination, obsessive thought or particular fantasy which keeps you in its grip. According to Jung, the via regia to the unconscious was not, as Freud thought, the dream, but “the complex, which is the architect of dreams and of symptoms” although the complex is “more like a rough and uncommonly devious footpath” than a royal road (CW8, para. 210). Drawing on fascinating stories from interviews with individuals, Suzanne explores how a more conscious understanding of one’s complexes can be revelatory for the discovery and conduct of one’s vocation. Complexes may stem from personal wounds (often originating in childhood); the collective wounds of the individual’s culture; or the traumas and patterns of previous generations. A Jungian approach suggests that the complex be treated not merely as a historical wound but that it has a teleological function, whereby the psyche leads the individual towards new horizons and an unfolding vocational direction infused with passion and commitment.
Suzanne Cremen Davidson is the founding director of the Life Artistry Centre for Archetype, Imagination and Vocation in Melbourne www.lifeartistry.com.au. She is a doctoral candidate at La Trobe University and holds two Masters Degrees from the Pacifica Graduate Institute (USA) in Jungian and Archetypal Studies, and Engaged Humanities and Mythology, as well as degrees in Law and Arts from UNSW. Suzanne has served on the board of Pacifica’s Alumni Association and co-teaches a course on vocation in the Jungian and archetypal studies MA/PhD program there. She has presented at international conferences, published in journals and co-edited "Depth Psychological Research Methods " (2013). Suzanne is past-president of the Queensland Jung Society and co-founder of scholarly publishing house eContent Management (acquired by Routledge in 2014). Her background includes working as a lawyer, conference producer, screenwriter, publisher and career counselor for adults in midlife.