Lectures : Printable PDF Version 
Friday Evening Lecture
Living the Unlived Life
| Date: | September 11, 2009 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. |
| Presenter: | Jerry Ruhl, Ph.D. |
| Location: | St. Thomas Episcopal Church Inwood at Mockingbird |
$20.00 non-members (wine and cheese reception) |
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This talk explores the essential developmental task in the second half of life—rectifying the loss of abandoned dreams and unrealized potentials to achieve our ultimate life meaning and purpose. Unlived life consists of potential aspects of ourselves that have not adequately entered into our experience. No one can live out all of life’s possibilities, but key aspects of our being must be brought into life or we cannot realize fulfillment.
We all carry a vast inventory of unlived life. Even if we have achieved major life goals and seemingly have few regrets, significant experiences have been closed to each of us. For everything we choose (or that was chosen for us), something else remains “unchosen.” We sense unlived life in the unexpected grief that arises seemingly out of nowhere, a sense that we have somehow missed the mark or failed to do something we were sure we were supposed to do.
When brought into consciousness, unlived life can propel us to rise above fears, regrets, and disappointments, to expand our vision beyond the narrow confines of the ego, and to embrace the full measure of our being. An enlightened vision is our most profound unlived potential; bringing it to fruition is the worthy purpose of the second half of life.
Saturday Workshop
The Power of Symbolic Life
| Date: | September 12, 2009 9:30 a.m.–noon |
| Presenter: | Jerry Ruhl, Ph.D. |
| Location: | St. Thomas Episcopal Church |
$40.00 non-members (coffee and rolls provided) |
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We humans are given the most conflicting job description imaginable. We must be civilized human beings, and that requires a whole list of “dos and don’ts.” Simultaneously, we are called to live everything that we truly are, to be whole—this is our duty to the higher Self.
We are each faced daily with innumerable decisions, and apparent contradictions tie us in knots. C.G. Jung wrote that the medieval mentality is “either/or,” but if humanity is to survive we must learn to cope with “both/and”—a leap of consciousness from opposition to paradox.
Drawing upon the myth of the twin stars in the Gemini constellation, this workshop explores the unity that exits behind every duality. Unified in their childhood, Castor and Polux came to be separated, fragmentary, and miserable.
Their struggle to be reunited provides a prototype and navigation point for all humans on the journey into wholeness. Allowing both sides of any issue to exist in equal dignity and worth makes a synthesis possible, bringing new insight, meaning, and contentment to our lives.
Grounded in Jungian psychological concepts, this workshop will provide practical tools to help you surrender old limitations and enliven many aspects of life, friendships, relationships, and career; unlock new life options and hidden talents; seize the “dangerous” opportunities of midlife; master the art of being truly alive in the present moment; and revitalize a connection with the higher Self, thereby achieving peace and purpose in your mature years.
Jerry M. Ruhl, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the C.G. Jung Educational Center of Houston and a clinical psychologist in private practice. He has studied spiritual practices in Japan, Bali, Thailand, Nepal, and India. With internationally known Jungian analyst Robert A. Johnson, he is the co-author of Balancing Heaven and Earth (1998) and Contentment (1999). This seminar draws upon material in the newest book by Dr. Ruhl and Dr. Johnson, Living Your Unlived Life. Dr. Ruhl received a master’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. He was formerly a trustee for the C. G. Jung Society of Colorado
Friday Evening Lecture
Zen, the Spiritual Exercises, and Jungian Thought
| Date: | October 9, 20 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. |
| Presenter: | Ruben Habito, D.Litt.C. |
| Location: | St. Thomas Episcopal Church Inwood at Mockingbird |
$20.00 non-members (wine and cheese reception) |
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The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius offers a well-structured format for meditative and contemplative practice and has been a source of spiritual nourishment, especially for who seek inner guidance in facing major decisions in life. Zen meditation, now widely available in the West in numerous centers led by authorized Zen teachers also open practitioners to inner riches and a transformative spiritual vision. These two powerful traditions of spiritual practice can be seen in better light in comparison, as related also to key insights of C.G. Jung on the human psyche and on human spiritual development.
Saturday Workshop
Stages of Spiritual Life: Zen, the Spiritual Exercises, and Jung
| Date: | October 10, 2009 9:30 a.m. – noon |
| Presenter: | Ruben Habito, D.Litt.C. |
| Location: | St. Thomas Episcopal Church |
$40.00 non-members (coffee and rolls provided) |
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This workshop will outline the phases of spiritual development and fruits of spiritual practice as seen in comparative perspective taking Zen and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and relating these to key insights in Jungian thought. An opportunity for meditative practice in the Zen tradition will be offered, with guidelines for those who wish to practice on a regular basis.
Ruben L.F. Habito is Professor of World Religions and Spirituality at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University and founding teacher of the Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas, Texas. He is author of Healing Breath: Zen for Christians and Buddhists in a Wounded World (Wisdom, 2006), Experiencing Buddhism: Ways of Wisdom and Compassion (Orbis, 2005), and other volumes in English and Japanese.
Friday Evening Lecture:
Ancient Wisdom: Shahrazad the Healer
| Date: | November 13, 2009 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. |
| Presenter: | Marga Speicher, Ph.D. |
| Location: | St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Inwood at Mockingbird |
$20.00 non-members (wine and cheese reception) |
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Humans are storytellers. Each culture has its treasure trove of stories that teach or heal or transmit generational wisdom; that make us laugh or weep or be inspired as they speak of human joy and misery, of dilemma and conflict, of gifts and poisons, of everything that is typically human.
In the Friday night presentation, we will explore The Thousand and One Nights, a collection of stories from Persia dating to the years before 1000 CE. The storyteller is Shahrazad, who finds a way–one night at a time–to heal the king’s heart, which was profoundly hurt by betrayal. Shahrazad’s wisdom shows us how to be with a person in pain with relatedness, sensitivity, clarity, and steadfastness. Healing occurs incrementally, one day at a time, and mind, heart, and soul can live, grow, and bloom again.
Saturday Workshop
The Process of Healing
| Date: | November 14, 2009 9:30 a.m. – noon |
| Presenter: | Marga Speicher, Ph.D. |
| Location: | St. Thomas Episcopal Church |
$40.00 non-members (coffee and rolls provided) |
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In the Saturday workshop, we will explore more deeply the process of development and healing in educational endeavors, in conflict resolution, in therapeutic engagements: the preparation of the would-be teacher-mediator-healer, the necessary attitudes and qualities, and especially the importance of patient step-by-step steadfastness. Discussion will alternate with reflection and short writing periods.
Marga Speicher, Ph.D.,is a Jungian Psychoanalyst in San Antonio, Texas. A lover of literature and folklore, she leads workshops on symbolic understanding of images in dreams, stories, and experiences of everyday life, seeing such images as opening doors to the core of our humanity, individually and culturally. Her lectures on symbols in Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella, and The Thousand and One Nights have been released on CD and audiotape
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Clinical Supervision
Tanya Kuschnitzky, LPC-S (newlevelcounseling.com), is offering clinical supervision to LPC interns. Please call 214-695-8096 for more information.
