CEUs: 2

Instructor: Kenneth W. James

*Schedule Change. Newly added presentation.

This year’s Jungian Concepts Seminar is being presented by six seasoned Jungian analysts.   This seminar is open to anyone interested in exploring Jung’s concepts, and is suitable for both new and returning participants, clinicians and non-clinicians.  The March topic is Narcissism and The Mana Personality: A Jungian Interpretation for Our Time presented by Kenneth W. James.

Contemporary psychology has brought the concept of the “narcissistic personality” to everyday discourse, and most people are familiar with the standard description of such a personality, which includes arrogance, lack of empathy, exaggerated feelings of self- importance, an excessive need for admiration, and an obsessive need for power and perceived success. These characteristics are commonly found in celebrities, politicians, and other public figures, yet traditional psychological explanations of narcissism do not go much beyond a behavioral description of the condition and an investigation of its effects on interpersonal relationships.

G. Jung, the founder of Analytical Psychology, provided a much deeper, archetypally-focused description when he coined the term “ Mana-personality”, borrowing the Polynesian term “Mana”, which refers to supernatural power and prestige. This personality Jung has described is one that has become unconsciously inflated with the archetypal energy of the magician, the chief, the shaman, and the saint or the sage. Further, Jung found that such unconscious identification generates a corresponding unconscious response within the group which encounters the Mana- possessed person, such that the group begins to exhibit servility, obeisance, adulation and adoration when in the presence of the Mana-personality.

In this lecture/discussion, participants will explore examples of the Mana-personality in modern society, and share perspectives on what this presence may portend.

The 2016/2017 Jungian Concepts Seminar Lineup:

October 14: On the Nature of Suffering, Laura McGrew, LCPC

November 11: The Gift of Uncertainty, Judy Shaw, LCSW

February 24: Further Explorations of Consciousness, Robert J. Moretti, PhD

March 24: Narcissism and The Mana Personality, Kenneth James, PhD

April 21: The Psychology of Terrorism, Jane Kamerling, LCSW

May 26: Flying Saucers, Fortune Telling, Mediums & Magic: Why Jung writes about esoterica, Ken James, PhD