Held via Zoom
Laura McGrew, LCPC and Kenneth James, PhD
CEUs: 2.5

*Limited to 25 participants. 

This class will be the third of six classes, each presenting a volume of Jung’s Personal Journals entitled The Black Books, which were only recently released for publication by his family. These books are his reflections, beginning in 1913, after the break with Freud. For Jung, this was a period of confusion, turmoil, and suffering and yet it birthed all of his major theories.

The Black Books deserve careful reading from a mindful perspective. These books contain what might be called “raw process” from Jung’s own transcripts. Encountering The Black Books is an experience unlike exploring any of Jung’s other writings. The goal of this third class, focusing on Volume 4 of The Black Books, is to delve into the problem of the opposites. Jung experiences the one-sidedness of his past conscious perspective, saying “science also leaves us empty;” science is no longer sufficient.  We are then faced with the unappealing choice between vitality versus stagnation, which also may be thought in more classical Jungian language as enantiodromia versus entropy. Consequently, it is through the integration of the mythic and the scientific that both personal and collective individuation is mobilized.  In this volume, we are also able to enjoy Jung’s remarkable sense of humor as he confronts his own challenging inner companions amid what he himself considered his madness. This awareness reinforces Jung’s advocacy for the inner world, one’s inner work, and the unconscious, which now becomes a force that strengthens consciousness and serves as a springboard for the theory of individuation and the evolution of the collective unconscious. This material will be presented through the reading of dialogs from the volume, followed by reflection and discussion among the participants.

*This is the third of six classes in the series. Each class can be taken as a stand-alone. No required reading necessary. Please have paper and a pen available for the workshop.

About the Instructors
Laura McGrew is a Jungian Analyst in private practice in Chicago. She is the emeritus board chair of The C.G. Jung Center, and a tireless worker in and for the field of Analytical Psychology.

Ken James is a Jungian Analyst in private practice in Chicago. He is a training analyst with the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago and has served on the board of the institute.

*Program CEUs are an additional $15 processing fee. Please note that the current CEU processing time is around 3-4 weeks during this time of limited office use.