Thursday January 29, 7-9 pm
Bill McKenzie, LCPC
Held via Zoom
$50, CEUs: 2

This workshop explores how Jungian principles surface in surprising ways through three films: The Truman Show (1998), American Beauty (1999), and John Huston’s Moby Dick (1956). Each portrays a different kind of hero—the Innocent, the Redeemed, and the Tragic—and reveals archetypal struggles we all share.

In Christof’s perpetually cheerful Seahaven, in Ricky Fitts’s vision of a plastic bag dancing on the wind, and in Ahab’s declaration that all visible things are but “pasteboard masks” concealing a hidden force, each story depicts the moment when appearances are pierced, and a deeper reality emerges. As these characters begin their quests, the world’s veneer is stripped away, exposing truth in all its deceptive, luminous, or terrifying forms.  Each hero is shaped by his response to that unseen, but experienced force.

Together, these films invite us to consider how encountering “the world’s mask” can awaken us to our own search for authenticity. It is strongly recommended that participants view these three films prior to attending the program.

About the Instructor

Bill McKenzie, LCPC, is a psychotherapist at Springfield Psychological Center in Springfield.  He lives with his wife in New Harmony, Indiana.  He has a Masters Degree in Human Development Counseling from the University of Illinois at Springfield where he earned his degree and licensure in 1993. Parallel to his therapy practice, he spent three decades in social work and training design, chiefly developing a variation of the Reflective Supervision model used in the home visitation field.

Bill is also a former pastor and founder of New Covenant Community (Now the Vineyard), in Springfield, Illinois – a church emphasizing the emergence of the inner life and the impact of the Church’s mystic heritage.

Bill is also a writer, a musician and lecturer – he has spent most of his adult life as an avid student of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell and the fascinating ways in which their ideas and perspectives intersect and overlap.

Held via Zoom on behalf of the Jung Center of Evanston. Meeting details sent via email after registration has been confirmed. For questions, contact jung@cgjungcenter.org.