Date: Friday Evening
April 12, 2019, 7:30-9:30 p.m.
Registration begins at 7:00 p.m.
Lecture: “Out of a Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope” : The Relationship Between Hope and Despair in Times of Crisis
Location: St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church, Inwood at Mockingbird
$20.00 non-members (includes a complimentary reception with hors d’oeuvres and wine)
Student with valid student ID $10.00
Using Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement as a case study, this lecture explores the opposite but intertwined affects of hope and despair and their relationship to our ability to take action in times of crisis. King’s complicated history with hope and despair is worth mining for its inspiration and wisdom today, as we too are living in a time of cultural disintegration and collective despair. The lecture will end by offering the symbol of the mandorla as a way to hold Jung’s “tension of the opposites” of hope and despair and still take action on behalf of King’s concept of the beloved community.
Date: Saturday Morning
April 13, 9:30 a.m. – noon
Registration begins at 9:15 a.m.
Workshop: Transforming the Suffering of the Soul Through Our Gifts of Grace
Location: St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church, Inwood at Mockingbird
$40.00 non-members (includes a complimentary continental breakfast)
Student with valid student ID $10.00
G. Jung wrote, “All creativeness in the realm of spirit as well as every psychic advance of man arises from the suffering of the soul.” He thought we heal from our suffering through the gift of grace. I would add that we heal and offer healing to the suffering world through the gifts we have been graced with. Participants will be encouraged to take a current issue where their soul suffers and they struggle with despair. Through a gentle process of small group witnessing, each person’s gifts of grace will be uncovered. Then, through journaling and discussion, creative ways will be explored for using those gifts to take action on behalf of beloved communities of any scale where there is suffering (marriage, family, work, city, state, country, globe, etc.).
Jennifer Leigh Selig, Ph.D., is a depth psychologist, author, publisher, and a traveling educator with over 30 years of teaching experience. She is the author of many essays and books, including Integration: The Psychology and Mythology of Martin Luther King, Jr. and His (Unfinished) Therapy With the Soul of America (2012) and co-author of Deep Creativity: Seven Ways to Spark Your Creative Spirit (2019).
