An Epistolary Conversation.

This written exchange is between a senior and a younger Jungian analyst on issues relevant to the development of analytical psychology throughout the world today. The younger analyst, Stefano Carpani, considers himself a neo-Jungian. He explains to John Beebe, known for post-Jungian contributions to the study of typology, integrity, and gender, how important it is to include sociological perspectives alongside those that stem from the Jungian practice of relational psychoanalysis. The degree to which analysis has become an extended meditation on the relation of individual self-exploration to supra-personal Self-realization is emphasized by both authors, who envision this introspection leading to an expanded inner openness that Carpani has called "absolute freedom." The authors conclude that absolute freedom is a space of engaged reflection that can permit an informed but individualized approach to the complexities of the world soul today.

Il s'agit d'un échange par écrit entre deux analystes jungiens - l'un plus agé, l'autre plus jeune - sur des questions concernant le développement actuel de la psychologie analytique à travers le monde. L'analyste plus jeune, Stefano Carpani, se considère comme un néo-jungien. Il explique à John Beebe - qui est connu pour ses contributions post- jungiennes à l'étude de la typologie, de l'intégrité et du genre - à quel point il est important d'inclure des perspectives sociologiques aux côtés de celles qui découlent de la pratique jungienne de la psychanalyse relationnelle. Les deux auteurs insistent sur le degré auquel l'analyse est devenue une méditation prolongée concernant la relation entre l'exploration individuelle de soi et une réalisation supra-personnelle du Soi. Ils envisagent que cette introspection mène à une ouverture intérieure élargie que Carpani a appelée « liberté absolue ¼. Les auteurs concluent que la liberté absolue est un espace de réflexion engagée qui peut permettre une approche éclairée mais individualisée des complexités de l'âme du monde aujourd'hui.

Este intercambio escrito es entre un analista junguiano senior y otro más joven sobre temas relevantes para el desarrollo de la psicología analítica en el mundo actual. El analista más joven, Stefano Carpani, se considera neo-jungiano. Explica a John Beebe, conocido por sus contribuciones postjungianas al estudio de la tipología, la integridad y el género, lo importante que es incluir perspectivas sociológicas junto a las que se derivan de la práctica junguiana del psicoanálisis relacional. Ambos autores enfatizan el grado en que el análisis devino en una prolongada meditación en la relación entre la exploración individual del self y la realización suprapersonal del Self, y visualizan como esta introspección conduce a una expansiva apertura interior que Carpani ha llamado "libertad absoluta". Los autores concluyen que la libertad absoluta es un espacio de reflexión comprometida que puede permitir una aproximación fundamentada y singular a las complejidades del alma del mundo actual.

Bridging worlds: participatory thinking in Jungian context.

Introducing the 'participatory' paradigm associated with the work of transpersonalists Richard Tarnas and Jorge Ferrer, the author outlines an approach to Jung's archetypal thinking that might offer a more adequate basis in which to ground a non-reductive approach to practice. In order to demonstrate the relevance of this outlook at the present time, the author begins by examining recent debates concerning the nature of 'truth' in the clinical setting. Reflecting on the difficulties analysts face in attempting to maintain professional authority without falling into an implicit authoritarianism, it is argued that any approach to therapy seeking to orient itself towards 'the unconscious' must posit the challenges of pluralism as a central concern for practice. With reference to the relationship between analytical psychology and the psychoanalytic mainstream, attention is drawn to the theoretical problems raised by the relational commitment to constructivist epistemologies, and a consequent tendency towards biological reductionism. Turning to the Jungian literature, similar tensions are observed at play in the present state of analytical psychology. Drawing attention to the process-oriented qualities of Jung's work, it is suggested that the speculative nature of Jung's psychology offers a more adequate basis for contemporary practice than might be assumed.

Self-disclosure, trauma and the pressures on the analyst.

This paper argues that self-disclosure is intimately related to traumatic experience and the pressures on the analyst not to re-traumatize the patient or repeat traumatic dynamics. The paper gives a number of examples of such pressures and outlines the difficulties the analyst may experience in adopting an analytic attitude - attempting to stay as closely as possible with what the patient brings. It suggests that self-disclosure may be used to try to disconfirm the patient's negative sense of themselves or the analyst, or to try to induce a positive sense of self or of the analyst which, whilst well-meaning, may be missing the point and may be prolonging the patient's distress. Examples are given of staying with the co-construction of the traumatic early relational dynamics and thus working through the traumatic complex; this attitude is compared and contrasted with some relational psychoanalytic attitudes.

The future of Jungian analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats ('SWOT').

Using a methodology derived from management and organizational studies, the author reviews the future of Jungian analysis. The methodology is termed SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. A selected list in each of these categories is presented. The author is transparent in allowing for the fact that the paper not only derives from a public lecture on the topic, but also retains the immediacy and the contrarian and opinionated style of such a lecture.