They Had a Dream (We Have a Dream): C G Jung, MLK, and the Evocative Power of Symbols

with Jennifer Leigh Selig, PhD

In continuation of our COVID-19 response, we are sharing another full seminar. You can support our ongoing efforts to provide free and low-cost educational resources during this pandemic by making a donation on our website or a purchase in our audio and video store. We have extended our Stay Connected Sale through May 31st, so you can still get 40% everything in our store (use the coupon code CONNECT on the cart page before checkout).

Jung initially rejected the invitation to write Man and His Symbols, whose intention was to make Jungian psychology understandable to a general audience, but a dream convinced him otherwise. In his dream, he speaks to a multitude of enthralled people who understand everything he says. In this presentation on Chapter 1 of Man and His Symbols, “Approaching the Unconscious,” we’ll explore how two years after Jung completed both his chapter and his life, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to a multitude of enthralled people and translated many Jungian concepts into everyday language in his “I Have a Dream” speech. Jung’s chapter is concerned with four major areas—the unconscious, dreams, archetypes, and symbols—all four of which we find illustrated and translated to a general audience in King’s dream speech. We’ll dream the dream forward into the 2020 election and see how leading presidential candidates are working with archetypes and symbols as well, on behalf of the psychological health of the body politic.

A PDF of the PowerPoint shown during the seminar, which includes links to the videos on YouTube, is available HERE . It was recorded on October 4, 2019.

Jennifer Leigh Selig, PhD is the founder and former chair of the Jungian and Archetypal Studies doctoral degree at Pacifica Graduate Institute. She has spent almost two decades researching, writing about, and presenting on Martin Luther King, Jr., including her 2005 title, Integration: The Psychology and Mythology of Martin Luther King, Jr. and His (Unfinished) Therapy With the Soul of America. Her latest books include Everyday Reverence: A Hundred Ways to Kneel , Kiss the Ground, and a co-authored volume titled Deep Creativity: Seven Ways to Spark Your Creative Spirit. jenniferleighselig.com

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© 2019 Jennifer Leigh Selig. This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Music by Michael Chapman
Edited and produced by Benjamin Law