In ‘Archaic Man’, Jung wrote: ‘Every civilized human being, however high his conscious development, is still an archaic man at the deeper levels of his psyche’. At this level, the mind is still at one with nature, because this mind is nature, and has never been disconnected from it.
Jung argued that the earth has an impact on the human consciousness that inhabits it. He says that every colonial culture would like to feel at home in the new land but in order to feel connected it has important work to do: reconciliation with the indigenous people of the land. This talk will explore how these dynamics play out in terms of the British occupation of Aboriginal land in Australia. Surely the proposal of an indigenous Voice in Parliament is a powerful expression of the activation of the indigenous archetype in postcolonial Australia.
In this theme, Jung’s focus is not on Australia but on the United States of America. He believed America represents a "danger to itself and the world". However, the awakening of the indigenous archetype in the psyche can have positive as well as negative effects on the psychology of nations.
David Tacey is a writer and public intellectual who works across the fields of spirituality, religious studies, depth psychology, literature and philosophy. He is a specialist in Jungian studies and has edited The Jung Reader (London: Routledge) and co-edited The Idea of the Numinous (London: Routledge). He is the author of sixteen books, including: How to Read Jung (London: Granta; New York: Norton, 2009). Other books with Routledge, include: Jung and the New Age (2000); Remaking Men (1997); Gods and Diseases (2012); Religion as Metaphor (2015); and The Darkening Spirit: Jung, Spirituality, Religion (2013). His most recent book is The Postsecular Sacred: Jung, Soul and Meaning in an Age of Change (2020).
David’s writing and research have been influenced by classical and archetypal traditions of Jungian psychology. He conducted postdoctoral work with James Hillman in Dallas. He taught courses at the summer school of the Jung Institute Küsnacht Zürich from 2001 to 2010. His books are published internationally and have been translated into Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Turkish, Portuguese and French. He is Emeritus Professor of Humanities at La Trobe University, Melbourne, where he taught Jung’s Cultural Psychology across three decades.
Tickets for David’s presentation are available here.
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Date: 10th March 2023 at 7.00
Venue: Zoom
Cost: Members $Free Non-Members $20 Non-Member
Concession $15
*Psychotherapists and other practitioners can obtain credit for Professional Development hours recognised by PACFA and ACA for this presentation.