GEBSER + JUNG HERE AND NOW
A CONSCIOUS EMERGENC(E/Y)
49th Annual Jean Gebser Society Conference
October 10-13, 2019
Thursday – Sunday
Asilomar Conference Grounds
Pacific Grove, CA 93950
Photo by Robin V. Robinson
Call for Proposals
Life on Earth is transforming at scales of magnitude and in dimensions that cannot be mental-rationally prehended. The planetary emergence/emergency is now real and present. We can recognize and describe archetypal patterns of accelerating changes, efficient and deficient, in personal and world life.
As a philosopher of consciousness, Gebser describe ever-present structures of awaring — archaic, magic, mythic, mental, and integral. His central concern is the mutation of consciousness that is now occurring — “our conscious participation in the construction of a new reality.”
For Jung the individual is the center of transformation, and he emphasizes that his work concerns primarily the suffering of individuals. Still, Jung is deeply concerned with “the spirit of the times” as well as “the spirit of the depths.” Gebser writes of “an increasingly intense luminescence of the spiritual” and Jung of “the numinosum of divine experience.”
The work of this conference is to distinguish / synthesize the ideas of Gebser and Jung, and others. Our immediate aim is to connect their important and useful insights in order to advance our understanding of what is happening to us and through us, now.
As is customary, we invite a wide spectrum of proposals, with an emphasis on such questions such as:
How can we work through the liminality of this great planetary, spiritual unfolding? How can we comprehend Anima Mundi and World Crisis? How can the thinking of Gebser and Jung be understood as prophetic?
What are bridges between Gebser, Jung, Neumann, Teilhard de Chardin, Sri Aurobindo, and others who also presentiate the transformation of consciousness in our time? How do Gebser’s Ever-Present Origin and Neumann’s Origins and History of Consciousness harmonize?
Gebser and Jung create new terminologies. How are these commensurable? Which seem to be the most compelling? What is the role of image and metaphor in Gebser and Jung’s approaches to consciousness?
Regarding cultural transformation, how can we usefully compare and contrast the views of Gebser and Jung?
How do we concretely engage/integrate processes of personal and collective emergence/individuation in 21st century societies? How do adults create conditions for young people to be agents of requisite change in the 21st century? How can these conditions be co-created by teachers and students? To what extent do schools need to fundamentally re-imagine what schools even are?
What Gebserian and Jungian lenses are immediately available with regard to the dangers of collective dissociation, confusion, social and cultural disorder and degeneration?
The conference is presented by the International Jean Gebser Society and by the Monterey Friends of C.G. Jung.
Coordinator:
Lisa Maroski
Program coordinators:
John Dotson, Jeffrey T. Kiehl, Lisa Maroski, Gregory Brun, Robin Robinson, David Alexander
Submissions are due by July 30, 2019
Jung’s Red Book
Specify if you are proposing:
an individual presentation (~20-30 minutes, followed by panel discussion)
participation in a moderated roundtable (followed by open discussion)
an artistic, contemplative, or experiential activity (~30-45 minutes)
Please provide a description ( ~250 words) plus bio statement ( ~60 words).
Send submissions to: gebser.jung@gmail.com
Conference Registration: To Be Determined
Conference Location
Asilomar is a full-service conference facility, with meals provided on site. Complete details regarding room and meal reservations will be available soon.
The history of Asilomar dates to its origins as a YWCA Leadership Camp built in 1913. Known as the Monterey Peninsula’s “Refuge by the Sea,” the state park is located on 107 acres of beach and conference grounds. Asilomar is celebrated for its dune ecosystem and architectural significance, with historic structures designed by renowned architecture Julia Morgan between 1913 and 1928. Thirteen original structures remain as the largest collection of her Arts & Crafts architectural style in one location.
