Lectures and Workshops

A partial listing of the lectures and workshops I have given most recently:

APPROACH TO THE NUMINOUS: Spiritual Dimensions of Inner Work

What did Jung mean by this provocative statement? The frequency of  numinous events—numinous meaning sacred, holy; inspiring fascination and dread—reported by people doing inner work led him to believe all people can develop an intensely personal spirituality and discover meaning for their suffering from within their own being. What happens spiritually when people commit themselves to psychotherapy, meditation, dreamwork, art techniques, and other approaches to inner work?  What kinds of numinous experiences occur and how might they occur? How might approaching the numinous be transforming and healing and how might it become confusing?

In this lecture/workshop we will contemplate Jung’s own thoughts, along with ideas from Jungian analysts, contemporary spiritual teachers, and psychoanalysts.  Special attention will be given to enhancing contemplative practice as a way of deepening inner work.

The Archetypal Relationship of Lover and Beloved

One overwhelming theme of the mystical path across cultures is the ecstatic love relationship between lover and Beloved, the human being and God.  Many Jungian concepts (the Self as an intelligence greater than the ego; the process of individuation whereby the ego becomes increasingly aware of its source and dependence upon the Self; the alchemical "conjunctio" as symbolic of the union of ego and Self) are provocative psychological formulations for this relationship.

This workshop is an opportunity to contemplate the archetypal relationship of lover and Beloved by drawing upon Jung's ideas as well as the poetry, teaching tales, and music of mystical traditions from various cultures: including Sufism, Christian mysticism, Kabbalah, Hinduism, and Tibetan Buddhism.  In particular, Dr. Wittine will discuss Sufi mysticism and its methods of inner transformation along with the paradox of duality and nonduality, separateness and union in mystical states of consciousness.  We will also consider some of the shadow problems associated with ecstatic forms of mysticism.  A part of the group experience will be to invoke an atmosphere of "nearness" between lover and Beloved by practicing contemplative techniques found in mystical traditions across cultures. 

Spiritual Longing and Its Shadow

The religions and myths of many times and cultures tell us that the human soul's deepest desire is its longing for God.  Even people who feel disillusioned with traditional religions or disenchanted with spiritual teachers still yearn for something transcendent.

Whenever we long for the transcendent, however, forces from the deep unconscious also swing into play.  Walking a spiritual path not only evokes states of illumination; it challenges us to face the darkness within ourselves.

In this lecture and workshop, Dr. Wittine will explore spiritual longing and its shadow. Spiritual longing might overwhelm the ego, cover over wounded parts of the personality, perpetuate our inner critic, lead to a split between “higher” and “lower” self-needs, and derail individuation.  We might project our longing onto lovers and teachers, onto food, sex, and drugs, or find it hidden in our grandiosity and desire for power.  Dr. Wittine concludes that if we internalize our longing rather than externalizing it onto images, people, and things, it will guide us toward a new experience of God, which recognizes the transcendent in all aspects of life.

The Coming of Light at Times of Darkness

Tonight we celebrate the coming of the holiday season.  The Winter Solstice, the longest night and the shortest day of the year, is a symbol of the coming of light when the powers of darkness are at their strongest.  Darkness eventually gives way to light, just as dark nights of the soul soften our egos and lift our faces to the Self.  Moreover, if we ponder them from the perspective of Sufi, esoteric Christian, and related paths, darkness and light also refer to states of consciousness that are healing if we access them.  Darkness is the holding, containing Mother-Father consciousness, sometimes called the Absolute, which gives birth to Light, symbol of the Holy Child and the essential Self of every human being.  Tonight, Dr. Wittine will describe these states of consciousness by drawing on Jungian theory, esoteric teachings, and experiences of people doing inner work.  He will also discuss techniques of meditation to help us enter these states.

The Crises and Conflicts of Spiritual Awakening

Jung wrote, “The experience of the Self is always a defeat for the ego.”  Since spiritual awakening offers a direct challenge to the primacy of ego consciousness and the myth of separation, it is no surprise that such a challenge can produce a period of confusion and unbalance.  Jung himself endured such a crisis.  His ego was overwhelmed by an infusion of spiritual energies, which at first he was unable to integrate. We find warnings about perils on the path in most spiritual traditions. Becoming attached to various powers or siddhis, preoccupation with inner visions, splitting between “higher” and “lower” parts of the personality, ego-inflation and deflation are examples of how spiritual awakening can go awry.  We will contemplate Jung’s own crisis of spiritual emergence and discuss how to recognize and work with psychospiritual conflicts in ourselves.  Psychotherapists will find this workshop pertinent to their daily work.