When I decided to start Café Jung, I knew I wanted to have the first conversation with Jim Hollis. Jim was one of the founding members of the Philadelphia Association of Jungian Analysts, where I first studied Jung formally and where I eventually did my training. By the time I moved to Philly in 2000, Jim was no longer here, but we were lucky. He came back every year to teach. And Jim’s lectures were always revelatory. They were – and are – full of intriguing, challenging, startling ideas, always expressed clearly and incisively. Even 25 years later, I still remember specific things that Jim said back then.
One of those pearls was the idea that depth psychology developed when it did because we as a culture needed it. A fundamental change in human culture was in process toward the end of the 19th century. In the 1880’s the philosopher Nietzsche wrote that “God is dead.” The old structures that created meaning and cohesion were coming undone, and we required new ways of relating to the forces in the psyche. This is where Jim and I begin our conversation.
We go on to explore why Jung matters now. At this time of great upheaval, what is the medicine that Jung’s ideas can offer? In addition to the declining influence of traditional religions, the beginning of the 20th century saw continued industrialization that altered our relationship with the natural world at an increasingly rapid pace. Technology has brought us many gifts, but it threatens our connection with our instinctual foundation and therefore presents us with several psychospiritual challenges. Depth psychology appeared at the right moment to offer us new channels through which the waters of unconscious wisdom could flow.
We are once again being challenged by great technological changes that imperil traditional sources of meaning and threaten to undermine our connection with ourselves. Jung’s ideas are more important than ever, because they give us a way to value and relate to nonrational, instinctual forces that are the source of meaning, while acknowledging that we cannot go back to the historical cultural edifices that once mediated this relationship.
Jung himself was very concerned about the potential catastrophes that could result from our advanced technologies. “The thread by which our fate hangs is wearing thin,” Jung wrote in 1952. “Not nature, but the ‘genius of mankind,’ has knotted the hangman’s noose with which it can execute itself at any moment” (Collected Works, Volume 11, para. 734). Jung has some particular ideas about how we might avoid disaster, which Jim and I discuss.
About James Hollis, PhD
James Hollis, PhD was born in Springfield, Illinois, and graduated from Manchester University in 1962 and Drew University in 1967. He taught Humanities for 26 years in various colleges and universities before retraining as a Jungian analyst at the Jung Institute of Zurich, Switzerland (1977-82). He served as Executive Director of the Jung Educational Center in Houston, Texas for many years, was Executive Director of the Jung Society of Washington until 2019, and has served on the JSW Board of Directors. He is a retired Senior Training Analyst for the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, was first Director of Training of the Philadelphia Jung Institute, and is Vice-President Emeritus of the Philemon Foundation. Additionally he was a Professor of Jungian Studies for Saybrook University of San Francisco/Houston. He has written many books, which have been translated into 19 languages.
James Hollis’ latest book is Living with Borrowed Dust: Reflections on Life, Love, and Other Grievances. Find a list of all his books here.
