Lectures : September | October | November | Printable PDF Version

Friday Evening Lecture
Living the Unlived Life

Date:	September 11, 2009 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Presenter:	Jerry Ruhl, Ph.D.
Location:	St. Thomas Episcopal Church Inwood at Mockingbird
$20.00 non-members (wine and cheese reception)

This talk explores the essential developmental task in the second half of life—rectifying the loss of abandoned dreams and unrealized potentials to achieve our ultimate life meaning and purpose. Unlived life consists of potential aspects of ourselves that have not adequately entered into our experience. No one can live out all of life’s possibilities, but key aspects of our being must be brought into life or we cannot realize fulfillment.

We all carry a vast inventory of unlived life. Even if we have achieved major life goals and seemingly have few regrets, significant experiences have been closed to each of us. For everything we choose (or that was chosen for us), something else remains “unchosen.” We sense unlived life in the unexpected grief that arises seemingly out of nowhere, a sense that we have somehow missed the mark or failed to do something we were sure we were supposed to do.

When brought into consciousness, unlived life can propel us to rise above fears, regrets, and disappointments, to expand our vision beyond the narrow confines of the ego, and to embrace the full measure of our being. An enlightened vision is our most profound unlived potential; bringing it to fruition is the worthy purpose of the second half of life.

Saturday Workshop
The Power of Symbolic Life

Date:	September 12, 2009  9:30 a.m.–noon
Presenter:	Jerry Ruhl, Ph.D.
Location:	St. Thomas Episcopal Church
$40.00 non-members (coffee and rolls provided)

We humans are given the most conflicting job description imaginable. We must be civilized human beings, and that requires a whole list of “dos and don’ts.” Simultaneously, we are called to live everything that we truly are, to be whole—this is our duty to the higher Self.

We are each faced daily with innumerable decisions, and apparent contradictions tie us in knots. C.G. Jung wrote that the medieval mentality is “either/or,” but if humanity is to survive we must learn to cope with “both/and”—a leap of consciousness from opposition to paradox.
Drawing upon the myth of the twin stars in the Gemini constellation, this workshop explores the unity that exits behind every duality. Unified in their childhood, Castor and Polux came to be separated, fragmentary, and miserable.
Their struggle to be reunited provides a prototype and navigation point for all humans on the journey into wholeness. Allowing both sides of any issue to exist in equal dignity and worth makes a synthesis possible, bringing new insight, meaning, and contentment to our lives.

Grounded in Jungian psychological concepts, this workshop will provide practical tools to help you surrender old limitations and enliven many aspects of life, friendships, relationships, and career; unlock new life options and hidden talents; seize the “dangerous” opportunities of midlife; master the art of being truly alive in the present moment; and revitalize a connection with the higher Self, thereby achieving peace and purpose in your mature years.

Jerry M. Ruhl, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the C.G. Jung Educational Center of Houston and a clinical psychologist in private practice. He has studied spiritual practices in Japan, Bali, Thailand, Nepal, and India. With internationally known Jungian analyst Robert A. Johnson, he is the co-author of Balancing Heaven and Earth (1998) and Contentment (1999). This seminar draws upon material in the newest book by Dr. Ruhl and Dr. Johnson, Living Your Unlived Life. Dr. Ruhl received a master’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. He was formerly a trustee for the C. G. Jung Society of Colorado

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