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Friday Evening Lecture
The Soul of Terror / The Terror of Soul

Date:	March 14, 2008 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Presenter:	Ronald Schenk, Ph.D.
Location:	St. Thomas Episcopal Church Inwood at Mockingbird
$15.00 non-members (wine and cheese reception)

Across cultures and throughout the ages, the quality we call “terror” has marked humankind’s encounter with aspects of psychological life larger than consciousness can hold. The heavens, earth, gods, beauty—all seem to demand and get blood. Terror lies at the foundation of all fundamentalist human enterprises: religion, politics, and economy. What marks terrorism as especially terrifying is the intimate setting of the violent encounter, almost as if it came from us; in fact, close psychological examination of terroristic events reveals complicity of terrorist and victim. This talk will explore the archetypal basis of a phenomenon that seems so contemporary while its roots extend into the depths of the collective psyche.

Saturday Workshop
Captain America: Myth as Container of a Nation’s Psyche

Date:	March 15, 2008 9:30 a.m.–noon
Presenter:	Ronald Schenk, Ph.D.
Location:	St. Thomas Episcopal Church
$40.00 non-members (coffee and rolls provided)

This workshop will raise the question of national “myth” or the “soul” of a nation. Is such a notion justified psychologically, and if so, what is the underlying narrative that guides America’s consciousness so that change in fundamental approaches to foreign policy, environment, economics, health care, and education seem so difficult? We will look at basic structures and dynamics in American character and then explore different historical periods as indicators of a national soul in evolution.

Ronald Schenk received his Master's Degree in Social Work from Washington University, St. Louis, and initial training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy in New Haven. He lived and worked with the Navajo Native Americans before receiving a Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Dallas, specializing in Phenomenological Psychology. He trained in Jungian Analysis with the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts where he has been a Senior Training Analyst for many years and acted in several administrative capacities, most recently serving as President. He is currently in private practice in Dallas and Houston. His interests are in clinical training, cultural psychology, and post-modernism. He has written three books: The Soul of Beauty: A Psychological Investigation of Appearance; Dark Light: The Appearance of Death in Everyday Life, and The Sunken Quest, The Wasted Fisher, The Pregnant Fish: Post-modern Reflections on Depth Psychology

 

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