April 11-12, 2008: Puanani Harvey

LECTURE AND WORKSHOP

In the ninth volume of his Collected Works, Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, Jung selected Khidr from the 18th sura of the Koran as an Image of the Guide in the psychological process of rebirth and transformation. His Eranos colleague, Henri Corbin, philosopher and Iranologist, respected Khidr as a Threshold Figure, an Awakener into the Imaginal World. By way of amplification, Corbin brought to the Western world the work of the 13th century Islamic mystic, Ibn Arabi, who was first initiated by his experience with Khidr. In his wealth of writings, Ibn Arabi highlighted the existence of an organ of perception that perceives a very precise order of reality, the mundus imaginalis.

In the Friday evening lecture, we will explore the writings of Ibn Arabi, the organ of perception and the realm of Khidr. During the following Saturday workshop, we will continue exploration and discussion of the Presence in the Psyche of Threshold Guides such as Jung's Philemon, Ibn Arabi's Khidr, the meeting of Rumi and Shams. Via guided exercises and personal writings, we will engage in the practice of Active Imagination. With respect for the sanctity and intimacy of these practices, we will discuss and share in our experiences of the mundus imaginalis. Participants are urged to bring writing or drawing materials.

PUANANI HARVEY, Ph.D., is a practicing Jungian analyst in Santa Fe,New Mexico, where she has served as both Training Director and President of the New Mexico Society of Jungian Analysts.