LITERATURE + LECTURES

The Jung Center of Houston presents The Eternal Beowulf: Individuation and the Warrior-King Image.  In this lecture and workshop, psychiatrist and author Erik Goodwyn investigates our complex contemporary relationship to the archetype of the warrior and its essential value to the process of psychological development.

LECTURE
Friday, October 21
7:30 - 9 pm
Discover how the myth of Beowulf, the untried youth who becomes a ferocious warrior and a doomed king, captures key insights into the process of psychological development. Written more than 1000 years ago by a highly skilled Anglo-Saxon poet, Beowulf recounts the story of a warrior who faces three mighty challenges in succession. Each challenge mirrors an important archetypal threshold of personal development, ending with an unsentimental but honorable and clear-eyed view of the final challenge, death itself, in the form of a dragon.

In the lecture, we will explore the archetypal richness of the Beowulf story in conveying key passages in the individuation process. We will also briefly summarize Jung's theory of individuation.

WORKSHOP
Saturday, October 22
10 am - 1 pm

In the workshop, we will explore the historical differences between the ancient heroic society of the poem and our modern society. We will discuss the history of consciousness, the ancient and modern concepts of time, and the symbols of the Self that have emerged since the creation of Beowulf. And we will compare the world views of the ancient culture of Beowulf with the modern world, shedding light on common contemporary problems. Our conflicted attitudes toward the warrior and the quest for glory will be considered, as well as differences in the ancient understanding of treasure and the modern emphasis on material gain.

Erik Goodwyn, MD, is an officer in the Air Force who works with patients from both civilian and military backgrounds, including soldiers who have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. His essays have been published in the Journal of Analytical Psychology and he is the author of the forthcoming The Neurobiology of the Gods: How Brain Physiology Shapes the Recurrent Imagery of Myth and Dreams. His research interests include psychiatric imaging and genomic studies.