CLASSES + WORKSHOPS

Jung Center of Houston presents Sushmita and the Third Eye of God: On the Intersections of Culture and Psyche.  Psychotherapist and psychological anthropologist Daniel J. Meckel comes to the Jung Center for this lecture and discussion.

Explore the ways in which religious and cultural symbols define the contours of the inner world, focusing on the nature of psychic suffering, its expression, and its transformation. We will discuss the story of an American teenager of South Asian origin whose terrifying vision of a divine and penetrating light initiated a period of intense suffering followed by a personal transformation through the rediscovery of a Hindu world view and devotion to Lord Shiva.

Drawing on the ideas of Jung, Fairbairn and Winnicott, we seek to understand how culture, like Shiva, can both destroy and create.

Daniel J. Meckel is a professor of religion and psychological studies at St. Mary's College of Maryland. In one incarnation, he studies the emotional and familial lives of Hindus in the Indian Himalaya; in another, he is a practicing psychotherapist in Washington DC, where he works with patients of diverse ethnic backgrounds. He also served as co-editor of the Jung and Spirituality series published by Paulist Press.