Talk of the Town - Weekend worthy September 09 2000

Fall is on the way and so are a bunch of workshops and classes worth your time. First, though, I encourage you to attend the Heart and Soul Benefit this weekend. It benefits Dan Liss, editor of Oracle 2000 and former editor of Aquarius. Liss, who has been a significant advocate for holistic and alternative spiritual paths in Atlanta, underwent heart surgery recently and was left with a very large debt.

The benefit is a two-day event. Unity North church will host a concert Saturday, Sept. 9 from 8-10 p.m., featuring local musicians Kinan, Makari and Jaywalk. There will also be a silent auction. The church is located at 4255 Sandy Plains Road in Marietta.

The next day, Sunday, will feature an afternoon of classes and a health education forum at Inner Space, 183 Allen Road in Sandy Springs. A $10 contribution is requested for the concert and $25 is requested for classes. A two-day discount is available for $25. For details, call 404-252-4540.

The Asian way

Jason Wirth of the Oglethorpe University philosophy department invites readers to attend a public lecture series on Asian philosophy. These are excellent grounding for those who would like to better understand Chinese, Indian and Japanese philosophies, all of which are gaining increasing attention by ordinary Americans.

The series opens Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m., when Dr. David Jones of Kennesaw State University speaks on “Walking the Way With Confucius: Tianwen, Emerging Patterns of Human Heavens.”

Next, Geshe Lobsang Tenzin of the Drepung Loseling Institute will speak Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m., on “Nagarjuna on Ultimate and Conventional Reality: Two Sides of the Same Coin.”

Wirth also invites the public to attend a lecture on Friday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m., by Dr. Thomas Kasulis, chair of comparative studies at Ohio State and author of Zen Action/Zen Person. His planned talk on Buddhist ecology is titled “Intimacy and Integrity: Cultural Perspectives on Nature.”

All lectures will take place in the Oglethorpe University Museum (404-364-8555).

Christianity and Jung

Journey Into Wholeness is the pre-eminent workshop for Christians interested in the work of Carl Jung. This year’s session will be held Oct. 22-27 at Kanuga Conference Center near Hendersonville, N.C.

A typical day at the event includes lectures in the morning, followed by experiential workshops in the afternoon. Among this year’s participants is Robert Johnson, an analyst and one of the most prolific writers in the Jungian field. He will be speaking on “The Symbolic Life” and presenting one workshop on dreams, along with two others in which he will engage participants in open-ended dialogue.

John Giannini, an analyst and former Dominican priest, will deliver three lectures, including one on Jungian typology, which is the basis of the popular Meyers-Brigg test. He will also give a workshop on typology.

Two of my own professors from Pacifica Graduate Institute are presenting this year. Dianne Skafte, author of Listening to the Oracle, will give two lectures and a workshop on oracular forms of consciousness. Barry Williams, an analyst with special interest in wilderness work, will speak on the healing power of stories and lead a workshop in dream work.

John Corlett, an independent organizational consultant, will speak on ways to use Jungian thought to “transform” churches, schools and community organizations. His lecture and workshop on the same subject are partly an answer to James Hillman’s critique that depth psychology focuses too much on individuals and not enough on “world soul.”

This year’s event will be preceded by a seminar hosted by John and Carolyn Martin Oct. 20-22. Titled “What Do They Mean? What Does It Matter?,” the seminar is intended to provide an introduction to the work of Carl Jung. It’s also appropriate for those needing a refresher or who are attending Journey to Wholeness for the first time.

Cost of Journey to Wholeness depends on time of registration, room type, etc. Tuition, without the opening seminar, is about $400, and a double room with meals is about $300. Call 828-877-4809 for details.

The sin of pleasure

“Deadly Sins: Remembering the Body” is the title of a workshop I am conducting one Saturday a month beginning Oct. 28. Partly inspired by the work of Enrique Pardo, the workshop is an effort to rethink the “seven deadly sins” as natural expressions of the body’s drive for pleasure.

This is radical work, not for the delicate living in the Bible Belt, that will likely involve body workers and thinkers as co-facilitators. We’ll be looking at how we are equally drawn to the forbidden and the myth of innocence and how we can honor our bodies’ natural drives without being overwhelmed or, contrarily, succumbing to puritanism. I’ll also be examining each of the sins in columns here over the next year. Visit soulworks.net/sin/deadlysin.html for more information or call 404-525-4774. Your input is welcome.