Is it possible to live peacefully on Earth? If not, who or what hinders humanity from achieving this ideal?

This event, organized by JUNGIANEUM and supported by the IAAP, draws inspiration from Jung’s book “The Undiscovered Self” (published in German as “Present and Future”). In this work, C.G. Jung seeks to address a question that demands renewed attention today: “Who or what is hindering humanity from living peacefully on Earth”? This event will help to convey Analytical Psychology’s Proposals for Today’s Unhinged World.

Speakers: STEVE AIZENSTAT, NAOMI AZRIEL, PAUL BISHOP, STEFANO CARPANI, JOSEPH CAMBRAY, POLICE OFFICER AZ- OOLAY, ELANA LAKH, IMANY AYAD, BROOK LAUFER, NOA FEUERSTEIN, ARTHUR NIESSER, NATALIIA PAVLOVSKAIA, ANDREW SAMUELS, TOM SINGER, MURRAY STEIN, RUTH WILLIAMS, MARY WATKINS, and POLLY YOUNG-EISENDRATH.

Manifesto:

Through the words of British band Archive (2024), we hear a lament for disintegration: "These are times to kill / These are days to say 'goodbye' / Tomorrow brings a silence inside my heart / You are wrong / You are right / We are Disintegration." Similarly, The Cure’s Robert Smith (2024) declares in stark simplicity: “We are born to war.”

James Hillman describes war as “a human work, an inhuman horror, and a love that no other love has been able to overcome.” For Hillman, “there is no practical solution to war” because “war belongs to our soul as an archetypal truth of the cosmos.” Though he believed we could strive to understand and delay war, and remove it from the crutches of hypocritical religion, he warned: “war, as such, will remain until the gods themselves depart.”

Why are these "times to kill”? Why are we “born to war”? Why does “war, as such, remain until the gods themselves depart”? What can we do in the face of such profound and unsettling archetypal truths? 

Building on Boris Groys' assertion that “there are conflicts that the intellectual cannot escape, that force him into politics whether he wants this or not,” we must ask: what conflicts are Jungian analysts called to confront, and how do they engage politically, whether they wish to or not?

Engaging with the Soul of Our Time

Engagement means doing what Hamlet did: being “born to set time right.” For Hamlet, as Agnes Heller writes, “time is out of joint when reason and unreason are heterogeneous, when actors do not understand what they are doing and understand even less what others are doing or have done.” According to Heller, time is set right “when Hamlet is able to know himself better.”

Activism or Communitas?

Is this, then, a time for activism? If activism means transcending boundaries and confronting uncomfortable truths, then yes, it is time for activism. But activism often divides the world into right and wrong—a binary that risks deepening fractures. Instead, we believe in communitas: coming together as equals, fostering understanding and collective action.

A Neo-Jungian Call to Action

History teaches us that when geopolitics fails, and diplomacy turns a blind eye, we are left with sacred scriptures—not as sources of absolute truth, but as symbols of transformation. For Jungians, these symbols hold the key to resolving conflict without perpetuating it.

This event stands on the belief that a single, univocal truth—while comforting—does not suffice. Depth psychology compels us to dig deeper, seeking the essential. It also reminds us that while justice may be the state’s responsibility, the sense of justice belongs to each individual.

Reclaiming Sensory and Ethical Depth

Inspired by Ágnes Heller’s critique of “the desensualized world of the absolute present,” this event challenges the alienation of modernity. We will explore how contemporary life has stripped us of sensory richness, authentic human connections, and moral clarity. Rooted in Jungian tradition, we aim to offer a roadmap for reawakening these vital qualities.

A Call to Rekindle Our Humanity

This gathering also responds to Kae Tempest’s poignant question in their song All Humans Too Late (2019): “What can be done to stay human?” As forces threaten to strip away our humanity, this event offers a path forward – a chance to reclaim human warmth and connection before it is too late.

The urgency of this moment is echoed by The Cure in their recent song Alone (2024): “The fire burned out to ash and / The stars grown dim with tears.”* Before our dreams and hopes fade entirely, this event calls us to act – to reignite what it means to be truly human.

ABOUT THE EVENT

This event – the first of a series called JUNGIANEUM/Biennale -will be held exclusively online on May 24th and 25th, 2025. Our lineup features some of the most esteemed voices in analytical psychology today. 

ABOUT JUNGIANEUM

This event is curated by JUNGIANEUM: Contemporary Initiatives for Analytical Psychology and Neo-Jungian Studies. Since 2022, a series of initiatives have been developed under this umbrella: JUNGIANEUM/Books Series: (1) Re-Covered Classics in Analytical Psychology, (2) Neo-Jungian Studies; JUNGIANEUM/Talks: Psychosocial Wednesday; JUNGIANEUM/Yearbook for Contemporary neo-Jungian Studies; JUNGIANEUM/Masterclasses (in collaboration with Pacifica Graduate Institute, USA): “Graduate Certificate: Contemporary Analytical Psychology and Neo-Jungian Studies”; JUNGIANEUM/Cultivating the Souls in the Supersociety (interview series on doppiozero.it).

PROGRAMME

SATURDAY, MAY 24TH (6.30pm Berlin / 5.30pm London / 12.30pm NYC /9.30am LA)

6.30pm (Berlin time) Conference opening with STEFANO CARPANI, ELANA LAKH, and IAAP President MISSER BERG

SESSION 1

7pm ELANA LAKH & IMANY AYAD (When the Cannons are Heard, the Muses are Silent)

7.30pm STEPHEN AIZENSTAT (The Forgotten Story-Web)

8.00pm NOA FEUERSTEIN (Krishna Smiles in Sheikh Jarrah)

8.30pm PAUL BISHOP (The Forgotten Self and the Grail: The Psychological and Socio-Political Dimensions of the Grail legend)

9.00pm ANDREW SAMUELS (Can an Individual “Make a Difference” in the Contemporary Political World?)

9.30pm POLLY YOUNG-EISENDRATH (Know Thyself: Thriving in the Human Space)

10-11pm General Discussion

SUNDAY, MAY 25TH (1.45pm Berlin / 12.45pm London/7.45am NYC)

1.45pm Conference Opening with LUDMILLA OSTERMANN

SESSION 2

2.pm POLICE OFFICER AZ- OOLAY (Clowning in the Gap)

2.30pm STEFANO CARPANI (War as Reset, in the Age of Hypocrisy)

3.00pm TBC

3.30pm MURRAY STEIN (The Still Undiscovered Self: Communitas as a Fundamental Value in Analytical Psychology)

4.00pm RUTH WILLIAMS (Peace, Clarity, Joy and Kindness)

4.30pm NATALIIA PAVLOVSKAIA (Libido Belongs to the Self)

5-6pm General Discussion

SESSION 3

6.00pm NAOMI AZRIEL (The Imaginal as Individuating Temenos for Reckoning with Complicity in the Israeli Collective Shadow)

6.30pm JOE CAMBRAY (The Interconnected Self: Towards an Ecological Vision of the Psyche)

7.00pm ARTHUR NIESSER (The Anima as a Neglected Opportunity for Peace)

7.30pm BROOK LAUFER (Kali: The Necessity of War and the Archetype of the Great Mother)

8.00pm TOM SINGER (Communitas or Clusterfuck: Cultural Complexes as a Source of Obstruction to Humanity's Peaceful Coexistence)

8.30pm MARY WATKINS (Reparations for Crimes Against Humanity: Chattel Slavery in the U.S. As A Case Example)

9-10pm General Discussion

10pm End