Needing to Belong:
The Archetype of Family & Community

Robert Moore, Ph.D.

Our Ambivalence About Belonging: Archetypal Oppositions in the Struggle Toward Individuation

Some of our most primal longings seem to be impossible to reconcile. In this seminar, Dr. Moore will explore the deep archetypal polarities which underlie both our desire to belong and our dreams of escape and freedom. Drawing upon the philosophy of Paul Tillich, systems theory, and depth psychology, he will aid us in understanding the inevitable tension between the “urge to merge” and the passion for differentiation from both the personal and transpersonal “Other”—in effect, mapping the archetypal geography of family and community. During the day we will share our experiences of the struggle to balance these opposites in our personal and spiritual journeys.

Ann Belford Ulanov, Ph.D.

“Losing, Finding, Being Found”

The trauma of terrorist attacks, here and abroad, contribute to our sense of dissolution of boundaries and safe belonging. In response, we draw sharp lines which results in splitting of our groups, families and communities into rival factions. Jungians have a theory of the “Transcendent Function” as a source of help to such splits in our selves and in the world. Yet, Jungian groups split too and we see we do not practice what we preach. We need to ask what is the Self engineering in these rifts and understand our own splittings as a way of exploring the psychic dimensions of schisms in community, family and our world. This brings a different way of living which we will explore.

Aryeh Maidenbaum, Ph.D.

“Do I Need to Belong?: Family and Community as Catalysts”

There are times that require us to put distance between ourselves, families and/or communities that submerge our movement towards self-realization and threaten to overwhelm who we strive to be. Yet, crucial elements in the development of “Self” consist of defining who we are as individuals while, concurrently, staying connected, and struggling with shared values of our collective. In his presentation, sharing insights from his Orthodox Jewish background and experiences living abroad, Dr. Maidenbaum will focus on the role community and family can play in our Individuation process and the richness and growth that can emerge.

Jeffrey Raff, Ph.D.

“The Orphan and the Widow: Archetypes of Belonging and Identity”

The need to belong is a primary drive in the human psyche. The quest to find a family, group or even person to whom one belongs dominates the first half of life and sometimes even the second. Paradoxically, the equally powerful drive towards individuation often forces a person into a solitary position—making it impossible to identify with any group and often requiring separation from one’s family. The archetypes of the widow and the orphan, found in alchemical symbolism as well as in fairy tales and mythology, offer psyche’s solution to this dilemma. We shall discuss these archetypes in light of contemporary issues of belonging and alienation.

Claire Douglas, Ph.D.

“Reimaging Family and Connection”

Many of us lament our present ego, power dominated world, and long for more integral ways of being wherefeeling values are cultivated and honored. We yearn to live in a gentler, more peaceable community which supports connection and relatedness. Images of Sophia and of a more ancient and complete Persephone offer us an alternative way of being and relating to family and community reflecting both power and harmony. Dr. Douglas will explore the feminine archetypes of Sophia, the dove, and of the Persephone myth for the ways they can help us “re-vision” family, community and connection.

Melanie Starr Costello, Ph.D.

“The Borders of Community: Encounters with The Archetype of the Outsider”

In community, we share values, mythologies, history and instinctual concerns that satisfy our basic need to belong. As we individuate, we recognize correspondences between our internal dynamics and the quality of our connections to family, community, and to those “outside” the bounds of these groupings, i.e. strangers. How does our behavior at the borders of consciousness, as revealed in dream and fantasy, illumine our functioning at the group level? As we explore these correspondences, we will discover the implications of our work with the internal stranger for our “Self” and for the health of the collective groupings to which we belong.