Jung Bytes - December, 2006

An Interview with Tom Lavin

By Lauren Yanks

Below are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Tom Lavin, a Zurich trained Jungian analyst and licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in Wilmette, Illinois. Formerly chief psychologist in charge of drug and alcohol treatment for the US Army in Europe, Dr. Lavin's area of expertise is the interface of psychology, religion and spirituality.

In our upcoming Jung in Ireland series this March, Dr. Lavin will give a presentation on: The Art of Growing Wiser: The role of comedy and the transcendent function in the process of aging. He will also be leading three workshops. His workshops include: "The Sage, Slowly Slipping Into Wonder"; "The Fool: A Time to Fool Around"; and "The Magician: Show Them Your Magic." His 32 audio CD lectures on the "psychology of religion" are available from the Chicago Jung Institute.

How will you be approaching the topic of the second half of life at this conference?
I will be looking at the second half of life through the prisms of comedy and tragedy. In our society, the second half of life is often portrayed as something tragic. We are made out to be the victims of aging rather than reveling in the wisdom to come. For instance, advertisements geared for seniors are often fear-based instead of portraying aging as a time to celebrate. But the secrets the ancients knew is that as the body declines, the presence of soul rises into consciousness. We need to become more aware of that today.

Why tragedy and comedy?
In Greek, the word "tragedy" literally means the goat song-the song of the victim or scapegoat. Comedy comes from the Greek word "Komos"-to revel or celebrate. The question is how are we going to look at the second half of life…through a tragedy or a comedy prism, or a balance of both prisms? One of the things that can make the second half of life tragic is if we hold on to the old containers and contexts of seeing that we did in the first half of life. We have to stop and ask ourselves: Are there archetypal patterns more appropriate for the second half of life? Are we holding on to old ways of contexting our being?

Which archetypes do you feel are more appropriate for the second half of life?
The archetypes I'm choosing to discuss in the conference's workshops are the fool, the sage and the magician. All three archetypes have a light and a dark side. Fools understand that they can have fun with life-they can revel in it. They can laugh at themselves and/or make fools out of themselves. The sage understands that wisdom is more than an accumulation of data and this "intelligence of the heart" is very important for both a person and a culture. The magicians are a bit of a sage and a bit of a fool. They say to people that there's something beneath the surface of what we see.

What did Jung have to say for those in the second half of life?
In Daniel J. Levinson's classic book, Seasons of a Man's Life, Jung has been called the "father of the second half of life psychology." Where Freud focused on childhood stages of development, Jung focused on the adult stages. He gave quite a number of roadmaps and choices for those in the second half of life. People who are caught up in the fear of growing older don't see themselves as having choices. Those who realize they have choices are going to be much happier, more fulfilled human beings. That's what I hope to share at the conference. For many in the second half of life who have the eyes to see, hope is waiting for them just around the corner.