Life As Practice: Inner Work, Social Responsibility, and Community Service

Catalog description

Does innerwork invigorate collective consciousness and thus the need to claim social responsibility? Does becoming an engaged citizen engender the need for innerwork practice? What is the difference between compassionate action and acting out unconscious infantile agendas (e.g. codependence)? Does your vision of your intrapsychic self match your vision of your professional self? Remembering the socially engaged, progressive roots of depth psychology and the element of community service that is at the core of many traditions of self-realization, this course provides an opportunity for students to explore experientially the interconnection between inner work and both community and professional wellbeing. Transpersonal and depth psychology offers a theoretical framework whereby extraverted acts of community service, including professional development and introverted acts of internal transformation are viewed as triplicate engines of the development of consciousness and global transformation. Students will investigate this premise through non-clinical service work in the community, exploration into developing a personal professional self, innerwork practices drawn from classical and depth psychological mindfulness, class and online dialogues, and creative and written work considering the clinical relevance of students’ findings.