LECTURES

• The Theoretical Roots of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and the Strength Deployment Inventory® - The Life and Thinking of Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung and Erich Fromm
  

This lecture was prepared and presented at a conference in Carlsbad, California sponsored by Personal Strengths Publishing®, which holds the copyright to the Strength Deployment Inventory® and other tools related to Erich Fromm's Relationship Awareness® Theory. Although we begin with Freud, we spend most of the time following the lives and careers of Jung and Fromm and how those lives shaped their thinking. It's an intriguing story.Just to give you a few examples….

Did you know that Freud's school of thought is called Psychoanalysis? And that Jung, who in work closely with Freud for a few years until he made a major split with "the master," called his school of thought Analytical Psychology? And, if you knew all of that, did you know that Fromm's school is called Analytical Social Psychology?

Did you know that Freud, who referred to himself as a "godless Jew," sought out a disciple who came from Europe's dominant religious tradition, i.e. Protestant Christianity? Jung's father was a minister in the Swiss Reformed Church and his grandfather was the Dean of the (Protestant) Cathedral at Basel. Fromm's father was a wine merchant who was very, very active in his synagogue. Fromm's grandfather and great-grandfather were famous Talmudic scholars.

Did you know that Jung's dissertation in college was "The Psychology and Pathology of So-called Occult Phenomenon?" While Fromm's dissertation was "How Jewish Law Sustained Three Diaspora Communities?" You can see here - even when they are in college - the ways their two schools of thought are being shaped. Jung became intrigued with the Collective Unconscious, I Ching, synchronicities, and what is often referred to as "new world psychology. Fromm became intrigued with social character and even the social unconscious.

• Self and Identity: A Deeper Look at the Interplay between the Individual and the Socius

For years Bill has worked with Karl Scheibe, Professor of Psychology at Wesleyan University. Karl has written many articles and books and taught a whole variety of courses. One of his most important books is Self Studies: The Psychology of Self and Identity. The first chapter deals with the interplay between the two.

Bill has developed this lecture, which includes some video clips to dramatize this distinctive way of looking at human personality and interaction.

• Life's Great Passages and the Four Major Dialogues

This lecture was first prepared for reunion weekend in 2003 at Wesleyan University. When someone at Bowdoin college heard about the lecture, Bill was invited to kick off the 40th reunion for the Class of 1964. In the fall of 2005 he will be presenting the same basic lecture for the State of Connecticut for persons who are becoming eligible for retirement.

In the lecture we focus not only on the passages - Adolescence, Midlife and the Elder Passage, but more importantly on the deep psychological and spiritual "dialogues" that need to be engaged during each of the passages. The following graphics point out those passages and their dialogues:

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