The Cycle of Life: Themes and Tales of the Journey

This lecture will explore some archetypal images of the journey and the stages of life, and tell some of the stories.

“To speak of a general, human life cycle," says Daniel Levinson, "is to propose that the journey from birth to old age follows an underlying, universal pattern on which there are endless cultural and individual variations."

In his essay 'The Stages of Life,' Jung discusses "the problems connected with the stages of life," claiming problem to be the kernel of culture and consciousness. Jung clearly aims at living the conscious life, just like Socrates declared the unexamined life not worth living.

On our journey through the stages (or ages) of our life, we encounter the archetypal essence of each phase, and are challenged by the essence of meaning that we are requested to deal with on our journey.

This lecture will explore some archetypal images of the journey and the stages of life, and tell some of the stories.

Dr. Erel Shalit is a Jungian psychoanalyst in Ra’anana, Israel. He is a training and supervising analyst, and past President of the Israel Society of Analytical Psychology. He is Founder and Director of the Jungian Analytical Psychotherapy Program at Bar Ilan University, and past Director of the Shamai Davidson Community Mental Health Clinic, at the Shalvata Psychiatric Centre in Israel. Erel Shalit has served as officer in the IDF Medical Corps, and is a member of The Council for Peace and Security. His books include The Cycle of Life: Themes and Tales of the Journey (the book received the Eric Hoffer Book Award Honors in Culture, 2012), Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return, Enemy, Cripple & Beggar: Shadows in the Hero’s Path, The Hero and His Shadow: Psychopolitical Aspects of Myth and Reality in Israel, and The Complex: Path of Transformation from Archetype to Ego. With Nancy Furlotti, he has edited The Dream and its Amplification. Chapters in edited books include ‘Jerusalem – Archetypal Wholeness, Human Division’ in Tom Singer (ed.), Psyche and the City.