The RedBook for our Time

Die TeilnehmerInnen des ersten weltweiten Kongresses zum Roten Buch am Monte Verita in Ascona 2022

Können wir, individuell und kollektiv, in Jungs Rotem Buch einen Wert für eine Zeit wie die unsere finden, die so tief vom Umbra Mundi („Weltschatten“) überschattet ist? Die Coronavirus-Pandemie überschattet unweigerlich all unsere Gedanken, während wir dieses Eranos-Symposium über „Jungs Rotes Buch für unsere Zeit“ vorbereiten. In einem noch größeren Maßstab erkennen wir, dass wir vor einem welthistorischen Übergang in der menschlichen Kultur stehen, ohne die Führung, die traditionell durch große Erzählungen oder kollektive Mythen geboten wird. Eine ähnliche Stimmung tiefer Angst vor der Zukunft überschattete die Welt, als C. G. Jung im Jahr 1913 mit der Arbeit an seinem Roten Buch begann. Als Antwort auf den „Geist der Zeit“ begab sich Jung auf eine innere Reise mit dem „Geist der Tiefe“ und schuf sein Liber Novus, ein Werk, das seine Entdeckung eines persönlichen Mythos widerspiegelt. Seine Herangehensweise an die Probleme des Zeitgeistes hat auch präskriptive Bedeutung für unsere Zeit. Das Rote Buch hat das Potential, den Menschen, die unter den disruptiven Bedingungen der ersten Hälfte des 21. Jahrhunderts leben, Orientierung zu bieten. Dieses Potential wird von den Referenten und Teilnehmern dieses Symposiums erkundet.

Good morning, Hoping that this communication finds you well, we are writing to send you some communications regarding the recently concluded symposium „Jung’s Red Book for Our Time: Searching for Soul in the 21st Century“ (Eranos and Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland, April 28-May 1, 2022). First of all, as Program Committee, we would like to express our most heartfelt thanks to you for joining this meaningful congress. At the outset of our planning for this symposium, over three years ago, when Thomas Arzt was still with us, we hoped for a rich meeting of minds, but we could not have begun to anticipate the extraordinary qualities of passion and soul that all lecturers and participants brought on this occasion. The video recordings of the individual lectures are currently being edited and will be made available to all participants (A, B, C, and D registrations), through a dedicated access in the Eranos Foundation official YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHDgqyYwulAveMQal16R0lw), within a few weeks. We will send you a specific communication as soon as the videos are viewable. An extensive photo album of the symposium, still being implemented thanks to the participants’ contribution, is already available in the Eranos Foundation Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=273161596082533&set=a.5281765265222116); in the meantime, hoping to remind you of a pleasant moment, we send you the collective photograph of the group of lecturers and participants who were present in Ascona. If you have any pictures of the congress that you would like to share with other participants, we would be grateful to you to send them to us. We would also like to remind you that the proceedings of this symposium will shape the 5th volume of the series Jung’s Red Book for Our Time. Searching for Soul under Postmodern Conditions, released by Chiron Publications. As a symposium participant, thanks to the support of Chiron Publications, you may have a special discount on the publication. We will give you more information about this as the volume becomes available.

Finally, on behalf of Dr. Stephen Aizenstat, we would like to pass on to you the letter, below. Dear Community, Like you, I continue to feel the radiance of what moved through us in our days and nights at Monte Verità and Eranos. At the water’s edge of Lake Maggiore something more than lecture presentations unfolded. We experienced visitations of the soul bodies of the dead, the yet to be born, and each other. The Red Book once again illuminated and the stories moving through each of us animated and found a welcoming home place. As I shared with you, I am writing to offer ways of continuing engagement in the three initiatives that I mentioned. 1) As a member of our community, I feel compelled to act once again on behalf of the ecosystems and creatures of the planet, who are in need of us as we are in need of them. If you are interested in the “The Global Dream Initiative,” which is a project that contributes to the United Nation’s Earth Charter International Project, please let me know by sending an email to saizenstat@gmail.com.

2) As I shared with you, a Ukrainian leader and coordinator of “Strong in Spirit Online” asked if I would offer presentations to volunteer counselors/therapists/spiritual leaders and/or the Ukrainian community at large. She asked if I knew others who would like to participate. I spoke with many of you who are now offering your gifts and services in support of those who so urgently need the resources we can offer. If you would like to form a support/information exchange group of caregivers from our Eranos Community, please write to me at: saizenstat@gmail.com.

3) A large number of dear colleagues asked about coming together to spend some time reconnecting and simply following-up in conversation about what dreams/emotions/stories got incubated in our time together. They would like to sustain our contact for a few times in the months ahead. Along with Riccardo Bernardini, we will host an online two-hour follow-up gathering. Contact me at saizenstat@dreamtending.com and we will make sure to provide you with details and login instructions. In addition to our personal work in active imagination, let’s consider ways of manifesting formulations of collective “Red Books” for our times. I join you in expressing our deep heartfelt appreciation and love to Riccardo, Murray, and Joe for bringing us into a community around the work that flowed through Carl Jung, and now the many persons who carry the legacy forward. Warmly, Steve We can hope that this meeting of minds and hearts will continue to work upon all attendees and in time help to move the course of human history one step further toward humanity’s transformation.

With warmest wishes and our utmost gratitude,

Riccardo Bernardini, Joseph Cambray, Murray Stein