Jung, Neuroscience, & Evolution: A New Synthesis Speaker: John Montgomery, Ph.d

One of Jung’s most powerful and pioneering ideas was that the human psyche is a "homeostatic" system that is specifically designed to help us achieve and maintain states of equilibrium, or homeostasis. Indeed, the "homeostatic drive" is a primal force or drive in all living things that leads toward states of homeostasis at all levels. Symbols, dreams, and Jungian archetypes, for example, can be seen as serving the homeostatic drive at the highest levels of the human psyche.

In this talk, Dr. Montgomery will suggest that an opposing drive – called the "addictive drive" – began to operate noticeably in humans after the invention of agriculture, about twelve thousand years ago, and that this drive acts to move us away from, or throw us out of, homeostasis, or equilibrium. He will present evidence suggesting that people can receive unconscious biochemical rewards from their own pain and emotional distress, and that these unconscious rewards fuel the addictive drive. He will further suggest that the addictive drive is responsible for all "negative" Jungian complexes, and for what Jung called the "false self," and that the homeostatic drive is responsible for individuation, for our experiences of love and "God," and for what Jung called the true "Self."

Finally, he will present a new therapeutic method that aims to strengthen the homeostatic drive and to weaken or eradicate the addictive drive, thus helping individuation proceed in the healthiest, most rapid, and most authentic fashion possible.

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John Montgomery received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Caltech in Pasadena, California, and his B.A. in Molecular Genetics from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. He has written about science for The Washington Post and The Economist, is a regular blogger for Psychology Today, and is the primary author of The Answer Model Theory and The Answer Model: A new path to healing. He is also a counselor who uses The Answer Model method in private practice www.theanswermodel.com (http://www.theanswermodel.com/)

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Attendance is limited. This is a function of the limits of the space available, and a desire to nurture effective discussion. Please remember to change your RSVP status if you are unable to attend.

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