April 28, 2023 - Liliana Kleiner, PhD.

About this Event

JUNGIAN LECTURE: “As is Your Desire, So is Your Destiny”: Embracing the Path of Individuation.

by Artist/Author and Jungian Analyst Liliana Kleiner, PhD

You are what your deep driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny. ~Upanishads

 The sages would say “Just for the sake of Heaven” to reach for the highest, since human beings cannot live without meaning and challenge. The ultimate adventure in life is to discover for certain who we truly are. What is the universe and the significance of this brief drama of life and death that we play out against the backdrop of eternity? Our search for purpose - for a sense of belonging and truth - is part of our evolutionary heritage. Everything humankind kind has achieved comes from this inexplicable urge to reach into the unknown, to do the impossible.

 In Jung's words:

"Every advance in culture is, psychologically, an extension of consciousness, a coming to consciousness that can take place only through discrimination. Therefore, an advance always begins with individuation, that is to say with the individual, conscious of his isolation, cutting a new path through hitherto untrodden territory. To do this he must first return to the fundamental facts of his own being, irrespective of all authority and tradition, and allow himself to become conscious of his distinctiveness.” ~ From The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche

 Jung's process of Individuation is a calling to become what one ‘is meant to be’, consciously striving toward union with our unknowable partner, the Self.  The process is one of turning away from the confusion and demands of the external world back to our inner light in the depths of our soul. This we must do in order to meet with the Divine. Thus begins a process of listening, understanding and obeying, as much as possible, the will of the Self. This is the most challenging task we can undertake in our lifetime.  In this talk, Liliana will address the process of Jungian individuation and share some of her personal path as an artist and dream worker who has consciously embraced inner work and its challenges.

Bio: LILIANA KLEINER, MFA, PhD in Clinical Psychology

Visual artist, filmmaker, theorist and Jungian therapist Liliana Kleiner was born in Argentina, raised in Israel and is now based in British Columbia, Canada. Kleiner has a Ph.D from Queen’s University, Canada and an MFA from Haifa University, Israel. She has studied Jungian theory, therapy, and dream analysis and since 1985, has developed her own dream interpretation techniques based on Jungian analysis, her experiences with native cultures, and her own developed intuition and ideas. While living in Jerusalem, after working primarily with individuals for over 20 years, she created a unique approach to dream group workshops, and continues to offer these workshops in Mexico, Canada, and Israel. She has published several artist's books, including The Song of Inanna (2018), produced Art Films, and her visionary oil paintings and woodcuts are held in public and private collections around the world. www.lilianakleiner.com