Washington Conference on Religion and Psychology
created and supported by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Find our parent organization at fcrp-quaker.org
Dear Friends,
Many religious people say, “We are God’s hands.” Carl Jung wrote much about “self-actualization.” How far apart are these concepts, really? Can we gain from exploring both?
The 46th annual Washington Friends Conference on Religion and Psychology will be held on February 7-9, 2025, online. We will be hosting Kenneth Kovacs, PhD, Diploma candidate (psychoanalyst-in-training) at the C. G. Jung Institute-Zurich, as our plenary speaker on the topic “The Search for the Hidden Bridge: Jungian Psychology and Religion”.
Pioneering psychologist Carl Jung was the son of a minister. And although many are aware of how Jung’s consciousness of many religions grew through his lifetime and were discussed in his writings, few have given attention to his ongoing relationship with Christianity. Typical of Jung, however, his views took him, and others, into new and deep dimensions.
Ken Kovacs’ explorations on this material have taken him to the Jung archives in Zurich, Switzerland and elsewhere. Jung’s correspondence with ministers gives light to long-term relationships that included personal visits in which they discussed how the church and the field of psychology might overcome the gap between them.
Ministers, ever responsible for the well-being of their communities, inevitably found themselves facing pastoral care situations that theology did not address. These exchanges went to sensitive spiritual topics: the importance of one's own encounter with the divine, for making space for the spirit in one’s psyche, and the way the spirit is alive in one’s psyche, even at the deepest levels.
Jung writes: "By psyche I understand the totality of all psychic processes, conscious as well as unconscious." The psyche strives to maintain a balance between opposing qualities while at the same time actively seeking its own development, or as he called it, individuation.
What a rich starting place in which to ground ourselves in view of the gaps we are dealing with as we live today! Please join us for a warm weekend on Zoom, no matter if there is rain, sleet or snow.
Warm regards,
Washington Friends Conference on Religion and Psychology Planning Committee
Please enjoy the information below about our 2025 Conference.
Registration for WFCRP 2025 is now closed.
Our parent Conference, Friends Conference on Religion and Psychology will happen May 23rd - 25th at Pendle Hill. The topic is “Embodying the Sacred Self: A Conference of Renewal and Connection”. Click here to get more info.
Keep watch for information about WFCRP 2026.
Speaker for 2025
Speaker for 2025: Ken Kovacs, Ph.D., is a Diploma Candidate close to completing his training at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zürich, Switzerland, with a practice in Baltimore, MD. He also studied at Rutgers University, Yale Divinity School, Princeton Theological Seminary and received a Doctor of Philosophy in practical theology (psychology and theology) from the University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland (UK).
An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for more than thirty years, he has served congregations in St. Andrews, Scotland, Mendham, NJ, and, since 1999, Catonsville, MD. Kenneth is the author of The Relational Theology of James E. Loder: Encounter and Conviction (Peter Lang, 2011), Out of the Depths: Sermons and Essays (Parson’s Porch, 2016), a contributor to C.G. Jung: Face to Face with Christianity: Conversations on Dreaming the Myth Onward (Chiron, 2024), and writes for theological and psychological publications. He also serves on the board of the Jung Society of Washington. .
Topic for 2025 “The Search for the Hidden Bridge - Jungian Psychology and Religion”
C.G. Jung made many attempts to bridge analytical psychology and theology throughout his life. While there are places in the Collected Works where we can see this interest, it is most evident in Jung’s correspondence with pastors and religious thinkers, who have been largely forgotten. Most of these letters await publication. In our time together, I will focus on one collection of letters, Jung’s correspondence with the Reformed pastor-theologian Adolf Keller (1872-1963). Keller was searching for what he called “the hidden bridge” between analytical psychology and theology. And we’ll look at several others who were interested in the same. Their pursuits and questions can inform what a contemporary “bridge” could mean for Jungian thought and practice, and religious communities.
Interest Groups for 2025
Interest Group 1 - Parsing the Plenary with Riley Robinson As FCRP was beginning in the 1940s, a staid Quaker asked one of the founders, “Psychology – isn’t that dangerous? Answer: “Yes, and so is religion.” Still true. And it's still helpful to consciously reckon with these. Facilitator Kenneth Kovacs brings a range of experience in the worlds of Jungianism and Protestant religion. Let’s talk about what comes up for us during the plenaries. We might consider:
What is new for you in hearing these written “conversations?”
Carl Jung was raised as the son of a Swiss Reformed Church minister, but in time his consciousness of world religions grew exponentially, affecting him deeply. How does your belief background, religious, spiritual, or not, inform your experience of this weekend? What stands out now from your journey?
What are a few key ways that religion/spirituality most affect your life today, be it through meditation, participation, media, or other? How do these affect your actions and practices?
Are you finding some new focus in your inner religious/spiritual/psychological landscape as you participate in the sessions? Is there some new feeling of integration of mind, body, spirit? How does it feel? What change might you undertake as a result?
Riley Robinson is a longtime Quaker FCRP attender who meets himself coming and going here.
Interest Group 2 - Zuihitsu for Journaling with Stephen McDonnell
In this interest group, we’ll use the Japanese literary genre of zuihitsu as a journaling technique. Zuihitsu is a casual, offhand literary recording of things that delight or impress you. There are no strict rules about its form, and it can take many shapes, including essay, reportage, observation, poem, journal, lists, anecdote, even email, gossip, scholarly annotation, or scraps. Techniques include fragmentation, juxtaposition, varying lengths, or a hybrid of any of these. The earliest zuihitsu dates back to 1002 AD when the poet and court lady to Empress Teishi, Sei Shōnagon, privately wrote The Pillow Book, a book of personal essays and fragments of her thoughts and observations. One contemporary poet who has used the form is Kimiko Hahn. We’ll read and appreciate some samples from The Pillow Book and Kimiko Hahn, spend some personal time writing, and then come together and share our jotted observations.
Stephen McDonnell is a Quaker (Morningside Monthly Meeting) and has worked as a social work psychotherapist for the last thirty years, mostly in private practice and New York City. Steve has been on the Planning Committee of both conferences. Steve is a poet who practices figure drawing and belongs to a movement choir at Trinity Wall Street performing Butoh-style dances.
Interest Group #3. Seeing What’s Not Said with Barb Siegel
All language has echos of meaning even when we don’t take the time to hear them resonating. Let’s see beyond the words.
I’ve been thinking about thinking for a while and have developed tools to help people understand themselves and where communication can break down. We will use visual tools and create images to understand how language limits understanding. You will begin to see the gap between what is said and what is heard.
Yes we will draw. I promise to take all your fears away. No drawing experience necessary, really! I have lots of experience getting non-drawers to relax and expand their communication skills.
Required material: At least 10 sheets of blank paper, 8.5” x 11” or so. Markers: One black marker about the width of a standard sharpie. Colored markers are nice to have, all of them should be at least as wide as a standard sharpie. This is to help everyone see your work. Thin markers and ball point pens and pencils don’t show up well on zoom. A hard drawing surface is necessary (desk, piece of cardboard) so please make sure that is available where you will be working.
Barb Siegel knows a thing or two about art, visual facilitation, and complexity science; she’s also a registered architect. Her current work is focused on getting people to experience the complexity of who they are and helping them find a path forward. If you are curious about my work in complexity science you can begin with 15 essential terms for complexity thinking .https://awarefulsystems.com/index.php/language/glossary-for-complexity-thinking/ She raised two special needs children who arenow amazing adults.
Interest Group #4, Active Imagination with Jane Byerley
In “A Guide to Active Imagination,” analyst Lewis Connoly says, “Active Imagination is a technique that was developed by Carl Jung to access the unconscious in waking life. When we consider engaging the unconscious, most of us think exclusively of dream analysis - the process of taking our dreams and uncovering what they’re trying to teach us, ideally with the assistance of a trained analyst. Jung believed our dreams consisted of the stuff of our unconscious. You can think of it like this. Your unconscious is like a separate autonomous person who resides within you, who is always listening and observing everything you do and say. Understandably on occasion this silent witness may recognize problems or opportunities that you (which is to say your ego) have missed. This silent witness then, seeks every night to communicate with you through your dreams, the language of dreams being one of associations, symbols, emotional charge, etc.
Although dream interpretation is the main way of engaging with the unconscious, Jung also believed the unconscious could be engaged with directly through what he called active imagination.” Come examine the process, contact your unconscious, and try active imagination.
Jane Byerley became Executive Director of the Jung Society of Washington in July 2019. Since then, she has been writing weekly to our membership. She is a Candidate to become a Jungian analyst with the Philadelphia Association of Jungian Analysts of the Inter-regional Society of Jungian Analysts. For 20 years, she was a management consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton. She has a BA from Colorado College, an MSW from Catholic University, an MBA from Southern Methodist University, and ayear of Masters work at the University of Warwick (UK) in English Lit. Jane is in private practice as a psychotherapist in the D.C. area.
Interest Group #5 On Your Own
No leader. Take a break and spend the time as you like.
Schedule for 2025
Eastern Standard Time
Friday, February 7, 2025
7:00 pm - Zoom opens
7:30 - 9:00pm 1st Plenary session
9:00 - 9:15pm Break
9:15 - 9:45pm Interest Group Introductions
Saturday, February 8, 2025
11:00am - 12:30pm 1st Interest Group Meeting
1:30 - 3pm 2nd Plenary session
3:15 - 5:00pm 2nd Interest Group Meeting
5:00 - 7:00pm Break
7:00 - 8:30pm 3rd Plenary Session
Sunday, February 9, 2025
11:00 - 12:30pm 3rd Interest Group Meeting
1:00 - 2:00pm Meeting for Worship Sharing and Closings - click here to learn more about Silence in Quaker Meetings
2:15 - 3:30pm Planning Committee Meeting for 2026 - all are welcome.