For those who might be able to attend...
ACADEMY CONFERENCE
On Saturday, May 10th, 2003, the Academy will be sponsoring a conference at
Madonna University. Patrick B. Kavanaugh, Ph.D. will present a paper entitled:
The Dead Poets Society Ventures Into a Radioactive Analytic Space
In pre-literate societies, the poet is the one assigned by the culture to
be The One Who Remembers as an historian, mythmaker, and shaman. As shaman,
the poet sees with eyes of fire that burn through the ordinariness of the
world and perceive the wonders and terrors that lie beyond. Is the analytic
practitioner not the one in our culture who bears the sacred responsibility
to be The One Who Remembers in words in the analytic space? Is (s)he not a
mind poet who speaks to the unworded poetry expressed in the overarching
rhythms and patterns of everyday life? Do we see the world, people, and life
through the poet’s eyes of fire?…
The Academy for the Study of the Psychoanalytic Arts is dedicated to
respecting and celebrating the poetic nature of psychoanalysis.
This psychoanalysis, as defined by the Academy, flourishes best when it
exists outside of a medical model with its pre-conceived notions of
pathology, symptom, etiology and supposed “cure.” It is a psychoanalysis
whose delicacy and wonder cannot be anticipated with formulaic treatment
plans, whose whispers cannot be heard amidst broadcasted conversations with
third party insurers and managed care administrators, and whose rhythms and
lyrics cannot possibly arise within pre-formulated, prescribed, and
preformatted “standards of care and practice.”
These are private places, where the murmurings of one’s soul can be received
by an ‘other’ with open mind and open heart, and the opportunity exists to
discover the hidden meanings of an individual’s lyrical engagement with the
world. In such places, an individual’s life story, no matter how painful, is
not distilled into categorical straightjackets of diagnosis and pathology.
Here, one’s customary ways of experiencing and engaging with the world with
one’s body and mind, are appreciated as everyday, yet meaning filled symbolic
and communicative expressions, rather than illness derived “symptoms” to be
obliterated with psychopharmacology or “goal directed” talking treatment.
This conference is an invitation to hear about an experience where raw human
poetry came alive in the consulting room – spilling out beyond the boundaried
confines of a ‘poem’ as it might be printed in a written anthology. It is an
opportunity for us to listen to how two individuals found words together for
the previously unspeakable, beckoning utterances of the soul. It is a chance
for all of us who care about psychoanalysis to speak outside the margins and
to witness the magic that can exist therein.
We encourage Academy members, their guests, and all interested members of
the community to attend. For further information about the conference click
the following link: <A HREF="http://www.academyprojects.org/programs">
www.academyprojects.org/programs/</A>
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