Event Description:

In this presentation Peter will contend that the subversive madness of Dionysian consciousness can, now more than ever, nourish our sanity in a modern world. Along the way it will be necessary to loosen our grip, permit the ambiguous in all things and encounter the radical bisexual nature at the heart of the God.

There are many obstacles to a true and sympathetic understanding of the figure of Dionysus. Culturally, our representations have tended towards the caricature: from the truly mad and dangerous to the perpetually drunk old man, overweight and riding an unsteady unicorn, as in the buffoon of Disney films like Fantasia. Even Jung sometimes slips in to the “Germanic bias” of conflating Dionysus with the figure of Wotan, primarily a god of hunting and battle.

All these portrayals have in common a perception of the Dionysian experience as in some way “inferior” and therefore either dangerous or ridiculous. However, this defensive reaction is more a commentary on the dominant structures that rule both our cultural/political and psychic worlds (ie. the ego). It is therefore with good reason that many of the tales and myths show Dionysus as being rejected and persecuted by male patriarchal figures and by all forms of worldly establishment..

Biography:

Peter Dicker is a former President of the Illawarra Jung Society. He works as a psychologist in a public health clinic, south of Wollongong. He has been a frequent presenter at the Sydney Jung Society where he has also been a member for 25 years.

Over the past two decades Peter has been exploring his interest in Jungian and Archetypal Psychology through various creative projects – lectures, essays, poetry and musical compositions – and he continues to maintain an ongoing passion for ideas, particularly in relation to clinical and cultural matters.

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