2nd Saturdays, October 2017 - June 2018
October 14, November 11, December 9, January 13, February 10, March 10, April 14, May 12, June 9
Note: This course is full and we are no longer adding anyone to the waitlist.
About the TPI Bridge Seminar*
Psychological theory is only one of the many cultural discourses on human behavior. Disciplines outside of psychological models offer rich and varied investigations of social phenomena using their own tools and strategies. The seminar’s purpose is to build bridges between our field and other discourses in order to broaden and deepen both our thinking and our experience.
This small nine-month study group, now in its fifth year, sets for itself the task of undermining our habitual ways of thinking. It was created with the senior therapist in mind who wishes to explore non-clinical ways of thinking. In addition to our monthly meetings, the Bridge Seminar features three invited experts from outside our field. Each of the presenters meets one time with us to bring their perspective on a year- long topic. In subsequent monthly meetings, we read and discuss material to widen and deepen our grasp of this mercurial topic. Readings are drawn from culturally diverse source materials. The Seminar is not a class but a working group, raising questions and opening new directions together.
October 2017 - June 2018 Bridge Seminar
The leaden circles dissolved in the air.”
– Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
We all live with a certain preoccupation with time. In this year’s seminar we aim to explore the concept of time by taking it up from different perspectives. What is time? How is it understood from the point of view of science, the humanities and the arts? How do we locate ourselves in time and how do we live with that knowledge? How might non-western cultures view and live with time?
Our three speakers come from different fields and will offer richly complementary perspectives on time.
Jacob Needleman is a professor of philosophy, a religious scholar, and a prolific author, writing and speaking about such significant topics as love, God, religion, the way to self knowledge, the search for meaning, money, Eros, the soul, and our topic for the coming year, time.
Michael Schwab received his PhD in Physics from the University of California at Berkeley, and has taught at both UC Berkeley and UC Davis at the graduate and undergraduate level. He has also taught 3rd graders in Oakland. He spent 34 years as a practicing physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.
Vijaya Nagarajan is an associate professor at the University of San Francisco where she teaches courses on Hinduism, Religion and Environment, Spiritual Autobiography, and Community Internships. Her current scholarship interests have centered on the multivalent meanings in kolma, the daily sacred art practice southern Indian women perform that encodes ancient Hindu conceptualizations of time.
*The Bridge Seminar is created and organized each year by TPI committee members Diane Buczek, Sherry Crandon, Susie Fefferman, Judy Greene, Jeanne Menary, and Jane Reynolds.Committee members participate and help facilitate each seminar meeting.
Meeting Times: The Seminar meets once a month on the second Saturday from 10:00 to 12:30 for nine months. An exception is the first meeting, October 14, which will begin earlier at 9:30 to allow for an orientation to the year. Three of the meetings are with the invited speakers. Dates for the 2017-2018 seminar are October 14, November 11, December 9, January 13, February 10, March 10, April 14, May 12, June 9.
Location: TPI, 2232 Carleton St., Berkeley, CA 94704
Cost: $480 for TPI members, $650 for nonmembers
CE Credits: 22.5 total (2.5 per meeting), included in registration fee. The Psychotherapy Institute is approved by the California Psychological Association to provide continuing professional education for psychologists, MFTs, LCSWs, and LPCCs (provider number PSY005). The Psychotherapy Institute maintains responsibility for these programs and their content (see Course Policies).
Group size is limited to 15 members with minimum 25 years post-licensure clinical experience. The purpose of this prerequisite is to address the intellectual, emotional and developmental challenges of this stage of life and clinical practice.
Note: This course is full and we are no longer adding anyone to the waitlist.