More on Mimesis

We are constantly living in the myths and stories, though we may not be consciously aware of it.

Unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories, the complexes Jung talks about, are always active in our lives and represented in our great stories. Contrary to the common usage of the word myth as “lie,” we believe that stories, myths and fables reveal deep truth about the human condition. Myth endures because it taps into archetypes as well as our personal depth, including our light and shadow aspects.

One famous quote from Jung from Memories, Dreams, Reflections is, “I realized it was my task of tasks to find out what myth I was living.” The Mimesis process was designed as an exploration of that task. If traditional understanding of myth is about analyzing the myth intellectually, the Mimesis method is about physically stepping inside it to understand its personal relevance and dislodge rigid personal scripts.

We are not confined to finding one myth that fits us, but the many stories and characters in myth that we resonate with throughout our lives. Each story reveals aspects of human experience. The best way to understand Mimesis is to experience it, as opposed to talking about it as a theory. Naturally the size of the group does not lend itself to a full workshop, but we plan to do what we call a modified Mimesis with several stories across the plenary sessions. This means telling a story, reflecting on it, and inviting some sharing.

In each plenary session we will tell a story and reflect on it in each plenary session, and we may incorporate some role play. We plan to use a variety of stories, i.e., a Biblical parable, a Grimm tale, a section of Inanna (the oldest written myth), a folk tale, etc.

We will discuss uses of Mimesis, including John’s work with the Ukrainian psychotherapists, synchronicities we have experienced, connections to our own personal stories, possible connections to psychotherapy, and healing traditions as well. We will have prepared topics, but we will also let ourselves be guided by the discussion portion, to get some idea of the group’s interests.

We recommend keeping a journal during the conference for feelings, thoughts, and memories that come up after the plenaries or that we didn’t have time to address. Perhaps we can address some of these at the last plenary as well.

WORK WITH UKRAINIANS

John started his work with Ukrainian psychotherapists by volunteering as a group supervisor for those who were dealing with their own trauma as well as that of their clients. Later on, Liza also worked with two of these Ukrainian psychologists who provided translation for intensive two-day seminars on Mimesis that we gave for psychotherapists as part of their group psychotherapy training with a colleague. The work has been deeply rewarding, and John has continued to meet with these two for monthly supervision and support.

OTHER PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF MIMESIS

We have provided in-person and online training groups for American psychotherapists. During the pandemic we created and taught a two-year sequence of training via Zoom. The training culminates in trainees pairing up and offering their own Mimesis workshop to a group.

These initiatives, as well as John’s use of Mimesis in the training of doctoral psychology interns for many years in his work at Temple University, at conferences, and public workshops, are ways that Mimesis serves as a practical educational tool.

QUAKERS VS. NON-QUAKERS

Quakers are very good at centering and looking inward, and the Quaker concept of “holding in the Light” has been useful for difficult emotional moments during group work. This serves Quaker groups well in the Mimesis process, but we don’t see a significant difference in overall participation between Quakers and non-Quakers. The demands of role play and processing get to the depth of almost all participants regardless of religious background.

YEARS AT FCRP

We are grateful for the opportunity we’ve had to lead Mimesis workshops at FCRP since 2009. They have always been rewarding and very stimulating experiences, embedded in the context of the larger conference. Finding connections to the plenary themes with our Mimesis groups has been very rewarding. The groups have all been memorable with spirited engagement and authentic sharing.