John Beebe, MD (ENTP), Jungian Analyst, Author and International Speaker on Jung, Type and Films

Four days after America’s new President, Barack Obama, is inaugurated, Dr. John Beebe will speak to us about the consciousnesses that he believes are coming to power. Applying his whole type model, Dr. Beebe will discuss all eight function-attitudes, and the archetypes carrying them in the American psyche today, as an approach to understanding what President Obama may have to offer in the way of real change from the type patterns of his predecessors’ presidencies. John will also discuss the types of consciousness he felt were rejected in the recent election’s McCain-Palin ticket.

Questions to be addressed:

• How far can typology be used to assess a national character?

• What kinds of evidence does Dr. Beebe use when venturing in that direction?
• What are the ethical considerations in trying to type personalities we have never met, who haven’t taken the MBTI® and whom we get to see only as personas on television?

Dr. Beebe will "go for it," to the degree that he ethically can, to say what he sees of the typology at hand and to make sense of the currents of consciousness that implicate us all. He will show us what to watch for to verify or refute his hypotheses. Most of all, he will ask each of us, including himself, to examine our own type biases and expectations, so we can understand where our enthusiasm and our suspicion are coming from while following the efforts of a new administration to master problems that are going to challenge the consciousness and good will of all of us.

To prepare for this unique workshop, Dr. Beebe suggests looking at his three essays relating America’s politics to her typology. PDF copies of these essays will be emailed to those who pre-register (see "Registration" in the attachment).

• (1992) Identifying the American shadow: typological reflections on the Los Angeles riots. In Psychological Perspectives, vol. 27, pp. 135-139.

• (2000) "The Wizard of Oz": A vision of development in the American political psyche. Book chapter in Thomas Singer (ed.), The Vision Thing: Myth, Politics and Psyche in the World (New York: Routledge), pp. 62-83.
• (2007) The memory of the hero and the emergence of the post-heroic attitude. In Politics and the American Soul, Spring Journal, vol. 78, pp. 275-296.

Clips of key campaign speeches and interviews will be screened as clues to the consciousnesses playing on the U.S. stage.

Sandra Nelson and Richard Hendrickson will co-emcee this program.