Workshop: Saturday, December 6, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
An exploration, deeply informed by the work of Martin Buber, of how the sacred enters our lives in our everyday encounters with one another and not merely in our engagements with the Self. Arguably Buber's most important gift to us was his affirmation of the sacredness of those moments when we are really there with one another--as though it were in those moments that we most truly experience the presence of the divine. Buber believes that such moments happen in the most ordinary, everyday contexts, not only in moments of high drama. Dr. Downing will take into account the testimony of Buber's theoretical writings, his Biblical translations and commentaries, his retellings of traditional tales, his personal reminiscences, and his dreams. She will talk, too, about the relevance of his work to the practice of psychotherapy.
Christine Downing, Ph.D., for twenty years Chair of Religious Studies at San Diego State University, now teaches in the Mythological Studies program at Pacifica Graduate Institute. She is the author of nine books, including The Goddess, Gods in Our Midst, and The Long Journey Home.