Reclaiming the Fire

This book examines six psychological and spiritual giants that were working a half century ago whose insights are as powerful today as they were then—perhaps even more so given the current corporate agenda to standardize education and thereby take the soul out of it. Indeed, it is precisely because we are so aware of the impossible demands placed upon teachers these days, which overtax already valiantly devoted and terribly overworked teachers and which also continue to ignore the fact that the problems children face are not a product of our schools but of our society at large—that the authors have written this book. This book will help you renew your noble sense of mission so that, even in these trying times for teachers, you will feel more fulfilled in all that you accomplish, will discover ways to renew your vision of yourself as a teacher despite all the grossly and unjustly negative things that are said about teachers, and will find new ways of continue in your extremely important work.

Teaching is an art demanding the highest creativity and Reclaiming the Fire: Depth Psychology in Teacher Renewal shows just how and why the psychological and spiritual dimensions of the vocation need tending. In this lyrical exploration, pioneer of Jungian pedagogy, Clifford Mayes, visionary political advisor and teacher, Mark Grandstaff and poet, scholar, and leader in the field of Jungian studies, Alexandra Fidyk, all provide essential sustenance for todays teachers and those who nurture them. Without the compassionate understanding suppled in Reclaiming the Fire, the committed teacher is left to the managerial and mechanical mindset that bedevils our schools. This book helps teachers, students and parents find the soul of education. Our future depends upon it., Set with care in a context of Buber, Tillich, and others, Reclaiming the Fire is an enlightening exploration of Jung as a source of symbols for education. With lifespan developmental psychology as an overarching theme, the authors illustrate that the purpose and practice of teaching is derived ultimately from meaning. And meaning, as to Jung, is an uncovering of the Self in our conflicted, ego-gripped world.

Clifford Mayes, Ph.D., Psy.D., received a doctorate in the History of U.S. Education from the University of Utah and a doctorate in Psychology from the Southern California University for Professional Studies. Until his retirement, he was a professor of education at Brigham Young University and is now an adjunct professor of psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, California. Mayes has authored 10 books and 40 scholarly articles in psychology, educational psychology, curriculum theory, and multiculturalism.  Mark R. Grandstaff, Ph.D., has a dual degree in American History and Institutional Culture from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.  Having written four books and over seventy articles, he has taught at Brigham Young University (emeritus associate professor), the University of California at Berkeley (associate professor), and the University of Maryland, University College.  Dr. Grandstaff is currently a fellow of the James MacGregor Burns Institute of Strategic Leadership, College Park. Alexandra Fidyk, Ph.D., serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Secondary Education, University of Alberta, and is Associate Editor of the International Journal of Jungian Studies. A past President of the Jungian Society of Scholarly Studies and now joint editor of Poetic Inquiry: Enchantment of Place, Fidyk is a Certified Jungian Psychotherapist, an Integrated Body Psychotherapist, a Constellation & Family System therapist, and a lover of horses, cats, and nature.