I spent most of my life in South America, so Spanish is my first language. Unfortunately, my last stop was Cuba; I went to high school there during the revolution. My teachers were Castro supporters, so when Fidel took over in 1959, I worked for him translating propaganda to send to the US. (They say if you are not a communist when you are young, you have no heart, but if you are still a communist when you are old, you have no brain).

Katherine W. Hirsh, DPhil, presented two fascinating programs in October.

​AM Session: In the morning, she presented Once Upon a Time in the Unconscious: Cinderella, Individuation & the Inferior Function. Forty-two attendees participated in this engaging session which was a perfect mix of lecture and experiential activities designed to help us explore how to embrace and appreciate our Inferior function.

Here are some highlights taken from Katherine’s handout:

Among the 165 people attending the APTi conference in Miami, FL in late July were BAAPT members Karen Keefer, Sharon Richmond (who both presented) and Julie Wright. It was a great opportunity to gain new knowledge, and meet or reacquaint with Type zealots from around the world. Speaking of which, we met three new people from the SF Bay Area and invited them to BAAPT!

Two particularly exciting happenings at the conference were meeting APTi founder Katharine Myers, and presenting the Excellence in APTi Leadership Award to BAAPT member Adam Frey.

Read more on the APTi website... 

Five of us met at Never Too Latte, a coffee shop in San Bruno, to talk about Type over coffee and pastry. We started out talking about consciousness, then segued into a discussion of meditation. We also talked about explanations which got us into mathematics and how different types explain things. Although we only had five people, we still had a nice mix of types – 1 E (4 I), 1 SJ, 1 NT, 3 NF – which made for some interesting conversation.

If you might be interested in attending an informal Type Talk during the Fall / Winter months, please let us know!

Consciousness, History, Psychological Type, Society - a dip in tangled waters

Peter Geyer's talk at BAAPT on Saturday morning, July 18, reminded participants that no matter how sophisticated we get in our application of type, there is a way in which none of us quite know what we're talking about when we use core psychological terms like "consciousness." The fact that we are unable to converge on definitions of concepts like this may be a sign that our field, no matter how useful and enlightening, could still be in an early stage of development.

The afternoon program, A Casual Conversation, was sparked by provocative quotes Geyer selected from Jung, Myers, and other sources and engaged participants in a searching discussion about how the practice of psychological type is developing and changing. The group found itself working to articulate what we most value about type, to identify what is at the heart of teaching type, and to analyze some conflicting goals and pressures that impact how type is studied and practiced.

A paper that outlines the ideas that Peter incorporated into his discussion is available here. Peter also shared his presentation slides with us.

I had a great time at the APTi Conference in Miami last month. Reconnected with many people I hadn't seen in a while, connected with others whom I had only known via email, and met some totally new people. Not to mention the informative sessions throughout the four days. 

Karen Keefer and I met three first-time attendees from the SF Bay Area, one of whom has joined BAAPT and attended the August Type Talk!

Oh... and by the way, Katharine Myers (daughter-in-law of Isabel Briggs Myers, and founder of APTi) was there, too. What a treat!

Julie Wright
BAAPT Marketing Director

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