Washington Friends Conference on Religion and Psychology

Thirty-fifth Annual Conference
Claggett Center · Buckeystown, MD · February 24–26, 2012

Presenters

R. Dixon Bell is a teacher of 39 years at Powhatan School in Boyce, VA, a liberal arts school—“The kind you wish you had gone to.”—that specializes in reading, writing, thinking, and expression. He is the senior teacher at the school, heads the Social Studies Department and teaches American history to the seventh and eighth grades. He has directed the annual Shakespeare play performed by the eighth grade since 1982. Enamored of the outdoors, Dixon lives in a log cabin he renovated in nearby Glengary, WV, where he enjoys hiking, biking, and camping. He has served on the FCRP Planning Committee since 2005, and also serves on the Washington FCRP Planning Committee. At heart, Dixon is a poet enthralled by New England common meter, inspired by Emily Dickinson.

In preparing for this conference, Dixon wrote, “I think the original kernel that so excited Jung and his Quakers was the wedding or merging of our belief system and his then state of the art understanding of how the human psyche works. It was a nexus that exploded into glorious meaning and provocation. That’s still there. How does God become part of us? How do we become part of God? What makes one a ne’er do well and another a Mother Theresa? There is a language; there is a paradigm; there is a way to explore that God/person connection. Quakerism is our entry; Jungianism is our language. Should this relationship evolve? Absolutely. But the question still exists. It is the question the whole world is asking. I am so proud to be a part of a group of people who are actively asking and exploring that question. Is that question worth an annual conference? It is worth the whole world.”

Bonnie L. Damron is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Northern Virginia. Her practice is largely Jungian based. She also leads seminars on mythology, fairy tales, and Jung’s psychology as part of her practice and for other organizations including the Jung Society of Washington and Directions for Women. Bonnie was the 2010 Washington FCRP plenary speaker. She led the Interest Group on Dreams at FCRP 2010 and 2011, and led the Interest Group on Fairy Tales at WFCRP 2011. She serves on the Washington FCRP Planning Committee and is a resource person to the FCRP Planning Committee. She holds a Masters Degree in Social Work from the Catholic University of Maryland and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Maryland.