The 2025 Gubbio SeminarJuly 14-18, 2025
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“A soul-bending journey!!"
~2024 Seminar Participant
~2024 Seminar Participant
The Gaze of Finitude
Existentializing the Liminal Spaces of the Therapeutic Encounter
A Seminar for Psychotherapists and Psychoanalysts
A Seminar for Psychotherapists and Psychoanalysts
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Amelio A. D'Onofrio, PhD
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July 14-18, 2025
“I always thought the end was over there.
It’s not over there, it’s over here."
~A Patient
“It is death that sustains existence.”
~Jacques Lacan
“Who does he think the analyst is?
Is he somebody to help him to live, or to die?”
~Wilfred Bion
“Let us guard against saying that death is opposed to life."
~Friedrich Nietzsche
“Along with the sober anxiety which brings us face to face with our individualized
potentiality-for-Being, there goes an unshakable joy in this possibility.”
~Martin Heidegger
It’s not over there, it’s over here."
~A Patient
“It is death that sustains existence.”
~Jacques Lacan
“Who does he think the analyst is?
Is he somebody to help him to live, or to die?”
~Wilfred Bion
“Let us guard against saying that death is opposed to life."
~Friedrich Nietzsche
“Along with the sober anxiety which brings us face to face with our individualized
potentiality-for-Being, there goes an unshakable joy in this possibility.”
~Martin Heidegger
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The 2025 Gubbio Seminar is about the possibility of self-transcendence in spite of the fact that we human beings are finite creatures and that we die.
We will explore the relationship between human finitude (death) and freedom, and we’ll examine the fundamental paradox of living as authentic subjects situated in an inconstant world. To this end, we’ll consider the influence death (in both its ‘physical’ and ‘ontological’ forms) may have over the psyche, the defenses we muster to keep its anxiety at bay, and we’ll look at how death’s ubiquitous presence furtively operates in the liminal spaces of all that transpires in the consulting room.
With this goal in mind, we will playfully reconsider with ontological eyes the clinical concepts and processes that are part of the established canon of therapeutic discourse. In particular, we’ll interrogate some of the fundamental tensions we encounter in our work through the prism of death. For example, how does death put its thumb on the scale regarding the tensions between lack and desire, ego and subject, authenticity and inauthenticity, sex and aggression, anxiety and guilt, and, of course, between the truth and the lie? In like manner, we’ll consider the tensions that may exist between ‘ontological death’ (Heidegger), the ‘death drive’ (Freud/Lacan), and the ‘truth drive’ (Bion/Grotstein), and how their respective dynamics may shape and propel the psyche.
We’ll ask: What might it mean to view therapy as a limit-situation, and how might that both constrain and, at the same time, enlarge possibilities for our patients? How do we invite death into the consulting room not as a ‘drive’ but as a mirroring presence that pronounces truth in the face of the lie? If the therapist is to be the custodian of truth, how does the therapist, as a human being standing in the breach, become the de facto stand-in for death? And, how do we existentialize and transform the dread induced by death into a tolerable emotional truth that can be received by our patients?
Our conversation will also take us into the realm of countertransference: What is the nature of our own relationship with anxiety, guilt, truth, and our own unlived life, and how might those relationships serve as barriers to encounter? With our own human frailty in sight, then, how might we develop a kind of ‘ontological sturdiness’ that will insulate us from death’s consuming glare and help us resist colluding with our patients to ignore, obscure, or be in denial of death altogether?
Finally, if we take seriously Heidegger’s notion that ‘being-towards-death’ is the authentic route to ‘being-towards-life,’ how do we all, therapist and patient alike, practice death while yet we live?
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Join us in Gubbio this summer for a deep dive into the paradoxes of the human condition reflected so powerfully in the poetic movements of the therapeutic process. Our venue, a magnificently restored seventeenth century Franciscan monastery—now a hotel & spa—nestled in the idyllic Umbrian countryside, will serve as the clearing for our retreat from the busyness of the everyday world. This most hospitable and grace-filled setting will beckon us to deeper interiority that will liberate our collective therapeutic wisdom. Join us in exploring new possibilities for being-in-the-world with our patients in ever more spacious, generous, and life-affirming ways. Be part of a growing community of depth psychotherapists committed to pursuing clinical truth, expanding personal horizons, and who are willing to share themselves in the service of fostering mutual growth. You'll be challenged and inspired to broaden your understanding of the therapeutic process and to deepen your participation in the renewal of your patients’ lives.
We will explore the relationship between human finitude (death) and freedom, and we’ll examine the fundamental paradox of living as authentic subjects situated in an inconstant world. To this end, we’ll consider the influence death (in both its ‘physical’ and ‘ontological’ forms) may have over the psyche, the defenses we muster to keep its anxiety at bay, and we’ll look at how death’s ubiquitous presence furtively operates in the liminal spaces of all that transpires in the consulting room.
With this goal in mind, we will playfully reconsider with ontological eyes the clinical concepts and processes that are part of the established canon of therapeutic discourse. In particular, we’ll interrogate some of the fundamental tensions we encounter in our work through the prism of death. For example, how does death put its thumb on the scale regarding the tensions between lack and desire, ego and subject, authenticity and inauthenticity, sex and aggression, anxiety and guilt, and, of course, between the truth and the lie? In like manner, we’ll consider the tensions that may exist between ‘ontological death’ (Heidegger), the ‘death drive’ (Freud/Lacan), and the ‘truth drive’ (Bion/Grotstein), and how their respective dynamics may shape and propel the psyche.
We’ll ask: What might it mean to view therapy as a limit-situation, and how might that both constrain and, at the same time, enlarge possibilities for our patients? How do we invite death into the consulting room not as a ‘drive’ but as a mirroring presence that pronounces truth in the face of the lie? If the therapist is to be the custodian of truth, how does the therapist, as a human being standing in the breach, become the de facto stand-in for death? And, how do we existentialize and transform the dread induced by death into a tolerable emotional truth that can be received by our patients?
Our conversation will also take us into the realm of countertransference: What is the nature of our own relationship with anxiety, guilt, truth, and our own unlived life, and how might those relationships serve as barriers to encounter? With our own human frailty in sight, then, how might we develop a kind of ‘ontological sturdiness’ that will insulate us from death’s consuming glare and help us resist colluding with our patients to ignore, obscure, or be in denial of death altogether?
Finally, if we take seriously Heidegger’s notion that ‘being-towards-death’ is the authentic route to ‘being-towards-life,’ how do we all, therapist and patient alike, practice death while yet we live?
~~~~~~~~~~
Join us in Gubbio this summer for a deep dive into the paradoxes of the human condition reflected so powerfully in the poetic movements of the therapeutic process. Our venue, a magnificently restored seventeenth century Franciscan monastery—now a hotel & spa—nestled in the idyllic Umbrian countryside, will serve as the clearing for our retreat from the busyness of the everyday world. This most hospitable and grace-filled setting will beckon us to deeper interiority that will liberate our collective therapeutic wisdom. Join us in exploring new possibilities for being-in-the-world with our patients in ever more spacious, generous, and life-affirming ways. Be part of a growing community of depth psychotherapists committed to pursuing clinical truth, expanding personal horizons, and who are willing to share themselves in the service of fostering mutual growth. You'll be challenged and inspired to broaden your understanding of the therapeutic process and to deepen your participation in the renewal of your patients’ lives.
Come Join Us. Dive Deep. Be Amazed by the Adventure.
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“Where the danger is,
also grows the saving power."
~Holderlin
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What participants of the 2024 seminar said:
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“One of the most enjoyable and instructive experiences I've had in years...A light went off in my head..."
“You've opened doors and minds with this seminar. You made the poetry of Dante come alive and relevant and reminded us to be relevant and humble in our work with our patients." “Great array of knowledge and expertise offered with great humility." “I felt utterly carried and united in a trusting ‘hold'." “The setup was gorgeous, the participants were wonderful, the food was amazing!" “The setting was perfectly peaceful, inspiring awe, nestled in historical significance, nourished by the warmth of the people of Gubbio." “I wish this course could be a book to reach more people and given as an elective at our institutes. We need cross fertilization of ideas like yours." “Dr. D'Onofrio's exegesis of Dante's Commedia was a Tour-de-Force!. The setting was perfect for reflective introspection and meditation and itself served as an important restorative function." “I felt refreshed, grounded, invigorated, and re-inspired to return “home" to my practice....I felt affirmed, enriched, accompanied!" |
“The attitude of openness and generosity, like the offer of a secret handshake, let me know I was among friends, and that we could get down to the serious business of playing together."
“Thank you for your bravery in being a beacon to explore the less explored and bring like-minded thinkers and souls together!" “Very knowledgeable. Not only psychoanalysis but philosophy and the arts." I am grateful for the speaker's expertise and openness to the group's dialectic." “I even think that having the seminar in a place that took some work to get to enhanced the experience and gave some gravitas to the seminar." “Clear, interesting, beautiful, rich, dimensional. ... Wonderful and generous group of people." “Attendance at this seminar was very healing and transformative for me." “Thank you for your kindness, compassion, acceptance, strength, and courage you exude in your internal disposition." “What we discussed was much more profound and relevant to my work than so much of what goes on in the name of “continuing education." Truly!" |
“Totally exceeded my expectations."
“From Jerusalem to Ireland we came, from Vienna to Bogota, from Toronto to Austin, from Maine to Palo Alto, total strangers, all for our own reasons; and within five days to me it felt like one beating heart."
“I left Gubbio with overwhelming feelings of stimulation, excitement, and gratitude....It felt to me like the kind of intimacy so rarely achieved in life, and precisely the kind I believe we are looking for in the analytic work....For me it felt in many ways like the culmination and integration of so many currents of my life....Thank you all for this completely soul-bending journey."
“From Jerusalem to Ireland we came, from Vienna to Bogota, from Toronto to Austin, from Maine to Palo Alto, total strangers, all for our own reasons; and within five days to me it felt like one beating heart."
“I left Gubbio with overwhelming feelings of stimulation, excitement, and gratitude....It felt to me like the kind of intimacy so rarely achieved in life, and precisely the kind I believe we are looking for in the analytic work....For me it felt in many ways like the culmination and integration of so many currents of my life....Thank you all for this completely soul-bending journey."
The 2025 Seminar will be held at:
Park Hotel ai Cappuccini
Gubbio, Italy
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The Gubbio Seminars
Gubbio, Italy
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