Pacifica Graduate Institute - Mission Statement and Core Values

Mission Statement and Core Values

The mission of Pacifica Graduate Institute is to foster creative learning and research in the fields of psychology and mythological studies, framed in the traditions of depth psychology.

By creating an educational environment with a spirit of free and open inquiry, consistent with the recognized values of academic freedom, Pacifica is dedicated to cultivating and harvesting the gifts of the human imagination. So that these insights may influence the personal, cultural, and planetary concerns of our era, this dedication is contained in the motto: animae mundi colendae gratia - for the sake of tending soul in and of the world.

Core Values:

• Logos: The idea that academic excellence is central to what informs our curriculum, research, and scholarship – demonstrated by conscious reflective regard for new knowledge resting securely on the traditions of the past that inform the development of the whole person (intellect, dream, intuition, symptoms, feeling, imagination and other ways of knowing) in relation to the larger social world.

• Eros: The importance of open communication, respectful relationship, care, and a heartfelt regard for a diverse community which includes a love for learning as a noble goal of the human spirit.

• Consciousness: the awareness of Pacifica as a “psychological community” with a connection to the deep psyche – mindful attention is given to personal and community introspection, the conscious tending of the shadow of consciousness, and a respect for solar thinking (reason) and lunar reflection (dream and imagination).

• Integrity: the necessity for a just, psyche-centered attitude rooted in the “wisdom traditions,” and committed to cultivating an honest and caring presence among ourselves, our students, and the world around us.

• Service: to ourselves as unique human beings, to others within the Pacifica community as well as to those we engage in the world through our example, talks, lectures, workshops, writing, teaching; the capacity to see through cultural forms; the art of hosting the incarnate and the invisible; and our ongoing service to our fields of Depth Psychology, Mythological Studies, and the Humanities

• Stewardship: Care of the world soul as expressed in Pacifica’s motto, “animae mundi colendae gratia,” becoming sustainable at all levels – from our way of being actively present in imaginal inquiry to our presence in the larger earth community – from work load to land use, from our way of conducting business to our model of doing business.