Biographies
Jerry M. Ruhl and Robert A. Johnson

Jerry M. Ruhl, Ph.D.

Jerry M. Ruhl is a psychologist, lecturer, and author living in Houston, Texas. In the first half of life Jerry was a journalist, and he managed communications for two major corporations. At mid-life he realized he had climbed up the corporate ladder but it was leaning against the wrong wall. He began studying the works of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung and observed first hand spiritual practices in Japan, Bali, Thailand, Nepal, and India. Jerry and Robert Johnson met at a Jungian conference in 1987, and a lasting friendship and professional collaboration began.

Dr. Ruhl earned a Ph.D. from Pacifica Graduate Institute, where he developed a new holistic model for coping with life changing accidents and illness. During a visit with Robert A. Johnson in San Diego, Jerry suggested that Robert’s remarkable life would make a fascinating book, and the result was Balancing Heaven and Earth. This collaboration was followed by Contentment (1999) and Living Your Unlived Life (2007). In addition to analytical work with Robert Johnson, Jerry trained with Roland Evans in Boulder, Colorado. While living in Colorado, Jerry served as a trustee of the C.G. Jung Society of Colorado.

Dr. Ruhl now resides in Houston, Texas, where he is a psychologist in private practice.  He is Executive Director of the C.G. Jung Educational Center of Houston, and he teaches in the  Graduate College of Psychology and Humanistic Studies of Saybrook University.  He also conducts ongoing dream groups and presents seminars and workshops across the nation.

Robert A. Johnson

Only a handful of true spiritual elders come along in each generation. With more than two million books in print in thirty countries on five continents, honored and respected Jungian analyst Robert A. Johnson has been one of the most influential interpreters of Jungian psychology in our time, presenting Carl Jung’s rich but complex theories with simple elegance and grace. His term “inner work” has become part of the vocabulary with which serious seekers understand themselves and their life’s journey. Robert’s books are known and loved for their beautiful retellings of timeless myths and folktales as well as for their deep wisdom and profound insight.

Robert has been pursuing inner work since a near-death experience at the age of eleven. The tragic loss of a leg after being hit by an automobile provided his first glimpse of the Golden World, a realm that exists just beyond ordinary consciousness. Like Parsifal in the legendary myth of the Holy Grail, a spiritual quest in his early decades led Robert to improbable encounters with a variety of sages, saints and sinners, culminating in a meeting with the famed Swiss psychiatrist Jung. He attended the first classes offered at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland, where he studied and worked with the pioneers of analytical psychology, including Carl Jung, Emma Jung, and Jolande Jacobi. He completed analytical training with Dr. Fritz Kunkel in Los Angeles and Dr. Toni Sussman in London. Robert also studied with J. Krishnamurti, with Soto Zen priest Maezumi Roshi, and at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India.

Robert received an honorary doctorate in humanities and lifetime achievement award from Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2002. For nineteen years Robert divided his time between Southern California and India. He now resides in San Diego, California.

Robert A. Johnson is no longer a practicing analyst, but he can be reached by emailing to jerry@jerryruhlrobertjohnson.com, or writing to:  

Jerry Ruhl/Robert Johnson
C.G. Jung Educational Center
5200 Montrose Blvd.
Houston, TX.  77006-6597