TOBI ZAUSNER, PhD, LCSW
Tobi Zausner, PhD, LCSW, is a research psychologist, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, a clinician in private practice, and a visual artist with works in major museums and private collections. Dr. Zausner, who investigates creativity, consciousness, nonlinear dynamics, and cognitive neuroscience, is on the Advisory Board for the Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research and an officer on the Board of A.C.T.S (Arts, Crafts, and Theatre Safety), a nonprofit organization investigating health hazards in the arts. Dr. Zausner has taught at the C. G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology, Saybrook University, Long Island University, and The New School. Her 2016 book, When Walls Become Doorways: Creativity and the Transforming Illness, examines the positive influence of physical illness on the creativity of visual artists. Her 2022 book, The Creative Trance; Altered States of Consciousness and the Creative Process, published by Cambridge University Press, explores the creative process across domains, demonstrating that it contains multiple types of altered states of consciousness.
Chasadim
(Graphite on paper, 42" High x 28" Wide)
In this work, a man bathes partly submerged in frothing water that has become an energy field. This is a self-baptism, a renewal of the self in life. Water is a quintessential nonlinear substance, an element of chaos, and it is chaos that brings forth the new. The man is from Yemen and the title, Chasadim is a Hebrew word. Putting them together shows my hope for peace in the Middle East. Chasadim comes from the Kabballah and refers to Chesed, the fourth of the ten sephiroth, which are emanations of divine power. Chesed is associated with love, mercy, water, and the first day of creation.