The reading group for psychology opened at ACKU with a small group of Kabul University students mostly from psychology and counseling departments. Dr. Rohullah Amin delivered the keynote speech of the opening event and suggested structure of the Psychology Reading Club. Dr. Amin is the president of the Afghanistan Fulbright Association, lecturer of psychology and currently the country director of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies (AIAS).
In the future, the Psychology Reading Club will be supervised by Ms. Spozhmay Oria, lecturer of counseling psychology at Kabul University. Ms. Orya’s presence and wise leadership will enhance motivation of the club members and will contribute to their academic and personal development.
Dr. Amin said that we usually read and learn individually, and most importantly we “Think” individually, but we can learn more if we read in a group so that we exercise “group thinking” as well. He also pointed to the theory of Carl Gustav Jung regarding “collective consciousness and collective unconscious” he said that each member in a group is able to connect to that collective consciousness that is the gift of human being. He added that we all are able to connect to the collective consciousness through our own individual consciousness. He encouraged group thinking as an exceptionally productive mean of intellectual development.
Dr. Amin shared elaborated very interestingly on how we connect in a higher level through our individual consciousness. He emphasized that creative reading and critical thinking will significantly contribute to improvement of our individual consciousness and will allow us to function in higher level of psychological life with enhanced productive minds.
The structure and method of readings were further discussed and the group agreed upon the first topic of reading. The program concluded at 11 am with participants taking a tour of the ACKU.