Reading Jung

'The world today hangs by a thin thread, and that thread is the psyche of man' C. G. Jung Jung was the original anti-psychiatrist, who believed that the real patient was not the suffering individual, but a sick and ailing Western civilization. He was not interested in developing a narrow therapy that would help fit the individual into an untransformed society. His true aim, in all of his work, was a therapy of the West. David Tacey introduces the reader to Jung's unique style and approach, which is at once scientific and prophetic. Through a series of close readings of Jung's works, he explores the radical themes at the core of Jung's psychology, and interprets for us the dynamic vision of the whole self that inspires and motivates his work. Extracts are taken from Jung's autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, and from his collected works, including Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious and Civilization in Transition.

The long-awaited publication of C. G. Jung's Red Book in October 2009 was a signal event in the history of analytical psychology. Hailed as the most important work in Jung's entire corpus, it is as enigmatic as it is profound. Reading The Red Book by Sanford L. Drob provides a clear and comprehensive guide to The Red Book's narrative and thematic content, and details The Red Book's significance, not only for psychology but for the history of ideas.

Carl Gustav Jung was the pioneering founder of analytical psychology, a form of analysis that has revolutionised the approach to mental illness and the study of the mind. In this anthology, David Tacey brings together a selection of Jung's essays from his famous Collected Works. Divided into four parts, each with a brand new introduction, this book considers 17 of Jung’s most important papers covering: the nature of the psyche archetypes religion and culture therapy and healing. This accessible collection is essential reading for undergraduates on analytical psychology courses, those on psychotherapy training courses, and students studying symbolism and dreams, or archetypal approaches to literature, cinema, religious studies, sociology or philosophy. The text is an informative introduction for general readers as well as analysts and academics who want to learn more about C. G. Jung's contribution to psychoanalysis, and how his ideas are still extremely relevant in the world today.

Through his clinical work and extensive engagement with major figures of the philosophical tradition, Jung developed an original and pluralistic psycho-ethical model based on the cooperation of consciousness with the unconscious mind. By drawing on direct quotations from Jung’s collected works, The Red Book, and his interviews and seminars – as well as from seminal texts by Kant, Nietzsche, Aristotle and Augustine – Giovanni Colacicchi provides a philosophically grounded analysis of the ethical relevance of Jung’s analytical psychology and of the concept of individuation which is at its core. The author argues that Jung transforms Kant’s consciousness of duty into the duty to be conscious while also endorsing Nietzsche’s project of an individual ethics beyond collective morality. Colacicchi shows that Jung is concerned, like Aristotle, with the human need to acquire a balance between reason and emotions; and that Jung puts forward, with his understanding of the shadow, a moral psychology of the Christian notion of evil. Jung’s psycho-ethical paradigm is thus capable of integrating ethical theories which are often read as mutually exclusive. Psychology as Ethics will be of interest to researchers in the history of ideas and the philosophy of the unconscious, as well as to therapists and counsellors who wish to place their psychodynamic work in its philosophical context. It will also be a key reference for undergraduate and postgraduate courses and seminars in Jungian and Post-Jungian studies, philosophy, psychoanalytic studies, psychology, religious studies and the social sciences.

How relevant is Jung’s work today? How and Why We Still Read Jung offers a fresh look at how Jung’s work can still be read and applied to the modern day. Written by seasoned Jungian analysts and Jung scholars, the essays in this collection offer in depth and often personal readings of various works by Jung, including: Ambiguating Jung Jung and Alchemy: A Diamonic Reading Chinese Modernity and the Way of Return Jung: Respect for the Non-Literal Including contributions from around the world, this book will be of interest to Jungian analysts and academic Jung scholars globally. With a unique and fresh analysis of Jung’s work by eminent authors in the field, this book will also be a valuable starting point for a first-time reader of Jung.

The landmark text about the inner workings of the unconscious mind—from the symbolism that unlocks the meaning of our dreams to their effect on our waking lives and artistic impulses—featuring more than a hundred images that break down Carl Jung’s revolutionary ideas “What emerges with great clarity from the book is that Jung has done immense service both to psychology as a science and to our general understanding of man in society.”—The Guardian “Our psyche is part of nature, and its enigma is limitless.” Since our inception, humanity has looked to dreams for guidance. But what are they? How can we understand them? And how can we use them to shape our lives? There is perhaps no one more equipped to answer these questions than the legendary psychologist Carl G. Jung. It is in his life’s work that the unconscious mind comes to be understood as an expansive, rich world just as vital and true a part of the mind as the conscious, and it is in our dreams—those personal, integral expressions of our deepest selves—that it communicates itself to us. A seminal text written explicitly for the general reader, Man and His Symbolsis a guide to understanding the symbols in our dreams and using that knowledge to build fuller, more receptive lives. Full of fascinating case studies and examples pulled from philosophy, history, myth, fairy tales, and more, this groundbreaking work—profusely illustrated with hundreds of visual examples—offers invaluable insight into the symbols we dream that demand understanding, why we seek meaning at all, and how these very symbols affect our lives. By illuminating the means to examine our prejudices, interpret psychological meanings, break free of our influences, and recenter our individuality, Man and His Symbols proves to be—decades after its conception—a revelatory, absorbing, and relevant experience.

Micah Toub faced quite a few psychological challenges when he was growing up. And two of his best guides through them – as well as the biggest causes of them – were his parents. Part memoir, part introduction to famous and infamous psychological concepts past and present, Growing Up Jung tells the story of a boy raised by two psychologists. It's an extraordinary coming-of-age story, replete with more sexual confusion and domestic dysfunction than even the average adolescent has to endure. And through the telling of that story, Toub is able to discuss such topics as why Freud's obsession with Oedipus threatens our chances today of being close to our mothers; the methods a Jungian psychologist might use to help a young man overcome sexual anxiety; and why it is okay to sometimes let your inner-murderer out for the night. Referencing the written works of the thinkers discussed, books that have been written about them, and relevant contemporary pop culture, Toub discusses and explains such topics as Synchronicity, Archetypes, and the Oedipus Complex, as well as lesser-known corners of the psyche, such as the Ally, the Dreambody, and what Jung called Active Imagination. And he is able to weave all this information seamlessly into his own story, because if there was a psychological problem going, it went Toub's way. Call it synchronicity. And if you don't know what synchronicity is, see chapter 5.

In exploring the manifestations of human spiritual experience both in the imaginative activities of the individual and in the formation of mythologies and of religious symbolism in various cultures, C. G. Jung laid the groundwork for a psychology of the spirit. The excerpts here illuminate the concept of the unconscious, the central pillar of his work, and display ample evidence of the spontaneous spiritual and religious activities of the human mind. This compact volume will serve as an ideal introduction to Jung's basic concepts. Part I of this book, "On the Nature and Functioning of the Psyche," contains material from four works: "Symbols of Transformation," "On the Nature of the Psyche," "The Relations between the Ego and the Unconscious," and "Psychological Types." Also included in Part I are "Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious" and "Psychological Aspects of the Mother Archetype." Part II, "On Pathology and Therapy," includes "On the Nature of Dreams," "On the Pathogenesis of Schizophrenia," and selections from "Psychology of the Transference." In Part III appear "Introduction to the Religious and Psychological Problems of Alchemy" and two sections of "Psychology and Religion." Part IV, called "On Human Development," consists of the essay "Marriage as a Psychological Relationship."