Temporality Shame And The Problem Of Evil In Jungian Psychology

In a unique epistolary style, authors Murray Stein and Elena Caramazza share their rich and reflective conversations surrounding the themes of temporality, shame, and evil through letters, essays, and email correspondence. Ignited by Wolfgang Pauli’s "The Piano Lesson," Stein and Caramazza study the function of temporality and consider the importance of shame and evil to this relationship. In this book Stein shows how Pauli, as a result of his contact with C.G. Jung and analytical psychology, embarked on a thought experiment to merge two currents of scientific thought: quantum physics and depth psychology. In his work of active imagination "The Piano Lesson," Pauli playfully brings together the former, which supplies a causal explanation of the mechanics of the material world, and the latter, which supplies an approach to meaning. The problem of how to merge the two currents in one language is presented in Pauli’s symbolic solution, piano music, which combines the black and white keys in a single harmony. This music symbolizes a unified theory that combines the explanations of causality and the meaning delivered by synchronicity. Presenting an original approach to synchronicity and dis-synchronicity, this interdisciplinary and innovative exchange concludes with a script written by Murray Stein, inspired by Pauli, as well as an afterword by influential Jungian scholars. This book will be a key reference for undergraduate and postgraduate courses and seminars in Jungian and post-Jungian studies, philosophy, psychoanalytic studies, psychology, and the social sciences.

Temporality has always been a central preoccupation of modern philosophy, and shame has been a major theme in contemporary psychoanalysis. To date, however, there has been little examination of the critical connection between these core experiences. Although they deeply implicate each other, no single book has focused upon their profound interrelationship. Temporality and Shame highlights the many dimensions of that reality. A core point of this book is that shame can be a teacher, and a crucial one, in evaluating our ethical and ontological position in the world. Granting the fact that shame can be toxic and terrible, we must remember that it is also what can orient us in the difficult task of reflection and consciousness. Shame enables us to become more fully present in the world and authentically engage in the flow of temporality and the richness of its syncopated dimensionality. Such a deeply honest ethos, embracing the jarring awareness of shame and the always-shifting temporalities of memory, can open us to a fuller presence in life. This is the basic vision of Temporality and Shame. The respective contributors discuss temporality and shame in relation to clinical and theoretical aspects of psychoanalysis, philosophy, anthropology, and genocide, as well as the question of evil, myth and archetype, history and critical studies, the ‘discipline of interiority’, and literary works. Temporality and Shame provides valuable insights and a rich and engaging variety of ideas. It will appeal to psychotherapists and psychoanalysts, philosophers and those interested in the basic philosophical grounds of experience, and anthropologists and people engaged in cultural studies and critical theory.

This book explores Jung’s central concept of shadow from a particular configuration that the author calls "Absolute Shadow," placing it in relation to the idea of destiny as catastrophic. Clinically based and supported by a vast number of therapy cases, the book exemplifies how the Absolute Shadow is a result of the projection of the most fragile and destructive parts of one’s psyche. In some cases, it may cause loss of identity and, through the mechanisms of false/double personality, is bound to result in psychosis. Other aspects of the Shadow, like the intergenerational shadow, are also examined in depth. The Absolute Shadow is the well-informed result of Caramazza’s fifty years of study and clinical experience. It is important reading for Jungian and depth psychologists, as well as for psychoanalytic students, trainees, and clinicians of all schools of thought.

Winner of the Internationl Association for Jungian Studies (IAJS) Book Award for Best Edited Book 2021 There is a broad consensus that we are in a time of profound transition. There is worldwide political and social turbulence, with an underlying loss of hope and confidence about the future. Technological change and the stresses of late-stage capitalism, along with climate change, undermine social trust and hope for a future worth living. Shameless behavior is rampant, undermining respect for habits and institutions that hold societies together. Shame, Temporality and Social Change offers multi-disciplinary insight into these concerns. Hinton and Willemsen’s collection covers themes including racism, cultural norms, memory and vulnerability, with examinations of shame at its core. It explores the meaning and significance of shame in a world of social media, autocratic leaders and algorithms and what we can learn from myth as we progress. Increased awareness of the inter-connection of shame and temporality with the ominous transitions of our times provides thought-provoking insights for theory and practice and the ethical decisions of everyday life. Psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, philosophers, anthropologists and academics and students engaged in cultural studies and critical theory will gain valuable insights from this book’s rich and engaging variety of perspectives on our times.

The Shadow And The Problem Of Evil: Five Examinations is a captivating and thought-provoking journey into the hidden recesses of the human psyche. Through a Jungian perspective, it offers insights into the nature of evil, the symbols that represent our shadows, and the profound impact of these hidden aspects on society and our ethical choices. It’s a must-read for those seeking a deeper understanding of the human condition and the challenges we face in the modern world. Murray Stein’s opening chapter, “The Shadow and the Problem of Evil,” explores the fundamental question of the shadow’s connection to evil and Mary Tomlinson introduces the intricate ways the shadow manifests symbolically in our psyche in “Symbols of Shadow and Evil.” “The Atom Bomb and the Collective Confrontation with Evil,” examines how collective experiences, like the atomic bomb, force society to confront the shadow on a grand scale. “Paranoia: The Madness That Makes History” uncovers how paranoia shapes historical events. In “The Shadow and the Search for a New Ethic” Henry Abramovitch and Stein ponder the ethical implications of recognizing and integrating the shadow into our lives. Brigitte Egger’s final chapter, “Human Shadow Revealed by the Ecological Crisis,” explores how the ecological crisis serves as a mirror, reflecting our collective shadow and calling for a profound reevaluation of our relationship with the environment.

Volume 7 of the Collected Writings of Murray Stein brings together the author's writings on moral conscience and the problem of evil as developed by C.G. Jung and other psychologists and philosophers.

Intergenerational Complexes in Analytical Psychology: The Suffering of Ghosts draws attention to human suffering and how it relates to unacknowledged and unrecognized traumatic cultural histories that continue to haunt us in the present. The book shows the many ways that our internal lives are organized and patterned by both racial, ethnic, and national identities, and personal experiences. This book shows how the cultural unconscious with its multiple group dynamics, identities, nationalities, seething differences of conflicts, polarizations, and individual personalities are organized by cultural complexes and narrated by archetypal story formations, which the author calls phantom narratives. The emotional dynamics generated constitute potential transitional spaces or holding containers that allow us to work with these issues psychologically at both the individual and group levels, offering opportunities for healing. The chapters of the book provide numerous examples of the applications of these terms to natural and cultural catastrophes as well as expressions as uncanny phenomena. Intergenerational Complexes in Analytical Psychology is essential reading for analytical psychologists, Jungian psychotherapists, and other professionals seeking to understand the impact of intergenerational trauma on individuals and groups. It is also relevant to the work of academics and scholars of Jungian studies, sociology, trauma studies, politics, and social justice.

Evil became a central issue for Jung as he grew older. His early investigations of the place of evil in the mental processes of the severely disturbed led him to consider the concept of evil in greater depth when exploring the role of analysis in ethical and cultural transformation. Jung on Evilbrings together his important writings on good and evil. It includes his attempts to comprehend the worst excesses of the Second World War, as well as discussions about moral choices, conscience and the continual ethical reflection that is necessary for all of us. Leading analyst Murray Stein provides a clear and concise introduction that gives an accessible account of Jung's ideas about evil. It will be invaluable to all those interested in the problems of ethics, religion and psychology in the modern world.