The Dynamics of Hope: Perspectives of Process in Anxiety and Creativity, Imagery and Dreams by Ira Progoff

by Ira Progoff

s/ Perspectives of Process in Anxiety & Creativity, Imagery & Dreams

Paperback

First published October 1, 1985

About the author

The former director of Dialogue House, Dr. Ira Progoff has worked toward a dynamic, humanistic psychology as private therapist, lecturer, and group leader. He has served as Bollingen Fellow and as Director of the Institute for Research in Depth Psychology at Drew University. He was a leading authority on C.G. Jung, depth psychology and transpersonal psychology as well as journal writing.

Dr. Progoff completed his doctoral dissertation on the psychology of C.G. Jung from the New School for Social Research in New York City. His thesis was published in 1953 as Jung's Psychology and Its Social Meaning. He is best known for his development of the Intensive Journal® Program and the Process Meditation method.

Reviews

[Bohdan Pechenyak · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book based on lectures delivered at 1963 and 1965 Eranos conferences, along with some additional material. Based on these lectures, the “Intensive Journal” non-Freudian, non-analytic depth-psychological therapy was later developed. Examining such notions as the dialectics of hope and anxiety, as well as of the inner “opus” and outer “(art)work”, the important creativity of the Utopian Persons (prophets, artists, visionaries), the symbolic nature of dreams and myths, the process of unfoldment of the multiple layers of symbols, and other related concepts, these largely abstract ideas are illustrated using concrete examples from the history of creative personalities and ideas - Leo Tolstoy, Ingmar Bergman, Biblical symbolism, Initiation rites, as well as mentions of Hermann Hesse, J.D. Salinger, Meister Eckhart and others.
A book that takes soul-healing seriously and examines the shortcomings of analytical approaches to therapy, focusing on holistic, humanistic, and “psyche-evoking” perspectives.