Modern Man in Search of a Soul

by C.G. Jung

A provocative and enlightening look at spiritual unease and its contribution to the void in modern civilizationConsidered by many to be one of the most important books in the field of psychology, Modern Man in Search of a Soul is a comprehensive introduction to the thought of Carl Gustav Jung. In this book, Jung examines some of the most contested and crucial areas in the field of analytical psychology, including dream analysis, the primitive unconscious, and the relationship between psychology and religion. Additionally, Jung looks at the differences between his theories and those of Sigmund Freud, providing a valuable basis for anyone interested in the fundamentals of psychoanalysis.

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Science, Religion, Psychoanalysis

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

Carl Gustav Jung (/jʊŋ/; German: [ˈkarl ˈɡʊstaf jʊŋ]), often referred to as C. G. Jung, was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of extraversion and introversion; archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, philosophy, archeology, anthropology, literature, and related fields. He was a prolific writer, many of whose works were not published until after his death.

The central concept of analytical psychology is individuation—the psychological process of integrating the opposites, including the conscious with the unconscious, while still maintaining their relative autonomy. Jung considered individuation to be the central process of human development.

Jung created some of the best known psychological concepts, including the archetype, the collective unconscious, the complex, and synchronicity. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular psychometric instrument, has been developed from Jung's theory of psychological types.

Though he was a practising clinician and considered himself to be a scientist, much of his life's work was spent exploring tangential areas such as Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, and sociology, as well as literature and the arts. Jung's interest in philosophy and the occult led many to view him as a mystic, although his ambition was to be seen as a man of science. His influence on popular psychology, the "psychologization of religion", spirituality and the New Age movement has been immense.

Reviews

[J.G. Keely · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are certain people who delight in mythologizing their lives--looking for deep meanings and explanations for who they imagine themselves to be. It is not mere soul-searching, because they dislike even reasonable criticism, and cannot stand to be made aware of the ways their actions conflict with the vision they have of themselves. They want to be special and important, and are less interested in understanding themselves than in creating an image.

There are some rare people for whom the act of personal recreation is a serious matter--people who explore their own depths, trying on new personae, always shifting and moving--they are the artists of identity, and they are few. Like any art, it takes a level of skill and determination that most people lack. Self-creation is like writing a novel: the average person trying to do it is going to end up with something cliche, hackneyed, conflicted, and ultimately self-serving.

Which is why these people often say the same sorts of things: 'I'm a little bit psychic, it runs in the family', 'I'm very in-touch with my spiritual side', 'I have Cherokee blood', 'I've always been very creative'. Now, I don't want to just pick on New Age spiritualists, because there are plenty of people who do the same thing on the other end: 'I've always been a very rational thinker', 'I find it so hard to be around naive people', 'I have this passion for world politics', 'I watch a lot of documentaries'.

No matter the form this delusion takes, it can be very frustrating to deal with someone who is so self-centered. They want to talk about themselves, indulge in their fantasy, and be confirmed by those around them. Some cynical individuals develop a game for interacting with this type: engage them, pretend to buy into their self-delusion, and then try to suggest something even more outlandish to see if they'll accept it. Extra points if the new idea clearly contradicts their previous claims. Unfortunately, the entertainment value of this game is limited, since it isn't hard to get them to accept even nonsensical notions. As Forer's astrological experiment demonstrated, people are quick to accept flattering explanations without questioning them; as Harlan Ellison said:

“If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you really make them think, they'll hate you.”

In his opening essay, Jung's examples of the efficacy of dream analysis seemed similarly convenient. It reminded me of the solutions from some of the Sherlock Holmes stories, where things happen to fit all the data, but in an unlikely and convoluted way. Sure, it's possible to sit down with some tarot cards and tell someone else a story about their life that matches the draw, but just because something is capable of inspiring the human mind does not mean that it is ultimately meaningful.

Da Vinci was once studying the whorls and eddies in a streambed for a painting, and was suddenly struck with the idea that the human heart could use similar currents to maintain constant bloodflow throughout the body. It turned out that he was correct--though we wouldn't know it until a few years ago. However, just because a certain swirl in a stream inspired his thought does not make that swirl intelligent or magical or an agent of fate.

Yet unlike his presentation of ideas in Synchronicity, Jung is much more cautious here, telling us that he does not place importance on dreams because of any system or understanding, but because he often can't think of anything else to analyze! In his own words:

"I had tried to explain too much in too simple a way, as often happens in the first joy of discovery."

Disappointingly, I found the majority of Jung's theories arise from the same misplaced enthusiasm. Again and again, whether he is speaking of dream interpretation, synchronicity, or the collective unconscious, I see grand, far-flung notions with little basis in reality.

He speaks about Einstein's Theory of Relativity making his theories of psychic interconnectivity possible, and so demonstrates that he develops theories using the reverse of the scientific process. Normally, you take something you understand and then create a theory based on that. Jung instead takes an idea he shows no ability to comprehend (relativity) and states that it makes his ideas possible.

Sadly, one can see this same poor technique at work today, such as in the case of the 'documentary' What the Bleep Do We Know!?, which invited out a group of Quantum Physicists, interviewed them for a few hours, then edited them down to a few comments which seemed to imply that Quantum Physics made ESP possible. It is true that there are interconnections and unpredictable events on the quantum level, but trying to scale them to the human mind is pointless. Just because an ant can lift a hundred times his body weight, doesn't mean a human can. The scientists interviewed in the film later spoke out against it.

These sorts of pseudoscientific ideas play into the personal narratives of those self-obsessed folk I was speaking about earlier. Jung himself gives us a striking indictment of this sort of person:

". . . a great horde of worthless people people give themselves the air of being modern by overleaping the various stages of development and tasks of life they represent. They appear suddenly by the side of modern man as uprooted human beings, bloodsucking ghosts whose emptiness is taken for the enviable loneliness of modern man and casts discredit upon him."

Today we might call them 'hipsters'--people who take on the mannerisms and appearance of eccentricity, but lack any capacity for real iconoclastic thought. Artists and scientists often dress shabbily because they spend all their time and thought on subjects other than their appearance. Their horn-rimmed glasses and v-neck sweaters are not magic totems that confer intelligence.

As Jung indicates, when an individual falsifies an outward appearance without first developing inner depth, they become like 'bloodsucking ghosts', empty and entirely reliant on external confirmation. It is unfortunate that the attempt by the previous generation of parents to 'give' self-esteem to their children has been just as destructive, producing a generation of people with a great deal of confidence but no foundation to base it upon, so they collapse or lash out any time they are challenged.

But, looking at Jung's own theories, I came away with the impression that he was just as guilty of "overleaping the various stages of development" in his enthusiasm: he developed grand theories without a foundation, skipping past proofs and evidence in favor of loose anecdotes and flawed studies.

In reading earlier thinkers--Hume, Nietzsche, Plato--I found myself constantly confronted with startling insights into human thought, motives, society, and relationships. Freud's psychoanalysis was hardly the beginning of the study of the human mind. Yet here, reading Jung, writing with the benefit of the scientific method and with numerous studies to draw upon, I get none of these insights. It seems strange that the 'modern blossoming' of psychoanalytic thought about which Jung is so enthusiastic seems less productive than the centuries of thinkers that preceded it.

It became increasingly clear to me that I am simply not a Modern Man in Search of a Soul, for the same reason that I am not a man in search of gold bars. Souls and bullion might be nice things to have, but it seems rather pointless to wander my yard with a shovel looking for either one. There are a thousand thoughts and activities which seem to me more promising.

Jung himself promotes the importance of spirituality with a sort of Pascal's Wager--according to Pascal, an atheist who is wrong still goes to hell, while a believer who is wrong merely ceases to exist, so in terms of consequences it's better to believe (for the record, Pascal did not mean this to be taken as a serious argument).

Jung's Wager has a more psychological premise: in our youth, we are driven by our urge to reproduce, but once we are old, we no longer have this urge, so it's important to be spiritual so you have something to do with yourself after midlife. He suggests it's only natural, since humans can live to eighty, there must be some purpose to those extra years. After all, elders in tribes are revered for their great wisdom in when crops should be planted or how disputes should be resolved.

Unfortunately, Jung's arguments are once again in conflict with his conclusions. If we apply the adage of the Zen teacher 'listen to what I do, not what I say', then we will recognize that the importance of these elders is based upon their practical knowledge, not their spirituality--maybe those extra forty years should be devoted to the sciences or engineering, then?

In both wagers, we are asked to believe because we have nothing better to do, which is a sad state of affairs. The only people it could convince would be those utterly frivolous 'empty bloodsuckers' Jung spoke of earlier. It appeals to them because the search for 'the soul' can so easily become a fantasy, an escapist odyssey of self-importance. The exploration of the self must be tempered by an exploration of the world, and whenever they come into conflict, the world is correct. To recede into the self and ignore the world is the way of madness--of 'hearing voices', tinfoil hats, Napoleonic delusions, and other schizophrenic ephemera.

Sometimes they come up to me and ask me if I'm happy. I say no. They ask if something is missing. Something is missing, I say. It's god, they say. No.

People are starving, dying, warring. A wealthy elite exert control in the most destructive ways, leveraging and speculating and devastating whole swathes of the global economy, raking a profit off the top before the bottom drops out. I haven't had a regular job for years. Students leave high school hardly able to read or write, ignorant of the most basic facts of history and science. Whole cultures and gender groups are made to feel worthless and incomplete by predatory consumerist culture, which they then destructively feed back into.

My believing in god won't help any of those people. It won't help me. It won't change anything. If believing caused me to suddenly feel happy and whole, it would only be because I had turned inwards so far that I no longer recognized the cries of pain of my fellow man. Sometimes it's good to be angry, to be depressed, to be frustrated. There are many situations for which they are a completely normal, rational response.

Like cancer--I would think, if someone got cancer, they would be entitled to feel upset, angry, hopeless, and depressed sometimes, but as Barbara Ehrenreich found when she got breast cancer, there's a whole 'forced positivity' culture set up to completely overwhelm and alienate anyone who displays a perfectly reasonable emotional reaction.

To be happy, fulfilled, and untroubled in the face of that is not healthy, it's not a sign of sanity. If a person can tells me that they feel happy and whole in this world, the way things are, then it seems clear to me that they have already checked out. Sure, the world is full of joys, wonders, splendors, epiphanies, and new understandings, but that's only one half of the picture, and to discount the rest is to live half a life.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.
Modern Man in Search of a Soul ~~ C.G. Jung



I have been fascinated by C.G. Jung since I took Intro to Psych my freshman year of college. His work resonated with me in ways that Sigmund Freud's did not. Every few years I revisit Jung by reading one of his works. This go 'round it was Modern Man in Search of a Soul. It is a wonderful dive into Jung.

Modern Man in Search of a Soul is a great introduction to Jung’s view of analytical psychology. It is broken down into eleven essays dealing with the topics of dream analysis, Freudian psychology, spirituality, and religion. At one time, Jung’s ideas were considered radical since they take into account the soul. While many people believe that the soul exists, it’s impossible to prove it, and so begin the arguments ~~ after all, how can we treat mental illness with metaphysics? 90+ years later, psychiatry is still hesitant about wading into mysterious world of spirituality. But Jung goes deep inside this forbidden world and brings to light the nature of our darkness.



Much of this book deals with that mysterious part of our mind ~~ the subconscious. The subconscious mind is still a mystery to us. Jung argues that the ignoring of our subconscious can damage our soul. This is reflected in the ever growing number of people seeking out psychiatric care, and the violence we create in our world. Until we can balance the two parts of our mind ~~ shadow and light ~~ we’ll suffer a spiritual decay that has become a cornerstone of our contemporary world.



Modern Man in Search of a Soul combines elements of psychology, philosophy, religion, spirituality, and metaphysics. Looking at our world today ~~ 90+ years after this book was written ~~ Jung’s theories take on a prophetic tone as he urges us to embrace our shadow since this is where our healing will begin.



Modern Man in Search of a Soul serves as an excellent introduction to C.G. Jung’s more detailed works. He covers the major issues of his life's work in a manner that is easily comprehended. Highly recommended.

[Hesham Khaled · Rating 5 out of 5]

الكتاب مكون من أحد عشر فصلا، غالبية الفصول في أصلها عبارة عن محاضرات قد ألقاها يونج سابقا، تبدأ مقدمة المترجم بتمهيد بسيط يوضح الفروق بين مدارس علم النفس المختلفة . . ونظرة كل منهم للطاقة النفسية (الليبيدو) وطبيعتها ففرويد يراها الجنس وإدلر يركز على رغبة السيطرة ويونج يرى الأمر لا يحتمل النظرة الأحادية فالإنسان أكثر تعقيدا من أن يختزل في رؤية أحادية.
كذلك تظهر الفروق بينهما في منشأ اللاوعي ففرويد يرى أن اللاوعي هو مكب النفايات الخاص بالإنسان فيحمل كل مكبوتاته النفسية ورغباته المكنونة والتي تسعى لأن تشبع وتلتمس طريقها في الأحلام والهلاوس وزلقات اللسان فاللاوعي عند فرويد نشأ عن الوعي وهو عكس ما يراه يونج فهو يفرق بين اللاوعي الفردي والجمعي، فاللاوعي هو بوابة الخبرة الإنسانية المشتركة.

الفصل الأول في الكتاب خاص بتحليل الأحلام في الواقع العملي، يُظهر يونج دور الأحلام في توضيح سبب العصاب -الاضطراب الذهني- ودورها كمرشد للحالة بالإضافة لدور الحلم الاستشرافي، ويعطي أمثلة على وقائع تعامل هو معها ويبرز الاختلاف بينه وبين فرويد في نظرة كل منها إلى الحلم ؛ فالأحلام عند فرويد هي وسيلة للتعبير عن المكبوتات وتحقيقها، أما يونج فيراها نافذة على اللاوعي لها مهمة كبيرة في رسم نمط العلاج فهي تعبير عما يجب اتباعه مع الحالة ولذلك يونج لا يحاول إسقاط أحكامه المسبقة .

يتناول الفصل التالي مشكلات العلاج النفسي وتعدد النظريات والمدارس المختلفة والمتشعبة، يُجْمل يونج طريقته في أربع خطوات بدأ من الاعتراف ثم التفسير والتعليم والتغيير ويشرح كل نقطة على حدى محاولا توضيحها بصورة بسيطة.
علم النفس التحليلي يعرفه يونج بأنه الخبرات العملية التي يكتسبها المعالج ومحاولاته العلاجية بناء على ملاحظاته، من غير الاهتمام بتوصيف الأمراض وتصنيفها، كما حاول يونج أن يجمع بين وجهة النظر الفرودية والأدلرية

يشرح بعد ذلك نظريته الشهيرة في النماذج الشخصية والتي استخدمت بعد ذلك في صياغة مؤشر مايرز برجز
MBTI

يمكن أن يوضح هذا بعض الجوانب

يتناول يونج بعد ذلك مراحل الحياة ومتى تنشأ مشاكل الوعي؟
حيث تبدأ مشاكل الوعي بعد إدراك الذات وملاحظة الانقسام بين العالم الخارجي والداخلي، تنشأ المشاكل الواعية في هذا الطور عند ملاحظة الازدواج القائم بين وعي الفرد بذاته الداخلية والعالم الخارجي، فالطفل يكون في مرحلة العماء وتكون ذاكرته عبارة عن جزر منفصلة وكذلك وعيه، ثم تبدأ أن تتكون الأنا ولكن بصورة أحادية حتى يظهر ذلك الإنقسام والإزدواج في مرحلة الشباب ومصاحبتها لتغيرات فيزيولوجية فيبدأ الفرد بإدراك آنيته.

يتهم يونج فرويد بعجزه عن فهم الخبرة الدينية في كتاب فرويد (مستقبل وهم) ويفسر ذلك بنظرة فرويد الأحادية وسوابق أحكامه وتركيزه على عامل الجنس ، كذلك تعميم فرويد مبني على وقائع لا علاقة لها إلا بالمرض وليست متصلة بسيكولوجية العقل السليم.

يتناول بعد ذلك الإنسان القديم وطرائق تفكيره ويستعرض مواقفه التي عاينها من مصاحبة القبائل البدائية ويحللها والفصل الخاص بالإنسان البدائي من امتع الفصول، والتمايز عند يونج بين الإنسان البدائي والحديث هو تمايز في المسلمات والمنطلقات ورؤية كلا منهما للخير والشر والأخلاق واختلاف الاهتمامات وبالتالي المهارات وهنا يستعرض فروق جديرة بالملاحظة والاهتمام . .

قد يفيد هذا


الفصل الخاص بعلم النفس والأدب من الفصول الثقيلة في الكتاب ولكنه أيضا ممتع ويظهر فيه يونج بصورة مبهرة.

حتى النصف الثاني من القرن 19 كان الإيمان بالروح ، حتى سادت فكرة أن لا وجود إلا للأسباب الفزيائية، هنا يهاجم يونج ذلك المعتقد بشدة على أنه غير عقلاني . . يتضح على طول خط الكتاب رفض يونج للنظرات الأحادية ويسوق ادلته ليؤكد ذلك كما أنه يوضح الأسباب الدافعة للاعتراف بالجانب الروحي ومدى الاستفادة المرجوّة من ذلك في معالجة العصاب . . وهو يريد أن يقول أن علم النفس اكتشف ما لا يعرفه البيولوجيين.

الفصول الأخيرة يستعرض فيها يونج المشكلة الروحية عند الإنسان الحديث وكلامه في مجمله مهم ، كما يعترف هو بصعوبة فهم المشكلة وأبعادها ولكنه يستعرض نقاط مهمة، كما يبرز العلاقة بين الطبيب النفسي ورجل الدين وتعامل كل منهما وإلى أي مدى يمكن أن يكون التقارب ومن أين منشأ الخلاف بينهما ونظرة الناس لهما واختلاف تلك النظرة بحسب مستوى الأفراد.

الترجمة مقبولة ولكن عيوبها كثيرة إلى حد ما نظرا لقدمها النسبي وأن القائم بالترجمة غير مختص . . ولكن عمله مقبول ومشكور بالنسبة لي.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is not to find yourself, so don't misinterpret the title of it, "modern man in search of a soul". these essays written by the Swiss psychotherapist are to explain the mindset of how a therapist needs to adjust his attitude towards his patients in order to provide effective therapy. it takes an account for the complex beliefs of society through history and experience, so the data can be used to give an accurate explanation of the patient's neuroses. Freud and Adler denied the presence of religious influence in the trieb of human behavior and psyche. Jung, argued about how sexual influences are not the sole source of how people act the way they act. but he argued, that in order to provide the best therapy to a patient is to have an unprejudiced objectivity. however, the only way a person can have such a skillset, is to fully accept himself in this manner, in an unprejudiced objectivity, because a therapist can only provide a solution to a neurosis by stopping the internal battle with oneself. a person is constantly fighting in his mind. it's either the sensual vs spiritual or ego vs shadow; nonetheless, both are an example of the dissociation of personality. in any case, read this book if you're interested in experiencing an increase in the knowledge of the mind...even though, there will always be a mystery to the essence of the soul and only the person can provide the answer to that mystery and not the therapist.

[Leonard Gaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a series of essays and lectures, collected initially and translated into French by Dr Roland Cahen, around the end of WWII. It is an excellent introduction to the extensive work of the Swiss psychologist since it covers a wide range of topics on Jung’s “analytical psychology” (as opposed to Freud’s “psychoanalysis”?), such as:


- The unconscious, personal and collective,
- The structure of the psyche, including the conscious functions (feeling, intuition, thought, sensation… this hypothesis will later be developed into what we now know as the MBTI personality types), the unconscious functions (memory, subjective contributions, affects, bursting in of the unconscious). Note: I have read the book in French, so not entirely sure this is the right vocabulary used in English versions,
- Experimenting with associations, and what they can reveal about complexes, through observable mental agitation in the patient,
- Dreams and their possible interpretations. Two series of dreams are extensively analyzed: first the derailing train and the giant crayfish; then the dragon in the crypt of Toledo (not going to disclose any spoilers here: this last part of the book is worth reading in full).


Overall, this is an excellent book, although it strikes me how similar it is to The Tavistock Lectures I read a while ago.

[Heather Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to put some space between finishing and reviewing this book. Jung was Freud's student--in my opinion this is one case where the student outshines the teacher. This will be my forever reference to mind/spirit health. Jung's explanation of creativity is amazing--but his real feat is explaining the modern person who has found traditional religious custom lacking and what he should do next. The modern man has broken with the past and the masses, is solitary, needs to be sound and proficient,and is both culmination and disappointment and he is conscious of this. He sees the good and bad of everything, suffered shock and deals with constant uncertainty. He is skeptical, fearful and faithless. Religion and science have both disappointed him and he yearns for rest and shelter. The cure as I understand Jung is to discover meaning in one's life through EXPERIENCE--follow your convictions and learn by what happens next. Above all--choose love, faith, hope and insight instead of sexuality, fear, disillusionment and pseudo-consciousness. The spirit and body are one and finally, accept that "I am the least of these my brethren." Christian words for universal concepts. I loved reading his opinons on clergy, art, science, dreams, war, missionaries,archeology, Freud and Adler. I have started keeping a dream journal. He makes me feel proud to be Swiss.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jung is like the Beatles to me

[Julian Worker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not an easy read by any means. However, it is fascinating to read the opinions of CG Jung.

Childhood and extreme old age, to be sure, are utterly different and yet they have one thing in common : submersion in unconscious psychic happenings.

The psyche is a causal factor in disease.

Neurosis is an inner cleavage - the state of being at war with oneself ....what drives people to war with themselves is the intuition or knowledge that they consist of two persons in opposition to one another.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of some historical value, but it's essentially a load of old tosh. He lost me about halfway through chapter one when he started talking about interpreting dreams, and how he predicted the death of a man based on a dream he had about climbing or something. Then there is the following excerpt, also regarding dream interpretation:

"...the dark horse, which brings death, so obviously we can deduce that 'horse' represents mother, the life-giver, the beginning of everything..."

This means nothing.

[Guillermo Galvan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modern Man in Search of a Soul is a great introduction to Carl Jung’s theories of analytical psychology. The book is broken down into eleven essays dealing with topics of dream analysis, Freudian psychology, spirituality, and religion. Some consider Jung’s ideas radical because they take into account the soul. While many people believe that the soul exists, it’s impossible to prove it either way and thus begin the arguments. Taking this stance introduces an element of metaphysics into treating mental illness. Eighty years later, the school of psychiatry is still hesitant about treading in the dark forest of spirituality. Jung goes deep inside this forbidden territory and brings to light the nature of our darkness.

Much of this book deals with the subterranean part of our mind, the subconscious. The subconscious is a total mystery because it has either been ignored as irrelevant or purposefully avoided for being an ultimate source of our knowable. But it can only be ignored at the price of damaging our soul. This is reflected in the ever growing number of people seeking out psychiatric help, suicides committed, wars waged, and other forms of violence. Until we can bring a balance between the two half of our minds, the dark and light, we’ll suffer the spiritual decay that has become a cornerstone of modernity.

Jung keeps a complicated subject as straightforward as possible. The humility of this book is commendable. It invites conflicting points of views and inspires exploration into the unconscious for the good of humanity. Modern Man in Search of a Soul combines elements of psychology, philosophy, religion, spirituality, and metaphysics. Looking at today’s world, approximately eighty years after this book was written, Jung’s theories take on a prophetic tone which urges us to embrace the shadow part of our mind, for that is where the healing light will be found.

[Théo d'Or]

- It's gone.

- What's gone ? Your dignity ?

- Noo, moron.

- Your wallet ?

- No, mate. My soul.

- Oh....that again...

- I've searched everywhere. Jung says every man must look deep into his conscious to recover his lost self.

- Forget Jung. Have you tried Fatima Sanctuary ? I let a Rosary there, and less than 3 days later I found my car keys. Isn't amazing ?

- Yeah.. I don't know why Proust didn't try it too. Maybe he would have found his lost time...

- Listen, have you checked under your bed ?

- Be serious ! Jung says man reclaim his soul, but society buries it beneath taxes,
work emails...shits...

- Sounds rough..But...uh...what does finding your soul actually looks like ?

- How could I explain to you... You're such a dumb... It is a sacred quest. I must dive into my unconscious, confront my Shadow, and emerge reborn !

- Yeah... have fun confronting your Shadow. I tried, and it ended badly. He banned me from Goodreads.

- Ha ! Big deal . You should thank your Shadow.

- Hey ! That's the first clever thing you tell me since I met you. Thank you , first. Jung says that man must abandon his false self, strip away illusions, and embrace his true nature.

- Whoa !!! And what does your true nature tell you to do ?

- ....Move to the mountains. Meditate. Live amongst nature like an ancient sage.

- Mountains ?? You cry even when your phone dies for ten minutes.

- You're right.. Perhaps I should delete Instagram. I'm tired of bikinis and selfies..

- Are you anxious ?

- I don't know, Jung believes anxiety comes when man ignores his deepest truth...

- Hold on ....Everything revolves around Jung ?

- Oh.... if I'm doing a correct analysis....yes.

- And what's your deepest truth ?


- I have no idea....

- Amazing ! So, after all that soul- searching, your grand discovery is that you have no idea what you're looking for ?

- It is more complicated than that, mate. Perhaps my lost soul is trying to send me a message...

- You don't say ! And what mystical message is your unconscious whispering ?

- .. .. That I really want a....a burger....


- Waaaw ! After all this existential crisis, I think we've finally reached the answer.

- Really ? And what is that ?

- Your soul isn't lost. It's just hungry.

- Oh, that's the second clever thing you tell me after so many years.. I hate that you might be right...

- I hate that you hate. You never change.

- Go to Fatima. It will cure you of hatred.

- I prefer Jung.

[Mounir · Rating 5 out of 5]

مجموعة من 10 محاضرات ألقاها يونج في مناسبات مختلفة، بالإضافة إلى مقال كتبه خصيصا عن الاختلاف بين أفكاره وأفكار فرويد.
الترجمة العربية بها بعض المشاكل وليست دقيقة تماما، خصوصا الفصل الخاص بعلم النفس والأدب، والمترجم لا ينكر أنه غير متخصص في الموضوع الذي يترجم عنه، ومع ذلك فيبدو أنه أكثر من ترجم كتابات يونج إلى اللغة العربية ! ومع ذلك فهو يستحق الشكر على المجهود الكبير المبذول في الترجمة عن نصوص صعبة الترجمة أصلا. وللأسف أن ترجمة أعمال يونج تعتبر نادرة بالمقارنة مثلا مع أعمال فرويد التي تمت ترجمتها أكثر من مرة .

يونج يتميز بالموسوعية والنظرة الشاملة الإنسانية، وإذا كان فرويد قد غاص إلى عمق معين في النفس الإنسانية ثم توقف عند حد معين، فإن يونج غاص إلى أعماق سحيقة لم يسبقه إليها أحد. في هذا الكتاب لن نقرأ فقط عن علم النفس أو العلاج النفسي أوعلاقة المريض بالطبيب أو لمحات من طريقته في علاج مرضاه وتفسيره لأحلامهم؛ في كتابات يونج نلتقي بالإنسان البدائي وأساطيره ورموزه وخيالاته وطريقة رؤيته لنفسه وللعالم والكون وكيف كان أثر ذلك علينا في عصرنا الحاضر؛ نلتقي بعلم الإنسان وعلم الاجتماع والديانات والسحر والعلم والمعتقدات الشعبية والسياسة ومشاكل الحضارة. ويمكن أن نجد بعض المؤثرات من الفلسفة الوجودية ومن الحركة الإنسانية وربما من نيتشه، والكثير من المؤثرات من الصوفية والغنوصية ومن الديانات الآسيوية الشرقية

يهتم يونج كثيرا بمشاكل الإنسان الروحية، ويرى أن أحد أهم مشاكل الإنسان في عصرنا الحاضر إهماله للجانب الديني أو الروحي، إلا أنه لم يربط ذلك بأي ديانة أو معتقد معين. ورغم أن يونج نفسه كان لاأدريا، إلا أنه وجد أن المشكلة الأساسية عند أغلب مرضاه - وأغلبهم كان في منتصف العمر- هي بحثهم عن معنى روحي أو وجودي لحياتهم

يونج يمكن أن يذكرنا بمفكري العصور الوسطى الموسوعيين، الذين كانوا يجمعون بين العلم والدين والحكمة والفلسفة والبحث وراء الغيبيات، ويمكن أن نطلق عليه لفظ "حكيم" التي كانت تطلق في الماضي القريب على الطبيب بصفته يهتم بصحة مرضاه البدنية والنفسية والروحية معا

إقتراحات بخصوص قراءة الكتاب
- الأربع مقدمات في أول الكتاب مهمة ومفيدة (مقدمة المترجم - مقدمة مترجم الطبعة الإنجليزية - المدخل إلى علم النفس التحليلي - مقال عن حياة وأعمال يونج)
- يمكن قراءة فصول الكتاب بدون ترتيب
- في رأيي أن الفصول التالية هي أفضل ما في الكتاب:
التاسع: المنطلقات الأساسية في علم النفس التحليلي
الخامس: مراحل الحياة
الثالث: أهداف العلاج النفسي
السابع: الإنسان القديم
الأول: تحليل الأحلام في التطبيق العملي
الثامن: علم النفس والأدب (ترجمة هذا الفصل بها بعض العيوب)
السادس: موازنة بين فرويد ويونج

[Христо Блажев]

Съвременният човек все така търси своята душа: https://knigolandia.info/suvremenniya...

Книгата е сборник от лекции, доклади и статии, писани или изнасяни най-общо в края на 20-те и началото на 30-те години. Основно са засегнати целите, проблемите и принципите на психологията и психотерапията (като Юнг подхожда с подобаваща смиреност, пишейки: „Ако изобщо е възможно, то трябва да сме скромни именно в приложната психология и да признаем явното разнообразие от противоречащи си мнения, защото сме още много далече от това да знаем нещо основополагащо за най-благородния обект на науката, за самата човешка душа. Засега имаме просто повече или по-малко достоверни мнения, които все още никъде не се припокриват.), обсъжда се анализата на сънищата и приложението ѝ, Юнг пише за различните стадии на живота и проблемите на човека в тях, а внимателно се и разграничава от Фройд, като обяснява къде смята, че неговите открития са полезни и къде всъщност въвеждат в заблуда. Той набляга силно, че самите лекари трябва да са висотата на идеите, които прилагат, и дори казва, че „четвъртият стадий на аналитичната психология изисква обратно прилагане на системата, в която се вярва, върху самия лекар, и то също така безмилостно, последователно и трайно, както лекарят я прилага върху пациента.“

Издателство "Леге Артис"
https://knigolandia.info/suvremenniya...

[Jean Ra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decepcionante. Si bien cuando aborda cuestiones psicológicas, temas relacionados con los arquetipos y el funcionamiento de la mente, resulta interesante y demuestra que conoce el campo del que escribe, cuando decide ahondar en el meollo de su ideología (que no ciencia), se vuelve esotérico y se apoya en un necesidad ansiosa de 'un gran misterio' que él llama alma, pero que otros llaman Dios. Según la concepción de este buen hombre, de la misma forma que heredamos genes, también heredamos una parte profunda del subconsciente, que él llama subconsciente colectivo, dónde se hallan una serie de imágenes y arquetipos que la especie humana ha ido acumulando en el transcurso de la Historia. Todo esto, insisto, en teoría, se hereda al nacer y se va desvelando conforme se desarrolla la mente, que nos transmite esta serie de conocimientos ancestrales mediante el subconsciente en el momento de los sueños, que es cuando la parte racional queda relegada a un segundo plano. En esa visión propuesta por Jung, el subconsciente interviene para corregir las desviaciones que cada persona comete en sus actos e intenta reconducirnos a un equilibrio entre la parte primitiva y la racional de cada mente.

Hasta cierto punto algunas de estas ideas las puedo aceptar y estoy de acuerdo: prestando atención a nuestros sueños, intentando recordar y decodificar la experiencia onírica, captamos detalles sobre nosotros mismos que durante el día pueden pasar desapercibidos porque el nivel de percepción es otro. Bien. El problema es cuando se pretende relegar esa densa red de ideas y abstracciones a una especie de infinito eterno. Además, el tono prepotente que Jung emplea tampoco ayuda, es pura soberbia mezclada con falta de conocimientos (como ahora la neurociencia), y termina resultando cargante, porque muchas de sus ideas hoy están claramente oxidadas y caducadas. Si a eso añadimos unas dosis nada desdeñables de racismo retrógrado, entonces casi que prefiero algo más entretenido y edificante como ahora darme de golpes en la cabeza con un bate. Podría analizar más al detalle alguna de estas ideas desfasadas, pero no creo que haya gran utilidad en ello.

Aparte de sus puntuales aportaciones al campo de la psicología, puede que la única forma de leer a Jung es como por lo visto lo hacía Borges, como una enciclopedia de saberes curiosos. Jung ofrece un material que es más útil para la ficción que no para la ciencia o la filosofía. Hubo un tiempo en el que me imaginé explorando su bibliografía, leyendo unas cuantas de sus obras, pero tras esta lectura tengo claro que esa idea me parece tan atractiva como el hacer puenting sin cuerda.

[Ann M · Rating 5 out of 5]

In answer to those who notice how he criticizes Freud -- Jung was Freud's student when Freud's theories were all the rage, and Freud was not as open to Jung's ideas as he might have been, so Jung was forced to criticize him in order to defend and promote his own work. When he says that psychologists should work together, he means that the powerful, influential and jealous Freud should stop feeling so threatened by him. Nowadays, we take much of Jung's point of view for granted. His theories of archetypes, the collective unconscious, holistic approach to body, mind and soul, and the reality of visionary experience have become as acceptable or much more acceptable to many of us than Freud's theories of traumas arising predictably in the family of origin and not having any connection to anything in the real world. To Freud, artistic inspiration was personal, a reaction to trauma. To Jung, it was transpersonal, a response to the voice of the collective unconscious. This really is worth reading. The chapter on psychology and literature, where he makes a distinction between psychological literature and visionary literature -- you could say that it is similar to the difference between mundane Freud and cosmic Jung.

This book seems a bit hard to read because he is writing at a time when no one accepted his work -- not like now, when he has accomplished the great feat of changing how we think. If it seems he is over-explaining, you have to understand this is the first time the western world had heard this. Now, thanks to him, we take much of his work for granted. It has become part of our world view.

[Mohammed Youssef · Rating 4 out of 5]

إن كنت تظن أنك أمام كتاب في علم النفس، أي ( مجعلص ) فأنت مخطئ ﻷن هذا العمل تمتع بشيئين في غاية اﻷهمية، التأليف والترجمة، فكارل جوستاف يونج قادر على جذبك من أول صفحة، فهو صاحب قلم أديب ﻻ قلم طبيب نفسي. تعيش معه في سلاسة لغته وبساطتها. في الأسلوب العلمي الذي يكتب به. في إلمامه بحضارة الشرق ( أو ما قدر على الالمام به ) وصداقته لشيوخ القبائل البدائية، فيجعلك أمام طبيب نفسي متنور واسع اﻻطلاع. باحث نفسي رفيع المستوى. ناقد لنفسه ( وهذه بالذات من أدخلته لطور الحداثة ) ؛ يبقى أن انفصال يونج ( الذي يوفي فرويد حقه من الناحية العلمية وأيضا يختلف معه وعنه في كتاباته ) عن فرويد هو الحدث الجلل في اعتقاد الأغلب العام من الناس

اذن فليس السبب كما يدعي د.عبد المنعم الحنفي في ترجمته لكتاب فرويد "الحب والحرب والحضارة والموت" أن السبب في انفصال نظريات يونج عن فرويد ليس كما وضح يونج في الفصل السادس ( موازنة بين فرويد ويونج ) الذي كتبه اﻷخير بناءا على طلب ناشر ألماني كما تقول كاري ف. باينير في مقدم الطبعة الإنجليزية. بل أن السبب هو أن فرويد يهودي ويونج مسيحي .. هذا رأي عبد المنعم الحنفي

الكتاب عبارة عن عشر فصول، تسعة منهم محاضرات كما تقول كاري، فمهما كان قلم يونج رشيق خفيف سيدخل الهم إليك. ﻷنها في الأصل موجهة إلى طﻻب الطب النفسي ولكن ( قد ) تشعر - كما شعرت - أنك تجلس إلى يونج في محاضرة علمية جامعية في القرن الماضي

مقدمة الطبعة العربية لناهد خياطة "مدخل إلى علم النفس التحليلي" في غاية السلاسة والجمال تدخلك إلى عالم الكتاب والكاتب، فهي مترجمة ليست عادية .. تعليقاتها ترشد القارئ في بعض اﻷحيان، إلا اللهم اتباعها لكل ( خافية ) بكلمة ( = اللا شعور ) رغم أننا كبار وسنحفظ بسرعة لكنها أكثرت منها على طريقة تذكير اﻷطفال بشيء ربما سينسونه

بدأت علاقة الصداقة بين يونج وفرويد ما بين ( ١٩٠٦, ١٩١٣ ) لكنها كما بدأت نظريا ( توافق نظريات ) انتهت باختﻻف النظريات إلا انك ستجد في الكتاب يونج يشيد بنظريات المختلفين معه ويعطي كل ذي حق علمي حقه

فذهب يونج إلى الخافية في تفسير الغامض في النفس الإنسانية بينما رأى فرويد أنه الجنس

لكن ﻻ يتسطع قارئ اليوم ( الموضوعي ) أن ينكر مجهود فرويد مؤسس "التحليل النفسي" وأيضا مجهود يونج مؤسس "النفس التحليلي" وﻻ أن ينكر أيضا الدور الحداثي الذي لعبه يونج

في المجمل التجربة لذيذة تمت ما بين القاهرة والإسكندرية

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jung's lecture "The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man" is so very rich and entirely relevant, still, today. It was delivered in Zurich in 1931 at the cusp of another horrific war. I forgot what a plain-spoken sage he could be at times, deep, elegant and never denying our capacity for both good and evil. I'm still digesting ... If you read only one essay by Carl Jung, this should be the one.

[Stephen Hiemstra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back before I started seminary in 2008, I read whatever interested me. My urge to read was seldom random. For months on end, I might read about a particular topic like Perl programming, military history, or binge on a series like Horatio Hornblower novels.

Today, after so many years of reading and an imperfect memory, I am often unable to pinpoint where I got certain ideas until paging through one of the books in my library. Carl Jung’s Modern Man in Search of a Soul is one such book and it is source of a surprising number of my better ideas.

Problem Statement

In his book, Jung’s chapters read as if they had been composed as independent essays, but they make sense together and build together towards his theme as he writes in the middle of the Great Depression (1930s) from Switzerland:

“Today this eruption of destructive forces [World War One] has already taken place, and man suffers from it in spirit. That is why patients force the psychotherapist into the role of a priest, and expect and demand of him that he shall free them from their distress. That is why we psychotherapists must occupy ourselves with problems which strictly speaking, belong to the theologian.” (Jung 1955, 241)

This analysis suggests that much of the increase in psychiatric problems that we currently stem from inadequate attention to spiritual matters, not some mysterious, psycho mumbo jumbo as is usually argued. In other words, the pastor is correct in saying that many people are looking for love in all the wrong places when they should be addressing God.

Neurosis

Back before psychiatrists cataloged their diagnoses with diagnostic manuals, they talked about the vague notion of neurosis. Jung provides as reasonable an explanation of neuroses as can be found:

“Most of our lapses of the tongue, of the pen, of memory, and the like are traceable to these disturbances, as are likewise all neurotic symptoms. These are nearly always of psychic origin, the exceptions being shock effects from shell explosions [PTSD] and other causes. The mildest forms of neurosis are the ‘lapses’ already referred to—blunders of speech, the sudden forgetting of names and dates, unexpected clumsiness leading to injuries or accidents, misunderstandings of personal motives or of what we have heard or read, and so-called hallucinations of memory which cause us to suppose erroneously that we have said or done this or that.” (Jung 1955, 32)

The biggest problem cited by his patients? “I am stuck.” (Jung 1955, 61) Can you image the traumatic effect in the 1930s of having a large family and you lose your job? Jung’s primary answer to being stuck? Learning how to play like a child again (Jung 1955, 69)

Approach to Psychoanalysis

Jung (1955 30) breaks psychoanalysis into four steps: confession, explanation, education, and transformation. Here we witness the priest at work.

Confession. Jung (1955, 31) writes:

“As soon as man was capable of conceiving the idea of sin, he had recourse to psychic concealment—or, to put it in analytical language, repressions arose. Anything that is concealed is a secret. The maintenance of the secrets acts like a psychic poison which alienates their possessor from the community. In small does, this poison may actually be a priceless remedy, even an essential preliminary to the differentiation of the individual.”

That Jung would start with an analysis of the effects of sin is mind-blowing for those who want to scrub the word from our modern and postmodern vocabularies. Ignoring sin as we do is almost to invent new secrets that Jung describes as poison.

Explanation. After the catharsis of confession, a patient must have an explanation to avoid a relapse (Jung 1955, 37). If the catharsis fails, it is because the patient is unable to deal with their shadow-side (subconscious) that is the part of their own personality that they try to hide, even from themselves.

Education. Those unable to deal with their own shadow-side oftentimes have problems with other people’s weaknesses as well. Jung (1955, 43) see the need to education these people in basic social skills.

Transformation. Jung (1955, 52) sees transformation of a patient oftentimes being limited by weaknesses in the psychoanalysts themselves. A good psychoanalyst must be able to walk-the-walk, to be a good example their patients.

Personality Classifications
Jung is best known today for his classification of personality types. Jung (1955, 89-91) distinguished introvert from extrovert, sensation from intuition, thinking from feeling, judging from perceiving. Using these distinctions to classify an individual’s preferred reflective tendencies, sixteen different personality types can be identified.

One can develop hypotheses about how that each of these types would learn and respond to particular challenges. For example, Myers and Myers (1995, 149) write:

“The five types that favored the stable and secure future were all sensing types. The warmest of the sensing types, ESFJ, characteristically favored service to others. Seven of the eight intuitive types favored either the opportunity to use their special abilities or the change to be creative…”

Personality types are not predictive in a deterministic sense because people change their classification preferences over time, but they indicate tendency or probability.

Background and Organization

Carl G. Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and student of Sigmund Freud. He wrote in eleven chapters:

1. “Dream Analysis in Its Practical Application
2. Problems of Modern Psychotherapy
3. The Aims of Psychotherapy
4. A Psychological Theory of Types
5. The Stages of Life
6. Freud and Jung—Contrasts
7. Archaic Man
8. Psychology and Literature
9. The Basic Postulates of Analytical Psychology
10. The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man
11. Psychotherapists or the Clergy.” (Jung 1955, v)

These chapters are preceded by a translator’s preface.

Assessment

Carl Jung’s Modern Man in Search of a Soul is an amazing book. Jung originated a lot of the techniques of analytical psychology and his patient case studies are a window into the mindset in the 1930s. His picture of the psychologist as a secular priest changed my image of the counseling profession forever. This book is of obvious interest to counselors, pastors, and seminary students, but others would likely find it a fascinating read

References

Myers, Isabel Briggs and Peter B. Myers. 1995. Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type (Orig Pub 1980). Mountain View: Davies-Black Publishing.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Perhaps it is a storm beneath the horizon that he senses - and it may never reach us. But what is significant in psychic life is always below the horizon of consciousness, and when we speak of the spiritual problem of modern man we are dealing with things that are barely visible - with the most intimate and fragile things - with flowers that only open at night.” P223

Carl Jung brings consciousness to the fore in the most beautiful and gentle way in this, an amazing introduction to the analytical psychological approach that he very much pioneered.

I’m not sure that I can add anything that hasn’t already been said or written about Jung’s work, suffice it to say that I know I have been heavily influenced throughout my life by his approach in so many aspects of life and seeking self-understanding in order to find my own meaning and way through this life journey. Somehow, Jung, speaks with clarity and gentleness and illuminates the potentialities of the unconscious, the notion of primitive vs modern and what being ‘modern’ truly connotes. “He alone is modern who is fully conscious of the present” p 201

This is such an excellent introduction to Jung. It is profound, relevant, insightful and invites the reader to reflect deeply on who they are and what meaning they are seeking.

[Amir Sahbaee · Rating 5 out of 5]

وای این کتاب چقدر فوق العاده بود
چقدر ابعاد مختلفی رو مطرح کرده بود و چقدر همه جانبه فکر کرده بود
موضوع ناخوداگاه و رویا فک میکنم برای خیلیا جذاب باشه،برای منم جذاب و پر از سوال بود و این کتاب تا حدود زیادی منو با تعاریف و مبانی و طرز فکر یونگ در این زمینه آشنا کرد
موضوعات هرچند که برای من سنگین بود اما روون بود،ینی با خوندنش مشکل زیادی نداشتم مشکلم با فهمیدنش بود(امیدوارم شما هم یه همچین تفکیکی داشته باشین برای فهمیدن و نفهمیدن کتابا!) مطالب خیلی منظم بود و با مقدمه از پایه تمام مفاهیم مورد نیاز نظریه رو توضیح داده بود به تفصیل و جلو رفته بود و کاملا میتونه یه شروع خوب برای دونستن دیدگاه یونگ باشه
حقیقتا خیلی برام دوست داشتنی،آموزنده،دید دهنده و لذت بخش بود
فقط مشکل بزرگی اول با ویراستار و بعد با مترجم داشتم!
ویراست کتاب افتضاح بود.بارها"خود آگاه" و "ناخودآگاه" اشتباهی بجای هم بکار رفته بودن
غلط های نگارشی و املایی زیاد و حساس .ینی کاملا معانی رو جابجا میکردن.استفاده ی اشتباه از نقطه و ویرگول...
یه جاهایی هم خصوصا اوایل کتاب جملات ثقیل بودن و خیلی طولانی و ۲ ۳ تا اولین فعل فاصله داشتن!که نشون میده مترجم هرچند بار علمی کتاب رو خوب رسونده بود اما تمام سعیش رو برای خوب فارسی نوشتن کتاب نکرده بود!
حتما بخونیدش!

[Reham Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب راائع به تفسيرات لكثير من التصرفات تي نفعلها في حياتنا لغم اني استفدت منه كثيرا الا انه لم يشبع اسالتي بعد ومازال البحث مستمراا

[Iver Raknes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world is at the fringes of a spiritual rebirth through a rediscovery of the soul. It is possible that the road on which we are traveling will bring about a renaissance of Catholicism or Protestantism. Atlas that seems to be what Jung imagined to be the antithesis of what Nietzsche proposed through his famous proclamation “God is dead.” — Man had killed his Gods, and now needed to make god of himself, or else we’d be destined to wear the blood of our highest creator on our hands for all eternity. However depth psychology proposes otherwise; Man is not his own god, but rather possess a universe of symbolism waiting to be uncovered from the depths of the psyche. Here will we rediscover the spirit which makes man. Where Jung aims to pave the road and guide us in this pursuit of a soul forgotten.

Jung was a strange man in many ways. Extraordinarily imaginative, he could get lost in daydreams and was a tremendously powerful visualizer. A lot of what he discovered was a consequence of engaging in long, elaborate fantasies where he would converse with figures of his imagination as if they were fragmented parts of his personality waiting to be heard. He dealt with the deepest parts of the psyche mostly through means of introspection, uncovering the many mysteries of the conscious mind. For those who take seriously his ideas he becomes an enlightening and deeply fascinating thinker. As many notable scholars, he makes one aware of the most profoundly troubling truths of humanity. His books are certainly not meant for everyone. Though he seems to attract people with great artistic inclination, scientifically minded people might find him so removed from any conventional knowledge that he becomes obscure, mystical, or even mad. However, it should be kept in mind that many of his theories are now being uncovered and elaborated on in fields such as neuropsychology and experimental psychology — as well as contributing great inspiration to discourses varying from thinkers to artists and philosophers.

His body of work can be viewed as an amalgam of many things — he was a scholar of the grandest style, had deep knowledge of Latin and Greek and studied alchemical manuscripts for over a decade as an older man. He became increasingly interested in the emergence of science from what he considered to be the collective imagination. Thus he found the rise of scientific materialism as deeply troubling to the validity of the soul as an idea. Though brought up in the school of Freud, Nietzsche and Goethe became his primary intellectual influences. Their teachings lead him to address the gap between religion and science, where the idea rejoining of matter and spirit became the primary motif of his life — a question he struggled with to the very end.

He took Nietzsche’s comment about the death of God very seriously. Nietzsche predicted that there were going to be two major consequences of the collapse of formal religious belief during the end of the nineteenth century. He believed that the abandonment of faith would lead people to a morally relativistic position that would prove to be psychologically intolerable. His main argument might be elucidated like this: if one adopts a moral relativistic position and takes it to its final conclusion, then everything becomes of equal value. There is no gradient between things, nor better nor worse. The separation between good and evil dissolves and the differentiation becomes obsolete. The problem with that psychologically, is that one cannot orient himself in a world that has those properties. In order to act, even after the well developed cybernetic models, one has to aim at something that is better than what it is now, or else there is no reason to be expending the energy. One needs the gradient in order to act. Nietzsche’s analysis was predicated on the idea that if the value hierarchy collapsed, then not only would people not be motivated to do anything, but they would be absolutely confused and depressed as a consequence of the value being stolen from their lives. The consequence of a loss of purpose would be that they would become somewhat nihilistic, or even absolutely nihilistic. The latter alternative being that they would turn to rigid ideological systems as a replacement — after all, tyranny is preferable over nothingness.

What Nietzsche offered as an alternative to nihilism and tyranny was that humans could create their own values. His idea of the overman being the antithesis, the idea that man could be overcome and transcend the valueless universe that the decline of religion has left us with, creating their own values as a conscious act. Wether we can create our values consciously or not is not an obvious question. Because it is not obvious that values are something that is consciously created. This is why the psychoanalysts has so much to add to the philosophical debate that Jung dedicated his life to answering.

Freud first had much to add to that with the proposition of the unconscious and that of the id. Which made it apparent that it is not necessary true that one is the master of one's own house so to say — that the conscious mind what definitely not the whole of “you”. Part of the reason that people like to go after freud is that modern people accept Freudian ideas as more or less a given now — so if you’re a brilliant thinker and your thought permeates society to the point where your most radical propositions are accepted by everyone, all that is really left is your errors. So it is easy to concentrate on Freud's errors. The most radical and widely accepted view in psychology is the way that Freud introduced of how to look at the psyche as a whole. Where he argues that the psyche is best construed as a set of sub-personalities acting as a whole. All with different motivation that shines through at different times — which is something like nature asking of you for the necessities of being when you are hungry, cold, sexually driven, or thirsty, which he called the Id.

Jung was incredibly grounded in biology. He was a remarkable in that his notion of history and the relationship human psyche had to history covered spans of time that were really just as old as life itself. What most of European philosophers at the time meant by ancient history was something like two or three thousand years, while Jung thought way past that into deep history. In a certain regard, one could think of him, as a deep archaeologist of the Id, Freud thought about the id in primitive or primordial terms. So his “angry” Id would be like a beast that is out of control. But Jung recognizes that the unconscious was far more sophisticated than many of your more conscious part of your being. and that it guided your adaptation and structured your understanding in ways that you didn’t understand. That they were universal, hence biological, and far more sophisticated that some sort of primordial biological drives might indicate.

So, then you might consider that from the Jungian perspective a lot of the forces that ancient civilizations considered as deities, were personified representations of instinctual systems. You might ask “Why would people conceptualize of those phenomena as gods?”. One way of thinking about it is, what is older, you or aggression! — well, I’m let's say 30 years of age, and aggression is millions of years old. If I think that I control aggression then I’m deluded, as it is millions of years older than me, and is a much better construed phenomenon than what “I” is. Same could be said about love. Is falling in love a choice? Love might also be thought og as a state of possession. The phenomena of love as a complex biological system will be a here long after my death, and has been here for tens of thousands of years before my birth. When it manifests itself from within you, you are possessed by it, and you do its bidding. And you may do its bidding despite what it is that you most deeply want — and thus should be considered as a more well-founded personality than a person, and therefor something worthy of the status of a god or goddess. I come to think about Venus, the Roman goddess for Love and sexual attraction. Jung therefore came to believe that human experience was structured by underlying patterns of behavior that were specific and unique to human mind, and on top of that a realm of imagistic and symbolic representation that in part was a consequence of representation of those underlying behaviors.

We act in a human way, and we have been acting in a human way as long as there has been human beings. And we have been acting in a mammalian way as long as there have been mammals. But Humans are a peculiar creature in many ways. We watch ourselves act, and we watch others act, and we watch how we act in relation to each other. We then tell stories about those actions. And Jung believed that as a consequence of manifesting a particular set of human behaviors over hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions of years, we therefore also evolved a cognitive apparatus that was capable of representing those way of behavior. And that the cognitive apparatus expressed the representation of those common behaviors in imagistic and symbolic form. And the basic symbolic and imagistic form is something like drama. Now why would that be? What is drama? Drama is the abstract representation of patterns of behavior. One watches people manifest a set of particular behaviors. Then one might notice that there are characteristics and quasi-unique representation in drama. So, for-example there is “the bad guy”, and there is the good guy, so then when you watch a drama you accept the a-priory distinction between the good guy. And that's where the idea of the archetype is. In this case the Jung would say that it is the archetype of the hostile brothers, where one might come to think of Cain and Abel or Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

That begs the question; what might happen to a culture where there are no stories to convey the archetype and ways of behavior, does man cease to be man? What will he then return to if not the most primitive of behavior? This is why Jung stressed the importance of the archetypes and paved the road of which he is about to travel succeeding this first book. A book that could be credited with the radical discovery of stories being the description of manifested patterns of actions as old as biology itself. Thus, by Jung’s approximation the stories that belong to culture are our best help in the search for how to live — you don't create your story as an act of will, you discover it as an act of being.

There seems to be a common view that this first publication of Jung should mainly be seen as his separation from Freud — that view does In my opinion a great disservice to one of the greatest thinkers of the last century. Jung truly believed that the Modern Man had lost his soul, and that it was of the highest importance to find our way thought the intellectual and spiritual struggle that man has been entangled in since the death of god. Trough the archetypes we rediscover the great platitude of literary history. And through the collective unconscious we find hopes that the symbols that underlie our psyches might again resurface and bring meaning. Man has to find his spiritual meaning again, and in Jung's view psychologies role was to best help guide him. In the last chapter of the book, Jung argues that the psychologists' role is not that of becoming the modern clergy. Instead the role of the psychologists is to travel with the modern man into the depths of the unknown in order rediscover the spirit that has been lost in what has been rendered a soul-less world.

[Dr. House · Rating 4 out of 5]

عبارة عن 16 محاضرة ألقاها يونغ عام 1925 تناوبت بين شرح و مناقشة أسئلة الحاضرين و تحليل لأعمال أدبية ، و يعتبر هذا الكتاب أرضية أشهر كتبه و المسمى (الكتاب الأحمر )
تناول فيه يونغ منظورة لمكونات الذات البشرية و بين قصر النظرية الفرويدية التي تعتبر اللاوعي مكب نفايات في حين أن اليونغيين يعتبرونه جزء مهما في عملية الموازنة النفسية
ترجمة دار الحوار ممتازة ، و تهميشات المترجم قيمة جدا .. ، كما أن الكتاب مذيل بصور ملونة تمثل بعض الأحلام المدروسة في المحاضرات

[Sarvenaz Taridashti · Rating 2 out of 5]

تا زمانی که برخورد با نفس وجود نداشته باشد،تا زمانی که انسان با خویشتن به جدال برنخیزد،احساس آزامش ندارد:اگر انسان با هیاکل درونی در جدال نباشد ،در همان سطح خویش باقی می م��ند. اما اگر با خویشتن کلنجار رود،پس از جدال،نوعی نجات و رهایی احساس می کند که برایش آرامش خاطر به همراه دارد.

[بثينة العيسى · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Jung's work. He is widely open to any point of view. Never afraid to sound mystic or spiritual.

[Miss Ravi]

ترجیح می‌دهم نه ریویو بنویسم و نه امتیاز بدهم.

[Big Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

My intellectual spirit animal. Truly the goat of psychology. Fantastic ass book.

[Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

For every conscious deficit, there arises an unconscious boon. For every unconscious growth, the conscious mind suffers a loss. The compensatory law of opposites relating to the psyche makes this work particularly sublime for me. Jung’s inability to take to task Christianity effectively leaves a bit to be desired, but, that’s just like…my opinion, man. Regardless, Jung’s innovation is undeniable. Borrowing directly from Nietzsche, Jung never falls under the illusion of his own perspective. He constantly re-evaluates his evaluations with a self-awareness that is refreshing. He truly was beyond antithetical values. This is fantastic work, particularly for anyone wanting to explore the origins of modern psychology, as well as to juxtapose Jung’s ethos with Freud’s. Jung effectively takes Freud to task regarding Freud’s gross reductionism of the unconscious mind. If the unconscious were nothing but filth, nothing but a disease of misaligned sexual impulse, why are so many men insatiably curious to analyze and understand it? The unconscious is decidedly the power player, while occidentals merely scrape and claw at fitting their categorical imperatives. They suffer when pure logic fails, and I believe Jung knew why: Perspectivism, or lack thereof, and a denial/ ignorance of the all powerful, unconscious forces which drive our existence.

[Muhammad Ehab · Rating 4 out of 5]

إن ما يطلق عليه الناس "إنسانًا سويًا" أو "طبيعيًا" ليس هو الإنسان الطبيعي بمعنى انسجامه مع الطبيعة أو خلوه من المرض أو شعوره بالحياة، بل هم في أغلب الأحيان يقصدون أن يسموه "الإنسان النمطيّ"، أي الذي يسير كيف قرر الناس أن هذا هو ما يجب عليه أن يكون الإنسان، وهو بذلك يسحق أي فرصة للتفرد، ولا يكتفي بذلك فحسب، بل يقف مع الجموع في الصراعات الباطنية التي تقوم بينهم وبين نفسه ورغباتها الأصيلة، ليهاجم نفسه ويسخف من شعوره ورغباته، فينتهي به الحال إما للاضطراب النفسي، أو لأن يصبح عددًا في جموع أو مجرد آلة، وليس إنسانًا حقيقيًا مقبلًا على الحياة وله ذات متفردة.

نحن على موعد في هذا الكتاب -وبالتأكيد في أعمال يونج الأكثر تفصيلًا- مع عمل أصيل للغاية؛ فيونج لا يكتفي بدراسة الشق المرضي للنفس البشرية أو يرجع الاضطرابات إلى الجنس فقط كما فعل فرويد، بل يقدم لنا فهمًا عميقًا للغاية لكافة أحوال النفس البشرية كما رآها بعين الطبيب النفسي والمثقف الموسوعيّ.

كيف نفهم أنفسنا ونحقق ذواتنا ونتفرد؟ كيف نعي كل الأفكار والمشاعر المكبوتة في اللاشعور؟ وما هو اللاشعور؟ وهل هو فرديّ فقط أم يوجد ما يسمى باللاشعور الجماعيّ؟ كيف تكون تصرفاتنا أكثر اتساقًا مع أفكارنا ولا ندخل في صراعات مع أنفسنا؟ كيف نكون أكثر اتساقًا مع أنفسنا وأكثر قدرة على تحمل هذا العالم وفهمه؟ كيف نقبل على الحياة من جديد؟ وما الذي يمنعنا من ذلك؟ هذه هي الأسئلة التي يطرحها كارل يونج ويحاول الإجابة عليها، والتي ستكون مثار تفكير لي عند حواري مع أعماله الأخرى والتي أود أن أجهز عليها قريبًا.

[Daniel Polansky]

Rather than waste a lot of time discussing the development of psychology, the rest of the review is going to be a scattershot series of impressions about a (fairly) seminal text in modern culture.

• As a therapist, I’d take Jung over Freud, but in terms of scathing observations into the nature of humanity, I’ll take the Austrian.
• Still, Freud was completely batshit, I’m glad someone got to point that out.
• Then again, collective memory is also garbage and I don’t know how anyone could seriously hold to it. That, for instance, the ancient Greeks associated horses with the sea is of no relevance to a patient’s dream unless your patient happens to be a classicist.
• I am skeptical of trying to force narrative coherence on the output of the unconscious mind; you can barely do it with the output of the conscious.
• Also, magic isn’t real.
• Still, there’s a joy to the thing, an honest affection for the human species, an acknowledgement of ignorance combined with a willingness to improve the lot of others that I could get down with.