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Mythical Figures: Uniform Edition of the Writings of James Hillman, Vol. 6
This volume collects Hillman's papers and lectures on the main figures of mythology, including Dionysus, Oedipus, Moses, Mars, and Athene.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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About the author
James Hillman
175 books577 followersJames Hillman (1926-2011) was an American psychologist. He served in the US Navy Hospital Corps from 1944 to 1946, after which he attended the Sorbonne in Paris, studying English Literature, and Trinity College, Dublin, graduating with a degree in mental and moral science in 1950.
In 1959, he received his PhD from the University of Zurich, as well as his analyst's diploma from the C.G. Jung Institute and founded a movement toward archetypal psychology, was then appointed as Director of Studies at the institute, a position he held until 1969.
In 1970, Hillman became editor of Spring Publications, a publishing company devoted to advancing Archetypal Psychology as well as publishing books on mythology, philosophy and art. His magnum opus, Re-visioning Psychology, was written in 1975 and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Hillman then helped co-found the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture in 1978.
Retired into private practice, writing and traveling to lecture, until his death at his home in Connecticut on October 27, 2011 from bone cancer.
In 1959, he received his PhD from the University of Zurich, as well as his analyst's diploma from the C.G. Jung Institute and founded a movement toward archetypal psychology, was then appointed as Director of Studies at the institute, a position he held until 1969.
In 1970, Hillman became editor of Spring Publications, a publishing company devoted to advancing Archetypal Psychology as well as publishing books on mythology, philosophy and art. His magnum opus, Re-visioning Psychology, was written in 1975 and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Hillman then helped co-found the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture in 1978.
Retired into private practice, writing and traveling to lecture, until his death at his home in Connecticut on October 27, 2011 from bone cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 2, 2024
Mythic Figures is a collection of James Hillman’s writings on the sublimation of the FIGURES of MYTH (Aphrodite, Apollo, Athene, Dionysus, Hera, Hestia, Hermes, Oedipus, Okeanos, Orpheus, Mars, and Zeus) into the modern PSYCHE as PSYCHOPATHOLOGY.
Hillman asserts:
The GODS have become DISEASES.
The GODS have become SYMPTOMS.
THE GODS have become PSYCHOPATHOLOGY.
Hillman argues that REDUCTIONISTIC MODERN MONOTHEISTIC psychology COMPRESSES all PSYCHIC PHENOMENA into ONE LITERAL and CONCRETE explanatory MONOMYTH.
Whereas the POLYTHEISTIC ANCIENTS would have experienced ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, ADDICTION, PSYCHOSIS, OCD, PTSD etc, as a SACRED DRAMA, or a DIVINE COMODY or as POSSESSION by one god or another.
Modern psychology has MEDICALIZED and DEMYSTIFIED, and as such, DEMYTHOLOGIZED, and DENATURED these ALL TOO HUMAN experiences, and REIFIED them as DISEASES and SYMPTOMS to REDUCE/ELIMINATE.
Hillman is not arguing for an ANACHRONISTIC REGRESSION to a PREMODERN WORLDVIEW.
Hillman is not pulling the NEW AGE move of REJECTING WESTERN MEDICINE for ANCIENT or EASTERN MODELS e.g. AYURVEDA or ACUPUNCTURE.
Hillman is WAY too shrewd to fall for that PRE/TRANS fallacy.
Clearly MODERN MEDICINE and the MEDICAL MODEL, including PSYCHIATRY have spared UNTOLD suffering, and save MILLIONS of lives.
SIDE NOTE: Mine included.
Hillman DOES however argue that, by PATHOLOGIZING psychological CRISIS, we have lost the SACRED FRAME through which the ancients VIEWD TRAUMA and DRAMA.
We have made the PERSON a PASSIVE PILL POPPER, in what previously would have been a SACRED QUEST for INNER VISON (Oedipus), or an INNER JOURNEY to become REHUMANIZED after the DEHUMANIZATION of WAR (Odyssey).
Hillman's Archetypal psychology VALUES imagination, fantasy, myth, and metaphor as UTTERLY ESSENTIAL to the ART of BEING ALIVE, BEING HUMAN, and BEING AWKE/FLUENT in the UNCERTAIN LANGUAGE of the SOUL.
As such, Hillman argues passionately for a kind of BOTH/AND ANARCHY of the INTELLECT.
Wherein we REMAIN AGNOSTIC in our IMAGINATION. And HUMBLE in or PERSPECTIVE.
And ALLOW for the MYTHIC MIND to live on, WITHIN and/or ALLONG SIDE the MODERN MEDICAL MODEL. Such that the INNER JOURNEY and the ONTOLOGICAL can be the LEFT/RIGHT steps on the ROAD to RECOVERY.
Hillman would probably REJECT the recovery FANTASY as TOO CONCRETE. He would probably prefer GROWING DOWN, or BECOMING more ALAIVE and ENSOULED.
But for the SAKE of this short from.
LETS GO WITH ALL OF IT.
5/5 stars ⭐️
Hillman asserts:
The GODS have become DISEASES.
The GODS have become SYMPTOMS.
THE GODS have become PSYCHOPATHOLOGY.
Hillman argues that REDUCTIONISTIC MODERN MONOTHEISTIC psychology COMPRESSES all PSYCHIC PHENOMENA into ONE LITERAL and CONCRETE explanatory MONOMYTH.
Whereas the POLYTHEISTIC ANCIENTS would have experienced ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, ADDICTION, PSYCHOSIS, OCD, PTSD etc, as a SACRED DRAMA, or a DIVINE COMODY or as POSSESSION by one god or another.
Modern psychology has MEDICALIZED and DEMYSTIFIED, and as such, DEMYTHOLOGIZED, and DENATURED these ALL TOO HUMAN experiences, and REIFIED them as DISEASES and SYMPTOMS to REDUCE/ELIMINATE.
Hillman is not arguing for an ANACHRONISTIC REGRESSION to a PREMODERN WORLDVIEW.
Hillman is not pulling the NEW AGE move of REJECTING WESTERN MEDICINE for ANCIENT or EASTERN MODELS e.g. AYURVEDA or ACUPUNCTURE.
Hillman is WAY too shrewd to fall for that PRE/TRANS fallacy.
Clearly MODERN MEDICINE and the MEDICAL MODEL, including PSYCHIATRY have spared UNTOLD suffering, and save MILLIONS of lives.
SIDE NOTE: Mine included.
Hillman DOES however argue that, by PATHOLOGIZING psychological CRISIS, we have lost the SACRED FRAME through which the ancients VIEWD TRAUMA and DRAMA.
We have made the PERSON a PASSIVE PILL POPPER, in what previously would have been a SACRED QUEST for INNER VISON (Oedipus), or an INNER JOURNEY to become REHUMANIZED after the DEHUMANIZATION of WAR (Odyssey).
Hillman's Archetypal psychology VALUES imagination, fantasy, myth, and metaphor as UTTERLY ESSENTIAL to the ART of BEING ALIVE, BEING HUMAN, and BEING AWKE/FLUENT in the UNCERTAIN LANGUAGE of the SOUL.
As such, Hillman argues passionately for a kind of BOTH/AND ANARCHY of the INTELLECT.
Wherein we REMAIN AGNOSTIC in our IMAGINATION. And HUMBLE in or PERSPECTIVE.
And ALLOW for the MYTHIC MIND to live on, WITHIN and/or ALLONG SIDE the MODERN MEDICAL MODEL. Such that the INNER JOURNEY and the ONTOLOGICAL can be the LEFT/RIGHT steps on the ROAD to RECOVERY.
Hillman would probably REJECT the recovery FANTASY as TOO CONCRETE. He would probably prefer GROWING DOWN, or BECOMING more ALAIVE and ENSOULED.
But for the SAKE of this short from.
LETS GO WITH ALL OF IT.
5/5 stars ⭐️
March 29, 2025
Offre spunti di analisi e riflessione interessanti. In alcuni passaggi risulta difficile la comprensione dell'idea, specie se non si hanno conoscenze pregresse di psicologia/filosofia
Read
March 31, 2009I haven't read it.
February 13, 2020
Simply loved it. Great essays on different archetypical figures. The gods are alive!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews