What do you think?
Rate this book
Matrix and Meaning of Character: An Archetypal and Developmental Approach
This book will appeal to all analytical psychologists, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists who want to strengthen their clinical expertise and extend their clinical insights beyond a strictly behavioural, medical or cognitive approach.
- GenresPsychologyNonfiction
311 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2007
21 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 7, 2021
Everyone loves a good story. That’s why we get so absorbed in novels, enraptured by movie stars, and obsessed with that must-watch show on Netflix.
And it’s also one of the things that draws us towards other people. Which of us doesn’t admire the person who courageously and forthrightly faces life’s challenges? And conversely, isn’t there some part of us that viscerally objects against those who shun responsibility, even when we understand why they would do so?
In The Matrix and Meaning of Character, the authors shine light on the inner lives of people through the metaphorical language of story. The stories chosen are ‘archetypal’; in other words, they are myths, fairy tales, or folk legends that have been formed and told and refined over thousands and thousands of years, repeated and edited so many times that only the most central elements have survived in distilled form. And these distilled elements, being common to all versions of the story, are therefore universal, generalisable across historical and geographical contexts.
Most discussions of personality are dry: weighed down by the jargon of DSM criteria and buried within giant tomes. This book is anything but dry. It’s quite an unsettling feeling when you start to see part of yourself in the adventures of Alice in Wonderland, or in the back-and-forth tango of the Fox and Rabbit. The impression I get is of a modern-day, academic equivalent of Aesop’s Fables.
And it’s also one of the things that draws us towards other people. Which of us doesn’t admire the person who courageously and forthrightly faces life’s challenges? And conversely, isn’t there some part of us that viscerally objects against those who shun responsibility, even when we understand why they would do so?
In The Matrix and Meaning of Character, the authors shine light on the inner lives of people through the metaphorical language of story. The stories chosen are ‘archetypal’; in other words, they are myths, fairy tales, or folk legends that have been formed and told and refined over thousands and thousands of years, repeated and edited so many times that only the most central elements have survived in distilled form. And these distilled elements, being common to all versions of the story, are therefore universal, generalisable across historical and geographical contexts.
Most discussions of personality are dry: weighed down by the jargon of DSM criteria and buried within giant tomes. This book is anything but dry. It’s quite an unsettling feeling when you start to see part of yourself in the adventures of Alice in Wonderland, or in the back-and-forth tango of the Fox and Rabbit. The impression I get is of a modern-day, academic equivalent of Aesop’s Fables.
May 29, 2024
An excellent book about character's structures and patterns of behavior. The book is based on Jung's psychoanalysis and it is very deep and detailed. I have found a lot of useful information about our life and people we are surrounded by. Extremely insightful and inspiring reading.
December 30, 2019
Profound and confronting, but relieving to be understood on a much deeper level. I love this book
August 9, 2016
I have read the introductory chapters and the chapter on the schizoid character type several times because that applies to myself. There is much of value here and I had to read it several times to let it soak in. I am closing this now on Goodreads but I am sure I will return to this chapter in the future to refresh my understanding.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews