C.G. Jung: Lord of the Underworld

by Colin Wilson

Carl Gustav Jung is one of the seminal figures in the history of depth psychology. An enormously influential and original thinker, Jung was for some time Freudâ s principal disciple, but he became more and more critical of the Freudian emphasis on repressed sexual tendencies and after the publication of Symbols of Transformation in 1912, Jung broke away from Freud to develop his own technique of analytical psychology.

Jungâ s clinical work and, perhaps more importantly, his own experience of so called occult phenomena led him to formulate and describe a number of key concepts, which have now passed into general currency, including the theory of archetypes; the collective unconscious; synchronicity; and the idea of active imagination, a technique of conscious dreaming.

With characteristic fluency, Colin Wilson weaves a fascinating biographical narrative with a penetrating analysis of Jungâ s ideas, providing a clear, readable introduction to his life and work.

Genres: Psychology, Biography, Nonfiction, British Literature, Religion, Philosophy

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.

Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.

Reviews

[Eugene Pustoshkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a critical biography by Colin Wilson on Carl Gustav Jung. It is critical in the sense that Wilson tries to appreciate Jung, while growing increasingly impatient about his flaws and especially about what Wilson sees as his incongruence in terms of trying to project outwards an image of a scientific man, while inwardly being an artist-visionary, a sort of a mystic. The book starts in an inspiring fashion, but the inspiration grows tired (perhaps, Wilson grew tired as well: his numerous remarks about the obscurity and annoyance of Jung’s writings are telling—I guess, he tried to encompass Jung’s works in a concentrated effort, which is a very Wilsonian way to do things, but Jung had proven to be a bit too much [and, perhaps, a bit too illogical and self-contradictory] to digest; perhaps, Wilson also projected something of his own on Jung, as we all do). In any case, there is a sense of boredom that arises towards the end of the book (I guess Wilson’s attitude towards Jung is somewhat similar to that of Ken Wilber, who has always been a bit reluctant to build upon Jung’s work). Then at the very end of it suddenly there is a metamorphosis, and the same ol’ optimistic Colin Wilson returns, as especially is evidenced by the concluding remarks and the appendix essay on active imagination. In fact, this essay is very valuable in itself, can be read and re-read, for it offers some crucial understandings of this method, one of the primary Jung’s discoveries. I find “C. G. Jung: Lord of the Underworld” to have been remarkably useful, though it is not a book for someone who is seeking to become inspired by Jung’s work; rather, it is the author’s attempt to follow Jung’s work in an impartial and just way, at times suppressing his obvious frustrations as regards to Jung. My own hypothesis here is that Jung’s figure—as figures of such magnitude—is much to digest (and authentically identify with), and any commenter is bound to start facing their own psychoactive material or at least get in sync with the demons that obviously both tortured and guided C. G. Jung, this lord of the psychic underworld.

[Hakim Mokeddem · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is a biography narrating the life of the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung and his rising from early childhood to the paroxysms of his career, passing by his father’s failure to achieve success and how that influenced young Jung’s vision of the world, he developed a thirst to accomplish his goals and passion, guided by his grandfather’s reputation as a famous doctor, the early self-realization and discovery of his uniqueness which led him later to the exploration of his vivid imagination to the spiritual experiences he went through, the artistic aspect Jung had and his admiration of science left him so little choices for choosing a career, though finally following his grandfather’s footsteps, Collin Wilson’s (the author) attempt to highlight the most life changing points in Jung’s life, such as the realism of duality of the self, his early alienation with his peers, what being an outsider meant for him, his acquaintance with Freud and how that shaped his first views into psychological field and with much effort his breaking with him, and the consequences that followed, Collin tried to decipher Jung’s views and psychological path, the why of the things, subjectively between commenting and criticizing his methods and admitting the genius man he was, from synchronicity to individuation, his plunging into Chinese culture and his longing for mythology and the construction of his theory of the psyche the unconscious and symbols as an attempt to escape the prison of Freud’s sexual theory he meant it to be its replacement for it with a wider perspective on human self, thus the book discusses a new type of analytical psychology to grasp a better understanding of the unexplored realms of the human mind and try to explain what it is already explored and how to take good hold of it, doing this allows us to fathom human troubles and reduce them in a healthy way, to make the world a better place by, this process certainly will start with the individual’s power to start exploring dark edges of his self , because the most fatale dangers reigns in the human since the existence of the world. Thus we should regard this work as a step forward to reach a more clear vision of our nature and how to react to it.

[Donald Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author provides many novel insights into the character and personal history of Jung. Many of the stories he provides I hadn't come across elsewhere. For those interested in finding out more about one of the key thinkers in psychotherapy, I can recommend this thin paperback which can fit easily into your back pocket or can be read in the bath if you spray it with silicon beforehand.

[Hoang · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writer is a bit pushy with his own ideology. As I read the book, I sometimes got confused between Jung’s and Wilson’s own thinking.

[- Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this small biographical book, which is one volume of a series he wrote, about such frank individuals, whom Wilson found them quite interesting for him to understand their psychic and their thoughts, and clearly, Carl Jung is one of those folks.

During those 8 chapters, the book guides us to the early years of Carl Jung, he, being a misfit teen, raised by a doubtful father, to Carl's obsession to prove himself through hard work, to the development of Carl's psychic, and his spiritual development, and his mental breakdowns, and insights, and some of the personal glimpses of his life with the women in his life, Freud, and his possessed colleagues and patients.

For the fact that I've read Jung before, especially his latest works, the archetypes, this book, seems like a revision philosophy course, that gave me a historical content of how Jung had come up with his archetypes, inspired by a psychologist before, which hos ideas about passive and active types, really shapes Jung's thoughts about introvert and extrovert functions.

One thing that had really fascinated me, is Jung's reach vivid inner world, and him being an outstanding outsider, really hits home. His own individuality and attitude, I've found that the artistic, poetic, mystical nature of his, and his concepts such as the anima/animus, and his fascination with mythology, astrology, and alchemist are quite very admirable to me too.

I've always found Wilson quite knowledgeable, if not an encyclopedia hydra, just like a mercury Gemini. who makes every confusing topic, very entertaining, engaging, witty, and really easy to grasp, although it might lose some of its juicy technical details, in order to be will preserve from the masses number of audience, but that never makes him less interesting, highly recommended for whom who wants to know about Jung, yet they haven't read his memoirs yet.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty short and easy book. Wilson summarizes Jung's life and ideas and then offers his own critique in the final chapter.

I was glad to hear that someone else found Jung's Symbols of Transformation to be rather opaque and difficult.

As a believer in psychic powers, the supernatural, and what some of us might call the occult, Wilson is frustrated at what he perceives as Jung dancing all around these mysteries without ever taking a firm stand. Commenting on Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle, Wilson says "At last, then, he is willing to admit that synchronicity and magic are much the same thing." But then Jung disappoints him once more with a bunch of hand-waving that ultimately still leaves the reader guessing about Jung's true beliefs.

I found the comments about split-brain research and modern Jungian practice interesting. The right side is the unconscious? After all, the world hasn't held still since Jung's death 60 years ago.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ihan hyvä kirja. Tätä ei voinut lukea objektiivisuuteen pyrkivänä tietokirjana, vaan Colin Wilsonin hyvin subjektiivisena välienselvittelynä Jungin kanssa. Kirja käsittelee niitä asioita Jungin ajattelussa, jotka vetoavat Wilsoniin, ärsyttävät häntä, tai joissa hänen mielestään Jung on väärässä. Aina ei ole selvää, kenen väite esitetään.

Viihdyttävä, koska pidän siitä että jollain on jotain sanottavaa. Wilsonilla on paljonkin.

Toisaalta Wilson revittelee liikaa turhanpäiväisillä, hieman pahantahtoisilla yksityiskohdilla - Jungin ajatukset jäävät toissijaisiksi, kun mielenkiintoisempaa on tutkia esim. Jungin ja Freudin välienselvittelyä ja kummankin puutteita.
Silti opin tästä paljon, ja onhan se hyvä lukea monenlaisia näkökulmia.

[Sicofonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biografía corta pero accesible de C. G. Jung por Colin Wilson, publicada por Ediciones Urano y traducida por Amelia Brito. Wilson hizo un gran trabajo al presentar de manera sucinta las ideas de Jung. Si bien no puede decirse que sea una biografía objetiva, pues Wilson critica algunos de los postulados de Jung; en apenas 200 páginas establece las principales ideas de Jung y su legado.
Recomendable tanto para los recién llegados al universo de Jung como para los más versados.

[Fernando · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is the first time I read Collin Wilson. And I am not disappointed. I heard his name mentioned by the Spanish Mexican singer Alaska on YouTube. Carl Jung lord of the underworld is kind of biography mixed with Wilson’s personal bias. Everypage did give me the impression of transfering occult knowledge. I'm going to read more books by this writer.

[Zach Copley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good-faith critical biography. Especially good insights into active imagination.

[Calvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed Wilson's other books, but I wasn't impressed with this treatment of Jung. I feel like he missed much of what Jung was all about--pulling spirituality into the realm of science.

[Almigdad Dawelbiet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Colin is biased and he's more into Freudian theories than ever admitting how C.G. was someone who was really good at using the Freud interpretational method driving it to its end.

[Marcos Pensive · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent biography of Jung that also happens to be critical of his ideas, which I find to be a breath of fresh air after the uncritical biographies I've read. I loved, and I mean absolutely loved, that the author criticized Jung's psychological theories more than he did Jung's occultism. That is a rarity and quite remarkable of the author.
The book is also fresh in that it's highly interpretative of the events of Jung's life, offering a new perspective on what certain happenings could've meant. I very much enjoyed that. The insights on Freud are not far behind.

That being said, as much as I liked the act of critique, I didn't agree with all the criticisms or thought all of them were fair.

Given the repeated, nearly relentless occurrence of mystical experiences since very early on in Jung's life, I found it inadequate of the author to assert that Jung turned to spirituality as a romantic escape from the harshness of reality. If anything, I'd say he used science to coat and downplay the highly romantic reality he always experienced.
Jung also didn't believe himself to be a descendant of Goethe, he clarified there was no evidence for the legend.

The rest of the author's criticisms were adequate, and sometimes correct.
I agree the most with his opinion that Jung's anima was right: what Jung was doing wasn’t just science, it was art. Jung’s ideas can’t entirely be called an empirical science, as they’re in large part also a hermeneutic practice of artistic nature. I see no problem with this and I don’t share in Jung’s obsessive insistence on sticking to science and empiricism. Much like the author of this book, I think Jung should've accepted and acknowledged his own romanticism.
I also agree that Jung should've paid more serious attention to ritualistic and ceremonial magic.

Highly recommend this book for a nuanced, mostly positive take on Jung's life and work.

[Niamh · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author is no fan of Jung and in a way, judging from his description of Jung's early inner life, he doesn't really get him. I learned more about Jung the man from the first paragraph alone of his wonderful autobiography. That said I was happy to read a critical analysis of Jungs writings and also to learn about those aspects of his private life that didn'tmake it in to his autobiography, namely his extramarital affairs and at times cantankerous nature! So, glad to have read it but wouldn't recommend highly.