Writing Toward Wholeness: Lessons Inspired by C.G. Jung

by Susan M. Tiberghien, Murray B. Stein (Foreword)

From its first pages, Writing Toward Wholeness encourages readers to embark on their own journey through writing toward selfhood, toward wholeness. At every step, it reinforces the lessons C.G. Jung learned and shared with millions of people. In focusing on insights and excerpts from Jung’s writings, and from contemporary writers, the author brings together psychology, spirituality, and the arts, offering a way to wholeness

234 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2018

About the author

After marrying a Frenchman, following him around Europe with a growing family, I started to write more or less full time at the age of 50 when we settled down in Geneva, Switzerland. I published my first book, Looking for Gold: A Year in Jungian Analysis, at the age of 60.

I continued to publish, two more memoirs and numerous narrative essays in journals and anthologies. Then the widely read One Year to a Writing Life, and spring 2015, Side by Side: Writing your Love Story and Footsteps: In Love with a Frenchman.

I have been teaching writing for over 20 years, here in Geneva where I direct the Geneva Writers' Group (an association of writers, with presently over 230 members), around Europe, and in the States for the International Women's Writing Guild, at Writers Centers, and at CG Jung Societies.

I feel extremely fortunate at the age of 80 to still be in love with the same Frenchman, to enjoy visits from our six children and spouses and sixteen grandkids...and to write and teach and read and dream.

Reviews

[Nancy Freund · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little book loaded with subtance and clarity. I think for a person hoping to gain an initial understanding of CG Jung, this is an excellent primer -- especially if that person's a writer. It is logically organized, well researched, and plainly presented. It includes brief writing (or drawing) exercises to solidify the lessons of every chapter. Tiberghien adds personal details from her own life and her previous Jungian guidebooks as well as examples from a variety of mythical, historical, and contemporary sources. In the end, we have a wonderfully well rounded view of Jung's ideas and of Tiberghien's methodology for studying and incorporating his ideas into one's personal practices. Whether the reader merely wants to understand what is meant by Jungian concepts of wholeness or individuation, or the reader hopes to seek a more clear understanding of Self to work toward individuation, Tiberghien's latest book allows for good progress.
About Thomas Merton, one philosopher she describes in detail, she says, "Merton wrote often about the distinction between the false self and the true self, echoing in a way the distinction Jung made between the spirit of this time and the spirit of the depths." Tiberghien then provides Merton's own language, adding, "... you have to bring back together the fragments of your distracted existence so that when you say 'I,' there is really someone present to support the pronoun you have uttered." In this way she introduces many of her sources and presents them with her own clarifying wisdom in introduction.
Near the end of the book, she says, "Let's pause for a moment and think about steps we have made. A step to finding a part of ourselves that has been hidden, as Jung did in dialoguing with the Red One. A step to discovering oneness in nature, as Merton did in journaling. A step to finding one's hearth, as Pamuk did in writing Istanbul. A step to remembering a dream that points to a coniunctio."
A mother of six, grandmother of sixteen, long-time teacher, and founder of the Geneva Writers Group with 240 international members, Tiberghien is very much a nurturer. In this new work, she puts her practice on the page with her trademark style of openness and encouragement. It is a very useful study for Jungians, thinkers, writers, and artists.

[Joy Manne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susan Tiberghien, Writing Towards Wholeness: Lessons Inspired by C.G. Jung (Foreword by Murray Stein Chiron Publications, 2018.)

In Writing Towards Wholeness, Susan Tiberghien takes us on a journey along Jung’s ‘pen-steps.’ Jung was on a path to discover and explore his soul. The journey initiates the reader into Jung’s methods. He used active imagination, dialogue, and art to bring to life the images and symbols that came to him and his dreams. As we embark in Jung’s pen-steps, Tiberghien encourages us to keep a journal in which we will remember the events of our life and our responses to them, using words and art to deepen our experiences. She calls this ‘writing to the soul.’

The book begins with an introduction to Jung’s Red Book, his bound and splendid collection of personal writing and mandalas and encourages us to keep our own Red Book. There are chapters on Active Imagination, Dreams, Metaphors, Beauty, Alchemy, Zen, and Jung’s personal quest for wholeness. Where a method is taught, Tiberghien makes the process simple and coherent. Active imagination and Dreamwork are each divided into a series of steps.

Each chapter begins with a history of its subject and extensive examples from Jung’s writings and frequently from Thomas Merton too. Chapters conclude with examples from modern writers including Orhan Pamuk, Terry Tempest Williams, and Paulo Cuelho, as well as from Tiberghein’s own writings and drawings. The examples imbue us in the practice and we pass to the Writing Suggestions with confidence. There are many illustrations, an index and references.

This is a profound and inspiring book from a knowledgeable, profound and inspiring woman. It is a safe way to begin your own Jungian journey.

Tiberghien says, ‘Both Jung and Merton wrote their way to wholeness. Throughout this book, we have seen writing as a means for self-development, for anchoring inner processes—reflections, meditations, dialogues, dreams—through active imagination. An opportunity to move through change and transitions, to reconnect to the inner flow of life, to release new understanding and vitality. (p. 208)

I experienced this book as a journey. I cannot explain how it happened, but as I read, I returned to my writer’s essence and became confirmed in it, after a long time lost in a labyrinth. A writer needs solitude, time for reflection, withdrawal from worldly stimulation so that she can explore her inner world. I had been through a period of feeling confused that I wanted less and less to be out there in the world, but now I know I have discovered my writer’s essence and I am writing my way towards wholeness.

Susan Tiberghien is the founder of the Geneva Writers Group. She is the author of many books about subjects as diverse as writing, contemplation, relationships and her own experiences in Jungian analysis. She is my first creative writing teacher.

[Anita Ashland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the title implies this book is about writing and journaling, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was much more than that. It is a primer on Jungian psychology with easy to understand chapters about dream work, active imagination, Jung's Red Book, and alchemy. There is a chapter on Zen Buddhism which helps explain Buddhism in a way that my western mind could comprehend.

In addition to stories about Jung, throughout the book she references writers such as Thomas Merton, Annie Dillard, and Clarissa Pinkola Estes, William Blake, and many others. This won't give you a step by step guide on writing your way to wholeness but will instead inspire you to engage with your soul through journaling.

[Blaise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written, well-researched, inspiring, heartwarming and stimulating. A good read if you’re interested in getting to know more about your own and other writers’ processes, as there are lots of creative and fun writing prompts. She writes likes a friend and gentle mentor.