Encounter With the Self: A Jungian Commentary on William Blake's Illustrations of the Book of Job

Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts #22

by Edward F. Edinger

Book by Edinger, Edward F.

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy, Art, Psychoanalysis, Spirituality, Nonfiction

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Edward F. Edinger was a medical psychiatrist, Jungian analyst and American writer.
Edward F. Edinger Jr. was born on December 13, 1922, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, earning his Bachelor of Arts in chemistry at Indiana University Bloomington and his Doctor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine in 1946. In November 1947, as a first lieutenant, he started a four-week Medical Field Service School at the Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He became a military doctor in the United States Army Medical Corps and was in Panama. In New York in 1951, he began his analysis with Mary Esther Harding, who had been associated with C.G. Jung.
Edinger was a psychiatrist supervisor at Rockland State Hospital in Orangeburg, New York, and later founder member of the C.G. Jung Foundation in Manhattan and the CG Jung Institute in New York. He was president of the institute from 1968 until 1979, when he moved to Los Angeles. There he continued his practice for 19 years, becoming senior analyst at the CG Jung Institute of Los Angeles.
He died on July 17, 1998, at his home in Los Angeles at age 75, according to family members due to bladder cancer.

Reviews

[Johanna Hilla]

This book is so slim and yet so deep that I will have to read it again and then come back to write a review.

[Saksham]

This book requires an appreciation of four things to fully understand it - William Blake's work, Bible, Jung, and art of painting. While I am a big fan of William Blake and Jung, but being a novice in fields of bible and painting, I feel I was unable to fully grasp the importance of the words of the book

[Mike]

This really reframed this story I'd heard so many times as a child.

In the story presented through William Blake's art, Yahweh and Satan are reflected as two sides of the same entity. Job is a really good person, and Yahweh kills his entire family, destroys his crops, and inflicts him with disease. It almost shatters his ego. But in a moment of immense pain, Yahweh reveals to him his true nature: He represents the universe as it is unfolding, both good and bad. He shows him his monstrous, cruel nature and says, "this is who I am." It's Job's realization of the impartial, chaotic nature of the universe and the human experience that helps him move beyond his small self and realize that chaotic suffering and happiness is, in fact, fair. God in this sense is not this perfect, all-loving entity as he had imagined, but the universe unfolding in a duality that, when taken as a whole, defines what it means to exist.

“To this day God is the name by which I designate all things which cross my willful path violently and recklessly, all things which upset my subjective views, plans and intentions and change the course of my life for better or worse … For the collective unconscious we could use the word God.” --Interview with Carl Yung in Good Housekeeping, 1961

[Lucas]

God needs wife.

[Joli Hamilton]

Remarkably lucid analysis of Blake's last work through a Jungian lens.

[Y]

William Blake, the 18th century English artist and poet, made a series of engravings outlining the biblical story of Job. Edinger uses these to interpret the story of Job from a Jungian standpoint, very similar to Jung’s Answer to Job.

Edinger has a way of writing in a way that is easier to understand than Jung. The illustrations of Job’s afflictions, lamenting, conversations with his companions, chastisement by God, his acceptance of his lot and ultimate restoration are all analyzed. Edinger (and Jung) interpret Job as representing the Ego, God is the Self, his companions are Job’s personal unconscious, Job’s wife is his anima, and Leviathan and Behemoth represent God’s unconscious aspects. The death and rebirth motif showing the Ego’s death at its encounter with the Self, but ultimately coming out stronger if it is able to survive, which Job does.

The work is clearly written and the additional component of Blake’s illustrations help better understand what can be a complicated topic. However it’s impossible not the compare Encounters with the Self to Answer to Job, which examined the story more thoroughly and provides ultimately the same interpretation, albeit with much denser language. There are minor differences as Blake took some artistic license, but it’s the overall same story.

[Austin San Juan]

Very mixed feelings about this one. On one hand some of the Jungian applications felt, for lack of better words, full of shit. However, some of the insights into Job's and therefore humanity's interaction with the manifestations of "Yahweh" were intriguing in the context of a Self-Ego relationship. My favorite part was the talk of the Jungian separation of artistic creation into being either psychological or visionary.

[Michael]

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I started this book as I am not very familiar with biblical texts, nor am I very well-versed in Jungian psychology, but this book ended up being a lot of fun to read. The struggles of the human psyche explained through the story of Job was an interesting perspective and the text was not hard to follow for someone vaguely new to the content.

[noreen]

i need to reread this again with a stronger background in Jungian psychology, but regardless it was a really interesting commentary on the book of Job and i personally loved the artistic interpretation of William Blake’s works! very head heavy/loaded with theory

[Del Nadjafi]

real rating: ? out of 5

[Manos]

Deep. Very deep. The kind of book that needs full concentration and maybe a second read

[Merijn Kanters]

Edward Edinger never disappoints.

"The experience of the Self is always a defeat for the ego" - C.G. Jung

[Carl Andrews]

Very short, nice to have in the bookshelf. It is commentary on Blake's art as it says in the title.

[Scott]

It was interesting to learn a bit about Blake's weird artistic depictions and Jung's weird commentary on the book of Job, but not particularly enjoyable.

[Raptazure]

An interesting Jungian exploration of Blake’s paintings.

[Florin Buzdugan]

hmmm

[John B.]

Nice short interpretation of Jung's Answer to Job using Blake's engravings. Makes it simple to understand Jung's intent.