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C. G. Jung and the Dead: Visions, Active Imagination and the Unconscious Terrain
C. G. Jung and the Visions, Active Imagination and the Unconscious Terrain offers an in-depth look at Jung’s encounters with the dead, moving beyond a symbolic understanding to consider these figures a literal presence in the psyche. Stephani L. Stephens explores Jung’s personal experiences, demonstrating his skill at visioning in all its forms as well as detailing the nature of the dead.
This unique study is the first to follow the narrative thread of the dead from Memories, Dreams, Reflections into The Red Book, assessing Jung’s thoughts on their presence, his obligations to them, and their role in his psychological model. It offers the opportunity to examine this previously neglected theme unfolding during Jung’s period of intense confrontation with the unconscious, and to understand active imagination as Jung’s principle method of managing that unconscious content. As well as detailed analysis of Jung’s own work, the book includes a timeline of key events and case material.
C. G. Jung and the Dead will offer academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian studies, the history of psychology, Western esoteric history and gnostic and visionary traditions a new perspective on Jung’s work. It will also be of great interest to Jungian analysts and psychotherapists, analytical psychologists and practitioners of other psychological disciplines interested in Jungian ideas.
This unique study is the first to follow the narrative thread of the dead from Memories, Dreams, Reflections into The Red Book, assessing Jung’s thoughts on their presence, his obligations to them, and their role in his psychological model. It offers the opportunity to examine this previously neglected theme unfolding during Jung’s period of intense confrontation with the unconscious, and to understand active imagination as Jung’s principle method of managing that unconscious content. As well as detailed analysis of Jung’s own work, the book includes a timeline of key events and case material.
C. G. Jung and the Dead will offer academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian studies, the history of psychology, Western esoteric history and gnostic and visionary traditions a new perspective on Jung’s work. It will also be of great interest to Jungian analysts and psychotherapists, analytical psychologists and practitioners of other psychological disciplines interested in Jungian ideas.
- GenresPhilosophy
200 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 5, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 13, 2020
Stephens asks an astonishing question: What if the dead Jung encounters in The Red Book are not manifestations of the collective unconscious but are actually the literal dead? It is an exciting thing to ask since so many scholars are so very squeamish about asking questions that stretch beyond material proof. She raises good questions about the therapeutic use of playing an armchair skeptic when someone comes in with a dream of vision of a dead person; what good is it to challenge the reality of that experience when the opportunity exists to find out what the dead presence did or said -- as it can lead to some manner of healing. I like this approach because it offers a creative response to an inexplicable experience that needn't be explained in order for it to be meaningful. Whether or not the dead are real -- whatever "real" is -- their appearance to us can be an occasion for greater well-being. Stephens's approach along these lines is much appreciated.
This book will make little sense if you haven't yet read Jung's Red Book and found out more about how he wrote it, where it came from in his own experiences. Sonu Shamdasani's introduction in The Red Book is useful, as is Lament of the Dead, which collects conversations between him and James Hillman on the subject of The Red Book. Stephens's book is exceptionally helpful in terms of following the narrative thread of the dead throughout The Red Book and really gives the reader a strong footing for thinking about the structure and movement of Jung's character as the narrative progresses. This will prove to be a cornerstone work in the long run when it comes to understanding Jung's strangest work.
Stephens makes a case for the idea that, by going through everything it took to write The Red Book, Jung learned how to interact with unconscious figures and settings, how to differentiate between archetypal figures and the dead as separate types of entities, and then how to look after and care for the dead by instructing them. Her reading presents Jung's achievement as ancestor worship through the ritual act of educational instruction, which is quite a thing to think about.
She also presents The Red Book as a Book of the Dead for the Western psyche, comparing its purpose to those of the Egyptian and Tibetan Books of the Dead. This also intrigues. My inclination is slightly different, though I respect her claim. Given that Jung wrote this book and held it close, not publishing it in his lifetime, and then his family put it in a bank vault for something like five decades before letting it be translated and published, I see its significance in a much more personal light. That is, I think Jung had created his own Book of the Dead, not for the Western psyche (whose definition, let's admit it, is awfully difficult to pin down), but for his own. To his credit, he didn't write it and then rush it to press to be spread everywhere in hopes that it would guide everybody as a form of scripture. He did, however, find himself moved and changed as a result of having done it. As someone who has wrestled with and honored the art of fiction, I know that creative work of this sort, which engages openly with unconscious figures, does indeed work on the writer writing it. I've been healed in needed ways by books I have written. So I think what comes out of The Red Book is a sense that perhaps creating your own Red Book -- a Book of the Dead of your own -- very much might be worth your while. You will find yourself changed by honoring that which possesses you in a creative way, in terms of creating something new from it, even (perhaps especially) when it finds expression in a style or genre or (pardon the pun) medium known to you. Jung loved esoteric tomes -- it shouldn't surprise us that he cooked one up himself in his sincere attempt to deal with questions of meaning he was struggling with in his life. That he kept it largely private suggests he knew that what was good for him may not be good for everybody. To riff off the old cliche of everybody having a book in them, maybe, lurking behind that book, everybody has a Red Book in them, too.
I thank Dr. Stephens for writing this work and bringing it to publication. The extensive endnotes to each chapter are a delight in themselves, which is not something I've ever said about endnotes before. She has added so much to our discourse with this book and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.
This book will make little sense if you haven't yet read Jung's Red Book and found out more about how he wrote it, where it came from in his own experiences. Sonu Shamdasani's introduction in The Red Book is useful, as is Lament of the Dead, which collects conversations between him and James Hillman on the subject of The Red Book. Stephens's book is exceptionally helpful in terms of following the narrative thread of the dead throughout The Red Book and really gives the reader a strong footing for thinking about the structure and movement of Jung's character as the narrative progresses. This will prove to be a cornerstone work in the long run when it comes to understanding Jung's strangest work.
Stephens makes a case for the idea that, by going through everything it took to write The Red Book, Jung learned how to interact with unconscious figures and settings, how to differentiate between archetypal figures and the dead as separate types of entities, and then how to look after and care for the dead by instructing them. Her reading presents Jung's achievement as ancestor worship through the ritual act of educational instruction, which is quite a thing to think about.
She also presents The Red Book as a Book of the Dead for the Western psyche, comparing its purpose to those of the Egyptian and Tibetan Books of the Dead. This also intrigues. My inclination is slightly different, though I respect her claim. Given that Jung wrote this book and held it close, not publishing it in his lifetime, and then his family put it in a bank vault for something like five decades before letting it be translated and published, I see its significance in a much more personal light. That is, I think Jung had created his own Book of the Dead, not for the Western psyche (whose definition, let's admit it, is awfully difficult to pin down), but for his own. To his credit, he didn't write it and then rush it to press to be spread everywhere in hopes that it would guide everybody as a form of scripture. He did, however, find himself moved and changed as a result of having done it. As someone who has wrestled with and honored the art of fiction, I know that creative work of this sort, which engages openly with unconscious figures, does indeed work on the writer writing it. I've been healed in needed ways by books I have written. So I think what comes out of The Red Book is a sense that perhaps creating your own Red Book -- a Book of the Dead of your own -- very much might be worth your while. You will find yourself changed by honoring that which possesses you in a creative way, in terms of creating something new from it, even (perhaps especially) when it finds expression in a style or genre or (pardon the pun) medium known to you. Jung loved esoteric tomes -- it shouldn't surprise us that he cooked one up himself in his sincere attempt to deal with questions of meaning he was struggling with in his life. That he kept it largely private suggests he knew that what was good for him may not be good for everybody. To riff off the old cliche of everybody having a book in them, maybe, lurking behind that book, everybody has a Red Book in them, too.
I thank Dr. Stephens for writing this work and bringing it to publication. The extensive endnotes to each chapter are a delight in themselves, which is not something I've ever said about endnotes before. She has added so much to our discourse with this book and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.
September 16, 2019
Based on solid research and a strong awareness of the unconscious material, Stephens is a credit to psychological introspection. After a deep look into Jung's much awaited The Red Book and various other findings and writings throughout his life, Stephens has written a first in exploration of Jung's relationship with the dead as more than just projections and memory material. This book is of value on the psychologist’s bookshelf as well as those interested in advancing their skills and knowledge on the figures of the unconscious, and realms of spirit and human relationship. Mediumship, at its best, is a scientific study of human interaction and discerning the nuances and needs in that exchange, this book will be invaluable to those in this field.
Constance Messmer, author & parapsychologist
Constance Messmer, author & parapsychologist
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews