Man and His Symbols

by C.G. Jung, M.L. von Franz (Editor), Joseph L. Henderson (Editor)

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Religion

Paperback

Published January 1, 1964

About the author

Carl Gustav Jung (/jʊŋ/; German: [ˈkarl ˈɡʊstaf jʊŋ]), often referred to as C. G. Jung, was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of extraversion and introversion; archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, philosophy, archeology, anthropology, literature, and related fields. He was a prolific writer, many of whose works were not published until after his death.

The central concept of analytical psychology is individuation—the psychological process of integrating the opposites, including the conscious with the unconscious, while still maintaining their relative autonomy. Jung considered individuation to be the central process of human development.

Jung created some of the best known psychological concepts, including the archetype, the collective unconscious, the complex, and synchronicity. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular psychometric instrument, has been developed from Jung's theory of psychological types.

Though he was a practising clinician and considered himself to be a scientist, much of his life's work was spent exploring tangential areas such as Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, and sociology, as well as literature and the arts. Jung's interest in philosophy and the occult led many to view him as a mystic, although his ambition was to be seen as a man of science. His influence on popular psychology, the "psychologization of religion", spirituality and the New Age movement has been immense.

Reviews

[Aditya Shukla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is basically a part of a larger project, which Jung was persuaded to endeavour in last days of his life. It's purpose was to introduce layman readers to the theories of Carl Jung. So, the original book consists of 4 other section written by other Jungian scholars under his supervision and the reason I am not reading those parts is that I am done with Jung for the time being.

This book served the basic purpose I picked it up for. I am a person who lives in a constant terror of nightmares and have discussed it with many psyciatrists and psychotherapist without much success. Most of these people were not able to give me a satisfactory answer or approach and for that reason I approached Jung after a psychotherapist friend suggested me to read him.

I started reading Jung without any prior reading of psychology. By now, one need not to read special books to be familiar with the key concepts of Freud's psychology due to it's widespread usage in modern world and Jung started his book with this distinction between him and Freud.

Jung explores the Unconscious and explains it's logical structure which is very comprehensible and appealing. How the Unconscious is driven by a prehistoric intuition and how these internal structures affect our consciousness. What is the reason of bizzare dreams we have? What is the meaning of a dream? What is the significance of a dream? How is modern man related with his dreams? These are the questions he deals with extensively and it makes sense.

But at some point he wanders off. While exploring the prehistoric intuition of the modern man, his ennui and the failure of a world created on the basis of reason, he ends up simplifying his invention and tries to give a universal answer to questions that doesn't really have answer or of they have, they are very nuanced. His simplification are very off putting and that's where I decided that I have had enough, however, I will take some time, think about the lessons i have taken from here and will get back at the other parts of this project. In the meantime, I should read some of Freud's works too.

[ellarams3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Man feels himself isolated in the cosmos because he is no longer involved in nature and has lost his emotional unconscious identity with natural phenomena.

Thunder is no longer the voice of an angry God, nor is lightning his avenging missile. No river contains a spirit, nor is a tree the life principle of a man. No snake the embodiment of wisdom, no mountain cave the home of a great demon. No voices now speak to man from stones, plants and animals, nor does he speak to them believing they can hear.

His contact with nature has gone.”

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really enlightening and makes me further want to investigate the topic. Man and his symbols looks deeply into the subconscious, and what interested me was the dream analysis. I'm going to pursue these topics further. If you like psychology, Read this. It offers a considerable amount of information and great insight.

[Faseeh Ur · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've a question ..🥺

This book changed my perspective of viewing the things .. Grt work by Carl Jung .. but one thing that I've constantly been thinking about it is that this book only deals with visuals symbols while our psyche posseses auditory archetypes too.. so why is that portion so badly ignored?

[M●13RA · Rating 5 out of 5]

9.2/10

[Quinns Pheh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The human psyche has two parts: the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. This book convinces us that humans have been very familiar with myths and the language of symbolism. Some symbols are ancient and embedded into us unconsciously, which Jung called archetypes. According to this book, dreams communicate warnings and lessons to us that we could interpret rationally. Dreams are also known to be prophetic. Through thorough examination, we could nurture neglected aspects of our character, overcome our flaws, and turn away from action paths that may harm us.

[Todd Moen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jung approaches the mind and unconscious trying to explain it to the layperson. He talks about dreams and offers ideas as to how they might relate to you or your environment. He tries to simplify his ideas and answers to a more complex ideology. It has great insight and gave me some ideas as to how I might think.
From my understanding this is his last book and was meant to be a stepping stone to some of his other books.

[Kidlitter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh Jung, how your thwarted, twisted, obsessive work fascinates and repels and confuses this hapless reader - but I like all the pictures, especially of the movies. As always, my dreams are so dull and full of daily ephemera, not the stuff of which Jung would like to make a system. Still, for those who like Jung, will love this book.

[Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jung's first chapter and the last (science) are still the best. The 4th one on symbolism in art and the following case study less so now. The copy I have has great illustrations and images - they may be dated but all the more interesting for comparison with our hyper stimulated present.

[Anita Lopes · Rating 3 out of 5]

By the end, I was reading it aiming to finish it, not enjoying anymore. It is on overall aspect of Jung studies.

[Alienne Laval · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am VIP member
Costed me DM 5000 then, I gave my father 5000 Euros.

[Luis De Ita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una aproximación genial al mundo del sub e inconsciente. Muy útil si gustas comprender más tu mente en "estado de reposo".

[Jovana Despotovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jung knows.
The people who helped write the book did a good job .