What do you think?
Rate this book
The Symbolic Quest: Basic Concepts of Analytical Psychology
Originally published by G.P. Putnam's Sons for the C.G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology in 1969. In this acclaimed work Whitmont explores C.G. Jung's revolutionary discoveries about the archetypal world & the self, offering practical insights into the process of healing & transformation.
Introduction
The symbolic approach
The approach to the unconscious
The objective psyche
The complex
Archetypes & myths
Archetypes & the invididual myth
Archetypes & personal psychology
Psychological types
The persona
The shadow
Male & female
The anima
The animus
The self
The complex of identity: the ego
The ego-self estrangement
Ego development & the phases of life
Therapy
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Introduction
The symbolic approach
The approach to the unconscious
The objective psyche
The complex
Archetypes & myths
Archetypes & the invididual myth
Archetypes & personal psychology
Psychological types
The persona
The shadow
Male & female
The anima
The animus
The self
The complex of identity: the ego
The ego-self estrangement
Ego development & the phases of life
Therapy
Notes
Bibliography
Index
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 9, 2013
By far the best and most comprehensive intro to Jungian psychology.
If we do live in a simulation, Jung might have figured out the coded rules of human functioning.
p124
The more threatened the ego has been by lack of a certain constancy in childhood, through lack of love and affirmation, the more the resulting instability is compensated by rigidity, by excessive psychic inertia. The original forms of actualization of archetypal energy into complexes, with their associated details—the first images of oneself in interrelation with the world - tend to remain rigidly fixed, even stereotyped, a priori frames of reference, by virtue of which consciousness orients itself. We regard and approach life in the light of our childhood values and conditioning, that is, in the light of our complexes. This would explain why our sense of being and of security are so tied to our familiar, personally-actualized frames of reference, stymying and destructive as they may be. Every challenge to our personal habit patterns and accustomed values is felt as nothing less than the threat of death and the extinction of our selves. Invariably such challenges evoke reactions of defensive anxiety, sometimes producing the neurotic and even psychotic fanaticism with which we are so familiar in individuals, groups and mobs. These defense reactions even carry a quasi-religious character, for they are concerned with our deepest relation to existence and to its mystery. Innovations, new or different “foreign” cultural influences, usually evoke rejection and religious fanaticism, regardless of their merits or demerits. We can also understand in this context the death and rebirth symbolism attached to any transformation process and the insistence on the need to “die” as a necessary complement to this fixity of existence in the ego alone. The practice of shock therapy shatters the distorted ego complex to the point of extinction; contact can then be reestablished with the hope of forming new patterns. Brainwashing causes the same kind of shattering or regression of the ego through deprivation, starvation, social ostracism by cell-mates, ruthless insistent attack upon basic outlooks and upon bodily awareness; this brings about a deathlike experience of ego fragmentation which is then followed by a reconstruction in terms of the new and desired structural order.
If we do live in a simulation, Jung might have figured out the coded rules of human functioning.
p124
The more threatened the ego has been by lack of a certain constancy in childhood, through lack of love and affirmation, the more the resulting instability is compensated by rigidity, by excessive psychic inertia. The original forms of actualization of archetypal energy into complexes, with their associated details—the first images of oneself in interrelation with the world - tend to remain rigidly fixed, even stereotyped, a priori frames of reference, by virtue of which consciousness orients itself. We regard and approach life in the light of our childhood values and conditioning, that is, in the light of our complexes. This would explain why our sense of being and of security are so tied to our familiar, personally-actualized frames of reference, stymying and destructive as they may be. Every challenge to our personal habit patterns and accustomed values is felt as nothing less than the threat of death and the extinction of our selves. Invariably such challenges evoke reactions of defensive anxiety, sometimes producing the neurotic and even psychotic fanaticism with which we are so familiar in individuals, groups and mobs. These defense reactions even carry a quasi-religious character, for they are concerned with our deepest relation to existence and to its mystery. Innovations, new or different “foreign” cultural influences, usually evoke rejection and religious fanaticism, regardless of their merits or demerits. We can also understand in this context the death and rebirth symbolism attached to any transformation process and the insistence on the need to “die” as a necessary complement to this fixity of existence in the ego alone. The practice of shock therapy shatters the distorted ego complex to the point of extinction; contact can then be reestablished with the hope of forming new patterns. Brainwashing causes the same kind of shattering or regression of the ego through deprivation, starvation, social ostracism by cell-mates, ruthless insistent attack upon basic outlooks and upon bodily awareness; this brings about a deathlike experience of ego fragmentation which is then followed by a reconstruction in terms of the new and desired structural order.
January 31, 2014
This is probably the best introduction to Carl Jung's work. It explains key concepts clearly, with depth and insight. The inclusion of examples from clinical experience add to the richness.
May 24, 2012
I read this back at Grinnell College, back when I was picking up and reading everything I could find about C.G. Jung and Analytical Psychology. Looking back, it was nothing special, just another rehash of the Master's ideas.
November 10, 2014
The clearest, and perhaps the most useful, overview of Jungian psychology that I've read to date.
December 27, 2020
“Like the atom, the psyche and its contents are not physical objects that can be seen or touched, but unlike the atom they cannot even be made to fit the conditions of laboratory testing and statistical evaluation. We cannot speak of the psyche as a thing that is or does this or that. At best we can speak of it indirectly by describing human behavior — the behavior of others and also our own subjective experience — as if it expressed aspects of a hypothetical pattern of meaning, as if an encompassing wholeness were ordering the action of the parts. For instance, we can recognize that an autonomous impulse or a hitherto hidden personality pattern has emerged and behaved as if it intended a certain action which was meaningful in relation to that encompassing wholeness. The most basic hypothesis about the human psyche with which we deal here, is that of a pattern of wholeness that can only be described symbolically.” — Edward Whitmont
What are symbols? How do we use these “images of contents that transcend consciousness” to explore, apprehend, and make use of our intuitive and non-rational realms of psychological functioning? How do they use us?
How do they open our horizons toward the acceptance of a different attitude toward life and action in the world, towards a greater respect for and relatedness to the mystery of our own souls? How do they seek our dedication to the primal mystery of life that’s forever beyond our rational grasp and control, which has a meaning, purpose, and power of regeneration all of its own?
How do they describe a pattern of wholeness that’s calling us forward into a process of ever-deepening individual differentiation that also serves to enrich the world?
Do these kinds of questions intensely interest you? Do you quest for symbolic experience? If you do, this book is worth exploring.
In a different work Theodor Abt has concisely outlined the position of Analytical Psychology, which theorizes that the "image" is the basic functional element of the human soul:
“The word image is used simply in the sense of a representation. Perception of the outer world — the interpretation of all the impulses of the sense organs by the brain — occurs via representations, via images. The neurobiologist Gerald Hüther, in the course of his research concerning the power of images, speaks of the union of what is seen in the outer world and then overlaid with the inner as the transformation of the outer image into a new, specific see-image; what is heard is transformed into an inner hear-image; what is smelled becomes an inner smell-image; what is touched an inner touch-image. If the emotional impact of these images is strong enough, they reach consciousness. Whatever becomes conscious first appears as an image. A psychic entity can be represented — and thus become a conscious content — only if it has the quality of an image. Images are central to the process of becoming conscious.”
Sense perceptions are inherently affectively charged, and are neurophysiologically and neuropsychologically organized into charged representations/images; affectively-charged images are the basic psychic vehicles that bring ‘contents’ to consciousness. Their charge will trigger reactions that influence and determine behavior; sometimes these reactions need to happen very quickly.
The direct experience of these images is a primary mode of human functioning; these affectively-charged representations are what everyone wakes and dreams in.
With regards to how our souls use images of the external world to represent inner territory, Edward Whitmont writes:
“The first elementary form of conscious perception occurs through the merging of sense perceptions into comprehensive images. As we see most clearly in the mental processes of children, unconscious psychic functioning first reaches a conscious state in terms of the images of external forms with which we have experience. The external world gives us our vocabulary and our only means of approaching the transcendental reality of the things in themselves. What these things in themselves are we cannot know, for we are limited to our typical human modes of experiencing. Indeed, the concept of the “thing in itself” is itself an expression of abstraction and rational thought, arranged in a cause-effect order and determined by the questions: where from? how? where to?
The structuring of our minds makes us experience existence in the dualistic form of a world of “external” objects which we are able to organize, and a world of “internal” impulses which we find hard to master. But in both dimensions we perceive by way of images. The same images which present themselves to us as representatives of the external world are used by the psyche to express the internal world.
The realization of the existence of one’s inner world as an entity of its own comes to consciousness relatively late. When this begins to occur, consciousness has already established itself in terms of abstract conceptualizations based upon, but also separated from, the original outer images. These images of outer objects are the first units of psychic functioning, and the only points at which the conscious mind touches or reaches back to the source of its being, the unconscious psyche. The unconscious itself, since it is unconscious, is imageless, concept-less. We cannot comprehend the thing in itself; images are the basic units by which we apprehend it. We can at best speculate about it in terms of energy currents, dynamisms, etc., but even these are abstract concepts gained from observed external images.
Since the original unit of the image becomes initially established in relation to the experiencing of external objects, images are likely to regarded as only pertaining to these external objects by a hyper-rational consciousness that lacks adequate awareness of the inner dimension. To this consciousness the image of water in a dream is assumed to refer to drinkable H2O, even when it arises not from an external perceptual stimulus, but from an inner state like water.
Whenever the psyche attempts to present us with an awareness of an inner dimension which we have no previous experience of (since we have so far only learned to orient ourselves to external things), this can occur only through linking this new and unknown territory with the image of some outer object; unexplored inner territory is mapped by the higher intelligence of the psyche, which expresses this territory in terms of the image of some outer object. In the case of the dream or fantasy image of water, we are really being confronted with an outer image which now means inner water: “water of life”, “fountain of youth” are interpretations much closer to the kinds of meaning expressed in the inner dimension. When interpreted as representations of external objects, images in the context of dream or fantasy are meaningless and seemingly irrational.
We begin to see that the way in which the mind experiences the external world is made to serve a different purpose in the internal realm of adaptation. This apprehension of the previously unconscious world is a relatively novel developmental stage, which requires for its adequate functioning and integration a novel means of perceiving and intuiting inner meaning. This intuiting of meaning points beyond what the external object, whose form the image wears, represents by itself; this is the symbolic mode of apprehension and functioning.”
https://abettik.medium.com/approachin...
What are symbols? How do we use these “images of contents that transcend consciousness” to explore, apprehend, and make use of our intuitive and non-rational realms of psychological functioning? How do they use us?
How do they open our horizons toward the acceptance of a different attitude toward life and action in the world, towards a greater respect for and relatedness to the mystery of our own souls? How do they seek our dedication to the primal mystery of life that’s forever beyond our rational grasp and control, which has a meaning, purpose, and power of regeneration all of its own?
How do they describe a pattern of wholeness that’s calling us forward into a process of ever-deepening individual differentiation that also serves to enrich the world?
Do these kinds of questions intensely interest you? Do you quest for symbolic experience? If you do, this book is worth exploring.
In a different work Theodor Abt has concisely outlined the position of Analytical Psychology, which theorizes that the "image" is the basic functional element of the human soul:
“The word image is used simply in the sense of a representation. Perception of the outer world — the interpretation of all the impulses of the sense organs by the brain — occurs via representations, via images. The neurobiologist Gerald Hüther, in the course of his research concerning the power of images, speaks of the union of what is seen in the outer world and then overlaid with the inner as the transformation of the outer image into a new, specific see-image; what is heard is transformed into an inner hear-image; what is smelled becomes an inner smell-image; what is touched an inner touch-image. If the emotional impact of these images is strong enough, they reach consciousness. Whatever becomes conscious first appears as an image. A psychic entity can be represented — and thus become a conscious content — only if it has the quality of an image. Images are central to the process of becoming conscious.”
Sense perceptions are inherently affectively charged, and are neurophysiologically and neuropsychologically organized into charged representations/images; affectively-charged images are the basic psychic vehicles that bring ‘contents’ to consciousness. Their charge will trigger reactions that influence and determine behavior; sometimes these reactions need to happen very quickly.
The direct experience of these images is a primary mode of human functioning; these affectively-charged representations are what everyone wakes and dreams in.
With regards to how our souls use images of the external world to represent inner territory, Edward Whitmont writes:
“The first elementary form of conscious perception occurs through the merging of sense perceptions into comprehensive images. As we see most clearly in the mental processes of children, unconscious psychic functioning first reaches a conscious state in terms of the images of external forms with which we have experience. The external world gives us our vocabulary and our only means of approaching the transcendental reality of the things in themselves. What these things in themselves are we cannot know, for we are limited to our typical human modes of experiencing. Indeed, the concept of the “thing in itself” is itself an expression of abstraction and rational thought, arranged in a cause-effect order and determined by the questions: where from? how? where to?
The structuring of our minds makes us experience existence in the dualistic form of a world of “external” objects which we are able to organize, and a world of “internal” impulses which we find hard to master. But in both dimensions we perceive by way of images. The same images which present themselves to us as representatives of the external world are used by the psyche to express the internal world.
The realization of the existence of one’s inner world as an entity of its own comes to consciousness relatively late. When this begins to occur, consciousness has already established itself in terms of abstract conceptualizations based upon, but also separated from, the original outer images. These images of outer objects are the first units of psychic functioning, and the only points at which the conscious mind touches or reaches back to the source of its being, the unconscious psyche. The unconscious itself, since it is unconscious, is imageless, concept-less. We cannot comprehend the thing in itself; images are the basic units by which we apprehend it. We can at best speculate about it in terms of energy currents, dynamisms, etc., but even these are abstract concepts gained from observed external images.
Since the original unit of the image becomes initially established in relation to the experiencing of external objects, images are likely to regarded as only pertaining to these external objects by a hyper-rational consciousness that lacks adequate awareness of the inner dimension. To this consciousness the image of water in a dream is assumed to refer to drinkable H2O, even when it arises not from an external perceptual stimulus, but from an inner state like water.
Whenever the psyche attempts to present us with an awareness of an inner dimension which we have no previous experience of (since we have so far only learned to orient ourselves to external things), this can occur only through linking this new and unknown territory with the image of some outer object; unexplored inner territory is mapped by the higher intelligence of the psyche, which expresses this territory in terms of the image of some outer object. In the case of the dream or fantasy image of water, we are really being confronted with an outer image which now means inner water: “water of life”, “fountain of youth” are interpretations much closer to the kinds of meaning expressed in the inner dimension. When interpreted as representations of external objects, images in the context of dream or fantasy are meaningless and seemingly irrational.
We begin to see that the way in which the mind experiences the external world is made to serve a different purpose in the internal realm of adaptation. This apprehension of the previously unconscious world is a relatively novel developmental stage, which requires for its adequate functioning and integration a novel means of perceiving and intuiting inner meaning. This intuiting of meaning points beyond what the external object, whose form the image wears, represents by itself; this is the symbolic mode of apprehension and functioning.”
https://abettik.medium.com/approachin...
September 10, 2018
A true classic.
December 2, 2019
This is a great book that delves deep into the psychology of the Self. At times it is an intense read, but overall it is written for anyone who wants to learn about themselves and their complexes.
December 22, 2018
Read this book because of a recommendation from a professor. I was looking for a clear but detailed introduction into the ideas and works of psyhologist, Carl Jung.
The book is just that, an excellent introduction. Whitmont is clearly a strong Jungian scholar who knows and understands Jung well.
If you’re at all interested in understanding Jung’s symbolic approach to therapy and psychology then this book is great. I think Jung’s ideas on the archetypes, dreams, and the unconscious mind all offer pragmatic and meaningful ways of engaging in the world. His ideas have made a difference in my life.
Very scholarly tone, but much more accessible to the lay reader than reading Jung’s primary text.
The book is just that, an excellent introduction. Whitmont is clearly a strong Jungian scholar who knows and understands Jung well.
If you’re at all interested in understanding Jung’s symbolic approach to therapy and psychology then this book is great. I think Jung’s ideas on the archetypes, dreams, and the unconscious mind all offer pragmatic and meaningful ways of engaging in the world. His ideas have made a difference in my life.
Very scholarly tone, but much more accessible to the lay reader than reading Jung’s primary text.
April 5, 2025
This is an extremely detailed and comprehensive overview of Jung's Analytical Psychology. I was impressed with the author's ability to illustrate Jungian concepts through the use of dream analysis' The author also includes Jungian developmental theorists such as Fordham and Neumann in his account resulting in a very complete account of Analytical Psychology.
Although the book is introductory it's a very detailed introduction and not always such an easy read, still worth the while since it gives an accurate representation of Jungian analytical psychology.
Although the book is introductory it's a very detailed introduction and not always such an easy read, still worth the while since it gives an accurate representation of Jungian analytical psychology.
September 7, 2015
Some books are worth reading again over the years. This wonderful work by Edward C. Whitmont supported my client practice with insight and patience for decades. Particularly the updates and adjustments of some of Jung's ideas regarding how Anima and Animus archetypes influence us, given the leaps of cultural changes since Jung formulated his thoughts. During my recent period of re-reading the book, very slowly, I dreamed many significant dreams.
May 6, 2008
A good overview of Jung's ideas of the psyche.
Currently Reading
April 16, 2010d
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews