The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Mythos Books)

Amazon.com

Originally written by Campbell in the '40s-- in his pre-Bill Moyers days -- and famous as George Lucas' inspiration for "Star Wars," this book will likewise inspire any writer or reader in its well considered assertion that while all stories have already been told, this is *not* a bad thing, since the *retelling* is still necessary. And while our own life's journey must always be ended alone, the travel is undertaken in the company not only of immediate loved ones and primal passion, but of the heroes and heroines -- and myth-cycles -- that have preceded us.

Book Description

Joseph Campbell's classic cross-cultural study of the hero's journey has inspired millions and opened up new areas of research and exploration. Originally published in 1949, the book hit the New York Times best-seller list in 1988 when it became the subject of The Power of Myth, a PBS television special.

The first popular work to combine the spiritual and psychological insights of modern psychoanalysis with the archetypes of world mythology, the book creates a roadmap for navigating the frustrating path of contemporary life. Examining heroic myths in the light of modern psychology, it considers not only the patterns and stages of mythology but also its relevance to our lives today--and to the life of any person seeking a fully realized existence.

Myth, according to Campbell, is the projection of a culture's dreams onto a large screen; Campbell's book, like Star Wars, the film it helped inspire, is an exploration of the big-picture moments from the stage that is our world. It is a must-have resource for both experienced students of mythology and the explorer just beginning to approach myth as a source of knowledge.

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-25

In the Hero with a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell traces the myths and stories associated with the heroic archetype through all the varied cultures and types, also looking at a psychological viewpoint at times. Very interesting from a storytelling point of view, and at something that resonates so strongly around the world.

This book changed my perspective on "Life, the Universe, and Everything".......2007-05-12

Wow. Now that I've read this book I can't believe that I'd never heard of Joseph Campbell before. I started this book slowly, taking in the general idea and getting the point Campbell is making: all myths, religions, epic tales, etc. follow the same basic over-arching pattern. The pattern is plotted out in extreme detail in the book, so I won't go into it here, but it is spot on.

Anyone who has any interest in religion, philosophy, psychology, or the human condition needs to read this book. ALthough it starts out a bit slow and self-evident, by the end you realize that you are reading a book written by a true master teacher. Campbell's clearcut objective explanations are superb and unarguably true. Using examples from the Bible, the Iliad, the Koran, native American folklore, Hindu tales, fairy tales, Eskimo tales, Chinese legends, African tribal rituals, and too many more cultural tales to mention, Joseph Campbell definitively lays out the monomyth and its structure.

The beauty of Campbell's writing is how it sneaks up on you. I was following the general theme of the book and feeling as if I was learning something until around the middle of the book it all clicked. This book is not just about myth, philosophy, or religion, it is about mankind's constant struggle to nail down and explain the human condition. What troubles us is that we can't ever do it.

For this reason, in every culture, there is always a hero story. A hero story that describes the life and adventures and discoveries of one man who broke through the confusing walls of this world we live in and became truly enlightened. What makes this book so perfect, though, is the painstaking detail with which Campbell recounts different parts of different myths, religious tales, legends, and folklore to illustrate the "monomyth" that all these stories are telling.

Be sure to also read the footnotes, as valuable information and references to other interesting novels are often found there as well.

Not sure what all the fuss is about this book.......2007-04-24

I got this book because many people mention that it is the way to learn how people tick. It has been mentioned that this can help with character development in writing.

I couldn't read it.

Maybe I am just not cerebral enough because I thought it was full or obscure references and difficult passages that lost me time and again. I could boil down what I got out of it, which is basically Freud's doctrine about how we all want to sleep with our mother's (or fathers).

There has to be something better out there than this.

If you don't enjoy Psychology / Mythology textbooks you won't like this.

I give it 3 stars because I didn't read the whole thing. Maybe all of the good stuff is after the first 100 pages...

A Master Teacher .......2007-02-22

The master teacher's words live on... It's amazing how Campbell's writings and teachings gain greater power and meaning over time. I recently watched a library rental tape of the PBS aired talks he did with Bill Moyers in 1987. I now plan to purchase these tapes as well as his books.

a piece of the puzzle........2006-12-29

Campbell has got it all figured out. He and Jung are a must read for any one looking to see religion for what it is rather than the misinterpreted mumbo jumbo that has been handed down as fact. This book is also important for writers. Since I am now a writer, and have been devoting myself to that, Campbell's works have been very helpful. Lucas used this book when creating Star Wars. Some of his characters seem plucked from this book. It is a must have for almost any writer, especially fantasy writers looking to create a complete myth/world.

Average customer rating:

"Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete."
A great alternative to self-help books
greatest self-help book ever written
Look to a higher purpose and transcend your situation
A good book to read if you are and don't know why.

Man's Search For Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0671023373

Amazon.com

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is among the most influential works of psychiatric literature since Freud. The book begins with a lengthy, austere, and deeply moving personal essay about Frankl's imprisonment in Auschwitz and other concentration camps for five years, and his struggle during this time to find reasons to live. The second part of the book, called "Logotherapy in a Nutshell," describes the psychotherapeutic method that Frankl pioneered as a result of his experiences in the concentration camps. Freud believed that sexual instincts and urges were the driving force of humanity's life; Frankl, by contrast, believes that man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. Frankl's logotherapy, therefore, is much more compatible with Western religions than Freudian psychotherapy. This is a fascinating, sophisticated, and very human book. At times, Frankl's personal and professional discourses merge into a style of tremendous power. "Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is," Frankl writes. "After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips."

Book Description

Man's Search for Meaning is the chilling yet inspirational story of Viktor Frankl's struggle to hold on to hope during his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps where he endured unspeakable horror. Frankl's training as a psychiatrist informed every waking moment of his ordeal and allowed him a remarkable perspective on the psychology of survival.

Customer Reviews:

"Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.".......2007-10-10

"Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete."

What is the meaning of life? Frankl try's to answer that through his experience as a prisoner in a concentration camp in Auschwitz (among others) and in his psychiatry practice after the war. Be it by grace, a miracle, or chance, he made it out alive. And now he is here to tell this powerful, optimistic story and help us with an age old question.

He try's to answer this question: " How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?" This would later influence psychotherapy. Even being surrounded by so much evil there was still kindness to be found in an occasional guard. The prisoners were not always kind to there fellow inmates: there were sellouts and CAPO's; Capo's were Jews that watched over their fellow captives for favors, food, and extended life. Who is to say what any one of us would do. With misery and suffering beyond comprehension, "having a why to live for enabled them to bear the how". I will never look at that last leftover pea the same way.

Writing on his concentration camp experience Frankl briefly discusses "logotherepy". In a later chapter he goes into detail: Logotherepy (which he coined), the "striving to find a meaning in ones life is the primary motivational force in man". In his practice he uses a form of reverse psychology. The last chapter is on optimism during tragedy.

Freedom is only part of the story, he writes: "I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast"

There are many quotables from Frankl, I will leave you with this: "Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips."

In the end, there is that need for a reason.

Wish you well
Scott

A great alternative to self-help books.......2007-10-06

I first heard of this book years ago through a strong recommendation by Stephen Covey in the 7 Habits, but didn't think about it until earlier this year when I was at Half Price. I was at the bookstore to buy another Covey book, "The 8th Habit", and then I spotted Dr. Frankl's book.

Nothing against most self-help/productivity books (I know I've read more than my share) but after a while they can seem kind of stupid. There's a point where some random dude telling you how you should live your life becomes a highly ineffective approach to growth.

Which is why Man's Search for Meaning appealed to me. Not only does the author back up his thoughts on suffering and meaning through extensive research, Dr. Frankl applied his ideas to help survive his three-years in the Holocaust, and so has a huge personal connection to the ideas he's presenting.

What he's talking about, as many others have agreed, is pretty straightforward: by creating meaning in life, you have the capacity to move beyond any hardship in life. But Dr. Frankl provides a way to really help internalize this idea, which is why I highly, highly recommend this book.

greatest self-help book ever written.......2007-08-30

Viktor Frankl's journey and his amazing survival techniques in the Auschwitz death camps prove to be one of the most meaningful books ever written. If there was 1 book that everyone should read in their life this would be my choice. Forget all those meaningless self-help books on getting rich, getting in touch with your inner self and all that new age baloney that might enhance your life but if your life has no meaning, no foundation for growth than nothing will ever bring you true happiness. In the midst of our greatest struggles we learn our greatest lessons and a life without struggle is not a life with meaning.

Look to a higher purpose and transcend your situation.......2007-08-30

This book is really two works in one. In the first, longer part, Frankl details his experiences in Nazi concentration camps. His purpose is to demonstrate to the reader that even in the most horrific of circumstances it is possible to hold your head high and maintain your sense of purpose and optimism. In the second part, Frankl describes just how his "logotherapy" works.

This book, highly popular in the 1970s, is both informative and practical. If you hadn't previously figured out how to rise above the fleeting events of your life when they distress you, this book makes the process clear and explicit. It is in fact one Western version of some of the main tenets of Buddhism, which tells us that life is only an illusion of endless change, and you must constantly reach for the unchangeable truths beyond that illusion.

Having missed reading the book when it was first popular, I am glad to have finally gotten to it, if a bit late in life. I strongly agree with Frankl's point that "self-actualization is possible...only as a side-effect of self-transcendence". There are additional tidbits I found useful, such as the notion of "paradoxical intention", in which you try to consciously perform some action you are trying to cure yourself of, such as stuttering. Frankl also rightly reminds us that in each situation, you will know for yourself what the one *right* thing to do is, and you must chose that in order to be at peace with yourself.

I gave the book only four stars, since I felt it was a bit repetitive (I wonder what the original 20-volume German-language version was like), continually recycling a single core idea which could have been explained in fewer words - though shortening the text might admittedly have made it less effective. It is in any case a great work, a classic in the psychology and self-help genre, not to be missed.

A good book to read if you are and don't know why........2007-08-15

Very interesting book for anyone who suffers and cannot find any meaning from it. Victor Frankel survived the concentration camps of the Holocaust during World War II. If anybody knows about suffering it would be Frankel. This is an about Christianity or Judaism... it's about believing that there is value in suffering and that nobody can take away your ability to decide how you will think about things in your life. Only you control your own thoughts. This is of course not for children.

Average customer rating:

A Classic on the Path of Individuation
A Scholarly Academic Introduction To Jung
Consider This From a Non-Psychologist
Ed W. Can Do
The Essential Popular Introduction to Jung

The Symbolic Quest
Edward C. Whitmont
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691024545

Customer Reviews:

A Classic on the Path of Individuation.......2006-11-26

I read Whitmont's work in the late 70s after an intense spiritual awakening which was first expressed in Christian fundamentalism in the early 70s. During a time of study at the C.G. Jung Foundation and the New School (New York City) I began to discover the spiritual meaning and personal potential of the Christian myth. The work continues to this day, and I am thankful to Whitmont and others (Edinger, Neumann, Jacobi, Von Franz,) who extended the insights of Jung for pioneers along the path of individuation.

A Scholarly Academic Introduction To Jung .......2006-05-28

Much more than a primer or a simple introduction to Jung,this carefully written book expresses itself succinctly in capturing key Jungian concepts within it's proper framework and the crucial formulation of it's historical underpinnings(showcasing where appropriate the differences with Freud and at times with Adler,analyzing in detail the immense philosophic background and depth of Kant,idealism,phenemonologyy) as a vehicle in which Jung crafted his philosophy turning him into one of the major pillars not only of psychology but of thought in general whose ideas and insights reverberate throughout today's climate despite the obvious shift away from traditional psychoanalysis into medicinal therapy.
You will walk away understanding Jung after reading this book but it is no simple read.
Its text is eloquent and is not a simple beach book.
Its pages are woven carefully by a Jungian scholar and rather than diminish the ideas of Freud and others, the author, a top ranking Jungian, explains Freud and others to the reading public within a framework of understanding not only about Jung but after reading the book the major concepts and ideas of the psychoanalytical movement in general and specifics.
Another wonderful read on Jung but more suited for actual case studies and in a more relaxed style is June Singer's Boundaries Of The Soul, but for the seriousness that Jung deserves Whitmont's book can't be beat.

Consider This From a Non-Psychologist.......2004-08-26

I have a read a few introductions to Jungian psychology and they have all suffered from one serious defect. Namely, in their attempt to be understood, they didn't provide a sense of the expanse of Jungian psychological thought. This book is the sole exception. It seems to be quite thorough.

Apparently, some readers have found this work difficult. I didn't and I am not a psychologist. In fact, I read this work as a beach book while on vacation. I found it to be a helpful explanation and introduction.

Ed W. Can Do.......2002-01-07

If anybody can take the pains to read and reread a book inch by inch, over and over again, ad infinitum, until you reach the other side, then by all means read this book! Being able to learn, retain and actually actualize the ideas he espouses, as you go along, into one ever expanding platform is all essential to even remotely comprehending so much as the first chapter, let alone the first page of this entire book! Mr. Whitmont is extreemly intellectual and wrote this book for people like him that thirst for inner knowledge. The text is written AS IF you already happen to know a number of words used only by depth psychologists. So be prepared to learn literally a text book of data per every page. This work is hailed as the next generation of Jungian thought written by Jung's prodigy student and spiritual heir apparent. And cannot be expected to be instantly readable by everyone, especially those already angry with Jung in general.Yet with each new concept integrated into your understanding of Jungianism, there will be a definite reward in terms of personal growth. I promise you a rose garden!

The Essential Popular Introduction to Jung.......2001-05-31

The Symbolic Quest remains the best popular introduction to the theory and practice of analytical psychology.

Contents: Introduction -- The Symbolic Approach -- The Approach to the Unconscious -- The Objective Psyche -- The Complex -- Archetypes and Myths -- Archetypes and the Individual Myth -- Archetypes and Personal Psychology -- Psychological Types -- The Persona -- The Shadow -- Male and Female -- The Anima -- The Animus -- The Self -- The Complex of Identity: The Ego -- The Ego-Self Estrangement -- Ego Development and the Phases of Life -- Therapy -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Average customer rating:

Away with the existential vacuum!

the no.1 principle for success

I didn't get it

How Much Would You Pay...

Underline it and re-read it

Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl
Manufacturer: Perseus Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Man's Search For Meaning

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Man's Search for Meaning

ASIN: 0738203548

Amazon.com

Viktor Frankl, author of the smash bestseller Man's Search for Meaning, offers a more straightforward alternative to traditional Freudian psychoanalysis: one's problems may be rooted in a failure to find a meaning in life beyond one's interior world. The basis for his interpretation, however, is not so straightforward. It lies in Frankl's existential analysis, plumbing for the reasons that people have repressed their consciences, their love, their creativity. By legitimizing a spiritual aspect of the human mind, Frankl has separated us definitively from the animal kingdom, but it is still up to each of us to rise to our human potential.

Book Description

Viktor Frankl is known to millions of readers as a psychotherapist who has transcended his field in his search for answers to the ultimate questions of life, death, and suffering. Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning explores the sometime unconscious human desire for inspiration or revelation, and illustrates how life can offer profound meaning at every turn.

Customer Reviews:

Away with the existential vacuum!.......2007-05-28

"We psychiatrists are neither teachers nor preachers but have to learn from the man in the street, from his ... self-understanding, what being human is all about". Of all those who applied existentialism to psychotherapy and to the efforts of human beings to help themselves, perhaps none has done so with as much wisdom as Viktor Frankl.

Although I didn't connect with the first 50 or so pages of this book, after that I was challenged and inspired by Frankl. His concerns, the "existential vacuum", the depressing impact of an "indoctrination into reductionism", the irreducibility of our experience, "responsibility as the essence of existence", these are well worth being reminded of.

That a "machine model" or "rat model" is not the best way to view human beings, does it seem such a revelation? Frankl observed how some young people had begun to view their ideals and altruism as hangups, how they had been engaging in fruitless "hidden motive" games. He wondered if behavioral scientific therapeutic programs didn't fail to take into account the specialness of people to find meaning, to transcend and to detach themselves from their situations. He called for responsibility and a recognition that we all proceed into the unknowable.

Frankl's approach is quite different from that of Freud, Jung, Skinner or even Rogers (Frankl at least credits in this book Rogers with "de-ideologizing psychotherapy"). His work still lives on, as for example in the United States through the Franklian Psychology (Logotherapy/Existential Analysis)doctoral program offered through Graduate Theological Foundation. Frankl himself, as he makes clear in this book, suggested a concept of spirituality and religion that "goes far beyond the narrow concepts of God as they are promulgated by some representatives of denominational religion", one that encompassed even atheism.

It would seem unfortunate if Frankl and his existential analysis that assumed a "will to meaning" were forgotten. Existentialism remains one of the great reponses of Western civilization to the challenges of life and Viktor Frankl one of its best practical advocates. I realize I need to read more about Frankl, logotherapy and existential analysis in general. It may be the best expression of a sacred view of being human we have in the West.

the no.1 principle for success.......2006-12-29

Please all my friends who are visitng this blog, I am sure you are here because you want to be successful. Me Too. I've read more than 100 self-help books, attended 20+ seminars, listened more than 30 audiobooks, and here is the MOST IMPORTANT rule for success - Do Something You Like. You Are Passionate About. You Will Do It For Free Anyways. This is the ONLY way, and Please Never Settle for Less. Here is WHY:

How do you define success? You can only be successful when you are being who you are. Period. Success cannot be measured by a yardstick as society always teaches us. There are times that what you really love to do doesn't look very promising, that your dad and mom tell you "Honey how about doing this instead that because this will secure you a job!". But, nothing can secure you a job if you nowadays. The only way to win is to be the BEST in your field. This is what important. What you do is not important AS LONG AS you are the BEST in what you do. And How can you be the BEST in what you do? You have to earn the competition with others who are doing the same thing as you. And, Psychologist Professor Tal Ben-Shahar at Harvard Univeristy said that you will find the things you love easy for you! And this is the secret for success! You are surely to win when you are doing something easy for you when others are not. They are struggling and you are enjoying. 8 hours feel like 1 hours for you but 16 for them. So, who will be more efficient, more creative, more energetic, more effective, more confident, more productive, more...more...? Of course YOU. And what's more important is that you will feel SATISFIED because you are actualizing yourself. - Self-Actualization is the HIGHEST pursue for human beings. You are being whom you are meant to be, fulfulling your meanings for this life. Meaning is all that matters! If you haven't got a chance to read Dr. Viktor E. Frankl's book "Man's Search for Meaning", I really urge you grab a copy. It is the pursuit of meaning that make Dr. Frankl survive the more than 3 years in concentration camps and became one of the most important thinkers and psychologists after Freud and Adler, as commented by The American Journal of Psychatry. So, please do something you like. Your success lies in there. So is your meaning.

I didn't get it.......2004-07-27

Man's Search for Meaning is my bible for life. I so anticipated
digging into Volume 2, couldn't imagine it could get any
better, it didn't.

You need a PHD in Pysch to read the first page and I only
made it to Chapter 4 and I couldn't figure out what he
was even trying to say. The verbage alone requires a
dictionary, but my arm got tired looking up every other
word.

What happened???

His first book was so rich in real life examples and
touching experiences I was filled with tears of joy.
This book is as if Victor lived his whole life in
the ivory tower talking to other suits.

Oh well, vita continua.

How Much Would You Pay..........2004-05-02

for a book that could help you discover your purpose in life? Exactly. God is not dead and reading this book helped me realize it. For that alone it is priceless. You owe it to yourself to add it to your cart now. Read it carefully enough and it could have a profound influence on your life too.

Underline it and re-read it.......2003-12-08

Holocaust survivor Frankl earned the right to teach us how to transcend ourselves and find "ultimate meaning". He was a contemporary of Freud who was able to take Freud to task for naturalism and reductionism which "undermines and erodes the enthusiasm of youth". Frankl has a lot to tell us about how to avoid the neurotic train wreck many of us are headed for. He points out that an existential vacuum (meaninglessness and emptyness) is growing in our culture as man "Now, knowing neither what he must do nor what he should do, he sometimes does not even know what he basically wishes to do. Instead, he wishes to do what other people do-which is conformism-or he does what other people wish him to do-which is totalitarianism." Frankl tells us "Man is responsible for fulfilling the meaning of his life." He contends "man is not he who poses the question, What is the meaning of life? But he who is asked this question, for life itself poses it to him. And man has to answer to life by answering for life; he has to respond by being responsible;" and "Being human means being confronted continually with situations, each of which is at once a chance and a challenge, giving us a "chance" to fulfill ourselves by meeting the "challenge" to fulfill it's meaning.

Get it; read it; study it!

Average customer rating:

"Living in the Borderland" a winner!

Living in the Borderland. Jerome S. Bernstein

Livng in the Borderland. Jerome S. Bernstein

Seminal Work

Beyond therapy

Living in the Borderland:The Evolution of Consciousness and the Challenge of Healing Trauma
Jerome Bernstein
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1583917578

Book Description

Living in the Borderland addresses the evolution of Western consciousness and describes the emergence of the 'Borderland,' a spectrum of reality that is beyond the rational yet is palpable to an increasing number of individuals. Building on Jungian theory, Jerome Bernstein argues that a greater openness to transrational reality experienced by Borderland personalities allows new possibilities for understanding and healing confounding clinical and developmental enigmas.
In three sections, this book charts the evolution of Western consciousness, examines the psychological and clinical implications and looks at how the new Borderland consciousness bridges the mind-body divide. It challenges the standard clinical model, which views normality as an absence of pathology and equates normality with the rational, and abnormality with the transrational. Jerome Bernstein describes how psychotherapy itself often contributes to the alienation of many Borderland personalities by misdiagnosing the difference between the pathological and the sacred and uses case studies to illustrate the potential such misdiagnoses have for causing serious psychic and emotional damage to the patient.
This challenge to the orthodoxies and complacencies of Western medicine's concept of pathology will interest Jungian Analysts, Psychoanalysts, Psychotherapists and Psychiatrists.

Customer Reviews:

"Living in the Borderland" a winner!.......2007-06-20

There are lots of reviews listed here which endeavor to summarize Mr. Bernstein's book. I found his thesis thoughtful and revolutionary, and comforting..since I've considered myself a borderlander for years. His treatment de-pathologizes us space cadets who have been shocked into retreating from the harsh cultural milleau of American society into an unworldly misty place. Spending time in Nature is often our only calming option.

At the same time, living in a borderland brings with it...it seems to me...a peculiar paralysis in dealing with economic and other social realities we can't avoid. It can be a form of escape from lovelessness and confusion which stifles the ego. Egolessness is not the answer, in my own opinion for healthy individuation and living a life of purpose.

I would complement Bernstein's book with Richard Lind's "The Seeking Self" and Greg Mogenson's book, "A Most Accursed Religion" to help reframe our view of ourselves and the Universe/God. Individuation requires that we be able to take responsibility for ourselves and maturing. Is it really a God we are experiencing in breaking the gateways between ego and the Unconscious, or is it the destruction of consciousness and ego?

Great read though. Don't miss it!

Living in the Borderland. Jerome S. Bernstein.......2006-01-21

This is an important work, both in a psychological and cultural sense. Bernstein is writing about "Borderland" personalities and environmental illness but these two issues also relate to a sea change going on below the surface of the Western psyche. Bernstein is one of a very small number of people who is trying to track this sea change -- pointing us to its possibilities and its potential dangers. Living in the Borderland is a big picture book that dares to ask the really important cultural questions of our day.

Livng in the Borderland. Jerome S. Bernstein.......2006-01-11

In his book Living in the Borderland, Jungian Analyst Jerome Bernstein provides a fascinating account of the development of the Western ego from an historical interpretation of the Bible down to our present post-Cold War environment. The author posits that this development has moved the Western psyche away from its roots in Nature into an ever more abstracted intellectual consciousness. As the human species approaches the very real potential for self-annihilation through nuclear assault and ultimate environmental degradation, an evolutionary shift in psychic consciousness has begun, a shift that appears in a growing number of individuals. In a Darwinian sense, it is an evolutionary manifestation of species survival. This shift is evidenced as the psyche's reconnection with Nature, to Nature in all its forms, animate and inanimate, that over the millennia the collective Western ego has neglected as it has developed increasingly toward abstraction of thought and the illusion of control. Through the years of his therapeutic practice Bernstein has seen many patients who are exhibiting this psychic shift. He calls these people Borderlanders, they live in a borderland between rational intellect and an emerging transrational consciousness.

For some Borderlanders, this awareness of the transrational as a dominant and controlling force in the psyche can be traumatic, not infrequently causing the individual to worry that he or she may be "crazy." Traditional psychological approaches to therapy often exacerbate this fear in that most therapists are unaware of the "normalcy" of this evolutionary shift in consciousness. They therefore tend to consider their Borderland patients as suffering from a psychic pathology. And herein is a major emphasis of this book: to alert psychological and medical practitioners as well as the patients themselves, that certain patients' experiences, while evidencing symptoms of psychic trauma, may not be pathological. The situation is often complicated, however, when a patient may evidence psychological illness that is genuinely symptomatic of traumatic experience, yet is unrelated to a patient's borderland consciousness. In this case it is the formidable task of the therapist to differentiate the pathological from the new evolutionary consciousness that is beginning to manifest.

The book is extremely well researched and thoroughly documented with personal testimonials, bibliographic references, and case studies, and contains an exhaustive bibliography. It is essential reading for all psychotherapists and medical practitioners and their patients, and is especially relevant to those suffering from or treating environmental illness. Individuals interested in Jungian psychology and early childhood educators who may be encountering this psychic phenomenon among children will find the guidance of this book invaluable.

Reviewed by Mari Graña, writer. Santa Fe, NM

Seminal Work.......2006-01-09

In this seminal work, Jerome Bernstein presents a highly literate account of the development of the Western ego and chronicles for the first time the stories of those individuals who are experiencing an evolutionary shift of consciousness that manifests itself in many ways, but particularly in receptivity to what he calls transrational reality and sensitivity to all things animate and, to the Western mind, inanimate. He establishes a link between this emerging consciousness and sensitivity to environmental toxins, capturing in graceful and compassionate language both the desperation of those who suffer from environmental illness and the frustration of those who valiantly seek ways to treat them. He differentiates strongly between those who live in the borderland and those who suffer from borderline personality disorder, suggesting therapeutic approaches based on clinical experience. He argues passionately for a new paradigm for the healing of trauma through a reconnecting of the Western medical model with a body-mind-spirit approach, most notably that of the Navajo medical model.

As someone who spent seven months in treatment for pesticide poisoning at an environmental clinic, I was blown away by the accuracy with which Mr. Bernstein portrayed the plight and the suffering of those who experience environmental illness as well as the approaches to treatment. As one who has experienced healing through a combination of allopathic and spiritual approaches, including antigen therapy, psychotherapy, energy medicine and Navajo ceremonials, I can testify to the power of the combined modalities. As a writer with one foot in the creative universe, I applaud the authenticity with which Mr. Bernstein describes the borderland.

A definite must read for clinicians, researchers, patients, and anyone interested in Jungian thought, transrational experience, and environmental illness.

Beyond therapy.......2006-01-09

This insightful work de-pathologizes and validates the highly sensitive person, exploring the social and ecological value of uber-intuitives and offering clinicians exciting new approaches to working with such individuals. A well-constructed and accessible read.

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Sometimes Freud is just Freud
Freud and Illusion
Roger Schmeeckle Misrepresents Freud
Religion Explained ... Again
freud hoisted on his own petard, but not an atheist

The Future of an Illusion
Sigmund Freud , and James Strachey
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393008312

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Of the various English translations of Freud's major works to appear in his lifetime, only one was authorized by Freud himself: The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud under the general editorship of James Strachey. Freud approved the overall editorial plan, specific renderings of key words and phrases, and the addition of valuable notes, from bibliographical and explanatory. Many of the translations were done by Strachey himself; the rest were prepared under his supervision. The result was to place the Standard Edition in a position of unquestioned supremacy over all other existing versions.

Newly designed in a uniform format, each new paperback in the Standard Edition opens with a biographical essay on Freud's life and work—along with a note on the individual volume—by Peter Gay, Sterling Professor of History at Yale.

Customer Reviews:

Sometimes Freud is just Freud.......2007-08-14

This book describes religion as a universal mental illness, which says it all. As such, Freud predicts a time when we can rise above it.

"Religion would thus be the universal obsessional neurosis of of humanity; like the obsessional neurosis of children, it arose out of the Oedipus complex, out of the relation to the father." If this is true, then Freud supposes that "a turning away from religion is bound to occur with the fatal inevitability of a process of growth, and ...we find ourselves at this very juncture in the middle of that phase of developement."

It is worth reading quickly, as it makes the same few points over and over.

Freud and Illusion.......2007-01-03

This is a very slim text that addresses some very big issues. I would recommend it as part of any Freud collection and also for any collection on religion. Certainly a requirement that one have at least a primer on Freudian concepts so the nature of Illusion can be placed into some kind of meaningful context.

Roger Schmeeckle Misrepresents Freud.......2006-05-09

In his 27 Feb 2006 review of Freud's The Future of an Illusion, Roger Schmeeckle misrepresents Freud's explanation (on pages 38-42 of this Norton publication) between Illusion and Delusion.

Roger correctly identified Freud's concept of Delusion as "something that is believed that is not true" -- but then oversimplifies by stating that Freud said an Illusion is "something that may be true or false, but is believed because we want to believe it."

This oversimplification ignores what Freud goes on to say, "Illusions need not be necessarily false - that is to say unrealizable or in contradiction to reality. For instance, a middle-class girl may have the illusion that a prince will come and marry her. This is possible; and a few such cases have occurred. That the Messiah will come is much less likely. Whether one classifies this belief as illusion or something analogous to delusion will depend on one's personal attitude."

The point being, that while the "absolute" truth or falsity of an illusion is debatable - common sense and reason enable us to infer or deduce where the truth actually lies. For instance, it IS possible that the Sun will rise in the west tomorrow (as I am unable to prove something false which has yet to occur), but I would be a fool and utterly devoid of reason and intellect to presume that it will occur.

Roger then asserts that Freud was "not so much atheistic as irreligious." That Freud was irreligious is certain (what atheist wouldn't be) -- but I do not understand how anyone can read The Future of an Illusion and not easily conclude that the author was a confirmed atheist. The entire work is a testament to atheism. Accordingly, it is absurd to suggest that because Freud does not simply state "I do not believe in God" there is reason to infer that he may have believed in one.

Roger continues by arguing that Freud had a "bias" or "prejudice" against religion, whereby Freud's "wish" for there to be no God led him into his own Illusions of atheism. This is quite a stretch and a distortion of Freud's dissertation -- which has at its core the fundamental assertion of reason and the power of the intellect to overcome humankind's infantile and primitive need for "wish fulfillment" in the form of a protective and benevolent God.

And in a final shot, Roger accusing Freud of being a prisoner of his times -- a subject of "materialistic determinism" -- and for not having investigated or being familiar with "the evidence and reasoning of those who defend their own religious belief."

Yet, that Freud was all too familiar with and understanding of the nature and roots of religious beliefs is the hallmark of The Future of an Illusion. That he might have been a "materialistic determinist" is unknown to me -- but that he was a genius as well as great "Humanist" with a profound regard for and understanding of the Human Race seems clear.

Religion Explained ... Again .......2006-03-30

This short book is well worth the plunge. It gives a psychoanalytic answer to the questions, Why God? and Why we still need a god? The book, written late in Freud's career, remains controversial mostly because of the nature of the subject matter. However, one should not be surprised that Freud's analysis ends as it does - suggesting that the world might be better off without religion. Many reviewers attribute this conclusion to the fact that Freud himself was not a religious man. However, another point of view might be equally valid: any psychoanalytic analysis of religion -- even by a theist -- would likely have come to the same conclusion.

In fact, Freud's conclusion -- that religion is an illusion born out of a need to surmount fear of the unknown, with its central component being a "father complex" - - is not far removed from, and actually resonates with, that of other scientists -- in particular with John F. Schumaker's "The Wings of Illusion," as well as his much deeper "The Corruption of Reality," which carries these ideas much further; or even Pascal Boyer's "Religion Explained." For a refreshing opposing point of view that is also scientific, I found Peter Berger's Rumors of Angels a sensitive counterbalance to Freud's non-emotional approach.

While this was not Freud's best work, neither is it his worse. Given his Civilizations and its Discontents, it would be difficult to imagine him not having left a firm statement on the psychoanalytic nature of religion.

Because it is Freud, it deserves Five Stars.

freud hoisted on his own petard, but not an atheist.......2006-02-28

I would like to clear up some confusion regarding the use of the terms "illusion" and "delusion," which Freud himself distinguishes early in this book. A "delusion" is something that is believed that is not true. An "illusion" is something that might be true or false, but that is believed because we want to believe it. Religion is then regarded as the fullfillment of infantile wishes, implying that it is something we outgrow. But Freud has admitted by his choice of terminology that religion might be true.

As to the question of Freud's atheism, the book cites, as I recall, evidence of both a Protestant pastor, and admirer of Freud, who considered him an atheist and a relative who said whatever else he was, he was not an atheist. Freud does not attempt to resolve that difference, as he so easily could have.
I know of no evidence anywhere in Freud's writings that he ever committed himself to atheism, at least, if "atheism" is defined as denying the existence of God. (Broader definitions are possible.) I conclude that Freud's underlying disposition is not so much atheistic as irreligious.

I say "underlying disposition," but I could just as well say
"bias" or "prejudice." Now let us consider what that disposition, which never is proven, but which is clearly manifested, implies. Since no justification is offered in any rational manner, we must look for a pattern in what is said. A rubric that covers not only everything in this book, but perhaps everything he wrote, is "illusion." Perhaps that was Freud's Freudian sloppy slip. For his irrational bias against religion can easily be explained as an infantile wish that religion, by which he would have probably thought of the Jewish faith and the Christian faith as they were represented in Vienna at the time, were not true. He didn't want them to be true.

A further consideration is that in this book Freud gives no evidence whatsoever of having investigated, or even being familiar with, the evidence and the reasoning of those who defend their own religious belief or the demonstrable proclivity of the human race to believe and practice or feel guilty about their failure to practice, some religion. In this he is just an intellectual of his time, a time dominated by materialistic determinism in the name of science.

I agree with those who regard Freud as a great writer. His prose carries the reader right along, until the absurdity of the ideas makes you want to throw up. I first read Freud at the age of 22, ploughing my way through "The Interpretation of Dreams." Even then I could see that he was subjecting all his empirical, i.e. clinical, evidence into the framework of a system of subjective categories, which at the very least were dubious.

Freud's scientific pretensions were an attempt, unconscious perhaps, to give prestige to his new ideas. At the time science was riding high. Marx, also, for instance, regarded his ideas as scientific. And I do not mean to imply that Freud was not a good observer, nor that he was dishonest, just deluded by his illusions. He founded a very influential cult, that has lasted until our own day, although it has never gained anything resembling general scientific acceptance. Several of his earliest colleagues broke with him, the most important being Jung and Adler. That is typical of cults, which cannot bear the weight of more than one dominant personality.

Open to Desire: The Truth About What the Buddha Taught

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Kill Attachment and not Desire
An Amazing Book With Great Spiritual Applications
The ending is worth the wait, but enjoy the journey!
Eastern/Western Buddhist philosophy
Thank you Dr. Epstein

Open to Desire: The Truth About What the Buddha Taught
Mark Epstein
Manufacturer: Gotham
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ASIN: 1592401856

Book Description

Helping readers to reconcile their conflicting thoughts about desire from both a Buddhist and a psychological point of view, Mark Epstein's well-received book now arrives in trade paperback.

“A masterpiece. . . . It teaches us how not to fear and repress, but to rechannel and harness the most powerful energies of life toward freedom and bliss.” —ROBERT THURMAN

It is common in both Buddhism and Freudian psychoanalysis to treat desire as if it is the root of all suffering and problems, but psychiatrist Mark Epstein believes this to be a grave misunderstanding. In his controversial defense of desire, he makes clear that it is the key to deepening intimacy with ourselves, each other, and our world.

Proposing that spiritual attainment does not have to be detached from intimacy or eroticism, Open to Desire begins with an exploration of the state of dissatisfaction that causes us to cling to irrational habits. Dr. Epstein helps readers overcome their own fears of desire so that they can more readily bridge the gap between self and other, cope with feelings of incompletion, and get past the perception of others as objects. Freed from clinging and shame, desire's spiritual potential can then be opened up.

Praise for Open to Desire:
“A fascinating look at the urge for pleasure, with the goal of helping readers accept the sensation of wanting into their lives in ways that are helpful both spiritually and psychologically.”
—BODY & SOUL

Customer Reviews:

Kill Attachment and not Desire.......2007-02-10

Epstein's latest book argues that, according to both Buddha and Freud, it is not desire that we need to abandon, rather it is attachment that needs to be resolved in our daily lives. He presents this argument in an unabashed and intimate manner, which sets a very different tone from the clinical though spiritual style of his previous books.

Many buddhists believe that desire is an enemy of spiritual growth but Epstein says that not only should we not be afraid of desire, it is actually a good thing and is a possible path toward enlightenment. He says that intimacy is not a barrier to spiritual growth and that desire can be used to experience some of the lessons that Buddhism teaches about bliss and emptiness. To support his case, Epstein uses an impressive range of sources, ranging from the Ramayana to case studies of patients. At times the breadth of the sources, such as clinical case histories juxtaposed with tanta, detract from the clarity of his arguments.

In the buddhist community saying that desire is not the enemy is like wearing a Clinton t-shirt to a republican convention. Well not exactly, but you get the idea. So he is taking a bit of a risk here which adds, dare I say it, passion to his arguments, making this book a more interesting read than typical pedagogical books in the area. Epstein reverts to his usual style at the end of the book by talking about how one can work with desire in a positive way. He suggests we do this by just "being" with the desire and not clinging to it or rejecting it. Overall an excellent book on buddhism and psychology (mainly Freud) and how these two disciplines deal with desire (but be warned it is quite a bit different from my previous books both in style as well as content, if that is what you are looking for)

An Amazing Book With Great Spiritual Applications.......2007-01-18

Epstein's masterful weaving of western psychology, buddhist and hindu teachings and contemporary relationships yields a sum that is definitely greater than its parts. Without explicitly stating it, he has been able to describe extremely well the impossible circumstances humans find themselves in on this planet. The experience and pursuit of desire leads to the experience of the divine, if ever so brief. However, Epstein successfully points out that we can never possess the divine and unify with it through romantic love. This sets up the inevitable process that leads each individual to love and yet fail to possess the divine experience that is so badly sought. This leads to the birth of the spirtiual impulse or the birth of greater awareness or expanded consciousness which then sets the individual on one of the many paths, Kaballah, Sufi, Zen etc. that will lead to the divine.

It is just a wonderful book as so many people are buried in mythical notions of love and are completely confused by their ongoing troubles in this area. Most people don't understand that the whole process is designed with purposeful flaws to ensure spiritual growth.

I particularly liked Epstein's description of the Stupa and the path surrounding it. A great physical representation of a complex concept.

The ending is worth the wait, but enjoy the journey!.......2006-12-07

I've read some of Epstein's other books and they are all very good, very thoughtful. He writes with a genuineness that comes from a good heart.

This book intrigued me because it was about desire, sexual desire and lust for "fun," for life-experiences that really "blow us away." Such desires are often denigrated, and I feel that Zen and Theravada masters are as Puritanical as some Christians. So I read Epstein's book with keen interest, and he didn't disappoint, but he did challenge me to learn *WHY* the left-handed path is okay to follow, rather than just give me permission to chase after my own lusts.

Chapter 8, "A Facilitating Environment," was clearly the best part of the book. But the final short chapter, "Jumping In," was wonderfully delicious and surprising. I won't spoil it, but it was truly beautiful. And his very last sentence tied in with a crucial experience eating lobster roll in Manhattan much earlier in the book.

All in all, a truly wonderful book! Thank you, Dr. Epstein!!!!

Eastern/Western Buddhist philosophy.......2006-08-20

Open to Desire offers great insight to a novice on clarifying eastern Buddhism's view on non-attachment for the western mindset.

To the west, non-attachment to individuals and things is cold and uncaring. However, Dr. .Epstein makes it clear that desire is acceptable and healthy. It is when you breach that desire to an unhealthy state of clinging that manifest into a negative connotation.

Overall, Dr. Epstein makes it clear that through discipline and restraint that you can fully embrace and accept love--and fully be open to desire.

Thank you Dr. Epstein.......2006-08-20

I recommend this book to anyone who has ever desired for something that he or she could never achieve. Though I found this book in Religion/Buddhist section of the bookstore, I will encourage non-Buddhist to read this book as well because this books deals with the basic cause of human suffering.

This book has brought enormous amount of peace to me during a very difficult phase of my life.

I am a neo-Buddhist and for the past two years, I had been working on the "cessation of attachment" to objects. I felt that I was almost there.

Then I met a remarkable woman who simply swept me off my feet with her beauty and intelligence. As it happens in life, I will never be able to "have" her. All my self-training on "cessation of attachment" were forgotten. I was missing her so badly that one evening I developed symptoms of a heart attack and had to be admitted in the hospital.

It was at the time of despair and heartache when I found this book. This book has afforded my the best psychotherapy I could ever imagine. This book has taught me to separate my desire from craving. I have learned to preserve and not feel guilty for my desire and fight, to some extent, defeat the craving I had for my friend. I have learned to acknowledge and respect my friend as "whole person" and not only the perspective of her that I see.

I recommend this book to every man and woman of this earth.

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An Incredibly Intense Read
Worth reading both for Jung and for Shamdasani
Although Jung didn't understand kundalini phenomenon...

The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga
C. G. Jung
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691006768

Book Description

"Kundalini yoga presented Jung with a model of something that was almost completely lacking in Western psychology--an account of the development phases of higher consciousness.... Jung's insistence on the psychogenic and symbolic significance of such states is even more timely now than then. As R. D. Laing stated... 'It was Jung who broke the ground here, but few followed him.'"--From the introduction by Sonu Shamdasani

Jung's seminar on Kundalini yoga, presented to the Psychological Club in Zurich in 1932, has been widely regarded as a milestone in the psychological understanding of Eastern thought and of the symbolic transformations of inner experience. Kundalini yoga presented Jung with a model for the developmental phases of higher consciousness, and he interpreted its symbols in terms of the process of individuation. With sensitivity toward a new generation's interest in alternative religions and psychological exploration, Sonu Shamdasani has brought together the lectures and discussions from this seminar. In this volume, he re-creates for today's reader the fascination with which many intellectuals of prewar Europe regarded Eastern spirituality as they discovered more and more of its resources, from yoga to tantric texts. Reconstructing this seminar through new documentation, Shamdasani explains, in his introduction, why Jung thought that the comprehension of Eastern thought was essential if Western psychology was to develop. He goes on to orient today's audience toward an appreciation of some of the questions that stirred the minds of Jung and his seminar group: What is the relation between Eastern schools of liberation and Western psychotherapy? What connection is there between esoteric religious traditions and spontaneous individual experience? What light do the symbols of Kundalini yoga shed on conditions diagnosed as psychotic? Not only were these questions important to analysts in the 1930s but, as Shamdasani stresses, they continue to have psychological relevance for readers on the threshold of the twenty-first century. This volume also offers newly translated material from Jung's German language seminars, a seminar by the indologist Wilhelm Hauer presented in conjunction with that of Jung, illustrations of the cakras, and Sir John Woodroffe's classic translation of the tantric text, the Sat-cakra Nirupana.

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"Kundalini yoga presented Jung with a model of something that was almost completely lacking in Western psychology—an account of the development phases of higher consciousness.... Jung's insistence on the psychogenic and symbolic significance of such states is even more timely now than then. As R. D. Laing stated... 'It was Jung who broke the ground here, but few followed him.'"--From the introduction by Sonu Shamdasani Jung's seminar on Kundalini yoga, presented to the Psychological Club in Zurich in 1932, has been widely regarded as a milestone in the psychological understanding of Eastern thought and of the symbolic transformations of inner experience. Kundalini yoga presented Jung with a model for the developmental phases of higher consciousness, and he interpreted its symbols in terms of the process of individuation. With sensitivity toward a new generation's interest in alternative religions and psychological exploration, Sonu Shamdasani has brought together the lectures and discussions from this seminar. In this volume, he re-creates for today's reader the fascination with which many intellectuals of prewar Europe regarded Eastern spirituality as they discovered more and more of its resources, from yoga to tantric texts. Reconstructing this seminar through new documentation, Shamdasani explains, in his introduction, why Jung thought that the comprehension of Eastern thought was essential if Western psychology was to develop. He goes on to orient today's audience toward an appreciation of some of the questions that stirred the minds of Jung and his seminar group: What is the relation between Eastern schools of liberation and Western psychotherapy? What connection is there between esoteric religious traditions and spontaneous individual experience? What light do the symbols of Kundalini yoga shed on conditions diagnosed as psychotic?

Customer Reviews:

An Incredibly Intense Read.......2007-05-25

I found this book an incredibly intense book to read. There's nothing simple about it. I had hoped for both clarity and understanding and received neither. I kept reading...hoping upon hope that Shamdasani's words would hold me spellbound and captivated.

I seek truth in its simplest form, but did not find it here. While I am certain that Shamdasani's intent was to provide the reader with an intelligent read, his need for intellectual diatribes created, in stead, an emotional abyss; I found that I could not connect with his analysis without great intensity of focus. Frankly, I didn't have either the time or the inclination to work that hard to grasp the connections.

Had Shamdasani employed simplicity of thought and content as his guides, the average reader might actually benefit from his wisdom and intellect.

Worth reading both for Jung and for Shamdasani.......2006-02-27

Jung's ideas on Kundalini are brilliant, but reveal more about Jungian psychology than Kundalini.
As with all of Shamdasani's writing, his introduction provides a historical context that both enriches Jung's interpretation and tells us much of the era in which his ideas emerged

Although Jung didn't understand kundalini phenomenon..........2000-06-02

...or what we now refer to as Spiritual Emergence, he amplifies the chakra symbols with such interesting illustrations that the book is well worth the price paid for it.

Unlikely Companions: C. G. Jung on the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

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Unlikely Companions: C. G. Jung on the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
Kenneth L. Becker
Manufacturer: Gracewing
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ASIN: 0852443676

Flying Saucers : A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies

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UFO'S AS MANDALAS
Aberations in the Collective Unconscious.
imaginal symbols of wholeness
THE BASIS FOR UFOs PSYCHO-SOCIOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION

Flying Saucers : A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies
C. G. Jung
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
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While Jung is known mainly for his theories on the nature of the unconscious mind, he did have an interest in the paranormal. In this essay, Jung applies his analytical skills to the UFO phenomenon. Rather than assuming that the modern prevalence of UFO sightings are due to extraterrestrial craft, Jung reserves judgment on their origin and connects UFOs with archetypal imagery, concluding that they have become a "living myth." This essay is intriguing in its methodology and implications as to the nature of UFOs and their relation to the human psyche.

Book Description

"In the threatening situation of the world today, when people are beginning to see that everything is at stake, the projection-creating fantasy soars beyond the realm of earthly organizations and powers into the heavens, into interstellar space, where the rulers of human fate, the gods, once had their abode in the planets.... Even people who would never have thought that a religious problem could be a serious matter that concerned them personally are beginning to ask themselves fundamental questions. Under these circumstances it would not be at all surprising if those sections of the community who ask themselves nothing were visited by `visions,' by a widespread myth seriously believed in by some and rejected as absurd by others."--C. G. Jung, in Flying Saucers

Jung's primary concern in Flying Saucers is not with the reality or unreality of UFOs but with their psychic aspect. Rather than speculate about their possible nature and extraterrestrial origin as alleged spacecraft, he asks what it may signify that these phenomena, whether real or imagined, are seen in such numbers just at a time when humankind is menaced as never before in history. The UFOs represent, in Jung's phrase, "a modern myth."

Customer Reviews:

UFO'S AS MANDALAS.......2006-11-30

Though we can come pretty close to taking it for granted that intelligent life exists somewhere out there in the universe, I also take it for granted that this has nothing to do with the UFO phenomenon. However, since so-called UFO's have been sighted by thousands of reputable people, and have been caught on radar, it is clear that they are something. In the 1950's, when FLYING SAUCERS was written, humanity felt itself to be on the brink of self destruction with nuclear weapons. Today, that menace is not only compounded by archaic religious fanaticism, but we also face the even greater threat of global warming. Dr. Jung's notion is that such tensions in the psyche create a potential which expresses itself as manifestation of psychic energy so that a "uniting symbol" is created in the unconscious. Though the idea that UFO's are psychic projections capable of being picked up by radar is hard to take seriously, it is less so than the idea that FTL alien spacecraft have been buzzing around Earth for hundreds of years.

Even is there should turn out to be some physical explanation for UFO's, it is the meaning of the rumor that is of importance. Most alien abductions might well be delusions induced during hypnogogic states of mind, but that explanation does not eliminate the importance of the fact that thousands of people are experiencing such a delusion. Mass-mindedness -- Communism, Corporationism, Nazism, and Christian and Moslem fanaticism -- has proven itself to be the greatest danger facing modern man. So Dr. Jung postulates that the psyche projects a symbol of wholeness, a mandala, in response to this danger. Of course, if mankind ignores this symbolic warning by interpreting it as alien spacecraft, it does us no good.
(Peter Payne, author of CAPTAIN CALIFORNIA: A YOUNG MAN'S ENCOUNTER WITH THE EVIL WITHIN HIMSELF)

Aberations in the Collective Unconscious........2001-08-02

In a world of black helicopters flying overhead, cattle mutilations, and Y2K bugs, these cogent remarks by Jung are all the more relevant. The post-modern era is plagued by millenial hysteria, doomsday cults, and "alien visitations". What does this all mean for modern man? Psychical aberations manifest themselves in mass delusions. What else lurks in the depths of man's soul? And, what else is waiting to rise to the surface? We can only speculate.

imaginal symbols of wholeness.......2000-06-02

Jung's interpretation of flying saucers as compensatory Self symbols of wholeness required by an era of psychological fragmentation is both brilliant and well-developed in this fine little book.

THE BASIS FOR UFOs PSYCHO-SOCIOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION.......1999-08-24

What Jung did with this book is, fundamentally, setting the honest basis for UFO intereptation from a psychological point of view. That's why the open postulates he gained from this inquiry have generated many controversies and strumentalization among the ufologists' field. UFOs - says Jung - may be psycho-sociological phenomena which come from both the inner symbolic human subconscious AND from our technological era's imaginism. However, those hardly conventionally explainable episode may even - in Jung's own opinion - be a HARD and MATERIAL phenomenon, which may be explained with extraterrestrial visits. From this point of view, the sociological redutionism slips towards a postume status, leaving the question as open as ever. Definitely, the book you should be starting with if you like the subject.

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