Encountering Jung

Roderick Main is a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex. C. G. Jung had a lifelong interest in the paranormal that culminated in his influential theory of synchronicity. Combining extracts taken from the Collected Works; letters; the autobiographical Memories, Dreams, Reflections; and transcripts of seminars, Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal sets out clearly his seminal contribution to our understanding of this controversial area. In his introduction, Roderick Main discusses Jung's encounters with and observations of the paranormal, the influences that contributed to his theory of synchronicity, and the central ideas of the theory itself. The selections include Jung's writings on mediumistic trance phenomena, spirits and hauntings, anomalous events in the development and practice of analytical psychology, and the divinatory techniques of astrology and the I Ching. The book also features Jung's most lucid account of his theory in the form of his short essay "On Synchronicity," and a number of Jung's less-known writings on parapsychology, his astrological experiment, and the relationship between mind and body. Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal addresses subjects that were fundamental to Jung's personal and professional development. Probing deeply into the theory of synchronicity, Roderick Main clarifies issues that have long been a source of confusion to Jung's readers.

Joan Chodorow, Ph.D., is an analyst member of the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, in private practice. She is a registered dance therapist and former president of the American Dance Therapy Association. All the creative art psychotherapies (art, dance, music, drama, poetry) can trace their roots to C. G. Jung's early work on active imagination. Joan Chodorow here offers a collection of Jung's writings on active imagination, gathered together for the first time. Jung developed this concept between the years 1913 and 1916, following his break with Freud. During this time, he was disoriented and experienced intense inner turmoil --he suffered from lethargy and fears, and his moods threatened to overwhelm him. Jung searched for a method to heal himself from within, and finally decided to engage with the impulses and images of his unconscious. It was through the rediscovery of the symbolic play of his childhood that Jung was able to reconnect with his creative spirit. In a 1925 seminar and again in his memoirs, he tells the remarkable story of his experiments during this time that led to his self-healing. Jung learned to develop an ongoing relationship with his lively creative spirit through the power of imagination and fantasies. He termed this therapeutic method "active imagination." This method is based on the natural healing function of the imagination, and its many expressions. Chodorow clearly presents the texts, and sets them in the proper context. She also interweaves her discussion of Jung's writings and ideas with contributions from Jungian authors and artists.

Murray Stein, Ph.D., is the author of Jung's Treatment of Christianity, Practicing Wholeness, Transformation--Emergence of the Self, and Jung's Map of the Soul. He is an international lecturer and teacher, and currently vice president of the International Association for Analytical Psychology. He is also a training analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. C. G. Jung, son of a Swiss Reformed pastor, used his Christian background throughout his career to illuminate the psychological roots of all religions. Jung believed religion was a profound, psychological response to the unknown--both the inner self and the outer worlds--and he understood Christianity to be a profound meditation on the meaning of the life of Jesus of Nazareth within the context of Hebrew spirituality and the Biblical worldview. Murray Stein's introduction relates Jung's personal relationship with Christianity to his psychological views on religion in general, his hermeneutic of religious thought, and his therapeutic attitude toward Christianity. This volume includes extensive selections from Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity," "Christ as a Symbol of the Self," from Aion, "Answer to Job," letters to Father Vincent White from Letters, and many more. "One thing above all should be stressed: Jung's ideas [about religion] are not the result of mere theory or of historical research-they have been wrested from the hard facts of his psychotherapeutic practice.... Jung is, by profession, a medical pastor of souls.... Thus, he not only possesses a very deep insight into the spiritual life of modern man; he also has to look round for what can help these sufferers."-Hans Schaer, Religion and the Cure of Souls in Jung's Psychology "Stein provides a good selection of Jung's texts with a clear introduction to his Christian background and theory of Christianity."-Diane Jonte-Pace

Robert A. Segal is Reader in the Department of Religious Studies, Lancaster University. He is author of The Poimandres as Myth and Joseph Campbell: An Introduction and has edited The Gnostic Jung, The Allure of Gnosticism, and The Myth and Ritual Theory. At least three major questions can be asked of myth: what is its subject matter? what is its origin? and what is its function? Theories of myth may differ on the answers they give to any of these questions, but more basically they may also differ on which of the questions they ask. C. G. Jung's theory is one of the few that purports to answer fully all three questions. This volume collects and organizes the key passages on myth by Jung himself and by some of the most prominent Jungian writers after him: Erich Neumann, Marie-Louise von Franz, and James Hillman. The book synthesizes the discovery of myth as a way of thinking, where it becomes a therapeutic tool providing an entrance to the unconscious. In the first selections, Jung begins to differentiate his theory from Freud's by asserting that there are fantasies and dreams of an "impersonal" nature that cannot be reduced to experiences in a person's past. Jung then asserts that the similarities among myths are the result of the projection of the collective rather than the personal unconscious onto the external world. Finally, he comes to the conclusion that myth originates and functions to satisfy the psychological need for contact with the unconscious--not merely to announce the existence of the unconscious, but to let us experience it. "In this valuable compilation, Segal brings organization, clarity, and structure to Jung's writings on mythology. . . . By a careful process of selection and contextualization, Segal has succeeded at presenting Jung's best insights on myth, archetype, dream, and religion while eliminating the detours and meanderings that often discourage students encountering Jung for the first time. Highly recommended."

Jenny Yates is Professor of Philosophy and Religion, and Chair of the Major in Religious Studies, Human Nature and Values at Wells College in Aurora, New York. She is coeditor of The Near-Death Experience: A Reader. "As a doctor, I make every effort to strengthen the belief in immortality, especially with older patients when such questions come threateningly close. For, seen in correct psychological perspective, death is not an end but a goal, and life's inclination towards death begins as soon as the meridian is past."--C.G. Jung, commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower ? Here collected for the first time are Jung's views on death and immortality, his writings often coinciding with the death of the most significant people in his life. The book shows many of the major themes running throughout the writings, including the relativity of space and time surrounding death, the link between transference and death, and the archetypes shared among the world's religions at the depths of the Self. The book includes selections from "On Resurrection," "The Soul and Death," "Concerning Rebirth," "Psychological Commentary on The Tibetan Book of the Dead" from the Collected Works, "Letter to Pastor Pfafflin" from Letters, and "On Life after Death." "Laypersons and specialists alike will find this selection of Jung's writings usefully arranged and absorbing . . . Yates's personal and lucid introduction stands apart from the usual, and she contributes much by tying events in Jung's life (and her own) to these letters and essays."---Lita Kurth, Religious Studies Review "A valuable collection of Jung's writings on the fundamental existential issue of death and the ever-present question regarding immortality, which are explored by Jung in his typical subjective and objective manner. Jung's views on these essential topics are even more important today as we prepare to enter the new millennium."-David H. Rosen, M.D., Texas A&M University