Other reviewers have made general statements about the four archetypes -- Mother, Rebirth, Spirit, Trickster - covered in this volume of C.G. Jung's work. For the purpose of this review and as a way of conveying the richness of Jung's archetypes, I will focus on one specific aspect of the Rebirth archetype: Enlargement of Personality.Jung begins this section with the sentence, "The personality is seldom, in the beginning, what it will be later on." Thus, a kind of metamorphosis is at the very core of our being. This is clear when we reflect on the various stages of childhood and adolescence, most specifically, when we think about the transformation in males from boyhood to manhood and a female's transformation from girlhood into womanhood. Cultural anthropologists have written extensively on the rituals surrounding this life-transforming event within traditional societies.Here is Jung's next sentence, "For this reason the possibility of enlarging it (personality) exists, at least during the first half of life." Why the first half of life? Simple biology. The most obvious example is the enlargement of personality a baby makes in the first few years, from being an infant to being a walking, talking toddler. And so biology propels the toddler thru the phases of childhood and adolescence right up until the time when the person becomes an adult.But what about the second half of life, where the enlargements are less biological and more psychic and subtle? Here are Jung's words on the topic, "Therefore, if some great idea takes hold of us from outside, we must understand that it takes hold of us only because something in us responds to it and goes out to meet it." Ultimately, the key to enlargement as an adult is our responding, our own internal movement to what we encounter in our world. This internal movement is underscored when Jung writes, "Richness of mind consists in mental receptivity, not in the accumulation of possessions." I am reminded of one of my spiritual teachers who said, "Don't plateau.", which is a warning against being complacent, being unwilling to go out to meet the great ideas, the great ongoing challenges we as adults are given in our lives.Keeping on this topic, a man who has spent many years as a Jungian-trained counselor told me that when the soul cries out for enlargement and one does not heed this internal call, there is a change, a shift, but the shifting and changing can manifest physically. Perhaps this is why we have an epidemic of obesity in the United States: a large portion of the population will not rise to the challenge to enlarge spiritually and thus the body responds by enlarging physically.Nietzsche speaks again and again on how the arts, creativity and the spiritual path pose challenges to the individual soul. If an artist is truly an artist, one will expand and enlarge one's personality, continually redefining oneself, a series of rebirths, one after another. Of course, one need not be a Picasso or Mondrian; rather, one is called to be an artist of one's own life. And what of those people who lives are smug and self-satisfied, refusing to transform? Here are Jung's words, "He who is truly and hopelessly little will always drag the revelation of the greater down to the level of his littleness . . . " And when one finally sees one's own life in need of transformation? Perhaps this lies behind the mid-life crisis so common in the modern world.
Jung ve Borges bir akşam yemeği yeseydi de ben de onlara bir tepsi baklava ikram etseydim yan masadan diye düşündüm kitabı okurken. Kitabın içeriği bir yana, bir insanı tanıyor olmak, jung'un zihninde dolaşmak hayli mitolojik bir yolculuk. Zihninizde medeniyet tarihini canlandırırken, diğer yandan psikoloji odağını kaybetmeyen Jung, onca kavram ve anlatının sonuna vurucu bir ben, bilinçdışı, üstben, persona, gölge çıkarımı koyuyor. Bu kavramları netleştirmeden okunabilir ancak, analitik psikolojinin öğeleri zihninizde oturmamışsa, mitolojik anlatıdan jung'un vardığı yere varmakta zorlanabilirsiniz. Kitabın sonuç bölümlerinde Jung'un madde odaklı, rasyonel dünyaya öfkesini okuyabileceğiniz muazzam tespitler söz konusu. Kehf suresi, Hızır, Musa, Zülkarneyn anlatımı, balık ve Yeşua tespitlerinin halen -Jung, ruhunun bakışı kaç köşeli dedirten- etkisi altındayım. Ancak, anlattıklarından mı, Jung'dan mı mest oldum, bütünün etkisinde miyim, bilmiyorum.
Do You like book Four Archetypes (2015)?
Even though my psychology background is enough, I find this book badly hard to read. While picking up this slim volume I was hoping to find something useful like introduction to archetypal pedagogy; but there are no sufficient examples and even no mention to certain important archetypes.Jung himself says while thera are limitless archetypes, many different types may overlap& combine at any given time. I am too, upset with the irrelevant selection of these four.Nevertheless amazed by the cultural references to primordial civilizations and societies, of the trickster; and how Jung applies mother archetype to various psychoses and mental types. Simply thought provoking!
—Duygu Ece
Kehf Suresi bağlamında söyledikleri mantıktaki ''korkuluk hatası''yla ifade edilebilir. Jung, furqan(doğru-yanlış ayıt etme yetisi)ndan yoksun zihniyle kurgusal bir kıssa oluşturuyor, daha sonra sistemli bir karşılaştırmayla kendi kuramına malzeme çıkarıyor. Bazı Arapların bozuk tasavvuru ile Kuran'ın hakikatini karıştırıp sunuyor. Zaten insanların çoğu da böyle yaparlar. Doğrusu, ne Resulullah Hızır'a inanmıştır ne de Kuran O'ndan bahsetmiştir. Bazı Arapların gnostisizminin analizi Kuran'dan seçmelerle karıştırılıp -daha sonra bu karışım İslam zannedilip- sunulmuştur Jung tarafından.
—Furkan
Was hoping to find "On the Interpretation of Dreams" since I am thoroughly tired of my repetitive ones and thought that might be helpful. But this was all the Jung in the St. Andrew's library, which is where I was last night. Read the Mother Archetype last night, and was rather disappointed since I'd hoped for more explanation and interpretation than results of bad mothering. And, of course, I could instantly see myself in some of the Bad Mother examples he gave!Not an easy read as the book was full of psychological terms, but worthwhile. My favorite section was the one on Rebirth, though the one on Fairy Stories sure had a Wow! finish, to quote Humphrey Bogart.
—Karen Floyd
