Modern Man in Search of a Soul

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Modern Man in Search of a Soul
Modern Man in Search of a Soul.jpg
First edition
AuthorCarl Jung
Translator Cary F. Baynes with William Stanley Dell
LanguageGerman, English
SubjectPsychology
Published1933 Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co, London (English)
Media typePrint
Pages282 (1st edition)
ISBN 0-15-661206-2 (Mariner Books edition)

Modern Man in Search of a Soul is a book of psychological essays written by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung.

Contents

Background

In the years preceding this publication, Jung had experienced several dramatic shifts. After the Bugishu Psychological Expedition through East Africa with George Beckwith, H. G. Baynes, and Ruth Bailey, Jung returned to Zürich and focused on the lecture format of his English seminars at the Psychological Club - eventually attracting a new group of international followers. [1] In addition to expanding his academic following, Jung's psychiatric practice also rapidly grew taking on notable patients like Mary Foote and Thornton Wilder. During this period in Zürich, Jung struck up a friendship with Wolfgang Ernst Pauli.

In the translators' preface Cary F. Baynes provides some background to the material:

With one exception, all the essays which make up this volume have been delivered as lectures. The German texts of four of them have been brought out in separate publications and the others are to be found in a volume [Seelenprobleme der Gegenwart] together with several other essays which have already appeared in English. [2]

Jung's various presentations to the Psychological Club in Zürich in this period, notably his 1932 seminar on Kundalini yoga, have been widely regarded as a milestone in the psychological understanding of Eastern thought. Kundalini yoga presented Jung with a model for the development of higher consciousness, and he interpreted its symbols in terms of the process of individuation. [3]

Summary

The writing covers a broad array of subjects such as gnosticism, theosophy, Eastern philosophy, and spirituality in general. The first part of the book deals with dream analysis in its practical application, the problems and aims of modern psychotherapy, and also his own theory of psychological types. The middle section addresses Jung's beliefs about the stages of life and Archaic man. He also contrasts his own theories with those of Sigmund Freud.

In the latter parts of the book, Jung discusses psychology and literature and devotes a chapter to basic postulates of analytical psychology. The last two chapters are devoted to the spiritual problem of modern man in aftermath of World War I. He compares it to the flowering of gnosticism in the 2nd century C.E. and investigates how psychotherapists are like clergy.

Reception

After reading the book, Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani stated in 2013 in a lecture in Blackburn, London that the book talks about the Nafs rather than the soul (Rooh).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kundalini</span> Form of divine energy in Hindu mysticism

In Hinduism, kundalini is a form of divine feminine energy believed to be located at the base of the spine, in the muladhara. It is an important concept in Śhaiva Tantra, where it is believed to be a force or power associated with the divine feminine or the formless aspect of the Goddess. This energy in the body, when cultivated and awakened through tantric practice, is believed to lead to spiritual liberation. Kuṇḍalinī is associated with Parvati or Adi Parashakti, the supreme being in Shaktism; and with the goddesses Bhairavi and Kubjika. The term, along with practices associated with it, was adopted into Hatha yoga in the 9th century. It has since then been adopted into other forms of Hinduism as well as modern spirituality and New Age thought.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Jung</span> Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist (1875–1961)

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. He was a prolific author, illustrator, and correspondent, and a complex and controversial character, presumably best known through his "autobiography" Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to spirituality:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Analytical psychology</span> Jungian theories

Analytical psychology is a term coined by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, to describe research into his new "empirical science" of the psyche. It was designed to distinguish it from Freud's psychoanalytic theories as their seven-year collaboration on psychoanalysis was drawing to an end between 1912 and 1913. The evolution of his science is contained in his monumental opus, the Collected Works, written over sixty years of his lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie-Louise von Franz</span> Swiss psychologist and scholar (1915-1998)

Marie-Louise von Franz was a Swiss Jungian psychologist and scholar, known for her psychological interpretations of fairy tales and of alchemical manuscripts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Hillman</span> American psychologist (1926–2011)

James Hillman was an American psychologist. He studied at, and then guided studies for, the C.G. Jung Institute in Zürich. He founded a movement toward archetypal psychology and retired into private practice, writing and traveling to lecture, until his death at his home in Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Charles Zaehner</span> British academic on Eastern religions

Robert Charles Zaehner was a British academic whose field of study was Eastern religions. He understood the original language of many sacred texts, e.g., Hindu (Sanskrit), Buddhist (Pali), Islamic (Arabic). At Oxford University his first writings were on the Zoroastrian religion and its texts. Starting in World War II, he had served as an intelligence officer in Iran. Appointed Spalding Professor at Oxford in 1952, his books addressed such subjects as mystical experience, Hinduism, comparative religion, Christianity and other religions, and ethics. He translated the Bhagavad-Gita, providing an extensive commentary based on Hindu tradition and sources. His last books addressed similar issues in popular culture, which led to his talks on the BBC. He published under the name R. C. Zaehner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbert Silberer</span> Psychoanalyst

Herbert Silberer was a Viennese psychoanalyst involved with the professional circle surrounding Sigmund Freud which included other pioneers of psychological study as Carl Gustav Jung, Alfred Adler and others. He had a background in athletics and sports journalism.

Sonu Shamdasani is a London-based author, editor in chief, and professor at University College London. His research and writings focus on Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) and cover the history of psychiatry and psychology from the mid-nineteenth century to current times.

Indra Sen was a devotee of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, psychologist, author, and educator, and the founder of Integral psychology as an academic discipline.

The Secret of the Golden Flower is a Chinese Taoist book on neidan meditation, which also mixes Buddhist teachings with some Confucian thoughts. It was written by means of the spirit-writing (fuji) technique, through two groups, in 1688 and 1692. After publication of the translation by Richard Wilhelm, with commentary by Carl Gustav Jung, it became modernly popularized among Westerners as a Chinese "religious classic", and is read in psychological circles for analytical and transpersonal psychology considerations of Taoist meditations, although it received little attention in the East.

The Jungian interpretation of religion, pioneered by Carl Jung and advanced by his followers, is an attempt to interpret religion in the light of Jungian psychology. Unlike Sigmund Freud and his followers, Jungians tend to treat religious beliefs and behaviors in a positive light, while offering psychological referents to traditional religious terms such as "soul", "evil", "transcendence", "the sacred", and "God". Because beliefs do not have to be facts in order for people to hold them, the Jungian interpretation of religion has been, and continues to be, of interest to psychologists and theists.

Carl Alfred Meier was a Swiss psychiatrist, Jungian psychologist, scholar, and first president of the C. G. Jung Institute in Zürich. As a successor to Carl Jung, he held the Chair of Honorary Professor of Psychology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in 1949. Later, co-founded the Clinic and Research Center for Jungian Psychology in Zürichberg.

<i>The Collected Works of C. G. Jung</i> Book series compiling the works of Carl Jung

The Collected Worksof C. G. Jung is a book series containing the first collected edition, in English translation, of the major writings of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung.

The Philemon Foundation is a non-profit organization that exists to prepare for publication the Complete Works of Carl Gustav Jung, beginning with the previously unpublished manuscripts, seminars and correspondences. It is estimated that an additional 30 volumes of work will be published and that the work will take three decades to complete.

June Singer was an American analytical psychologist. She co-founded the Analytical Psychology Club of Chicago, later the Jung Institute of Chicago, as well as the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. She helped to popularize Carl Jung's theories in the United States, and wrote several well-regarded books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Jung publications</span>

This is a list of writings published by Carl Jung. Many of Jung's most important works have been collected, translated, and published in a 20-volume set by Princeton University Press, entitled The Collected Works of C. G. Jung. Works here are arranged by original publication date if known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helton Godwin Baynes</span> Early 20th century British psychologist and disciple of Jung

Helton Godwin Baynes, also known as ‘Peter’ Baynes, was an English physician, army officer, analytical psychologist and author, who was a friend and early translator into English of Carl Jung.

<i>Psychoanalyse und Yoga</i>

Psychoanalyse und Yoga is a 1923 book by the German writer and philosopher Oscar Adolf Hermann Schmitz. The book introduces the synthesis of the Indian yoga method and the European psychoanalysis with the aim to create a yoga system for Europeans. The content of his essay is an elaboration on a lecture series about yoga and psychoanalysis given at the psychoanalytic conference of the School of Wisdom, which took place on the 3rd until 5 March in 1923.

Cary Baynes, born Cary Fink (1883–1977) was an American Jungian psychologist and translator. She translated several works by Jung, as well as Richard Wilhelm's version of the I Ching.

References

  1. Bair, Deirdre (2003). Jung: A Biography. New York: Little, Brown and Company. p. 358. ISBN   0-316-15938-7.
  2. Jung, Carl (1933). Modern Man in Search of a Soul. New York: Harvest. p. translators' preface. ISBN   0-15-661206-2.
  3. Princeton University Press, Book description to C. G. Jung - "The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga", 1999