Exploring the rise of psychoanalysis, the book reveals how it secured its influential cultural status not by defeating competing theories but by reshaping historical narratives. It delves into the intricate interplay between psychoanalysis and its contemporaries, highlighting the strategic maneuvers that allowed it to dominate intellectual discourse. Through this lens, the text examines the broader implications of this rescripting on contemporary understanding of psychology and culture.
This comprehensive study delves into the origins of Jung's psychology, exploring its development alongside the emergence of modern psychological thought. It examines key concepts and influences that shaped Jung's theories, providing insights into their significance in contemporary psychology. The book offers a detailed analysis of historical contexts and intellectual currents that contributed to the evolution of psychological practices and ideas, making it an essential resource for understanding Jung's impact on the field.
How many "posthumous" lives does a man have to live? Nearly half a century after his death, C. G. Jung is a subject of continual controversies. Every few years, a new life of Jung appears, each promising to provide the missing master key to the mysteries of his life and work, and to lay bare their secrets. However, with every successive "life", Jung becomes shrouded in an ever-increasing web of rumour, gossip, innuendo and fantasy. We may ask why Jung biographies are so filled with shortcomings? How did Jung become a fiction? This book addresses these issues. It demonstrates the pitfalls and fallacies of such works, and sets out how his life and work should be approached on a historical basis, drawing on decades of archival investigation and new documentation. It surveys attempts to write Jung's biography from during his own lifetime until the present; shows how Memories, Dreams, Reflections came to be falsely perceived as his autobiography; and why his Collected Works was never completed. Thus this work lays out an agenda for future studies and discussions of Jung, the reception of his work and its impact on contemporary culture.
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. Sonu Shamdasani has brought together the lectures and discussions from this seminar for the first time. 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, and Sir John Woodroffe's classic translation of the tantric text, the Sat-cakra-nirupana.
Exploring the documentary evidence surrounding claims of Carl Jung as a would-be prophet, the author examines the notion of a hero cult that allegedly formed around him. Through careful analysis, Shamdasani reveals that these claims lack substantial support, challenging the narrative of Jung as a central prophetic figure. This investigation sheds light on the complexities of Jung's legacy and the misconceptions that have arisen about his influence and the nature of his followers.
