- Unknown Binding: 453 pages
- Publisher: Routledge & Kegan Paul (1968)
- Language English
- ASIN: B0007J3IAI
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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1 A thorough Westerner in feeling, I cannot but be profoundly impressed by the strangeness of this Chinese text. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
1 A thorough Westerner in feeling, I cannot but be profoundly impressed by the strangeness of this Chinese text. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Jung's alchemical writings are amongst the most difficult in his opus. There are three volumes of this in his Collected Works: Psychology and Alchemy (Collected Works of C.G. Jung)which is difficult, but repays effort (see my review of this); the Collected Works of C.G. Jung: Mysterium Coniunctionis: An Inquiry into the Separation and Synthesis of Psychic Opposites in Alchemy, which I've read, but that still defeats me; and finally this one.
Of the three this is by far the most approachable, though there may be some difficulties. The first part is Jung's commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower: Chinese Book of Life (Arkana) which is essential reading for anyone interested in his ideas, and should not create problems for a general reader. It's available separately for those not wanting to purchase this volume. Then there are three more essays.
One on "Paracelsus as a Spirtual Phenomenon" is Jung's longest essay about the late mediaval alchemist and founder of modern chemistry and medicine. It is more technical than Jung's other essays on the same subject in RC Series Bundle: The Spirit in Man, Art and Literature (Routledge Classics)- by which this one might be approached - but certainly worth reading for the greater depth. Then there are two other fascinating essays on alchemical symbolism.
As with the other alchemical volumes, this one is probably mainly of esoteric interest and for specialists. However, if only reading one of them, this is the one to read as it will immediately repay effort, and provide a good introduction preparing for the other volumes. Or alternatively, look up a number of anthologies of Jung's writings on Alchemy or in Anthony Storr's The Essential Jung: Selected Writings.
Of the three this is by far the most approachable, though there may be some difficulties. The first part is Jung's commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower: Chinese Book of Life (Arkana) which is essential reading for anyone interested in his ideas, and should not create problems for a general reader. It's available separately for those not wanting to purchase this volume. Then there are three more essays.
One on "Paracelsus as a Spirtual Phenomenon" is Jung's longest essay about the late mediaval alchemist and founder of modern chemistry and medicine. It is more technical than Jung's other essays on the same subject in RC Series Bundle: The Spirit in Man, Art and Literature (Routledge Classics)- by which this one might be approached - but certainly worth reading for the greater depth. Then there are two other fascinating essays on alchemical symbolism.
As with the other alchemical volumes, this one is probably mainly of esoteric interest and for specialists. However, if only reading one of them, this is the one to read as it will immediately repay effort, and provide a good introduction preparing for the other volumes. Or alternatively, look up a number of anthologies of Jung's writings on Alchemy or in Anthony Storr's The Essential Jung: Selected Writings.
1 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Not a bad book at all, though I still don't believe that "The Collective Unconsious" can be observed "empirically", it's just a bunch of commonalities and associations, if people can draw pictures of circles, that doesn't make a circle an "archtype" that is imbedded in a vast and "collective" unconscious. I think that C.G.Jung says some interesting things, I simply don't wanna "follow" his science/religion.
Nice book though.
Nice book though.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Not quintessential, but good.
11 Feb 2001
Format:Hardcover
"The really important psychic facts can neither be measured, weighed, nor seen in a test tube or under a microscope. They are therefore supposedly indeterminable, in other words, they must be left to people who have an inner sense of them, just as colours must be shown to the seeing and not to the blind." (Jung p. 238) This sentence reflects much of what this book is about. It highlights the drive behind Jung's attempt to make the invisible visible through an analysis of alchemical thought; it shows his complicated sentence structure and presents some of the hurdles one will have to jump in order to comprehend Jung's work on Alchemy. The preceding volume 12, "Psychology and Alchemy," would serve as a good introduction to this volume, and volume 14, "Mysterium Coniunctionis," might make Jung's thesis easier to comprehend.
This volume of collected works contains his commentary to "The Secret of The Golden Flower" which is almost useless without the actual Golden Flower text. It also contains Jung's analysis and commentary on some of the major metaphors of Alchemy.
According to Jung, Alchemy was the precursor of Western psychology, and that alchemists projected their mental/spiritual states unto the inanimate objects and processes of Alchemy. This work examines these projections in the light of modern consciousness and with the process of individuation in mind. `
Stripped to its essence, Jung's psychological theory states that humans have an unknown meta-consciousness that some will discover through a process he called individuation. This is a recapitulation of the ideas found in all religions, but is here represented by Jung in the terms of modern Western Culture as a scientific analysis of the Soul through an analysis of Alchemy.
Several years ago I read through this text without a clue as to what Jung was talking about, but found some of his observations noteworthy. About two years ago I had some experiences that made the insights contained in this book valuable, and I found that my previous reading allowed me to understand what I had read retrospectively. It also helped me in understanding aspects of Chinese Alchemy as metaphor. It is not recommended to casual readers.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Continuation of CW12
6 Jun 2006
Format:Hardcover
Jung explored alchemy as if it were a mystery novel--relishing every clue, interpreting (nominally) each symbol as it arose. His conclusion that it paralleled his psychological observations & model satisfied his incredible yearning to know that he wasn't crazy or a voice crying in the wilderness--yeah, verily, the alchemists pursued the same goal though in a slightly different way--vindicating Jung's quest for individuation=personal salvation. Thus, Jung's love for alchemy. It's unfortunate that even so-called scientists have ego's so wounded that they disavow their roots: chemists tend to downplay alchemy as astronomers downplay astrology--denigrating their roots. This shows an appalling lack of courage--something Jung had no lack of. Just think of what courage it must have taken for Jung to write about alchemy as having psychological truth embedded in its very heart. Yet he wrote 3 books worth on it CW12 (Psychology & Alchemy), CW13 (Alchemical Studies), & CW14 (Mysterium Coniunctionis). I'm in awe of his courage, let alone of his genius. Try reading some alchemy works yourself--if you think Jung is hard to read, think twice. Alchemical works are far more difficult. It took Jung's supreme effort to decipher them. So, if this work seems obtuse to you (& it is), consider how obtuse it was to Jung. Having studied some alchemy independently (e.g. Mutis Liber, Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians, etc.) it seems only natural that the universal symbology should be reflected in transcendental alchemy, kabbalah, Jungian psychology, Campbell's mythology, & (amazingly enough) Tibetan Buddhism--mandalas. Thus, an incredible multiplicity of sources support Jung's model of the collective unconscious. A true scientist is a "walking question mark." Despite Thomas Kuhn's difference in definition, the essence remains the same--true scientists follow the KID (knowledge, information, & data) not the dying paradigm. Jung's new paradigm of universality has yet to be seriously challenged.
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Jung's pioneering researches....
1 Jun 2000
Format:Paperback
...into the world of alchemy made the world aware of how rich a symbol-system had been lost from time out of mind. It was Jung who discovered that alchemy, a "chymical" art compensatory to the Christian emphasis on spirit over matter, also represented a projected psychology of the unconscious; it was, in fact, a forerunner of depth psychology itself.
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