Man and His Symbols | Carl Gustav Jung | 40+ years later, and still extremely relevant

Man and His Symbols | Carl Gustav Jung | Know Thyself!

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Man and His Symbols

	Man and His Symbols Carl Gustav Jung Dell, 1968 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 47 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

40+ years later, and still extremely relevant

The first thing that struck me when I first leafed through this book was that the photos, illustrations, etc. have a little bit of a dated feel. Once I began reading it, however, I was impressed by how relevant it continues to be more than 4 decades after it was written. Jung influenced a bunch of his contemporary artists, writers, and musicians, and continues to do so today. Ask Sting about where he got the concept of synchronicity, David Byrne about where he gets his ideas from, Delmore Schwartz how he came up with the quote "In dreams begin responsibilities", or Lou Reed how he came up with his quote "Between thought and expression lies a lifetime". The latter are just the tip of the iceberg upon whom Jung cast his gigantic shadow. Setting aside Jung's incredible influence on artists who are influential in their own right, this book is better than any of the so called "self help" books out there, bar none. In reading this book, you don't feel like you're being lectured to, but instead, you realize that in stressing the importance of dreams, Jung tapped into something people tend to ignore or discard, when in fact, dreams are a (not so)hidden energy and power waiting right before your very eyes (pun intended?)ready to harness and use to live a more balanced life.

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Know Thyself!

Two names are synonomous with the field of psychology/psychoanalysis, Freud and Jung. This is reputedly Jung's last project/publication before his death in 1961 and is an excellent primer and synopsis of his work in the field. Jung edited this book and wrote the first chapter on the importance of symbols before unleashing writings from his students/protegees.
As a whole this book covers an incredible array of subjects, relating in layperson's terms the importance of symbols in the unconscious, the role of the unconscious through dreams in communicating these symbols to the analsand and analyst. I believe Jaffe, though could stand corrected examines various motifs and symbols synthesising the previous works into an observation of Jung's theories on the collective unconscious and its influence on individuals and the process of individuation.
This is as I said an excellent primer because although it is a good text for those taking psych 101(I am excluded from this group so don't know if it is text, but could/should be), it is written with a clarity that carries a universal appeal, making it recommended reading for anyone who wishes to understand psychology better and more important perhaps anyone who wishes to understand themselves better without resorting to new agey dream dictionaries.

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Excellent Introduction, but still Imposing!

As other reviewers have stated, this book is one of two that Jung meant for public consumption. It makes for an excellent introduction to dream interpretation and symbolism, but isn't meant to help you interpret your own dreams by providing a list of symbolic meanings as some texts do. Rather, Jung (who wrote the initial essay) and the other authors provide the basic framework for understanding the mechanics of dream interpretation. The concluding piece on Science and the Unconscious, although the shortest essay, is very interesting and provides tantalizing insights into the relationship between physics and psychology. The book was still a challenging work to read and took me quite some time to finish. It was worth the effort.

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Mind opening read

This is a fascinating book, not just in that it tries to explain the workings of the mind and what seems to be encoded symbolism within it, but also that it was written at a time when the new quantum physics was breaching into the public domain. It was interesting to read some of the authors trying integrate this into their model of the mind.

The work is somewhat dated (published in 1964) in that none of the latest findings in neurobiochemistry and structural neurology are discussed. I found the chapter on symbolism in the visual arts by Jaffe stretched its arguments a bit too thin for my liking, but was captivated by Jacobi's chapter which describes an analysis.

This is a very good primer to Jung and a worthwile read.

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A good introduction to Carl Jung

I'd suggest this book for anyone who wishes to obtain a general understanding of Carl Jung's theories. Man and his symbols provides a general outline of predominant themes that exist in various cultures. Almost every culture shares certain common archtypes. We can trace commonalities in various fertility gods, the belief in angels, demons, etc...

His theories allude to a common origin in these beliefs as well as certain experiences that appear universal to the human condition. This book was helpful but I'd recommend his later work; Archtypes and The Collective Unconscious for a more detailed understanding...

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