Waterstones The Origins and History of Consciousness
545 ratings
TO EXPLORE MORE
Price: £20.00
Brand: Waterstones
Description: The Origins and History of Consciousness draws on a full range of world mythology to show how individual consciousness undergoes the same archetypal stages of development as human consciousness as a whole. Erich Neumann was one of C. G. Jung's most creative students and a renowned practitioner of analytical psychology in his own right. In this influential book, Neumann shows how the stages begin and end with the symbol of the Uroboros, the tail-eating serpent. The intermediate stages are projected in the universal myths of the World Creation, Great Mother, Separation of the World Parents, Birth of the Hero, Slaying of the Dragon, Rescue of the Captive, and Transformation and Deification of the Hero. Throughout the sequence, the Hero is the evolving ego consciousness. Featuring a foreword by Jung, this Princeton Classics edition introduces a new generation of readers to this eloquent and enduring work.
Category: Books
Merchant: Waterstones
Product ID: 9780691163598
Delivery cost: 2.99
ISBN: 9780691163598
My website utilises affiliate links when you click my 'Get the best deal now' buttons. If you buy something through one of these links, I may earn a little commission, at no extra cost to you.
I have relationships with many of the top online retailers (purchasing, shipping and returns will be handled directly by them) which enables me to offer the best deal online for the Waterstones The Origins and History of Consciousness and many other similar products - which will appear below, to enhance your online shopping experience.
For even more great deals on Waterstones Books, click the link.
Author: Graham Mummery
Rating: 5
Review: Erich Neumann must count as one of Jung's most influential students. Jung himself (who also contributes a forward to the book) is on record in saying Neumann was taking ideas about archetypes further than he had been able. Neumann himself has influenced the likes of Camille Paglia and Jordan Peterson who both have produced interesting essays and talks about him available on the web, and regard this as one of the greatest works of Jungian psychology. Nuemann's thesis is a mixture of anthropology, mythology as well as psychology observed sometimes, he states, with his patients as a psychotherapist. He shows how certain creation myths reflect how a child becomes conscious of itself while separating from the mother in particular. After the separation there are problems for both and others. Readers of psycho-analytic literature may be familiar with this through say the work of Klein and Winnicott, which has parallels with Jung's idea of the mother archetype. Through all this, Neumann plots a path of human consciousness as emerged from the Great Mother who was worshipped in ancient times. Neumann has written more about the Great Mother elsewhere. He suggests changes in human consciousness for the future paralleling the processes described here. For some this might be heady material, especially as it is spread over just under 500 pages. That said, I found myself able to read this over only a couple of days on a holiday. I found it insightful, not least as a psychotherapist who sometimes has to help people navigate their own mother problems be they real or symbolic. Neumann's suggestion of a possible new leap in human consciousness, has in some ways been better argued by Jean Gebser in "The Ever-Present Origin." But what he presents here is visceral and immediate, so the books deserve both to be read. Neumann is himself a lucid read. His thesis worth reading. This is justifiably seen as a classic, and is worth reading for psychological insight alone
Author: Paul Kemp
Rating: 5
Review: I can't wait to start chewing on this text!
