Customer Reviews

The Inner Journey: Lectures and Essays on Jungian Psychology (Studies in Jungian Psychology By Jungian Analysts)

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Barbara Hannah (1891-1986) was active during the "golden years" of Jungian psychology. The Inner Journey is a compendium of the best of her writings, a legacy to future generations showcasing Hannah's insightful mind, compassionate heart, original thinking, psychological integrity, and abiding faith in the healing power of the unconscious. The essays include: Some Glimpses of the Individuation Process in Jung Himself; On Active Imagination; Regression or Renewal in Later Life; Ego and Shadow; The Religious Function of the Animus in the Book of Tobit; and The Problem of Contact with Animus. The Inner Journey will introduce an influential Jungian psychologist to a new generation of students and researchers. Also highly recommended are two of her earlier works: Jung, His Life And Work: A Biographical Memoir (1976); and Encounters With The Soul: Active Imagination As Developed By C. G. Jung (1981).

B.Hannah studied and worked together with C.G. Jung for more then 20 years. The Lectures and essays are a very practical "down-to-earth" guide for those on the path of individuation. Illustrated and explained by dreams B. Hannah shows how important the Jungian Psychology is - especially in our modern days. If somebody wants to understand the concept of Shadow, Ego, Animus and Anima - that the right book to start!

....intro to Jung's work, with some interesting biographical info sprinkled here and there throughout these essays.

If I might raise two objections: describing Jung's spectrum model of mind, where the "red" end represents instinct and the "violet" end the archetypal psyche, Hannah says it is from the violet end that the "new consciousness" is to be formed. This sounds to me like the Christianistic bias toward spirit and against embodiment that Jung beat up on so often in his writings and seminars.

Speaking of Jung, Hannah mentions his rudeness and irritability toward her, then justifies it by saying it did her some kind of individuative good. This common Jungian excuse for being mean to people needs to be shelved in favor of taking personal responsibility for one's bad temper; in a fit of idealization, too many followers have passed off Jung's as though it were some sort of profound emanation from the unconscious. For more on this dynamic read up on Anna Freud's description of the defense known as "identification with the aggressor."

While most of the material is standard Jung and none of it is particularly deep or detailed, it's clearly written and to be recommended as a very basic introduction to classic Jungian thought.