Customer Reviews

Jung the Mystic: The Esoteric Dimensions of Carl Jung's Life and Teachings

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If you are interested in Carl Jung's esoteric works, as I am, you will have had to dig around in his books. A little mention of this here, that there. Jung himself was unsure he wanted this information disseminated, much less compiled -- he lived in a much more staid and judgmental time than we do (partly thanks to him!). Many of the ideas we take for granted, a collective unconscious, e.g., originated with him and in his mystical or shamanic experiences. Hypnagogia, active imagination, visionary experience. The author has done a very good job of bringing much of Jung's experience together for the reader, who may also use this book as a guide to further reading. Very nice to have -- I have already read a borrowed copy and am now buying one to keep.

Lachman - the original keyboard player with Blondie - has written an entertaining and rather comprehensive introduction to the fascinating world of Carl Jung. Once again telling the story of his life from early childhood.

Encompassing all the usual steps: the childhood dreams and rituals, student life, early career as psychiatrist, Sabine Spielrein, Freud, midlife crisis and psychic breakdown. His perhaps ambivalent attitude towards nazism, the alchemical studies. And ofc focusing on the dichotomi of Jung, he's rather severely guarded scientific image and the more hidden interest in the occult. Without, it has to be said, adding anything new or original.

Lachman seems to have a reserved but generally positive view of his subject. Though his main criticism of Jung's book as rather unreadable seems somewhat misguided and lacking the historical dimension: well educated readers at Jung's time DID have a comprehensive understanding of Greek and Latin, lacking ofc for most readers today.

Although the book title seems to hint at more than just another biography, Lachman does not go into a very detailed analysis of the esoteric dimensions of Jung's work. He does make some interesting - if rather obvious - connections to the work of Rudolf Steiner and Gurdieff. While on the other hand his own knowledge of people like Schopenhauer and Goethe seems rather superficial. And largely ignoring Jung's roots in the tradition of Freemasonry and Rosencreuzians, as well as his influences from - and misunderstandings of - Eastern spirituality.

A very recommendable book for anyone new to Jung. In fact for them it can be said to be the perfect starting point. For the more advanced/experienced 'Jungian' there's not that much to come for.

Lachman's bio on Jung is well-written, accurate and moves along easily. As stated by the other reviewers, he skips over some connections and emphasizes others, but this is inevitable in a short book. While it is not an "advanced" biography by any means, it captures a useful perspective on the essence of Jung from the viewpoint of Lachman's interests, and does so in a very entertaining way. It contains lot of pleasant food for thought.

Gary Lachman's biography of Carl Jung is as intelligent as its subject. Anyone trying to wade through the writings of Jung himself will have a hard time understanding the man in any way that might be useful. I've learned of Jung through Joseph Campbell in his works on the power of mythology in our lives, and now with Lachman's new biography, I can finally understand the genius of Jung himself.

Lachman writes as someone who truly understands his subject in a deep and meaningful way. Even though Lachman's writings read like a scholarly paper, it was still an enjoyable and easily understood book. Filled with quotations and researched to within an inch of its life, Jung the Mystic is a great introduction to the life of a man who opened so many doors into the unconscious of humankind.

Without Jung we wouldn't have the common terms such as synchronicities and collective unconscious. Joseph Campbell might not have been able to give us the hero's mythic journey, and maybe we wouldn't know that our mass despondencies come from living a modern life that lacks any real meaning, something only the inner world of our subconscious can give us.

Exerts from the book:
"Pierre Janet's central concept was what he called the "reality function." Like Bleuler, he believed that mental illness was a result of a "loosening" of consciousness, a slackness in our grasp of reality, as if the mind was a hand too feeble to hold anything properly. We even tell someone who seems on the verge of hysteria to "get a grip." Mental health, Janet believed, was determined by our ability to focus, to concentrate our attention (as we often say "pull yourself together" to someone who is danger of losing it"). Janet called this act of concentration "psychological tension," and he believed it was something people could develop intentionally. . . patients lost contact with reality because their consciousness had become dangerously slack, and Blueler recognized this by giving them various "tasks" to perform.

Janet had also developed the idea that when someone's psychological tension becomes extremely slack--what he called the lowering of the mental level," through either sleep, hypnosis, or illness--the personality separates into autonomous fragments that seem to have a `mind' of their own, which is very close to what Jung was discovering about complexes." Page 62

My take on what Jung is trying to say:
Television causes us to separate from reality in two ways, first it lowers our self-esteem by showing us only the best and the beautiful, while commercials reinforce our need for products because of our physical deficiencies. Next, television puts us into a trance state which weakens our psychological tension, letting their consciousness go slack which can cause a break reality. Just turning on the news now shows us how many people are suffering from complexes and breaks with reality. This cause depression where the patient is then given anti-psychotic medication furthering their break from reality.

I get the feeling that I'm going to be a whole lot smarter with ever book I read by Gary Lachman

Many of Jung's patients were uneducated peasants who knew little of history yet there dreams said otherwise. The mind inherits from past generations.

I'm a fan of Jung and was looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, it's written at a high school level and offers no new insights into Jung's thought.