Customer Reviews

The Spirit in Man, Art, and Literature (Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 15)

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This book contains some miscellaneous essays written by Jung on a wide variety of topics; e.g., "Paracelsus," "On the Relation of Analytic Psychology to Poetry," "Ulysses," "Picasso," etc.

Here are some representative quotations from the book:

"The historical conditions which preceded Freud were such that they made a phenomenon like himself necessary, and it is precisely the fundamental tenet of his teaching---namely, the repression of sexuality---that is most clearly conditioned in this historical sense." (Pg. 34)
"(Freud) sees as his time forces him to see. This comes out most clearly in his book The Future of an Illusion, where he draws a picture of religion which corresponds exactly with the prejudices of a materialistic age." (Pg. 35)
"Freud's inadequate training in philosophy and in the history of religion makes itself painfully conspicuous, quite apart from the fact that he had no understanding of what religion was about." (Pg. 45)
"Like ancient Rome, we today are once more importing every form of exotic superstition in the hope of finding the right remedy for our sickness." (Pg. 60)
"That is the secret of great art, and of its effect on us. The creative process, so far as we are able to follow it at all, consists in the unconscious activation of an archetypal image, and in elaborating and shaping this image into the finished work." (Pg. 82)
"I am a psychiatrist... I must therefore warn the reader: the tragi-comedy of the average man, the cold shadow-side of life, the dull grey of spiritual nihilism are my daily bread." (Pg. 115)
"I can assure the reader that Picasso's psychic problems, so far as they find expression in his work, are strictly analogous to those of my patients. Unfortunately, I cannot offer proof on this point..." (Pg. 135)

Jung tries his hand at a psychological interpretation of ancient and contemporary art and culture; several interesting studies here as well as more info about what Jung means by "spirit."

Art & literature provided Jung with data with which to correlate his model of the psyche. Furthermore, they provided the means for his presentation of profound observations of human nature & behavior. This is not my favorite volume of the collected works, but it is interesting. Read volume 18, The Symbolic Life for more information/observations on these topics. My favorite quotes in this book are:

p. 4 Nothing exerts a stronger psychic effect upon the human environment, and especially upon children, than the life which the parents have not lived.

p. 14 (quoting Paracelsus): `His motto is said to have been alterius non sit, qi suus esse potert (Let him not be another's who can be his own).'

p. 47 Doubt alone is the mother of scientific truth.

p. 60 Human instinct knows that all great truth is simple.